Valence (, ; ) is a commune in southeastern France, the prefecture of the Drôme department and within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhône, about south of Lyon, along the railway line that runs from Paris to Marseille.
Valence proper has about 64,000 inhabitants, and is the centre of an urban area with 132,000 inhabitants. The city is divided into four cantons.
Located in the heart of the Rhone corridor, Valence is often referred to as "the door to the South of France", the local saying à Valence le Midi commence ("at Valence the Midi begins") pays tribute to the city's southern culture. Between Vercors and Provence, its geographical location attracts many tourists. Axes of transport and communications are the A7 and A49 autoroutes, the RN7, Paris/Marseille TGV line, as well as the Rhône. In addition, the Valence agglomeration is equipped with a marina, a trading port, two railway stations (Valence-Ville and Valence-TGV) and an airport. Its business is essentially turned towards the sectors of agriculture, metallurgy, engineering and electronics.
The commune, founded in 121 BC, after the invasion of Gallia Narbonensis by the Romans, it moved quickly to become the largest crossroad behind Lyon. With its growing importance, Valence gained the status of Roman colony. Over the centuries, the town grew and grew. Today, many vestiges of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, but also from the 17th century, 18th century and 19th century are visible in the city centre. The city is historically attached to the Dauphiné, of which it forms the second largest city after Grenoble and is today part of the network of French Towns and Lands of Art and History.
Monuments in Valence include the Maison des Têtes, built between 1528 and 1532 by Antoine de Dorne, the Saint-Apollinaire Cathedral, built between 1063 and 1099 under the leadership of Bishop Gontard and also the monumental fountain designed by the architect Eugène Poitoux. The city has many historical monuments, most of which are in Vieux Valence. Inscribed on the list of floral towns and villages of France, Valence is one of the seventeen municipalities of the Rhône-Alpes region to be labeled "four flowers" by the Concours des villes et villages fleuris, i.e. the maximum level.
History The demonym corresponding to Valence is Valentinois, but "Valentinois" also designates a geographical area, and one of the old provinces of France, with its capital Valence having been part of the province of Dauphiné.
The word valence comes from Latin valentia, meaning "strength or capacity". Known in Roman times as Valentia Julia, the city had been the capital of the Segovellauni, and the seat of a celebrated school prior to the Roman conquest. It became a colony under Augustus, and was an important town of Viennensis Prima under Valentinian I. It was the seat of a bishopric perhaps as early as the 4th century.
In the 5th century, control of Valentia passed from the Romans to the Alans and other barbarians: in 413, the Goths under Ataulf besieged and captured the brother of the usurper Jovinus, Sebastianus, at Valentia on behalf of the emperor Honorius. In 440, Alans led by Sambida were given deserted lands in Valentia by the Romans.Chronica Gallica of 452, Pith. 124 Three years later, Aetius settled the Burgundians in the region, under King Gondioc which became part of the Kingdom of the Burgundians. His son, Chilperic II, ruled Valence from 473 to 493 when he was slain by his brother Gundobad. Chilperic's daughter Clotilde married Clovis, the King of the Franks, in 493. Clovis's son Childebert I attacked the Burgundians in 534, adding their territory to the Frankish Kingdom. The city then fell successively under the power of the Franks, the Arabs of Spain, the sovereigns of Arles, the emperors of Germany, the counts of Valentinois, the counts of Toulouse, as well as its own bishops, who struggled to retain the control of the city they had won in the fifth century. These bishops were often in conflict with the citizens and the counts of Valentinois and to strengthen their hands against the latter the pope in 1275 united their bishopric with that of Die.
The citizens put themselves under the protection of the dauphin, and in 1456 had their rights and privileges confirmed by Louis XI and put on an equal footing with those of the rest of Dauphiné, the bishops consenting to recognize the suzerainty of the dauphin. In the 16th century Valence became the centre of Protestantism for the province in 1563. The town was fortified by King Francis I. It became the seat of a celebrated university in the middle of the 15th century; but the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 struck a fatal blow at its industry, commerce and population.
Toponymy The conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar made the Rhône corridor a major north-south communication axis, linking with the new Roman possessions around the Mediterranean Sea. Many settlements were founded, including Valentia, a Latin name meaning "valiant, strong", in the territory of the Segovellauni.
The town is named Valença in Occitan (Classical norm), Valènço in literary Provençal and Valinço in local Vivaro-Alpine (Mistralian norm).
Heraldry
Antiquity
At the end of prehistory
The city of Massalia, long on good terms with Rome, asked it for help against the Salyes who had ravaged its territory. The intervention of the Romans, from 125 BC, assured its safety but the war continued against the Allobroges, among whom the Salyes people had found refuge. In August 121 BC, the army of Quintus Fabius Maximus crushed them at the Battle of the Isère River (confluence of the Rhône and Isère) according to Strabo (Geographica, IV, 1, 11).
