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From the 5th century until the French Revolution, Uzès was the seat (cathedra) of a
bishop. The first Bishop of Uzès historically known is Constantius, present at the Council of Vaison in 442. Other
notable bishops include St. Firminus (541-53) and St. Ferreol (553-81). St. Firminus is locally venerated as Saint
Firmin who supposedly provides protection against plague. His relics rest in the Cathedral of Saint Théodorit.
Saint Theodoritus, priest and alleged martyr, is the patron saint of the town. In time the bishopric became one of
the most extensive of Languedoc. Bishops obtained the right to strike coinage and the right to dispense justice,
both signs of their temporal power. In the 13th century, at the height of their power, the bishops were able to
purchase a part of the seigneurie of Uzès. Guillaume de Grimoard du Roure (1310 – 1370) was consecrated as Bishop
of Uzès before becoming Pope Urban V. Like other cloth manufacturing centers the town and the surrounding areas
were strongly Protestant during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century. Even a bishop, Jean de Saint Gelais
(1531-60) converted to Protestantism. The bishopric of Nîmes like that of Uzès was extinguished during the French
Revolution. It was re-established as a separate diocese in 1821, and a Papal Brief of 27 April 1877, granted its
bishops the right to add Uzès to their Episcopal style. The Cathedral had been destroyed during the Albigensian
Crusade, later rebuilt, but destroyed again in the 16th century during the Wars of Religion. It was rebuilt again
in the 17th century only to be stripped during the French Revolution.
Uzès was the birthplace of Firmin Abauzit (1679-1767), scholar who
worked on physics, theology and philosophy and
Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, Count de Brueys, (1753-1798), the
French commander in the Battle of the Nile.
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