Vauvert (; oc, Vauverd) is a commune in the far south of the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;department in southern France. It was known as ''Posquières'' in the

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 ...

. The commune comprises the town of Vauvert and the villages of Gallician and Montcalm.Vauvert at Carmargue.fr
accessed 11 August 2007 Over a third of the population work in industry, which is largely the food industry, especially wine production. The original settlement was called Posquières and was first mentioned in a document of 810. Since then the town has increased in importance and has had a rich history. At its heyday in the mid-nineteenth century it had a population of 6,000 but this decreased by a third after disease struck the grape crop, the mainstay of the economy of the area. Today, the population has grown again to over 11,000. Leimistin Broussan, opera manager, was born in Vauvert on 3 November 1858.

History

Vauvert is first mentioned as the

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

of Posquières (meaning "place of wells") when it was donated by Raymond Raphiel to Saint-Thibéry Abbey in 810. In the

, a little village grew up around the frequently besieged castle on top of the Motte-Foussat, now known as Castellas. The Christians and the Jews created two separate communities in the village. In the 12th century, the rabbinical school was an important centre of Jewish teaching, recognized across Europe thanks to the contributions of Abraham ben David and

Isaac the Blind Isaac the Blind ( he, רַבִּי יִצְחַק סַגִּי נְהוֹר ''Rabbī Yīṣḥaq Saggī Nəhōr'', literally "Rabbi Isaac, blind person"; c. 1160–1235 in Provence, France), was a French rabbi and a famous writer on Kabbalah (J ...

. From the 13th century, the Christian sanctuary Notre-Dame du Val-Vert, just outside the village, gained increasing importance when it was visited by

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the House of Capet, Direct Capetians. He was Coronation of the French monarch, c ...

, Charles IX,

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...

and

Pope Clement V Pope Clement V ( la, Clemens Quintus; c. 1264 – 20 April 1314), born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled ''de Guoth'' and ''de Goth''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his de ...

. As a result, in the 14th century the name of the village was changed to Vauvert. In 1540, the sanctuary was destroyed by the Protestants. The town was considered strategically important by Montmorency in his campaign of 1627 during the reign of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...

. After the revocation of the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

, the Protestant church, Temple Vielh, was destroyed in 1685 and the Catholic church was rebuilt and consecrated in 1689.Alain Teulade, "Vauvert sans oublier Posquières"
''Calaméo''. Retrieved 6 October 2013. From the

, the inhabitants of Posquières-Vauvert enjoyed special rights to hunting, fishing, grazing and agriculture which had been granted by the barons. They are all listed in a document from 1299. Over the centuries, the hills known as "Costière" were increasingly acquired by the villagers from the barons, especially 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 ...

. There they developed vineyards and wineries which became the major source of income during the Second Empire in the mid-18th century, resulting in an increase in population to some 6,000. The prosperity was however short-lived as the vines suffered when

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bu ...

hit the region at the beginning of the 19th century. The population was reduced to around 4,000 and did not start to grow again until the 1950s when people were attracted by new opportunities in livestock rearing, vineyards and the food processing industry.

Geography

Vauvert occupies about and is one of the largest municipalities in the Camargue. It extends for about in a north-south direction and in an east-west direction. The northern half is generally dry while the southern half is marshy. Located in the flatlands of La Petite Camargue in

Languedoc-Rousillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, an ...

, Vauvert is some southwest of

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

, west of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...

and east of

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people l ...

. It is easily accessible by the Autoroute A9 or by rail on the line from Nîmes to

Le Grau-du-Roi Le Grau-du-Roi (; oc, Lo Grau dau Rei) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It is the only commune in Gard to have a frontage on the Mediterranean. To the west is the Herault department and La Grande-Motte village, and to the ...

from Vauvert station. The Mediterranean beaches to the southwest can be reached in about half an hour. Vauvert is typical of the historic towns in the area. To the north it is bordered by vineyards, pine forests and orchards, and to the south by further vineyards, rice fields, ponds and marshes. The town itself consists of a 17th-century Catholic church, a belfry, and narrow streets with houses mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries. The economy of the area is based on the production of wine with several vineyards in the vicinity, and the town also has an industrial zone. A new enterprise which has opened in 2013 is a community garage supported by the social services. It is specially designed to help those receiving social support who are unable to pay the high rates normally charged for repairs. In addition to savings of up to 40% on parts, customers can reduce costs by handling some of the repair work themselves. They are also able to pay bills in several more manageable instalments.

Landmarks

Vauvert has a number of historic landmarks."Brochure: Itinéraire de Vauvert"
CamargueCostieres-tourisme.fr. Retrieved 6 October 2013. The Panapée Gate formed part of the town's medieval fortifications but is now crowned by the clock tower and belfry which were restored in 1849. The Protestant church "Le Grand Temple" (1811) was designed by Charles Durand in the

Neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

to satisfy the needs of the local Protestant community which represented three-quarters of the population. It is now a listed monument. Notre Dame Church, which has a history going back to 810 when a sanctuary became one of the oldest stone-built places of worship in the

Diocese of Nîmes In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

. It was destroyed in the 16th century but today's 17th-century church commemorates its history with a stained-glass window showing

praying before the statue of Notre Dame. The town hall reflects the prosperity the town enjoyed as a result of its successful wineries. It was completed in 1859. The Jean Brunel Arena is Vauvert's fourth bullring. With seating for 3,300, it was inaugurated in 2004. It is the centre of the town's traditional festivities especially around the Ascension weekend.

Population

References

Bibliography

* (First published 1918) * {{authority control Communes of Gard