The yew (Taxus baccata)

The yew (Taxus baccata) belongs to the botanical family Taxaceae. This plant lineage is extremely ancient: species closely related to the yew are documented from the beginning of the Tertiary period, and certain fossilized impressions suggest the existence of related forms as early as the Triassic, about 200 million years ago.

Although it is classified among conifers, the yew does not produce resin. It is also an atypical conifer, as it does not bear cones. Its wood is highly toxic: the leaves (dark green) and the seeds, when consumed or used in decoction, release taxine, a substance that causes severe cardiac disorders and may lead to cardiac arrest (1). Only the red aril surrounding the seed is non-toxic, provided the seed itself is not chewed.

(1) Taxine remains active after cooking, drying, or storage of the plant. The leaves are the parts of the yew that contain the highest concentration. Taxine content increases as the season progresses. It appears to reach its peak in dried foliage. Taxine is also present in the seeds, which must be chewed to release the poison.

Morphology and longevity

The yew is characterized by extremely slow and irregular growth: about 30 cm in height and 2 mm in diameter per year. Its wood, both dense and flexible, is easy to carve, which encouraged its use in crafts and in warfare (particularly for bows). Some specimens display exceptional longevity, reaching several hundred, or even more than a thousand years. They can grow 15 to 20 meters tall and reach a circumference of 5 to 10 meters. A remarkable internal feature is that the sap circulates beneath the bark rather than in the heartwood, allowing the tree to survive even when the center of the trunk is hollow.

Religious and historical symbolism

Because of its longevity, its evergreen foliage, and its ability to regenerate despite injury, the yew was very early associated with immortality and with the passage between the world of the living and that of the dead. Among the Celts and the Gauls, it held a major place in religious and funerary symbolism. During the Roman conquest of Gaul, as we shall see, the large-scale destruction of yews formed part of a broader policy aimed at eliminating indigenous religious symbols in order to impose Roman cults and authority.

The first human settlements

The territory corresponding to present-day France overlaps with the geological and cultural foundation of prehistoric Gaul, inhabited for tens of thousands of years by groups of hunter-gatherers. Near our commune, the sites of Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf and Tourville-la-Rivière provide important evidence (2). Analysis of the loess deposits at these sites, dating from the penultimate glaciation (around 200,000 years ago), revealed mollusk shells indicating the presence of an open forest under a temperate climate warmer than today. Tools made from worked pebbles, as well as flakes and primitive bifaces, were discovered there, produced by Homo erectus or more probably by Homo heidelbergensis (3).

The oldest traces of human occupation in the territory of Venables were identified through surface surveys and archaeological assessments carried out by the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) of Normandy between 1986 and 2006 (4). Eight sites were recorded, testifying to the earliest human settlements from the Middle Paleolithic onward (5). The three oldest sites were small temporary open-air occupation areas located on the southern slopes of the two ravines mentioned above. These sites served as tool-preparation workshops and butchering areas during temperate interglacial periods, as indicated by the presence of lithic tools (6). They mark the passage of Neanderthals (7), makers of the Mousterian culture, characterized by laminar flaking techniques and the production of retouched tools (scrapers, bifaces). A nearby site, Saint-Julien-de-la-Liègue (8), also contains tool assemblages comparable to the Mousterian of Acheulean tradition.

(2) Museum of Normandy: In the Footsteps of Neanderthal, FATON Editions.
(3) Dominique Cliquet: The First Humans in Normandy, OREP Editions.
(4) Lionnel Dumarche (DRAC of Normandy).
(5) The Paleolithic is a period extending approximately from 300,000 to 40,000 years ago.
(6) Dominique Cliquet: The First Humans in Normandy — Homo heidelbergensis is considered a variant species of Homo erectus.
(7) Dominique Cliquet, Vincent Carpentier, Emmanuel Ghesquière, Cyril Marcigny: Archaeology in Normandy.
(8) Dominique Cliquet, Jean-Pierre Lautridou: The Mousterian with Predominantly Small Bifaces at Saint-Julien-de-la-Liègue.

