Bédarieux
Encyclopedia
Bédarieux, is a commune
in the Hérault
department in the region
of Languedoc-Roussillon
in southern France
.
The inhabitants are called Bédariciens.
and 30 km (18.6 mi) north of Béziers
. The commune is in the Orb
valley, the river flowing north-south into Bédarieux and east-west downstream.
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 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...
department in the region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
of Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...
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 inhabitants are called Bédariciens.
Geography
Bédarieux is 56 km (34.8 mi) west of MontpellierMontpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
and 30 km (18.6 mi) north of Béziers
Béziers
Béziers is a town in Languedoc in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Hérault department. Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred around bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event...
. The commune is in the Orb
Orb River
The Orb is a 145 km long river in the Herault département of Southern France that flows into the Mediterranean Sea, in Valras-Plage. The river flows through the towns Bédarieux and Béziers, where it is crossed by the canal du Midi on the Orb Aqueduct. In ancient times, the Orb was crossed at...
valley, the river flowing north-south into Bédarieux and east-west downstream.
History
The Saint-Nazaire de Lodéran chapel (now disappeared) was mentioned in 1153. In the 17th century, Bédarieux had important cloth factories.Population
Sights
- Several streets in Bédarieux retain their 17th-century architecture.
- The former castle, La Bastide dates from the fourteenth century. It has machicolationMachicolationA machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned. A machicolated battlement...
s, arrow slits and a 16th-century well. A wooden beam has been dendrochronologicallyDendrochronologyDendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
dated to 1350, but evidence exists to suggest this was part of adding the machicolations to a lower, squatter tower. The well, too, may date from this first construction by the Abbey of VillemagneVillemagne-l'ArgentièreVillemagne l'Argentière is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon southern France.It is located near Bédarieux.-History:...
, (a nearby village) as part of the defences of the ford crossing the River Orb. A document dated 1156 records the king, Louis VIILouis VII of FranceLouis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
, granting the Abbot the right to extend the fortifications protecting his properties. This, it is assumed, included the construction of La Bastide. The whole property was sold into private hands in the late 16th century, when it became a domaine owning all the land from its site to Bedarieux, two kilometres away. - The Promenade de la Perspective (1742), a dyke built to protect the town from Orb floods, is lined with 200-year-old plane treesPlatanusPlatanus is a small genus of trees native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae....
. - 16th-century bridge over the Orb
- 19th-century railway viaduct with 37 arches
- Church of Saint-Alexandre built in the 17th–19th century (though recorded in 1189)
- Maison des arts Museum in the former hospice, created in 1976 to collect together regional heritage: painting, folklore, archaeology, geology, botany, popular arts and traditions.
Personalities
- Paul RabautPaul RabautPaul Rabaut was a French pastor of the Huguenot "Church of the Desert".He was born at Bédarieux, Hérault. In 1738 he was admitted as a preacher by the synod of Languedoc, and in 1740 he went to Lausanne to complete his studies in the seminary founded by Antoine Court...
(1718–94): Protestant pastor. - Louis-Annibal Escalle (1737–99): Adjudant-Général, one of NapoleonNapoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's lieutenants during his campaigns in Italy and Egypt, died at the siege of AcreAcre, IsraelAcre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
. - Ferdinand Fabre (1827–98): writer, novelist, mixing lots of Occitan vocabulary with French in his works (Les Courbezon 1861, Mon oncle Célestin 1881, Toussaint Galabru 1887). Ferdinand Fabre died five days before his election to the Académie FrançaiseAcadémie françaiseL'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
. - Pierre Auguste CotPierre Auguste CotPierre Auguste Cot was a French painter of the Academic Classicism school.-Biography:He was born in Bédarieux, Hérault and initially studied at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse before going to Paris. He studied under Leon Cogniet, Alexandre Cabanel and William-Adolphe Bouguereau...
(1837–83): French romantic painter (Le Printemps (Spring) is one of his best-known works). - Eugène VailléEugène VailléEugène Vaillé was a French postal historian and the first curator of the postal museum of France, now La Poste's Museum, from 1946 to 1955.- Biography :...
(1875–1959): French postal history expert and first curator of the French Postal Museum (musée postal de FranceMusée de La PosteThe Musée de La Poste is the museum of the French postal operator La Poste. It specialises in the postal history and philately of France...
), later the Museum of the Post Office (musée de La PosteMusée de La PosteThe Musée de La Poste is the museum of the French postal operator La Poste. It specialises in the postal history and philately of France...
). - Vincent Candela (born 24 October 1973), French footballer who played for many years in Italy, 40 appearances for his national team, including the World CupFIFA World CupThe FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
in 1998.