Auch

For the bird, see great auk. For the European surname, possibly a habitational name for early inhabitants, see Auch (name).

Auch
Cathedral in the town centre
Auch
Administration
Country	France
Region	Midi-Pyrénées
Department	Gers
Arrondissement	Auch
Intercommunality	Grand Auch
Mayor	Claude Bétaille (2001–2008)
Statistics
Elevation	115–281 m (377–922 ft) (avg. 166 m or 545 ft)
Land area1	72.48 km2 (27.98 sq mi)
Population2	21,744  (2008)
- Density	300 /km2 (780 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	32013/ 32000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Auch (French pronunciation: [ɔʃ]; Gascon: Aush [awʃ]) is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Midi-Pyrénées, it is the capital of the Gers department. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony.

History

The Ausci

Auch is a very ancient town. The name of Auch comes from the Aquitanian tribe that inhabited the area at the time of the Roman conquest in the 50s BC. The name of this tribe, as recorded by the Romans, was Ausci (pronounced [awski] in Latin), singular Auscus. Aquitanians spoke a language related to the old Basque language, and a striking fact is that the name Ausci seems related to the native name of the modern Basques, who call themselves Euskal (pronounced [euskal] in Basque).^{[citation needed]}

At the time of the Roman conquest, the native name of Auch, as recorded by the Romans, was Elimberris. Elimberris is itself a variant of Iliberri, where Ili- comes from the Iberian word iltir' or iltur (the "t" is mute) meaning town, city, oppidum, a frequent prefix in names of Iberian cities, and which was probably borrowed into Basque and also Aquitanian (cf. modern Basque hiri, meaning "town"). In modern Basque there is also the word berri which means "new", so Iliberri is often interpreted as meaning "new oppidum" (based on the fact that Aquitanian and old Basque are related). However, this interpretation should be taken with caution. In the south of Spain, near Granada, an area far away from the Basque homeland, there was an Iberian city whose name the Romans also recorded as Iliberi, and here it seems the name recorded by the Romans is the phonetic transcription of Iberian Ilbirir, which comes from the Iberian stem ilbi- (meaning unknown), and not at all from an hypothetical il(t)i- (town) and Basque berri.

The Romans renamed the town Augusta Auscorum (or Augusta Ausciorum), which means "Augusta of the Ausci". Eventually, Augusta was dropped, and the name evolved into modern Gascon Aush, and modern French Auch. Inhabitants of Auch are known in French as Auscitains (pronounced [ositɛ̃])

Capital of Gascony

During Roman times, Auch was one of the twelve civitates of the province of Novempopulana (Gascony).

In 409, when Eauze, the capital of Novempopulana, was ruined by the Vandals, Auch replaced it as the capital of Gascony. It became the seat of a Catholic archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Auch, covering the whole of Gascony, which lasted until the French Revolution, and whose archbishops claimed the title of Primate of Aquitaine, Novempopulana, and of the kingdom of Navarre.

Population

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1793	8,444	—
1800	7,696	−8.9%
1806	8,918	+15.9%
1821	9,670	+8.4%
1831	9,801	+1.4%
1841	10,867	+10.9%
1846	12,323	+13.4%
1851	12,141	−1.5%
1856	12,001	−1.2%
1861	11,899	−0.8%
1866	12,500	+5.1%
1872	13,087	+4.7%
1876	13,785	+5.3%
1881	14,186	+2.9%
1886	15,090	+6.4%
1891	14,782	−2.0%
1896	14,838	+0.4%
1901	13,939	−6.1%
1906	13,526	−3.0%
1911	13,638	+0.8%
1921	11,825	−13.3%
1926	12,272	+3.8%
1931	12,567	+2.4%
1936	13,313	+5.9%
1946	15,253	+14.6%
1954	16,382	+7.4%
1962	18,918	+15.5%
1968	21,462	+13.4%
1975	23,185	+8.0%
1982	23,258	+0.3%
1990	23,136	−0.5%
1999	21,838	−5.6%
2008	21,744	−0.4%

Sights

Auch is known for its Renaissance Cathédrale Sainte-Marie with its magnificent organ, carved stalls and rose stained-glass windows, La Tour d'Armagnac – a 14th century prison, as well as a statue of d'Artagnan who was based on the real life person, Charles de Batz, Comte d'Artagnan born nearby in the château de Castelmore, and written about by Alexandre Dumas.

Geography

The River Gers flows through the town.

Transportation

Auch is well connected to nearby cities and towns such as Agen, Toulouse and Tarbes by Routes Nationales.

Personalities

Auch was the birthplace of:

• Jacques Fouroux (1947–2005), rugby union player
• Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (1750–1812), admiral
• Dominic Serres (1719–1793), painter
• Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964), Dominican and prominent Neo-Thomist theologian

See also

• Gascony Show – English language radio in Auch
• Communes of the Gers department

References

• INSEE

External links

• Official website (in French)
• Unofficial website about Auch (in French)