Neanderthal Man and the Mousterian Culture

Subsequently, Neanderthals became established in the region. This stocky individual, a heavy consumer of meat, left few direct traces of his way of life: temporary occupation sites show neither accumulations of human or animal bones nor permanent dwelling structures. However, his stone-working skills attest to a developed culture: the Mousterian culture, the principal cultural expression of the late Middle Paleolithic in Normandy. Within the territory of the commune, three sites dated to the Upper Paleolithic (around 45,000 years ago) show the coexistence of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, the latter introducing new techniques such as blade production, bone tool industries, and the spear-thrower.

Towards a sedentary lifestyle during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods

With climatic variations, some groups experimented with semi-sedentary lifestyles during the Mesolithic period. However, it was only in the Neolithic that humans truly became sedentary, thanks to the mastery of agriculture and animal husbandry, and to the lasting transformation of their environment. Most activities remained linked to the lithic industry, but societies adapted to climatic changes associated with the beginning of postglacial warming.

Although archaeological surveys on the Venables plateau have identified temporary hunting and knapping sites, Neolithic sites excavated in 1986 on the terraces of the meander then still crossed by numerous channels of the Seine and resembling an open tundra—revealed evidence of a permanent settlement. This settlement has now disappeared beneath the waters of the artificial lake and as a result of the major 19th-century construction works for the Paris–Rouen–Le Havre railway line, as well as gravel extraction activities that destroyed part of these remains, which mark the beginning of protohistory and the supremacy of Homo sapiens (9).

A hunting territory

From an early period, hunting was closely associated with the territory of Venables. This relationship is explained by the analysis of the earliest human occupations on the Madrie plateau, characterized by relatively small areas. These were mainly used as temporary occupation sites dedicated to the production of lithic tools necessary for cutting and processing game obtained through hunting.

The proximity of water, ensured by the two ravines—those of Gournay and Val d’Ailly—made this plateau particularly favorable for human settlement. This natural configuration first enabled the establishment of prehistoric groups and later, as we shall see, of Celto-Gaulish groups and, during the Gallo-Roman period, the development of an organized estate comprising a pars urbana (residential area) and a pars rustica (agricultural sector).

These different phases of occupation, together with those located within the Seine meander, appear to have been genuine permanent living areas. They gradually shaped the identity of the site as a hunting territory, a function that continued across the lands of the belvedere and persisted into the Middle Ages, firmly embedding this practice in both the landscape and the memory of the place.

The Proto-Celtic Migrations

At the end of the Neolithic period, this era was marked by the first successive and cumulative migrations of populations originating from the steppes located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, as well as populations from north of the Rhine. These peoples, known as Proto-Indo-Europeans, are characterized by new funerary practices: burial under tumuli with deposits of lithic objects and bones.

In the Transcaucasian basin, these societies also developed copper working, followed by bronze, giving rise to an increasingly coherent and organized culture. This was the emergence of the Urnfield culture, with cremation and the placement of ashes in ceramic, then copper and later bronze urns, marking a civilizational shift that many specialists consider to be the first world of Celtic culture. The spread of copper metallurgy and agricultural techniques enabled these peoples to form a pre-Celtic culture, endowed with a common linguistic and religious foundation, which would later evolve socially, economically, politically, and spiritually. These two major Proto-Celtic migratory movements are the subject of a thesis established and developed by Pere Bosch-Gimpera (10), through the settlement in our region of a people known as the “Autrigones,” whose name remained in the Gaulish designation of the River Eure as Autura. This was followed by the establishment of the Eburones, probably a branch of a Belgic people from the Ardennes (11), whose name persisted when the various Germanic peoples of the “Aulerci” settled in our territory and became associated with the name “Eburovices” between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.

(10) Fabien Régnier and Jean-Pierre Drouin: The Founding Peoples at the Origin of Gaul.
(11) Tacitus states that the Eburones were the first of the Germanic peoples (those coming from east of the Rhine) to invade Gaul and settle there.

