RATIA´TUM
RATIA´TUM (
̔̔πατίατον,), a town of the Pictones (
Ptol. 2.7.6). Ptolemy mentions it before Limonum, and places it north of Limonum, and further west. Some editions of Ptolemy place Ratiatum in the territory of the Lemovices, but this is a mistake.
In the records of a council held at
Orléans in A.D. 511, the bishop of the Pictavi signs himself “de civitate Ratiatica.” The name was preserved in that of the Pagus Ratiatensis, from which comes the modern name of
Pays de Retz. Gregory of Tours speaks of Ratiatum as “infra terminum Pictavorum qui adjacet civitati Namneticae.” The district of
Retz was taken from the diocese of
Poitiers and attached to the diocese of
Nantes in the time of Charles the Bald. Belley (
Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. xix. p. 729) fixes Ratiatum at the site of the two churches of
St. Pierre and
St. Opportune [p. 2.693]de Retz, which are near
Machecoul and on the
Tenu, a small river in the department of
La Vendée. The
Tenu enters the sea near
Bourgneuf, opposite to the
Isle Noirmoutier (D'Anville,
Notice, &c.; Ukert,
Gallien, p. 393).
[
G.L]
