According to a widespread theory, that name, which is not unique to this particular commune, is a distortion, in the medieval period, from the Late Latin taxo, ionis, itself of Celtic origin, meaning “the badger”.

Located on the Bronze road linking Merpins (near Cognac) with the Atlantic coast, the current territory of the municipality of Tesson has been inhabited for a long period.

In the hamlet "Le Maine" in particular, prehistoric tools and weapons have been discovered, including a ceremonial anthropoid dagger (the top of the handle is shaped like a human body) dating back to 150 BC.

On both sides of the pediment of the Romanesque church of the village (built in the second half of the twelfth century), two strange sculptures in high relief depicting, one a pilgrim, the other a robber armed with an ax, recall that time.

The beautiful (dressed) stone of Tesson, renowned and used for construction, including for saintongeais style houses in the village and elsewhere in the department happened to be a lasting flourishing business.

At the beginning of the Third Republic, Tesson, which had reached a peak population in 1866 (762 inhabitants against 573 in 1806), suffered like other wine-producing towns of Charentes and France from the impact of the crisis of phylloxera (1875).

It was a comparative advantage for Tesson vis-à-vis some neighboring municipalities (to the west or south) which belong to the slightly least valued area called "Bons Bois."

But Marquis Etienne Louis Antoine Guinot de Monconseil (1695–1782), lord of Tesson, as well as of neighboring Thénac, Courcoury and Rioux, was one of the most famous characters of Saintonge in the eighteenth century.

In 1708, at age 13, he made his debut at the Court of Louis XIV in Versailles, where he was appointed (on 9 May 1708) page to the “Petite Ecurie du Roi” (literally “King’s Little Stable”).

He was placed with his men to the service of former King of Poland, Stanislas Leszczynski, later Duke of Lorraine and father in law of Louis XV, who granted him the title of Master of the Royal Hunt.

He thereafter pursued a successful military career and participated in many campaigns, interspersed with long stays in Saintonge, in his castle of Tesson.

She remained all along at the Court and in Ile de France: she basked in a joyful life and was hosting many well-attended feasts in her pavilion at Bagatelle.

Among her "friendships" featured Count d'Argenson ( Marc Pierre de Voyer d'Argenson of Paulmy, Secretary of State for War from 1743 to 1757) and Marshal of Richelieu ( Louis François Armand du Plessis, Duke of Fronsac, also Prince of Mortagne, Baron of Cozes, Saujon and Barbezieux in terms of areas near Tesson).

However the Marquis of Monconseil, Governor of Colmar, got into trouble with some notables in Alsace and even caused a scandal in 1763 by condemning a maidservant he had accused of having stolen silverware to the "wooden horse" (medieval torture rack).

He had to sell his regiment (75,000 livres) and, at the age of 68, to retire in Saintonge and thus give up the perspective of being appointed Marshal, a hope his wife was certainly nourishing for him and herself.

Before settling in his native region and in Tesson permanently, he had expanded his estates by purchasing land and already begun major works, including the construction of his “hôtel particulier” (town-mansion) in Saintes in 1738 (currently the Musée Dupuy-Mestreau, 4 rue Monconseil ), he later enlarged in 1767, and from 1735 onwards, the reconstruction of the castle of Tesson, which, according to the records, reflected the influence of architect Boffrand Germain, who had practiced in Lorraine (castle of Lunéville).

The prestigious new castle of Tesson, considered then as one of the most beautiful of the region, consisted of three one-story pavilions connected by wings set back.

The house whose façade is home to the current village notary office, was entrusted to the nuns of the Congregation of Wisdom, to which he granted an annuity for this purpose.

It was up to his son in law, Count "de la Tour du Pin", to settle the succession and to his second daughter to have a plaque of white marble engraved in his memory and placed on the wall of the transept of the church.

At the crossing of the transept, clustered columns are set at the different corners in order to support the basis of a ribbed vault (early thirteenth century), at the location where a dome was originally scheduled or may have existed.

Inside, on the east wall of the transept (on the right), a marble plaque (100 x 50 cm) recalls the benefits extended by Marquis of Monconseil (1695–1782), the celebrity of the village.

[5] Quite simple, this small stone cross rests on a three-level support decorated with geometric patterns, set on a molded quatrefoil column.

He entrusted the construction of a covered space, a passage, linking the main road to the church square, to a local carpenter, Pierre Fabvre.

For an estimated total of 17,000 livres in an agreement with the Congregation of Wisdom (approved by letters patent of Louis XVI in November 1776), he financed, in addition to the cost of the construction, furniture, clothes, medical equipment for four beds, in the hospice whose capacity was sixteen.