The Celtic-Gallic settlement in our region

From the 20th century onward, and even more so at the beginning of this century, numerous publications by archaeologists and historians have profoundly renewed our understanding of the Celtic peoples. Archaeological discoveries and anthropological studies carried out across the European Celtic world now make it possible to better understand the causes and processes of the successive and cumulative migrations that led these populations toward Western Europe.

The Celts gradually occupied a vast territory stretching from the Balkans to the Atlantic Ocean. They crossed the English Channel to settle in Great Britain and later in Ireland. Upon arriving in the territory of Venables, these groups encountered indigenous populations already settled since the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. These ancient communities formed the ancestors of the so-called Proto-Celtic populations, with whom the newcomers gradually merged.

Two major migratory movements can be distinguished, corresponding to two principal phases of the Iron Age:

• The Hallstatt culture (Early Iron Age), which developed between approximately 1200 and 450 BCE;
• The La Tène culture (Late Iron Age), which emerged from the 5th century BCE onward.

The La Tène culture marks the height of Celtic civilization and corresponds, in our region, to the emergence of independent Gaul. The traces, sometimes fragmentary, of this settlement are still perceptible today, both in the Seine valley and on the village belvedere.

The society known as “Celtic” is referred to as Keltoi by Greek authors and Galli by Latin authors. It was based on a princely and warrior aristocracy organized into chiefdoms, without centralized political unity. The images that shape the modern collective imagination about the Celts are often inaccurate or caricatured.

Our knowledge of these societies relies largely on Greco-Roman sources, which provide an external—and often biased—perspective on cultures very different from their own. These Celts/Gauls made little use of writing, and their history was long told by others. Recent research nevertheless reveals a remarkable civilization: prosperous agriculture, advanced mastery of metallurgy, and extensive trade networks linking these peoples to societies of the Mediterranean basin, the Far East, as well as to their Germanic neighbors in northern Europe—who should not be confused with the Celts. It was during this period that the people known as the Aulerci Eburovices became firmly established, occupying a large part of the territory corresponding to the present-day department of Eure.

The Aulerci Eburovices

The Aulerci Eburovices are mentioned by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War. Their cultural affiliation has sometimes raised questions: were they Celts, or Gauls influenced by Germanic peoples? Current research agrees in considering them a Celto-Gaulish people, established in a contact zone with the Germanic world, which explains certain cultural influences without calling their Celtic identity into question.

Land use and social organization

Within the territory of the commune, the principal area of occupation is located on the plateau, within the perimeter previously described. Archaeological remains attest to the presence of a settlement complex near a hamlet, established along a Celtic route connecting two major civitates, Évreux (Mediolanum Aulercorum) and Les Andelys (Andelaum, Andelaium).

Archaeological research conducted over several decades has considerably improved our understanding of the earliest Celto-Gaulish territorial structures. It highlights fortified enclosures that met the requirements of attack and defense tactics specific to the Celtic world and to the technical means available at the time.

These sites consisted of small agricultural holdings, occupied by free peasants and organized into units known as vici, where family clans lived in largely self-sufficient communities, maintaining limited but regular exchanges.

Spirituality and symbolism of the tree

The society of the Aulerci Eburovices, like that of the entire Celtic world, drew its religious symbolism from a close relationship with nature, partly inherited from the earliest Celtic cultures originating in the Balkan basin. Nature provided protection, food resources, materials, and shelter. In Celtic spirituality, trees held a central and sacred place. The Celtic Tree of Life united three worlds:

• the sky, symbolized by the branches,
• the earth, represented by the trunk,
• the underworld, embodied by the roots.

The yew: tree of life of the Aulerci Eburovices

For the Aulerci Eburovices, the yew appears to have played the role of a Tree of Life. It symbolized the immortality of the soul after death, the union of the three worlds, and their connection with the four elements: air, water, fire, and earth. The yew did not embody a deity as such (12), but rather a fundamental cosmic principle.

This choice can be explained by the observation of its natural properties: its extraordinary longevity and its ability to regenerate through new shoots, giving the impression of perpetual rebirth. Having become a major religious symbol, the yew nourished myths, legends, and popular traditions inspired by cycles observed in nature: the alternation of the seasons, the ebb and flow of waters, and the movement of celestial bodies. Eternal disappearance, eternal renewal.

