Uzès Usès (Occitan) | |
|---|---|
.jpg) View of part of the town centre withSaint-Théodorit Cathedral and Fenestrelle Tower | |
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Uzès  | |
  Uzès  Uzès | |
| Coordinates:44°00′47″N4°25′14″E / 44.013°N 4.4205°E /44.013; 4.4205 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Occitania |
| Department | Gard |
| Arrondissement | Nîmes |
| Canton | Uzès |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Jean-Luc Chapon[1] |
Area 1 | 25.41 km2 (9.81 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 8,360 |
| • Density | 330/km2 (850/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 30334 /30700 |
| Elevation | 49–274 m (161–899 ft) (avg. 167 m or 548 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Uzès (French pronunciation:[y.zɛs];Occitan:Usès) is acommune in theGarddepartment in theOccitanieregion of SouthernFrance. Uzès lies about 25 kilometres (16 miles) north-northeast ofNîmes, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west ofAvignon, and 32 kilometres (20 miles) southeast ofAlès.
OriginallyUcetia orEutica in Latin, Uzès was a smallGallo-Romanoppidum, or administrative settlement. The town lies at the source of theAlzon river, at Fontaine d'Eure, from where aRoman aqueduct was built in the first century AD, to supply water to the city ofNîmes, 50 kilometres (31 miles) away. The most famous stretch of theaqueduct is thePont du Gard, now aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site,[3] which carried fresh water over splendid arches across theGardon river.
Jews were apparently settled there as early as the 5th century.Saint Ferréol, Bishop of Uzès, was said to have admitted them to his table. Complaints were made of him to KingChildebert I for this issue, whereupon the bishop was required to turn against them, expelling those Jews from Uzès who would not convert to Christianity. After his death (581), many of the converts who had been baptised returned to Judaism.[4] In 614 the Christian government expelled Jews from the region.
In early 8th century, Uzès was a fortifiedcivitas and bishopric under the Archbishop of Narbonne. During theUmayyad conquest of Gothic Septimania, Uzès became the northernmost stronghold ofMuslim Spain circa 725. Charles Martel laid siege to the stronghold in 736, but it remained in Gothic-Andalusian hands up to 752. That year counts loyal toAnsemund of Nîmes ceded numerous of strongholds to the FrankishPepin the Short. In 753 the stronghold rebelled against the Franks after Ansemund's assassination, but the uprising was suppressed and a Frankish trustee of Pepin imposed.
In the 13th century, Uzès hosted a small community of Jewish scholars, as well as a community ofCathars.
Like many cloth-manufacturing centers (Uzès was known for itsserges), residents of the city and the surrounding countryside had become strongly Protestant during the 16th century, and religious and class conflicts played out in the Wars of Religion. The Languedoc region suffered considerable violence: Protestants trashed and burned many of the city's churches. Only two have survived to the 21st century.Saint-Étienne was reconstructed after the violence.
Ucetia is the name of aGallo-Romanoppidum in the Roman province ofOccitania. Its existence was recorded on a list of eleven other settlements on astela inNîmes (ancient Nemausus)[5] on which its name appears as "VCETIAE".[6] It was under the administration of Nemausus, to which it provided water via aRoman aqueduct.[7] Ucetia was also known asCastrum Uceciense, which is in theNotitia of the Provinces of Gallia.[6]
In 2017, Romanmosaics were discovered by accident during construction at a local high school, and represented material proof of Ucetia.[5] The mosaics had depictions of animals such as a deer, an owl, an eagle, and bulls.[5] These have been identified as "honor to the Roman gods".[8] For many European cultures, deer represented deities of the woodlands,[9] and the owl was a symbol of the goddessAthena. Together with the animals, decorations represented water, geometric shapes, colors, and patterns, including a design with ancientswastika-like elements.
Ucetia was inhabited from at least the 1st century B.C. until the 7th century A.D.[10]
Ucetia was known to have been a source of water carried viaaqueduct to many communities, especially ancient Nemausus (Nîmes), which grew to a population of about 30,000.[11] The aqueduct system included thePont du Gard. Construction of the aqueduct led to a "classic Roman tragedy" of greed in the nearby cities and towns that affected Ucetia and other communities.[12]
From September 1940 to 9 November 1942, PCCadix operated at Château des Fouzes near Uzès, inVichy France. It was a cryptographer team organized by French majorGustave Bertrand, comprising 15 Polish men from thePolish Cipher Bureau, 9 Frenchmen and 7Republican Spanish refugees.From there, they worked againstAxis ciphers including theEnigma machine.
