Antiquity
Towards the end of IIIeme century before J. - C. Celtic people, the Volques, takes its districts in the area of the Rhone in the Garonne, of the Cevennes in the Pyrenees. They have as a capital Toulouse and Nimes.One attends a first structuring of the territory.
They make a pact with the Romans dice the first century before Christ.
Narbonne east creates to pacify province -118 and becomes the capital of the Narbonnaise.
The area like one the third of Gaulle is christianized by Saint Sernin (Saturnin) of Greek origin which was martyrisé into 250 in Toulouse attached to a bull planned for a pagan sacrifice.
At the beginning of the fifth century the invasion of the Vandals takes place. A few years later, the Visigoths are essential. The Romans give up the guard of the territory to them. The Royaume Visigoth occupies soon one the Southern third of Gaulle then Spain. Toulouse becomes their capital. The Visigoths developed a Christian heresy called of Arius: the Arianisme . Clovis, king of the Francs, carry out a crusade against them. Toulouse falls into 507. The area of Narbonne the Septimanie as all the remainder of Spain remains wisigothe until the fall, in front of the Arabs, of their new Tolède capital.
The Middle Ages
This province was temporarily dominated by the Moors 719 , before being conquered by Charlemagne, which named it Marche of Gothie included in the kingdom of Aquitaine created in 778 . This vast territory including all the South of the Rhone in the Atlantic in order to federate the Hispanic reconquest with for Toulouse capital will be bequeathed by Charlemagne to one of its sons into 781. The administration is entrusted to the counts de Toulouse .
During this period of the Moslem refugees who fled the Spanish Reconquista, and later the Inquisition, made stock in Languedoc-Roussillon.
At the time feudal a great political fragmentation took place: the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne, from language Catalan E passed in the orbit of the counties of Barcelona, become kingdom of Aragon, whereas the Viscounts of north (Carcassonne, Béziers, Nimes, Agde) passed under the domination of the Maison Trencavel.
A territorial unit of north was carried out by the counts of Toulouse in particular under Raimond IV known as Raimond de Saint Gilles (1042-1115) which will achieve by marriage the goal of unification by increasing its state in the county of Rouergue, of Nimes, of Narbonne, Gévaudan, of Agde, of Béziers and Uzès.
After the crusade against the Albigensians following the extinction of the dynasty of the counts de Toulouse with died of Jeanne girl of Raymond VII, Languedoc is attached to King de France in 1271 .
The area is managed on behalf of king de France in three Seneschalsies Toulouse, Carcassonne and Beaucaire .
From there royal Languedoc is born the which will persist until the French revolution. It will preserve its habits, its language and a specific administration.
The treaty of Corbeil of 1258 already ratified division in the South: the Corbières formed the border between the kingdom of France and the kingdom of Aragon. Only unit at that time between Low-Languedoc and Roussillon-Cerdagne: the ecclesiastical Province of Narbonne of which depended évéchés on Béziers, of Elne, Saint-Pons-with-Thomières, Saint-Papoul, Maguelonne, Nimes, Uzès, Agde and Mende. The kingdom of Majorque which existed in XIIIe century gathered the Comté of Roussillon, the county of Cerdagne and the seigniory of Montpellier.
Montpellier was sold to king de France in 1349 and Majorque annexed by kings d' Aragon.
Modern times
In 1659 the Traité of the Pyrenees attached Roussillon and the north of Cerdagne to the kingdom of France, but the provinces of Languedoc and Roussillon administratively remained separate. Languedoc is, a province of State with its own States Provinciaux. Within the States of Languedoc, the 3 orders are represented (nobility, clergy, third-State). Under the period of Louis 14, the Basville intendant with the participation of the States allows the development of an administration created by the superintendent of finances Colbert, the stud farms. But this experiment will not have success. Stockbreeders preferring to make cover their mares by asses that by standards provided by the administration. Indeed, the mules are more quickly sold than the horses because they are more useful for the economy.
Contemporary time
During the cutting of the area S, the Languedoc-Roussillon appears a fragile geographical construction. Several of its departments look at worms of the close regional prefectures indeed: the Gard towards Marseilles, the Lozere is wedged in the south of the Massif Central, the Aude and the the Eastern Pyrenees towards Toulouse even towards the Spanish Catalogne.
The town of Montpellier in the Herault is selected for regional prefecture by its little offset geographical position, whereas its importance is equivalent to Perpignan, Carcassonne, Nimes and even Béziers.
This balance changes quickly in the Années 1960 with the arrival of 25.000 repatriates at the end of the Guerre of Algeria and the establishment of the computer firm IBM (4000 direct uses plus the local subcontractors). The economic engine is in place.
Then, the political engine is the mayor Georges Frêche (PS) elected official at the end of the years 1970 and which launches many projects of urban developments to attract inhabitants and companies. Montpellier becomes a true regional metropolis which the other departments of the area jalousent. This disagreement between “Montpellier the exceptionally gifted one” (advertizing slogan of the town hall of Montpellier) and the remainder of the area is translated in the opposition between the mayor of the regional capital and the president of the District council of then, Jacques Blanc (UMP).
Whereas the area is sociologiquement on the left (general advices of the Aude, Gard, Herault and PO, big cities), Jacques Blanc manages during 18 years to gather a majority with each election, leaves for that, to be combined punctually with the National front, as in 1998. Elected of Lozere he however encourages a development policy of the whole of the area.
It is at the time of the regional elections of 2004 that Jacques Blanc is beaten by her old socialist rival. Among the médiatisées proposals of Georges Frêche, as a new president of the district council, the will is to give up the name of Languedoc-Roussillon to the profit of that of the Septimanie, name of the area of the Roman epoch until the beginning of the Middle Ages. The name of Languedoc-Roussillon does not have besides an official existence since the fastening of the word Roussillon, dating from the Années 1960, is a nonformal composition of use. The use adopted by the District council consists in naming the area “Septimanie-Languedoc-Roussillon”. The Regional headquarters continues to speak about “Languedoc-Roussillon area”.
In 1993, the area organizes the Mediterranean Jeux.
| Random links: | Nitocris | Proceedings off the National Academy off Sciences | County of Yuexi (Anhui) | Sophie Moirand | Handle-blue |