Le Pont-de-Montvert (; oc, Lo Pònt de Montverd) is a former

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Lozère Lozère (; oc, Losera ) is a landlocked department in the region of Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the east by Ardèche, to the south by Gard, to the west by Aveyron, ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

in southern

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 ...

. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Pont-de-Montvert-Sud-Mont-Lozère. It is located in the heart of the Parc National des Cévennes. The inhabitants of Le Pont-de-Montvert are called ''Pontoises'' or ''Montvertipontains''.

History

Late Neolithic In the archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the Chalcolithic. It is some ...

standing stones called the

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be foun ...

s of the Cham des Bondons, the largest concentration of menhirs in the south of France, bear mute witness to the long prehistory of human occupation here. The village was a fief of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

. Guillaume de Grimoard, future pope under the name of

Urban V Pope Urban V ( la, Urbanus V; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was the head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the on ...

, was born in the ''Château de Grizac'' here in 1309. The picturesquely sited structure, no larger than a farm, reveals its defensive nature by its narrow windows, perched high in its granite walls, and its four-square tower, now topless.

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infan ...

exempted the ''seigneurie de Grizac'' from all taxes, a privilege its lords maintained until the Revolution. In the 17th century it remained a local centre of ardent French

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s") in a traditionally highly independent region; an incident in the village, the assassination on 24 July 1702 of the repressive abbé of Chayla,

François Langlade François de Langlade du Chayla (c. 1647 – 24 July 1702) was the French Catholic Abbé of Chaila (or Chayla), Archpriest of the Cevennes and Inspector of Missions of the Cevennes. His brutal repression of French (Protestant) Huguenots by means o ...

, sparked the

rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

of the

Camisard Camisards were Huguenots (French Protestants) of the rugged and isolated Cévennes region and the neighbouring Vaunage in southern France. In the early 1700s, they raised a resistance against the persecutions which followed Louis XIV's Revocation ...

s. Langlade had chosen to use his house as prison; he had arrested and tortured a group of seven Protestants accused of attempting to flee France. A band of Camisards, led by Abraham Mazet, peacefully asked for the release of the prisoners, but when this was refused they slaughtered Langlade and two priests. The Huguenot elites of the neighbouring village of Fraissinet-de-Lozère chose nevertheless to fight against the rebels. The Protestant ''Temple de Vialas'' survives in the hamlet of Vialas nearby.

Main sights

The main village, Pont-de-Montvert (870 m altitude) at the base of the south-facing slopes of

Mont Lozère Mont Lozère ( oc, Mont Losera) is the highest peak in the Cévennes, a subrange of the Massif Central in France. It is above sea level and lies within the Cévennes National Park. Mont Lozère is commonly used for skiing during the winter mont ...

, has retained the stony granite-built traditional aspect of its closely built centre, surrounding by outlying hamlets. The village is named for its hump-backed bridge (''en dos d'âne'') that spans in a single arch the swift-flowing Tarn— here near its source. The bridge is guarded by a defensive tower at the village end, now with a more amiable function: village clock. Medieval in aspect, bridge and tower date to the 17th century.

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

passed through Pont-de-Montvert on the ramble narrated in his ''

Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes ''Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes'' (1879) is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's earliest published works and is considered a pioneering classic of outdoor literature. Background Stevenson was in his late 20s and still dependent on his par ...

'' (1879), one of the first books to present

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

and

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

as recreational activities. Today Stevenson fans retrace the ''route Stevenson'' on hiking paths (the

GR 70 The GR 70, also known as the Chemin de Stevenson or the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail, is a Grande Randonnée (long-distance footpath) that runs for approximately through the French departments of Haute-Loire, Lozère and Gard in a generally north ...

), some of which are

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower vall ...

routes taken annually by shepherds and their flocks. The

open-air museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

''Ecomusée du Mont Lozère'' sited here presents the ecology of the region. A feature is the traditional ''Ferme de Troubat'', with its threshing-floor and its flour mill.

References

External links

Pont-de-Montvert
(separate texts in English, Dutch and German; photographs)
Sivom Sources du TarnLozère on-line:
Le Pont de Montvert

(in English)

Photo gallery of traditional masonry, including the Château de Grizac {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Pont-De-Montvert Pontdemontvert, Le Camisards

History

Main sights

References

Further reading

External links