Beaucaire, Gard

Beaucaire (; Occitan and Provençal: ''Bèucaire'' ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2018, it had a population of 15,718. Its inhabitants are known as ''Beaucairois'' or ''Beaucairoises'' in French.

In 2020, the commune was awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.

Geography

Beaucaire is located on the River Rhône some 15 km south-west of Avignon and 10 km north of Arles. Across the river from Beaucaire lies Tarascon, which is in Bouches-du-Rhône department of Provence. Access to the commune is by the D999 road from Jonquières-Saint-Vincent in the west which passes through the north of the commune and the town and continues east to Tarascon. The D966L comes from Saint-Bonnet-du-Gard in the north and comes down the banks of the Rhône to the town. The D90 branches off the D986L in the commune and passes in a circle around the town then continues east across the Rhone changing to the D99B. The D15 goes south from the town to Fourques. The D38 goes south-west from the town to Bellegarde. The D28 links the ''Ile du Comte'' to the east bank of the Rhone. A railway passes through the commune coming from Tarascon in the east with a station in the commune then it continues to Nîmes in the west. Beaucaire station has rail connections to Nîmes, Avignon and Montpellier. Apart from the main town there are also the districts of Gaudon, Tour Saint-Pierre, Pauvre Menage, Malatrache, Mas du Consul, Mas Saint-Andre du Boschet, Mas de la Bastide, Mas des Lecques, Le Fer a Cheval, Saujean, Mas de Sicard, Bieudon, and Enclos d'Argent. The commune has a large urban area in the north-east with the rest of the commune farmland. There is also an extensive network of irrigation canals covering most of the farmland.

The Rhône river forms the whole eastern border of the commune as it flows south to join the sea at Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. The river is also the departmental border between Gard and Bouches-du-Rhône. The Canal du Rhône à Sète passes through the commune from Saint-Gilles in the south-west and joins the Rhone in the town. Parallel to the Rhône on its eastern side is a canalised waterway called ''Laune de Pillet'' (the branch of the Rhone here called the ''Bras de Beaucaire''). The Rhône and the waterway together create the ''Ile de Pillet''. The river itself has not been navigable to the south since the creation of the Vallebregues barage in 1969; through traffic must navigate the ''Laune de Pillet''. The river lock which once connected the Canal du Rhône à Sète to the Rhône has also been closed since 1969, but the lock is planned to reopen in due course. As it is the north-east arm of the Canal du Rhône à Sète is a ''cul-de-sac''.

Terrain

The entire town is located in the Rhône Valley and has fairly flat terrain mainly formed by the plain of the Rhône. The north of the commune has hills, especially north of the town centre where the castle is located (80 metres high) as well as Saint-Roman (130 metres).n

Name

Called ''Ugernum'' by the Romans, Beaucaire derived its modern name from the medieval ''Belli Quadrum'', which described the pine-clad rock rising abruptly from the river.

Alternatively, 'Beaucaire' may be the French version of the Occitan language name 'Bèucaire':
* ''Beau'' < French ''beau'' ('Beautiful') < Occitan ''bèl''/''bèu'' ('Beautiful')
* ''Caire'' < Occitan ''caire'' ('Cut stone or rock') French_''pierre_de_taille''.html" ;"title="n French ''pierre de taille''">n French ''pierre de taille''

Beaucaire appears as ''Beaucaire'' on the 1750 Cassini Map and the same on the 1790 version.

History

Ancient time

Founded in the 7th century BC, Beaucaire was known as a city on the famous Via Domitia, the first Roman road built in Gaul linking Italy to Spain (121 BC.). It was at this point that the Via Domitia divides in the direction of Arles, Nîmes, Remoulins, and Saint-Gilles. At that time, Beaucaire was called ''Ugernum''. This was where, after the capture of Rome by the Vandals in 455, the Gallo-Roman nobility met to elect Avitus as the new emperor. A Roman mausoleum has been discovered on the ''Île du Comté''.

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages saw a slowdown in the expansion of the city. Beaucaire did not escape the troubles during this dark period. It underwent invasions of Burgundians, Visigoths, and Saracens. It was at that time that the first ramparts were built and the castle was expanded. The city took the name ''Beaucaire'' (which means "beautiful stone", probably in reference to its many buildings, to its quarries, or the fact that it had the first hills on the Rhone coming from the sea).

During the Albigensian Crusade, Raymond VI of Toulouse besieged Beaucaire in May 1216. The efforts of Simon de Montfort to relieve the town were repulsed. The city fell after a three-month siege.

In the 13th century Louis IX made several trips to Beaucaire. The city was expanding and its population increasing. Despite the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion (14th to the 16th century), the splendour and refinement of the architecture grew along with the wealth of the Beaucairois merchants.

In 1579 Beaucaire was held by Henri I de Montmorency, the catholic governor of Languedoc, but tolerant. The captain of the city was Jean de Parabere who was soon to play his own game. Damville then provoked a riot to recover the city but even though Parabere was decapitated, the city remained in the hands of the Huguenots, thanks to reinforcements sent by François de Coligny, the son of Gaspard II de Coligny.

Modern era

At the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453, Charles VII of France declared that Beaucaire would become the site of the ''Fair of la Madeleine'', a commercial fair that would enable the trade of goods from all of the Mediterranean Basin countries to all of France. By the mid-seventeenth century, the Fair was the largest commercial fair in the Mediterranean region, allegedly exceeding in a week the total volume of trade done in Marseilles in a year. It remained the dominant Mediterranean trade fair until the arrival of the railway in the mid-nineteenth century. The advent of the railway and the end of river trade as well as the removal of its tax-free status by Napoleon gradually destroyed the Fair of the Madeleine and plunged Beaucaire into anonymity. One result of these years of commercial dominance was the construction of a remarkable number of architecturally significant mansions and palaces by rich merchants of many nationalities. The fair still exists in the form of carnivals, bullfights, and various festivities. Camargue bulls are run through the streets. It always starts on 21 July and always ends on a Monday and lasts at least six days.

French Revolution and Empire

Beaucaire was capital of the district from 1790 to 1795. During the French Revolution the commune was temporarily called ''Pont-National''.

Contemporary period

At the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century some works of great value are built such as the ''banquette'' - a stone retaining wall along the eastern side of the city which protected it from the flooding of the Rhône, food markets, and the Municipal Casino which is now the Festival Hall. It was also at this time that the Canal du Rhône à Sète was widened. It connects Beaucaire to the Canal du Midi.

In 1940 Beaucaire had a large population of Belgian refugees, mostly from Farciennes. They became twin communes in 1969. In 2016, they gained international attention for naming a street " Rue du Brexit" as a tribute to the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union.

Heraldry

Town planning

Beaucaire is one of 79 member communes of the Territorial Coherence Scheme (SCOT) of South Gard and is also one of the 41 communes of ''Pays Garrigues Costières''.

Housing

The town of Beaucaire had 7,769 housing units in 2017, 86% of which were primary residences. There are more single-family houses (55%) than apartments (44%) with the majority of homes having 3 or 4 rooms. 51% of residents own their own housing. Of the rental housing (3,148 units in 2017) 31% are HLM