Practical and military uses of yew

Beyond its symbolic dimension, the yew possessed exceptional material qualities. Its red, dense, and flexible wood was used to make everyday tools, hunting weapons, and especially long-range bows. Arrows, sometimes coated with decoctions made from dried and crushed leaves, constituted a formidable weapon in wartime (13). Its fibrous bark could also be used to produce coarse textiles. However, its most emblematic use remains the manufacture of spears and javelins (venabula), weapons that were both practical and symbolic, closely tied to the warrior and hunting identity of the Aulerci Eburovices.

(12) Contemporary sources include: Diodorus Siculus, Pomponius Mela, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, and especially Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War.
(13) The Gauls, and later the Romans, poisoned their arrows with it. Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE) reports in Commentaries on the Gallic War (Book V, chapters 24 and 26; Book VI, chapter 31) that the king of the Eburones, Catuvolcus—whose people occupied part of present-day Belgium—poisoned himself with yew in 53 BCE.

Hunting in Celtic-Gallic society

In Celto-Gaulish society, hunting and especially boar hunting—was a highly organized and strongly symbolic activity. It was not limited to subsistence but lay at the heart of social, warrior, and ritual practices.

Boar hunting was above all a communal event, involving primarily warriors and members of the aristocracy. For young men, it played an essential role as a rite of passage into adulthood and social recognition within the clan. Killing a boar represented an act of bravery, strength, and mastery qualities indispensable to the future warrior. Hunting trophies, particularly tusks, were preserved and displayed as symbols of prestige and power, as evidenced by several archaeological discoveries.

Beyond individual achievement, hunting strengthened community bonds and helped affirm social hierarchy, with each participant finding their place according to rank, experience, and courage.

Hunting techniques and rituals

The Celts and the Gauls used sophisticated hunting techniques. Specially trained dogs were employed to track the boar, flush it out, and drive it from its hiding place. The hunters then confronted it using spears and javelins made from yew wood weapons that required composure, skill, and courage when facing such a dangerous animal. Hunting weapons and equipment were frequently decorated with symbolic motifs, highlighting the ritual dimension of the act. Hunting was often preceded by ceremonies and prayers conducted by druids in order to obtain divine protection and ensure the success of the expedition.

Transmission and symbolism

Hunting exploits gave rise to stories passed down from generation to generation, helping to shape the collective memory and identity of the group. This symbolic importance is evident in iconography and archaeological artifacts, particularly on certain Celtic coins discovered within the territory of the village, where the boar appears associated with the yew.

This association illustrates the convergence between warrior strength, embodied by the animal, and the spiritual and cosmic dimension represented by the sacred tree—both central to the Celto-Gaulish worldview.

The etymological relationship of the name Venables with the yew tree

The place-name “Les Ifs” (“The Yews”) still designates today a part of the village territory located on the Madrie plateau, within a natural perimeter between the hamlet of Val d’Ailly and Braies-Champs-Léger. This area is crossed by a natural depression through which the Val d’Ailly ravine flows, fed by a spring that runs into the Gournay ravine, which formerly joined the channels of what would later become the Seine meander.

This natural corridor corresponds to one of the areas most anciently frequented by humans. The earliest known human settlements there range from the Middle Paleolithic period (around 45,000 years ago) to the end of the Roman occupation in the 5th century CE.

The Celtic-Gallic influence in the name of Venables

The word “yew” derives from an ancient Gaulish term, ivos or īvos (14). From the 2nd century BCE onward, the people known as the Aulerci Eburovices, whose name is often interpreted as meaning “those who conquer by the yew,” settled over a vast territory corresponding largely to the present-day department of Eure, with their capital at Mediolanum Aulercorum (Évreux).

It was with the settlement of these tribal clans, bearers of their culture and religious symbols, that the ideological and symbolic roots were established which would later influence the formation of the name Venables and its motto Venabulis Vinco (“I conquer with javelins”).

