.jpg)
Walking through streets full of history, between palaces and Gothic architecture, savouring the excellent local cuisine and resting by the canal while reading some beautiful troubadour poems is an indescribable pleasure that Joseph de Ca'th Lon, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma did not want to miss.
Narbona is an amazing city with a fascinating history and warm and welcoming people who will make your stay an unforgettable memory.
Narbona is a commune and subprefecture in Occitània. It is located about 15 km from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was historically a prosperous port city. From the 14th century onwards, it declined following a change in the course of the river Aude. While it is the largest commune in Aude, the capital of the Aude department is the smaller commune of Carcassonne.
The etymology of the town's original name, Narbo, is lost in antiquity, and it may have referred to a hillfort from the Iron Age close to the location of the current settlement or its occupants. The earliest known record of the area comes from the Ancient Greek historian and geographer Hecataeus of Miletus (5th century BCE), who identified it as a Celtic harbour and marketplace at that time, and called its inhabitants Ναρβαῖοι.
The ancient city of Narbona was established in Gaul by the Roman Republic in 118 BCE, as Colonia Narbo Martius, colloquially Narbo, and made into the capital of the newly established Roman province of Gallia Transalpina (modern-day southeastern France). It was located on the Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul, built at the time of the foundation of the colony, and connecting Roma to Tarraco. Geographically, Narbona was therefore located at a very important crossroads because it was situated where the Via Domitia connected to the Via Aquitania, which led toward the Atlantic through the cities of Tolosa and Burdigala.
Politically, Narbona gained importance as a competitor to Massilia (today Marselha). Julius Caesar settled veterans from his 10th Legion there and attempted to develop its port while Marselha was supporting Pompey. Among the products of Narbona, its rosemary-flower honey was famous among Romans. Later, the Roman province of Gallia Transalpina was renamed Gallia Narbonensis after the city, which became its capital. Seat of a powerful administration, the city enjoyed economic and architectural expansion.
According to Hydatius, in 462 AD the city was handed over to the Visigoths by a local military leader in exchange for support; as a result Roman rule ended in medieval France. It was subsequently the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom of Septimania, the only territory from Gaul to fend off the attacks of the Christian Franks after the Battle of Vouille (507).
In 531, the Frankish king Childebert I invaded Septimania and defeated the Visigothic king, Amalaric, near Narbona and occupied the city. However, after Childebert's continued invasion to Catalonia failed, Amalaric's successor Theudis was able to reclaim the rich province of Septimania, including Narbona, to the Visigothic Kingdom.
The region of Septimania was the last unconquered province of the Visigothic Kingdom. The incursion into Septimania was motivated by the need to secure their territorial gains in Iberia. Arab and Berber Muslim forces began to campaign in Septimania in 719.
The region was invaded by the Andalusian Muslims in 719, renamed as Arbūnah and turned into a military base for future operations by the Andalusian military commanders. It passed briefly to the Emirate of Córdoba, which had been expanding from the south during the same century, before its subsequent conquest by the Christian Franks in 759, who by the end of the 9th century renamed it as Gothia or Marca Gothica. After the Frankish conquest of Narbona in 759, the Muslim Arabs and Berbers were defeated by the Christian Franks and retreated to their Andalusian heartland after forty years of occupation, and the Carolingian king Pepin the Short came up reinforced.
The Carolingian king Pepin the Short chased the Muslim Arabs and Berbers away from Septimania and conquered Narbona in 759, after which the city became part of the Frankish Viscounty of Narbona. Septimania became a march of the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia down to the 13th century, though it was culturally and politically autonomous from the northern France-based central royal government. The region was under the influence of the people from the count territories of Tolosa, Provence, and ancient County of Barcelona. It was part of the wider cultural and linguistic region known as Occitània. This area was finally brought under effective control of the French kings in the early 13th century as a result of the Albigensian Crusade, after which it was assigned governors.
Narbona became a major center of Jewish learning in Western Europe. In the 12th century, the court of Ermengarde of Narbona (r. 1134–1192) presided over one of the cultural centres where the spirit of courtly love was developed. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Narbona was home to an important Jewish exegetical school, which played a pivotal role in the growth and development of the Zarphatic (Judæo-French) and Shuadit (Judæo-Provençal) languages in medieval France.
Jews had settled in Narbona from about the 5th century CE, with a community that numbered about 2,000 people in the 12th century. At this time, Narbona was frequently mentioned in medieval Talmudic works in connection with its scholars. One source, Abraham ibn Daud of Toledo, gives them an importance similar to the Jewish exilarchs of Babylon. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the community went through a series of ups and downs before settling into extended decline.
More information: Aude Tourisme
Que s'es trop enformitz,
E per pretz, qu'es faiditz
Acolhir e tornar,
Me cudei trebalhar.
To wake delight once more,
That's been too long asleep,
And worth that's exiled deep
To gather and restore:
These thoughts I've laboured for.
Guiraut de Bornelh
No comments:
Post a Comment