Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone

Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone (Occitan: Vilanòva de Magalona) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone station has rail connections to Narbonne, Montpellier and Avignon. The name Maguelone is a variation of Latin "margarita" (pearl), from Persian "margaritis" - in modern French the "marguerite" (daisy) took its name from the precious stone. The ending is probably a misattribution: "-ita" is a common Romance feminine diminutive suffix, equivalent in meaning to the Occitan "-ona". Maguelone (or Maguelon) was one of the "seven cities" that may have been the origin of the name for the region called Septimania. Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, which passed under the control of the Visigothic kingdom in 462, when Septimania was ceded to Theodoric II, king of the Visigoths. The seven cities were today's Elne, Agde, Narbonne, Lodève, Béziers, Nîmes and Maguelone. In the aftermath of the Battle of Vouille (507), Maguelone managed to remain out of Frankish sway, and was part of the Visigothic kingdom. At first the stronghold of a Visigothic noble, on high ground protected by coastal lagoons, Maguelone became the seat of a bishop. When the early history of Maguelone was compiled in 1583 by Abbé Gariel (Histoire des évêques de Maguelonne) he provided the see with an apostolic origin, as is de rigueur for any long-established bishopric of Late Antiquity throughout the three Gauls. The first historical bishop of Maguelonne, Boetius, assisted at the Council of Toledo in 589; doubtless the Christian community was far older. In the 8th century (circa 725) the Umayyad forces conquered the area, but the stronghold was destroyed by Charles Martel in his 737 campaign across Septimania, almost depopulating the region. The Gallo-Roman and Gothic nobility allied with the Andalusian military kept the position until 752, when Pepin the Short tipped the scale in favour of the Franks, who conquered Septimania.

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Related concepts (5)

Béziers

Béziers (bezje; Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event. The town is located on a small bluff above the river Orb, about from the Mediterranean coast and southwest of Montpellier. At Béziers, the Canal du Midi passes over the river Orb by means of the Pont-canal de l'Orb, an aqueduct claimed to be the first of its kind.

Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone

Narbonne

Narbonne (nɑːrˈbɒn, also US-ˈbɔːn,_-ˈbʌn, naʁbɔn; Narbona naɾˈβunɔ; Narbo ˈna(ː)rboː; Late Latin:Narbona) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was historically a prosperous port. From the 14th century it declined following a change in the course of the river Aude. It is marginally the largest commune in Aude, but the capital of the Aude department is the smaller commune of Carcassonne.