Clairac is a country house founded in 1281 by Edward I of England (the great-son of Eleanor of Aquitaine) and the abbot of the Abbey of Clairac. The Order was to Clairac Benedictine abbot and was traditionally appointed by the pope.
In the twelfth century the monks crossed Clairac a plum tree brought back from Syria with a local plum, creating a new variety they called the Ente plum, from the Old French verb "enter", which means "graft". Clairac The monks were also the first to realize that the fruit can be kept for a year after being dried in the sun. Thus Pruneau d'Agen should properly be called Pruneau of Clairac!
Despite its Catholic heritage, Clairac was an active center in the spread of the Protestant faith after 1530 and has been repeatedly attacked by the Catholic armies. After a siege in 1621, led by Louis XIII himself, the city walls were razed to the ground and the Protestant population put to the sword.
In the eighteenth century Clairac was one of the main ports of the lower Lot valley and was the first in Europe to grow tobacco. Many barns in the area were at the origin of tobacco drying barns.
Today, as always, Clairac is at the heart of local agriculture. The Lot valley is a rich fertile floodplain, with a wide range of products including the ubiquitous fruit trees, strawberries, corn and sunflower.
