Velay () is a historical area of

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 ...

situated in east

Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; oc, Naut Léger or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, ...

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

'' and south east of

Massif central The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,0 ...

History

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

mentioned the vellavi as subordinate of the

arverni The Arverni (Gaulish: *''Aruernoi'') were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Auvergne region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were one of the most powerful tribes of ancient Gaul, contesting primacy over the region with the n ...

. Strabon suggested that they might have made secession from the

and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

located them as ''vellauni''. The country is well delimited by natural obstacles:

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named after ...

river in the south, Mount Boutières and Mézenc on the east, Mount Devès on the west. Devès has Celtic toponyms clearly suggesting an antic border (Fix from ''finis''; la Durande from Gaulish ''Equiranda'' meaning frontier). No explanation concerning the toponym, except 19th century's naïve scholastic ones that connected the name to

PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), sweete ...

root ''wel'' (land of "well ... people") or even to the mythological ''Hel'' (“land or mountains of the hell” referring to the volcanic geology).

Middle Ages

In the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Velay was known as and was placed under the rule of the

Duchy of Aquitaine The Duchy of Aquitaine ( oc, Ducat d'Aquitània, ; french: Duché d'Aquitaine, ) was a historical fiefdom in western, central, and southern areas of present-day France to the south of the river Loire, although its extent, as well as its name, flu ...

, and followed the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

destiny. The first mention of a county of Velay was in 1142. By the beginning of the 10th century,

Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay (, literally ''Le Puy in Velay''; oc, Lo Puèi de Velai ) is the prefecture of the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Located near the river Loire, the city is famous for its c ...

had supplanted Ru-Essio (

Saint-Paulien Saint-Paulien (; Auvergnat: ''Sant Pàulhan'') is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Loire department The following is a list of the 257 communes of the Haute-Loire ...

) as religious and administrative capital of the Velay. In 1162, Velay became an independent county, with its bishop as count reporting directly to the King. Velay was divided into eighteen baronies. From the mid 14th century it was part of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

but kept its own States General until 1789. During the same period, it was a crossroads of pilgrimage trails.

Modern period

In the beginning of the 16th century Velay was wealthy, but the religious wars ruined the country. Le Puy was ardently catholic but the extreme south east of Velay was deeply Protestant. It is still nowadays the most Protestant area of France. Velay ceased to exist after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

on March 4, 1790. The department of

was created from the former county of Velay, on top of it a portion of

Gévaudan Gévaudan (; oc, Gavaudan, Gevaudan) is a historical area of France in Lozère ''département''. It took its name from the Gabali, a Gallic tribe subordinate to the Arverni. History After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans preserved the c ...

and

Vivarais Vivarais (; oc, Vivarés; la, Vivariensis provincia{{cite web , url=http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/orblatv.html , title = ORBIS LATINUS - Letter V) is a traditional region in the south-east of France, covering the ''département'' of ...

are added. The first part of ''

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( from

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 ...

is entitled Velay, the country being the starting point of the writer's trip. The name is kept for geographical terms (Mounts of the Velay) or new French geographical administrative entity ('' Communautés de communes du Velay'').

References

Sources * Francisque Mandet, Histoire du Velay (1862

*Christian Lauranson-Rosaz, L'Auvergne et ses marges (Velay, Gévaudan) du VIIIe au XIe siècle. La fin du monde antique ?, Le Puy-en-Velay, éd. des , 1987, rééd. 200

*'' :s:The Annotated 'Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes', The Annotated ''Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes'''', at

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Velay Former provinces of France Languedoc Geography of Haute-Loire