Aigues-Mortes
Encyclopedia
Aigues-Mortes is a commune
in the Gard
department in southern France
.
The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved.
, around 102 BC
, but the first document mentioning a place called "Ayga Mortas" (dead waters) dates from the 10th century AD.
Louis IX of France
(Saint Louis) rebuilt the port in the 13th century as France's only Mediterranean port at that time. It was the embarkation point of the Seventh Crusade
(1248) and the Eighth Crusade
(1270).
The 1,650 meters of city walls were built in two phases: the first during the reign of Philippe III the Bold and the second during the reign of Philippe IV the Fair, who had the enclosure completed between 1289 and 1300. The Constance Tower, completed in 1248, is all that remains of the castle built in Louis IX's reign. It was designed to be impregnable with six-meter-thick walls. A spiral staircase leads to the different levels of the tower.
From 1575 to 1622, Aigues-Mortes was one of the eight safe havens granted to the Protestants. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes
in 1685 caused severe repression of Protestantism, which was marked in Languedoc
and the Cévennes
in the early 18th century by the "Camisard War". Like other towers in the town, from 1686 onwards, the Constance Tower was used as a prison for the Huguenots who refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. In 1703, Abraham Mazel, leader of the Camisards, managed to escape with sixteen companions.
In 1893 a conflict erupted between the French and the Italian
s who worked in the salt evaporation ponds of Peccais. Massacre of the Italians at Aigues-Mortes
resulted in nine (maybe many more: 400 victims in Le migrazioni di ieri e di oggi by Giovanni Gozzini) Italian deaths with hundreds injured in the ethnic violence.
By road, Aigues-Mortes is about 35 km (21.75 mi) from Nîmes
, préfecture
(administrative capital) of the Gard
département and 30 km (18.65 mi) from Montpellier
, préfecture
of the Hérault
département. As the crow flies, Aigues-Mortes is 32.5 km (20.19 mi) from Nîmes and 26 km (16.16 mi) from Montpellier.
A rail branch line from Nîmes passes through Aigues-Mortes to its terminus on the coast at Grau-du-Roi. This line also transports sea salt.
Aigues-Mortes lies on the Canal Rhone a Sete
and a side branch leads to the Mediterranean Sea
at Grau-du-Roi
.
, asparagus
and sea salt
are also important staples. In the surrounding countryside, bulls and Camargue horses
are bred.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Gard
Gard
Gard is a département located in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.The department is named after the River Gard, although the formerly Occitan name of the River Gard, Gardon, has been replacing the traditional French name in recent decades, even among French speakers.- History...
department in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved.
History
The foundation of the city is attributed to Gaius MariusGaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
, around 102 BC
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
, but the first document mentioning a place called "Ayga Mortas" (dead waters) dates from the 10th century AD.
Louis IX of France
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
(Saint Louis) rebuilt the port in the 13th century as France's only Mediterranean port at that time. It was the embarkation point of the Seventh Crusade
Seventh Crusade
The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, was captured and defeated by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya...
(1248) and the Eighth Crusade
Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
(1270).
The 1,650 meters of city walls were built in two phases: the first during the reign of Philippe III the Bold and the second during the reign of Philippe IV the Fair, who had the enclosure completed between 1289 and 1300. The Constance Tower, completed in 1248, is all that remains of the castle built in Louis IX's reign. It was designed to be impregnable with six-meter-thick walls. A spiral staircase leads to the different levels of the tower.
From 1575 to 1622, Aigues-Mortes was one of the eight safe havens granted to the Protestants. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
in 1685 caused severe repression of Protestantism, which was marked in Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
and the Cévennes
Cévennes
The Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...
in the early 18th century by the "Camisard War". Like other towers in the town, from 1686 onwards, the Constance Tower was used as a prison for the Huguenots who refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. In 1703, Abraham Mazel, leader of the Camisards, managed to escape with sixteen companions.
