Brioude

French commune
nomcommune=Brioude
région=Auvergne
département=Haute-Loire
("sous-préfecture")
arrondissement=Brioude
canton=chief town of 2 cantons
insee=43040
cp=43100
maire= Jean-Jacques Faucher
mandat=2001-2008
intercomm= Communauté de communes du Brivadois
longitude=3.385
latitude=45.295
alt mini=414 m
alt maxi=622 m


caption=Bridge over the Allier
hectares=1,352
km²=13.52
sans=6,820
date-sans=1999
dens=504
date-dens=1999

Brioude (Occitan: "Briude") is a commune of the Auvergne "région" of France, more precisely of its Haute-Loire "département". It stands on the banks of the River Allier, a tributary of the Loire.

History

At Brioude, the ancient "Brivas", its martyrs in the 4th century, Julien and Ferréol, became its patron saints; according to the Chronicle of Moissac, Euric of Toulouse had the basilica built, in the fourteenth year of his reign (c. 480); it was wondrously decorated with columns; ["Apud Tolosam regnavit Eoricus super Gothicus post Theodoricum. Anno 14 regni sui basilicam sancti Juliani Brivate columnis ornatam mirifice construxit." ("MGH" SS 1;284, quoted by Werner Jacobsen, "Saints' Tombs in Frankish Church Architecture" "Speculum" 72.4 (October 1997):1107-1143) p. 1110, note 19.] the emperor Avitus (acclaimed at Toulouse, died 456) had already been buried at the shrine of Julien at "Brivas" (Brioude), according to Gregory of Tours; ["Historia Francorum" 2.11.] Euric's basilica may have served to venerate both the saint and the Visigothic candidate for Roman Emperor.

Brioude was taken by the Franks, then in turn besieged and captured by the Goths (532), the Burgundians, the Saracens (732) and the Normans. Carolingian Brioude remained a place of some importance: William I of Aquitaine minted "denier"s at Brioude; when Louis V of France married Adelaide of Anjou there in 980 they were crowned King and Queen of Aquitaine; the couple was mismatched in age, and Adelaide fled Louis' house in 982, to Arles. The feast of Saint Jullien, 28 August, drew such crowds to the saint's relics that in the mid-11th century the chapter was obliged to build a hostel to care for the indigent pilgrim and the sick. [C. Lauranson-Rosaz, ""L'Auvergne et ses marges de VIIIe au XI siècles" (Le-Puy-en-Velay) 1987, p 279.] In 1181 the viscount of Polignac, who had sacked the town two years previously, made public apology in front of the church, and established a body of twenty-five knights to defend the relics of St Jullien. Odilo, later the reforming abbot of Cluny began his vocation at St Jullien of Brioude, where fifty-four canons, all of noble birth, held the rank of bishop: Odilo's biographer reports that he fled. For some time after 1361 the town was the headquarters of Bérenger, lord of Castelnau, who was at the head of one of the bands of military adventurers which then devastated France. The knights (or canons, as they afterwards became) of St Julian bore the title of counts of Brioude, and for a long time opposed themselves to the civic liberties of the inhabitants.

The "Almanach de Brioude" published annually from 1919 has included many articles of local and broader interest.

Main sights

*Basilica of "St. Julien", the largest Christian church in Auvergne. Built in the 11th-14th centuries, it has notable polychrome frescoes.
*"Hôtel de la Dentelle ".
*"Maison du Saumon et de la Rivière", now an aquarium-museum.

Famous "Brivadois" of birth

* Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe died in Brioude in 1688.
* Pierre Vigouroux (born on June 30, 1983), rugby union player in the AS Montferrandaise and till 2004 with the French U-21 team for the U-21 World Championships in Scotland.
* Emmanuel Mouret, director, filmwriter and actor

Twinnings

*flagicon|UK Cardigan, United Kingdom, since 1972
*flagicon|GER Laufen, Germany, since 1982
*flagicon|ITA Suzzara, Italy, since 1995
*flagicon|ITA Gonzaga, Italy, since 1995
*flagicon|Portugal Moreira da Maia, Portugal, since 2007

Notes

References

*

External links

* [http://brioude43.free.fr Brioude]