Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone

Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone
Maguelone Cathedral
Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone
Administration
Country	France
Region	Languedoc-Roussillon
Department	Hérault
Arrondissement	Montpellier
Canton	Frontignan
Intercommunality	Montpellier
Mayor	Noël Segura (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	0–130 m (0–430 ft) (avg. 8 m or 26 ft)
Land area1	35.12 km2 (13.56 sq mi)
Population2	8,763  (2008)
- Density	250 /km2 (650 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	34337/ 34750
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.

Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone (Occitan: Vilanòva de Magalona) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France.

History

Maguelonne (or Maguelon) was one of the "seven cities" that may have been the origin of the name for the region called Septimania. Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, which passed under the control of the Visigothic kingdom in 462, when Septimania was ceded to Theodoric II, king of the Visigoths. The seven cities were today's Elne, Agde, Narbonne, Lodève, Béziers, Nîmes and Maguelone.

At first the stronghold of a Visigothic noble, on high ground protected by coastal lagoons, Maguelonne became the seat of a bishop. When the early history of Maguelone was compiled in 1583 by Abbé Gariel (Histoire des évêques de Maguelonne) he provided the see with an apostolic origin, as is de rigueur for any long-established bishopric of Late Antiquity throughout the three Gauls. The first historical bishop of Maguelonne assisted at the Council of Narbonne in 589; doubtless the Christian community was far older. In the 8th century the Almohad walis conquered the area, which was finally retaken by Charles Martel in 737, but the contests, which took decades, all but depopulated the region. The diocese was removed to Substantion, but Bishop Arnaud (1030–1060) returned it, rebuilt the destroyed sanctuary and constructed a bridge to link Maguelone to the "new district" of Villeneuve. The powerful and compact Romanesque Maguelone Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter, was constructed.

The local count retained the traditional Carolingian right of nomination of bishops: in 1085 Pierre, count of Substantion and Melgueil, offered himself as vassal of the Holy See and relinquished the right of nomination, and Innocent III transferred the feudal rights of the county to the bishop of Maguelonne in 1215, which gave the bishops the right to issue coinage [1]. The bishop, as well as the King of Aragon and the Count of Toulouse, authorized the coinage of Arabic money, not intended for circulation in Maguelonne, but to be sold for exportation to the merchants of the Mediterranean [2].

With the expansion of trade in the revival of the High Middle Ages, Montpellier came to be the city for this region, first passing to the Crown of Aragon in 1204, then to that of France (1292 and 1349). In 1536 the see was finally transferred there [3].

A sentimental and chivalric romance of the high-born Miguelonne and Pierre, the son of the King of Provence, who recognized each other in their old age after many heartbreaking separations, inspired a verse: Epistle by Clément Marot.

• For the history of the bishopric of Maguelonne, see Bishopric of Montpellier as the episcopal see was transferred there in 1536

Population

Historical population of Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone

Year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2008
Population	1616	1797	2279	3003	5081	7351	8763

Sights

• In the city:
  • Medieval church.

• Around the city:
  • Mountain of the Madeleine: scrubland, army ground, ruin of the Saint-Baudille vault at the top (185 m), and stele commemorating the French Resistance fighters shot during the Second World War.
  • Estagnol National Nature Reserve, a marsh between scrubland and vine.

• In the outskirts:
  • Romanesque Maguelone Cathedral
• Public beach: The sand dunes extends on a dozen from kilometres from Palavas-les-Flots to Frontignan-Plage, and is accessible conveys some by roads only. It is because of this insulation that nudism is not object of debate.
• Ponds: fish, observation of the birds.
• Canal du Rhône with Sète: maintained, it allows river tourism between the Rhône, the étang de Thau and the Canal du Midi.

See also

• Notre-Dame des Tables de Montpellier
• Communes of the Hérault department

References

• INSEE

External links

• City council website, in French
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Diocese of Montpellier