Uzès
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Saint-Théodorit cathedral and its Fenestrelle Tower
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 Uzès
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Location within Occitanie region
Uzès
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| Coordinates: 44°00′47″N 4°25′14″E / 44.013°N 4.4205°ECoordinates: 44°00′47″N 4°25′14″E / 44.013°N 4.4205°E | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Occitanie | |
| Department | Gard | |
| Arrondissement | Nîmes | |
| Canton | Uzès | |
| Intercommunality | Uzège | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | Jean-Luc Chapon | |
| Area1 | 25.41 km2 (9.81 sq mi) | |
| Population (2008)2 | 8,213 | |
| • Density | 320/km2 (840/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 30334 / 30700 | |
| Elevation | 49–274 m (161–899 ft) (avg. 167 m or 548 ft) |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Uzès (Occitan: Usès) is a small town and a commune in the Gard department in southern France.
It lies about 25 kilometres (16 miles) north-northeast of Nîmes.
Originally Ucetia, Uzès was a small Gallo-Roman oppidum, or administrative settlement. The town lies at the source of the Alzon river, at Fontaine d'Eure, from where a Roman aqueduct was built in the first century BC, to supply water to the local city of Nîmes, 50 kilometres (31 miles) away. The most famous stretch of the aqueduct is the Pont du Gard, now a World Heritage site, which carried fresh water over splendid arches across the river Gardon.
The civilized and tolerant urban life of 5th-century Uzès contrasted with the Frankish north. Jews were apparently settled there as early as the 5th century. Saint Ferréol, Bishop of Uzès, allegedly admitted them to his table; on this account complaint was made of him to King Childebert I, whereupon the bishop was obliged to change his attitude toward the Jews, compelling all those who would not become Christians to leave Uzès. After his death (581) many who had received baptism returned to Judaism. Jews were expelled from the region in 614.
In early 8th century, Uzès was a fortified civitas and bishopric under the archbishop of Narbonne. During the Umayyad conquest of Gothic Septimania, Uzès became the northernmost stronghold of Muslim Spain circa 725. Charles Martel went on to lay siege to the stronghold in 736, but it remained in Gothic-Andalusian hands up to 752, when counts loyal to Ansemund of Nîmes handed over a large number of strongholds to the Frankish Pepin the Short. In 753 the stronghold rebelled against the Franks after Ansemund's assassination, but the uprising was suppressed and a Frankish trustee of Pepin imposed.
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