Capestang

Capestang
Collegiate Church
Capestang
Administration
Country	France
Region	Languedoc-Roussillon
Department	Hérault
Arrondissement	Béziers
Canton	Capestang
Intercommunality	Canal Lirou
Mayor	Claude Guzovitch (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	0–120 m (0–390 ft) (avg. 12 m or 39 ft)
Land area1	39.56 km2 (15.27 sq mi)
Population2	3,010  (2008)
- Density	76 /km2 (200 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	34052/ 34310
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.

Capestang is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France.

History

In antiquity, the nearby marshes were crossed by the 1500 metre long Roman Pont Serme. The bridge carried the Via Domitia as it neared Narbonne on its southward strategic journey to Spain.The town's name derives from caput stagnum - referring to the fact that the town sat at the head of a large etang (a large natural saline and shallow lake - very common in the area and the source of wealth and sustenance - salt, fish, game birds.)

The Archbishops of Narbonne built their summer residence in the town - substantial vestiges remain, especially of he palace wherein a 15th century ceiling - and there is an impressive collegial church (12th to 15th centuries with earlier vestiges) whose massive tower dominates the surrounding countryside to this day.

The canal du Midi also passes just to the north of the town as it winds its way from the Aude into the Herault.

The crusading armies passed the town after the sack of Béziers in 1209 en route for Carcassonne - and in 1356 the Black Prince reached the eastern extreme of his extensive chevauche, having raised the short siege of Narbonne, where he burnt the bourg, and having allowed his troops to damage the neighbouring village of Ouveillan. Capestang, like Cuxac d' Aude and other villages, may have paid to be spared the fate of Ouveillan - or it may have had more robust defences or have been saved by intelligence of the impending arrival of a large army coming from Beaucaire.

Population

Historical population of Capestang

Year	1793	1800	1806	1821	1831	1836	1841	1846	1851	1856
Population	1150	1185	1360	1530	1624	1893	1933	2039	2135	2331

Year	1861	1866	1872	1876	1881	1886	1891	1896	1901	1906
Population	2746	2999	2909	3176	3737	3519	4076	4168	4187	4012

Year	1911	1921	1926	1931	1936	1946	1954	1962	1968	1975
Population	4010	4053	4028	4039	3541	2962	2763	3019	3014	2548

Year	1982	1990	1999	2008
Population	2675	2903	3007	3010

See also

• Communes of the Hérault department
• Capestang bridge

References

• INSEE