The yew held a central place in Celto-Gaulish religion. This symbolism is attested by Gaulish coins (potins) (15) discovered within the territory of the commune, where the yew is frequently associated with emblematic animals, notably the horse and especially the boar, often depicted in connection with the spear.

Etymological elements of the name Aulerci Eburovices

• Aulerci: a term expressing the idea of distance or separation, referring to a people settled far from their original homeland (16).
• Eburo: a root identified by many linguists and botanists as referring to the yew, a sacred tree in Celtic tradition (17).
• Vices / Vices: sometimes connected with the Latin verbs vincere (to conquer) or venari (to hunt), giving the ethnonym a warrior and hunting-related dimension (18).

Taken together, the name is often symbolically interpreted as: “Those who conquer by the yew,” both in the context of hunting and warfare.

(14) Auguste Le Prévost: History of the Department and Communes of Eure, vol. 1
(15) Gaulish potins are cast bronze coins rather than struck ones
(16) Xavier Delamarre: Dictionary of the Gaulish Language
(17) Auguste Le Prévost: Historical and Archaeological Memoir and Notice of the Department of Eure
(18) Jacques Lacroix: Names of Gaulish Origin – The Gaul of Battles

The Romanization of our region

n 56 BCE, the Aulerci Eburovices revolted against Rome alongside the Lexovii. This uprising, mentioned by Caesar, ended in severe repression. In 52 BCE, they took part in the great Gallic coalition led by Vercingetorix and sent 3,000 warriors in an attempt to lift the siege of Alesia. They thus became the only people on the left bank of the Seine to engage so decisively in military action against the Romans. These episodes reflect a strong desire for independence and a remarkable level of military commitment.

From the Roman Conquest to the Late Empire

After the conquest, the territory of the Aulerci Eburovices was incorporated into the province of Gallia Lugdunensis during the administrative reorganization carried out by Augustus in 27 BCE. Their civitas obtained the status of a tributary city (civitas stipendaria), implying the payment of tribute to Rome.

At the end of the 3rd century CE, during the reforms of Diocletian, their territory was attached to Lugdunensis Secunda, marking a new stage in Roman administrative organization.

From Celtic Symbolism to Romanization

During the Roman conquest of Gaul, the Romans were wary of yew forests, which were perceived as places of indigenous worship where rituals connected to deities of nature, war, and community protection were practiced. In their effort to impose their political, social, and religious organization, they proceeded to cut down these forests and systematically occupy the conquered territories.

It was in this context that a Gallo-Roman estate was established on the present-day territory of Les Ifs, consisting of a pars urbana and a pars rustica, covering approximately five hectares. The Latin language gradually became dominant, leading to the disappearance of original Celto-Gaulish references—except notably for the symbolism of the hunting spear, which persisted alongside the process of Romanization.

Latin Influences and the Emergence of the Name Venables

The Latin language introduced several roots that may have contributed to the formation of the place name:

• VEN: elevation or relief
• VENA: vein, seam, watercourse
• VENATIO: hunting, combat against wild animals (19)
• VENATOR: hunter
• VENABULUM: hunting spear
• VENERIS: connected with Venus (temple or sacred place)
• BELENOS (of Celtic origin): a solar deity integrated into the Gallo-Roman pantheon (20)

In the Roman world, venabulum referred to the hunting spear (21), a thrusting weapon primarily used in hunting. The term was used by Cicero (22) in the 1st century BCE to designate a hunter’s spear (it later came to refer to the half-pike fitted with a broad blade used in gladiatorial combat).

The poet Virgil (23) wrote: lato venabula ferro—here the word venabula is used as the plural of venabulum.
The writer Varro (24) states: Nempe fues silvatico in montibus sectaris venabula aut cervos (“You pursue in the mountains wild boars or deer with your spear.”)