Uzès has ahot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classificationCsa). The average annual temperature in Uzès is 14.5 °C (58.1 °F). The average annual rainfall is 809.4 mm (31.87 in) with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 23.7 °C (74.7 °F), and lowest in January, at around 6.1 °C (43.0 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Uzès was 43.9 °C (111.0 °F) on 28 June 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −12.1 °C (10.2 °F) on 2 March 2005.
| Climate data for Uzès (1991−2020 normals, extremes 2002−present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 21.7 (71.1) | 24.2 (75.6) | 26.9 (80.4) | 30.9 (87.6) | 33.6 (92.5) | 43.9 (111.0) | 39.9 (103.8) | 41.5 (106.7) | 37.2 (99.0) | 31.4 (88.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 20.4 (68.7) | 43.9 (111.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 11.4 (52.5) | 12.6 (54.7) | 16.7 (62.1) | 20.2 (68.4) | 23.8 (74.8) | 29.3 (84.7) | 32.0 (89.6) | 31.4 (88.5) | 26.7 (80.1) | 21.3 (70.3) | 15.6 (60.1) | 11.9 (53.4) | 21.1 (70.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 6.1 (43.0) | 6.9 (44.4) | 10.0 (50.0) | 13.3 (55.9) | 16.8 (62.2) | 21.4 (70.5) | 23.7 (74.7) | 23.3 (73.9) | 19.5 (67.1) | 15.4 (59.7) | 10.4 (50.7) | 6.9 (44.4) | 14.5 (58.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 0.9 (33.6) | 1.2 (34.2) | 3.3 (37.9) | 6.4 (43.5) | 9.7 (49.5) | 13.5 (56.3) | 15.5 (59.9) | 15.2 (59.4) | 12.2 (54.0) | 9.4 (48.9) | 5.3 (41.5) | 1.9 (35.4) | 7.9 (46.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −8.6 (16.5) | −11.5 (11.3) | −12.1 (10.2) | −4.6 (23.7) | 0.9 (33.6) | 5.1 (41.2) | 8.2 (46.8) | 7.2 (45.0) | 2.3 (36.1) | −1.5 (29.3) | −6.3 (20.7) | −9.5 (14.9) | −12.1 (10.2) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 57.2 (2.25) | 42.8 (1.69) | 55.8 (2.20) | 70.9 (2.79) | 60.6 (2.39) | 37.0 (1.46) | 32.9 (1.30) | 49.9 (1.96) | 110.0 (4.33) | 114.3 (4.50) | 121.7 (4.79) | 56.3 (2.22) | 809.4 (31.87) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 6.3 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 7.2 | 6.5 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 6.6 | 8.0 | 5.7 | 66.9 |
| Source:Météo-France[13] | |||||||||||||
The title ofDuke of Uzès, in theCrussol family, is the premier title in thepeerage of France, coming right after the princes of the blood. The title of seigneur d'Uzès is attested in a charter of 1088. After part of Languedoc was attached to royal demesne (1229), the lords' (and later dukes') military skill and fealty to the Crown propelled their rise through the nobility, until, after the treason of the lastDuke of Montmorency, beheaded in 1632, the title of First Duke of France fell to Uzès, who retain their stronghold in the center of town today, which has expanded round the 11th centuryTour Bermond. If France were a kingdom, it would be the job of the duke of Uzès to cry out,"Le Roi est mort. Vive le Roi!" at each state funeral, and defend the honour of the queen mother. Twenty-one dukes have been wounded or killed as hereditary Champion of France over the centuries.
The present-day city retains the trace of its walls as a circuit of boulevards. ACapuchin chapel, built in 1635 to house the mortal remains of the dukes, occupies the site of a 1st-century AD temple dedicated to the first Roman Emperor,Augustus.There are monuments of the prestige of the former bishopric, once one of the most extensive of Languedoc, but extinguished at the Revolution, and private houses that witness the wealth that the textile trade brought in the 16th century. The town is also homes to three feudal towers, the Bermonde Tower (part of thechâteau du Duché), the Bishop Tower and the Royal Tower.
Uzès Cathedral was destroyed in theAlbigensian Crusade, rebuilt, and destroyed again in the 16th centuryWars of Religion. Rebuilt again in the 17th century, it was stripped out during the French Revolution. The 11th centuryRomanesqueTour Fenestrelle ("Window Tower"), with its paired windows, is probably the most famous icon of the city. It was listed as aFrench Historical Monument in 1862.[14]
Uzès is locally famous for its Saturday market. The market offers local produce, but it also boasts textiles made in the region and many tourist delights.[15]
Tourism is one of the key industrial sectors, alongside the local arts scene and wine making.
The region has a long history in the production oflicorice. The German companyHaribo maintains a factory and museum in Uzès, which traces its roots back to the licorice factory Henri Lefont opened there in 1862. His company later merged withRicqlès, and was then taken over by Haribo.[16]
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: EHESS[17] and INSEE (1968-2017)[18] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
