Agenais

The AGENAIS [a.ʒə.nɛ] and its brothers SAINT-AMANS and GERSOIS are two of the most important knives in France. It takes its name from the old capital of Aquitaine, Agen, located on the Garonne. From there it became widely spread to the north of old Aquitaine, throughout southern France, the Basque region and Spain. The knifemakers produced several regional and individual variations of these knives, about which you can find out more in Christian Lemasson's standard book "COUTEAU de France".
The  SAINT-AMANS has the same handle shape as the AGENAIS, but a sage leaf-shaped blade. Its roots are said to be older than the AGENAIS. They say that even the Romans forged knives like this. As we know it today, it was forged in Bergerac, which was only 1 - 2 days' journey away on horseback.
While translating Ch. Lemasson's book, we discovered the GERSOIS, another now-forgotten beauty which we have been producing in small numbers for collectors and connoisseurs since summer 2024.
Over the generations, many of the knives were given characteristic rosettes on their handles, some of which were decorative but could also be domed. One particular reason for this was the cultivation of tobacco in the region "entre les deux mers" (the region in the north of the Pyrenees between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean). When the leaves were cut off during the harvest, the escaping juice made the handles slippery. The profile of the knife handles then ensured that they lay securely in the hand. Over the generations, an unmistakable pattern was created, which can also be found on the BASQUE-YATAGAN in the neighboring Basque region.
In addition to the Yatagan blade, the Crusaders also brought with them the plum trees, which were still unknown in Europe and from which the "Prunes d'Agen" (dried plums from AGEN) developed into a specialty that is famous throughout Europe and which we even find in Asterix and Obelix in their "Tour de France". This in turn inspired us to make the Aquitaine knives with handles of the hard and beautiful wood of plum trees in addition to the classic handle materials.
We have been producing AGENAIS with Yatagan blades, SAINT-AMANS with sage leaf blades and BASQUE-YATAGAN in our atelier in Thiers since 2019. The GERSOIS was introduced in summer 2024. As a sign of their authenticity, they all bear the PassionFrance® logo on the blade, the Coq.

Copyright©PassionFrance 2024

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