Orosius noted that Gaius Marius, who was sent by Rome to stop the Cimbri and the Teutons, had established his camp not far from the confluence of the Rhône and the Isère.Orose, Histoires, V, 16, 9–10 The excavations on the upper part of the plateau of Lautagne ( south of the centre of Valence) revealed the presence of devices of a defensive nature dating from the 1st century BC: Thus the foundation of the city could have come from a Roman military camp.
Even under the Roman domination, the Allobroges tribe established themselves north of Isère, and repeatedly rebelled against the Roman occupation. The Battle of Solonion was the last to take place, identifiable with the modern commune of Soyons (Solo by Livy, Epitome 103) in 62 BC.
The selection of the site The city of Valentia was established on a terrace on the left bank of the Rhône river, south of the confluence of the Isère and from the Drôme.
This geographical situation is understood by the crossing of several routes of transport and communications:
Valentia had a privileged place in north-south trade through the Rhône and at the Via Agrippa. Valentia was part of east-west routes since the different paths, which traversed the plain from the Isère Valley and the Drôme (Voie des Alpes), converged on the city. The Rhône was crossed at Valence on a ferry, by ford or over a bridge.
The ancient city The city of Valence, as many Gallo-Roman cities, received an orthonormal plan. The orientation of the urban streets network successively followed cadastres "A" inclined N, 12°30'E and "B", inclined N, 23°E, in the Valence plain.
We know the decumanus of the city thanks to the discovery of a pavement and a sewer a few metres north of the city hall. The cardo of the urban network was the Via Agrippa that crossed the city in a straight line from the southern gate of the city to the old gate and Tower of Aion, north of the city, which later became "Tourdeon" (now destroyed).
It was along the Via Agrippa that a forum was located, probably surrounded by a civil basilica, curia, a temple, etc., of which the location is unknown.
To the south of the presumed forum site, between the Rue du Théâtre and Rue Vernoux the ruins of the thermae were discovered. This thermal water supply, and more generally that of the city of Valentia, was thanks to the numerous springs in the vicinity. The site of Valence still presents a dense network of streams and canals born of the overflow of water which escapes in sources at the foot of the terraces, forming, in the east, a curved line from the source of the Treuil up to the Fountain of Malcontents, and near the Rhône and the lower town, a quasi-parallel line to the river from the Saint-Pierre source until the descent of the Boulevard Gambetta. Thus, the Chony quarter (in the current commune of Bourg-lès-Valence), were found remains of pipes that belonged to the aqueduct that brought water from the source of the Treuil to Valence.
All around the current cathedral were discovered fragments of architecture probably belonging to a large temple.
The city had entertainment facilities:
A circus whose memory would be preserved in the name of the Cire quarter ("Siry" in the Middle Ages). An amphitheatre, was on the edge of the Rhône, outside of the enclosure or near the New Gate. A Côte Sainte-Ursule theatre: Three surveys have revealed the orchestra, traces of large markets and large wall elements. It was located at the northern edge of the city. An odeon whose curvature would be materialized by the Rue du Croissant. In fact, the foundations of an odeon were found during the construction of the new museum, in the Place des Ormeaux and its outline is materialised on the ground at the entrance to the museum.
The city was surrounded by ramparts from the early Roman Empire. This was constructed between 15 BC and 15 AD. In 1869, excavations to the south of the old town revealed the existence of a monumental gate defended by two protruding towers. The façade, or at least the pillars which were observed during the excavation, was covered with a large piece of sandstone and adorned with a frieze of military trophies: shields, leggings and breastplates.
Houses settled around the city, outside the city walls. To the east of the city of Valentia, not far from the Voie des Alpes (in the direction of Die and Gap), in the current Rue Faventines. To the west, in the Nonniers quarter, in the commune of Guilherand-Granges (right bank of the Rhône, facing Valence): A bridge or a ferry connecting the banks of the river.
The ancient port was perhaps on the territory of the current commune of Bourg-les-Valence.
Numerous tombs were crowded at the exit of the city, along the tracks: Several burial grounds were discovered in the east and south of the ancient city.
Late antiquity During the first centuries of the Christian era, Valence became an important road junction on maps and routes, and the late Roman Empire, this city retained its privileged position.
However, as early as the 4th century, Valentia faced many raids but the city within the ramparts retained its monumental adornments competing according to Ammianus Marcellinus (Histoires, XV, 11, 14), with Arles and Vienne.
At the dawn of the 5th century, the city lived in shelter of the ramparts erected under the late Roman Empire (still a visible construction in the 19th century). The Visigoths seized Valence in 413 AD; the Burgundians were masters of the Rhône basin at the end of the 5th century; the Valence people fell to the Frankish Kingdom in 533 AD. These successive invasions removed almost all traces of Romanisation.
During this troubled period, the city converted its ancient walls into stronger fortifications: Roman gates were bricked up, thus doing away with the two main axes of the city and lasting restructuring of the urban network. The rural inhabitants settled on small hills of the plain, giving rise to a large number of villages: Montoison, Montmeyran, Montélier, Montvendre, Montéléger, etc.
Middle Ages