June 2010

Historic Cities: Uzès ( Usès)

Uzès is a picturesque town in the Gard département, about 15 miles north-northeast of Nîmes. The modern town retains the trace of its walls as a circuit of boulevards, the outline clearly visible from the air as in other circulades.
Originally called Ucetia, Uzès was a small Gallo-Roman oppidum. The town lies at the source of the Eure, from where a Romans aqueduct was built in the first century BC, to supply water to the local city of Nîmes. The most famous stretch of the aqueduct is the Pont du Gard, which carried fresh water over splendid arches across the River Gard (or Gardon) .

Like other cities in the Languedoc, Uzès was a haven for Jews in anti-Semitic western Christendom. The civilised and tolerant urban life of 5th-century Uzès contrasted with the rest of Europe. Jews were settled there as early as the 5th century. A Bishop of Uzès (Saint Ferréol) enjoyed their friendship. On this account complaint was made about him. As a result the bishop was obliged to change his attitude toward the Jews, compelling all those who would not become Christians to leave Uzès. By the 13th century, Uzès once again hosted a small community of Jewish scholars, as well as a community of Cathars.

Uzès was known for its serges. Like many cloth-manufacturing centers, the city and the surrounding countryside became strongly Protestant during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century. Many of the city's churches were destroyed and today only two remain.

The title of Duke of Uzès (duc d'Uzès), belonging to the family de Crussol d'Uzès, is the premier title in the peerage of France, ranking immediately after princes of the royal blood. The title of seigneur d'Uzès is attested in a charter of 1088. The town has expanded round the 11th century Tour Bermond, now located in the centre of the modern town. The family retain their stronghold there. After Languedoc was annexed by France under the treaty of Meaux in 1229, the dukes' military skill and loyalty to their new suzerain propelled them through the nobility. On the death of the last Duc de Montmorency (beheaded in Toulouse in 1632) the title of Premier Duke of France fell to Uzès. Over the centuries, twenty-one dukes have been wounded or killed as Hereditary Champions of France. It was part of the job of the incumbent Duke of Uzès to defend the honour of the Queen Mother. Before the French Revolution it was also his job to cry out on the death of the king, "Le Roi est mort. Vive le Roi!" at his funeral.

A Capuchin chapel, built in 1635 to house the mortal remains of the Dukes of Uzès occupies the site of the 1st century temple to the first Roman Emperor, Octavian Augustus. The 11th century Romanesque Tour Fenestrelle ("Window Tower"), with its paired windows, is probably the most famous icon of the city. Private houses witness the wealth that the textile trade brought to the town in the 16th century.

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