(19) Félix Gaffiot: Latin–French Dictionary
(20) Dominique Hollard: Dialogues d’Histoire Ancienne; Henri Dontenville: La France mythologique
(21) Livy: Roman History (trans. Annette Flobert)
(22) Félix Gaffiot (1934): Illustrated Latin–French Dictionary, Hachette; Harry Thurston Peck (1898): Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities; William Smith et al. (1890): A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
(23) Virgil: Works of Horace
(24) Varro: Roman writer and scholar of the 1st century BCE

From Venabulum to Venables

In the 11th century, the village bore the name Venablis. The administrative and military center of the village is mentioned in 1181 under the form Venabula. This linguistic evolution reflects the persistence of symbolism associated with the spear and with hunting, inherited from the Celto-Gaulish tradition and reformulated within the framework of medieval Latin culture. In 1086, at the time of the compilation of the Domesday Book, Gilbert de Venables is referred to as Gilbert the Venator (“the Hunter”).

The present-day motto “Venabulis Vinco” (“I conquer with the spear”) thus appears as the culmination of a heritage spanning several millennia, where territory, hunting, warfare, spirituality, and symbolic continuity between the Celtic, Roman, and medieval worlds intersect.

Conclusion

The territory of the village of Venables is part of a history of exceptional depth, shaped by human presence from the earliest Prehistory to the medieval period. Long before any political or cultural structuring, the natural features of the landscape—plateaus, ravines, springs, and the meander of the Seine—attracted the first human groups as early as the Middle Paleolithic, more than 200,000 years ago. Homo heidelbergensis, followed by Neanderthals, frequented these areas seasonally, leaving traces of lithic industries that attest to their stone-working and hunting activities—practices that would become the enduring foundation of the territory of Venables.

From the Upper Paleolithic onward, the coexistence of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens marked a decisive stage. The latter gradually prevailed, bringing new techniques and a more complex social organization. During the Mesolithic period, some groups experimented with semi-sedentary ways of life, before the Neolithic established permanent settlement through agriculture and animal husbandry. This stabilization of populations profoundly transformed the landscape and prepared the emergence of more elaborate social structures.

Protohistory then saw the arrival of new influences resulting from the great Indo-European migrations. The development of copper and later bronze metallurgy, changes in funerary practices, and the emergence of the Urnfield culture heralded the formation of a vast pre-Celtic cultural complex, characterized by shared linguistic, social, and religious foundations.

It was in this context that the Celto-Gaulish world emerged during the Iron Age, of which the Aulerci Eburovices formed the local expression. Permanently established in the territory corresponding to the present-day department of Eure, they structured the landscape around small agricultural settlements, communication routes, and fortified enclosures. Their society, organized around a warrior aristocracy, placed particular importance on hunting—especially boar hunting—which was at once an economic, military, and ritual activity. The spear, an emblematic weapon, embodied this dual function of hunting and combat.

At the heart of their worldview stood the yew, a sacred tree symbolizing longevity, rebirth, and the immortality of the soul. Both an object of veneration and a material resource, it closely linked spirituality, nature, and daily practices. This symbolism is reflected in coin iconography discovered in the area, in traditions, and probably in the earliest forms of local place-names. The Roman conquest marked a major political rupture, but it did not entirely erase earlier legacies. Romanization transformed the territory through the establishment of Gallo-Roman estates, administrative reorganization, and the imposition of Latin. Nevertheless, certain symbolic traditions persisted and were reinterpreted, particularly those connected with hunting and the spear, now designated by the Latin term venabulum. Over time, this cultural and linguistic continuity crystallized in the name Venables, attested from the 12th century onward, and in its motto “Venabulis Vinco” (“I conquer with the spear”). This formula encapsulates the territory’s heritage across several millennia: a land of hunting, resistance, mastery of nature, and affirmed identity.

The yew has almost disappeared from agricultural areas, particularly from hedgerows, because of its toxicity to livestock. However, it has retained a privileged place in certain protected spaces, especially cemeteries—areas where animals did not graze and where its funerary symbolism found its full meaning, notably through topiary art.

Thus, the village of Venables appears as a territory of memory, where the layers of Prehistory, the Celto-Gaulish world, Roman Gaul, and the Middle Ages overlap. The landscape, place-names, and symbols still visible today testify to a deep continuity between humanity, nature, and history, making our village a true conservatory of the long durée—as evidenced by the families bearing the village’s name who are now scattered across five continents.

Patrick Lequette