Bazas (; oc-gsc, Vasats) is a commune in the

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Geography

Bazas stands on a narrow promontory above the

Beuve Saint Beuve (or Bove or Bova) and her brother Balderic (or Baudry) lived in the 7th century in France. According to Christian Settipani, their father was probably Sigobert the Lame, King of Cologne, rather than Sigebert I of Austrasia, as indicate ...

valley 60 km/37 mi southeast of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

and 40 km/25 mi southwest of Marmande.

History

As ''Cossio'', it was capital of the ancient tribe of the ''Vasates'', and under the Romans one of the twelve cities of Novempopulania, when it was known as ''Civitas Vasatica'' In later times it was capital of the district of Bazadais, and was the seat of the bishop of the

diocese of Bazas The Diocese of Bazas, centred on Bazas in Aquitaine, covered the Bazadais region, known under the Romans as the ''Vasatensis pagus'' after the ancient occupants, the Vasates. In the 2nd century it was part of the Novempopulania, one of the sevente ...

from at least the beginning of the 6th century until 1790. And for 250 years prior to 1057, the Bishop of Bazas bore the title of Bishop of Aire,

Dax Dax or DAX may refer to: Business and organizations * DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies ** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX ** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms * Dax ...

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

Oloron Oloron-Sainte-Marie (; oc, Auloron e Senta Maria; eu, Oloroe-Donamaria) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2015: Aquitaine), southwestern France. History The town was founded by the ...

and Lescar. According to

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

, Bazas had a bishop at the time of the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

invasion in the 5th century. The dedication of the cathedral to

St. John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

is explained in an account given by the same historian that a lady of Bazas, whom certain hagiographers of the 19th century believe to have been

St. Veronica Saint Veronica, also known as Berenike, was a woman from Jerusalem who lived in the 1st century AD, according to extra-biblical Christian sacred tradition. A celebrated saint in many pious Christian countries, the 17th-century '' Acta Sanctoru ...

, brought from Palestine a relic of St. John the Baptist at the time of that saint's death.

Pope Urban II Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...

(1088–99) preached the crusade at Bazas. Bazas was a subprefecture until 1926, when it lost this role to Langon.

Population

Sights

The town has a Gothic cathedral dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries, now part of the Unesco World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.868 - Chemins de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle en France
Unesco, 2016. There are remains of ramparts (15th and 16th centuries) and several old houses of the 16th century. (Phot

Saturday morning markets are well worth seeing. The area is also home to the Clementin Castles, built by Pope Clement V for himself and his family. You can visit around Bazas: * Château de Roquetaillade * Château de Villandraut * Château de Fargues * Château de Cazeneuve

Economy

The vineyards of the vicinity produce

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...

. The town carries on tanning and trade in the well-known Bazadais cattle.

Transport

Bazas is by-passed by the ' (N524). The N524 forms part of the

Itinéraire à Grand Gabarit The ''Itinéraire à Grand Gabarit'' is a water and road route that has been created in order to allow the transport of the outsize structural sections of the Airbus A380 airliner from their point of manufacture to Toulouse for final assembly. Th ...

, a route which has been modified to allow its use by the oversize road convoys conveying body sections and wings of the Airbus A380 airliner, and several upgrades were made to the road through Bazas to this end.

References

External links

Roquetaillade castleTown council website
{{Authority control Communes of Gironde Gallia Aquitania Gascony