In 1893 a conflict erupted between the French and the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
s who worked in the salt evaporation ponds of Peccais. Massacre of the Italians at Aigues-Mortes
Massacre of the Italians at Aigues-Mortes
The Massacre of the Italians at Aigues-Mortes was a series of events on the 16 and 17 August 1893, in Aigues-Mortes , leading to the killing of Italian workers of the Compagnie des Salins du Midi, by French villagers and blue-collar workers...
resulted in nine (maybe many more: 400 victims in Le migrazioni di ieri e di oggi by Giovanni Gozzini) Italian deaths with hundreds injured in the ethnic violence.
Geography
Aigues-Mortes is located in the Petite Camargue.By road, Aigues-Mortes is about 35 km (21.75 mi) from Nîmes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
, préfecture
Préfecture
A prefecture in France can refer to :*the Chef-lieu de département, the town in which the administration of a department is located;*the Chef-lieu de région, the town in which the administration of a region is located;...
(administrative capital) of the Gard
Gard
Gard is a département located in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.The department is named after the River Gard, although the formerly Occitan name of the River Gard, Gardon, has been replacing the traditional French name in recent decades, even among French speakers.- History...
département and 30 km (18.65 mi) from Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
, préfecture
Préfecture
A prefecture in France can refer to :*the Chef-lieu de département, the town in which the administration of a department is located;*the Chef-lieu de région, the town in which the administration of a region is located;...
of the Hérault
Hérault
Hérault is a department in the south of France named after the Hérault river.-History:Hérault is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
département. As the crow flies, Aigues-Mortes is 32.5 km (20.19 mi) from Nîmes and 26 km (16.16 mi) from Montpellier.
A rail branch line from Nîmes passes through Aigues-Mortes to its terminus on the coast at Grau-du-Roi. This line also transports sea salt.
Aigues-Mortes lies on the Canal Rhone a Sete
Canal du Rhône à Sète
The Canal du Rhône à Sète is a canal in southern France, which connects the Étang de Thau in Sète to the Rhône River in Beaucaire, Gard. At the entrance to the Étang de Thau, the canal connects with the Canal du Midi....
and a side branch leads to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
at Grau-du-Roi
Le Grau-du-Roi
Le Grau-du-Roi is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It is the sole commume in Gard to have a frontage on the Mediterranean. To the west is Herault and La Grande-Motte, and to the east is the department of Bouches-du-Rhone...
.
Population
Economy
While tourism plays a large part of the town's economy, wineWine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
and sea salt
Sea salt
Sea salt, salt obtained by the evaporation of seawater, is used in cooking and cosmetics. It is historically called bay salt or solar salt...
are also important staples. In the surrounding countryside, bulls and Camargue horses
Camargue (horse)
The Camargue horse is an ancient breed of horse indigenous to the Camargue area in southern France. For centuries, possibly thousands of years, these small horses have lived wild in the harsh environment of the Camargue marshes and wetlands of the Rhone delta. There they developed the stamina,...
are bred.
Literary references
- Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
's third major posthumous work, the novel The Garden of EdenThe Garden of EdenThe Garden of Eden is the second posthumously released novel of Ernest Hemingway, published in 1986. Begun in 1946, Hemingway worked on the manuscript for the next 15 years, during which time he also wrote The Old Man and the Sea, The Dangerous Summer, A Moveable Feast, and Islands in the...
, takes place in Aigues-Mortes. - Wayne KoestenbaumWayne KoestenbaumWayne Koestenbaum is an American poet and cultural critic. He received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University...
set his 2004 novel Moira Orfei in Aigues-Mortes in Aigues Mortes. - Michael MoorcockMichael MoorcockMichael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
's Hawkmoon novels feature Aigues Mortes as the site of Castle Brass and capital city of a futuristic "Kamarg". - Giovanni BoccaccioGiovanni BoccaccioGiovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
's The Decameron, Second Day, Seventh Story, as the place the king's daughter was shipwrecked in her false explanation of her four year absence.
Gallery
External links
- Office de Tourisme d'Aigues-Mortes
- Aigues-Mortes guide Navigation and mooring information.
- Aigues-Mortes Photogallery
- Photos of Aigues Mortes