Alès (; oc, Alès) is a commune in the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;department in the Occitanie

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in southern France. It is one of the

sub-prefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures. ...

s of the department. It was formerly known as ''Alais''.

Geography

Alès lies north-northwest of

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

, on the left bank of the river

Gardon d'Alès The Gardon d'Alès is a tributary of the Gardon in the Lozère and Gard departments, France. It is long. Its source is in the Cévennes near Saint-Privat-de-Vallongue. It flows through the town Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a commune in t ...

, which half surrounds it. It is located at the foot of the

Cévennes The Cévennes ( , ; oc, Cevenas) is a cultural region and range of mountains in south-central France, on the south-east edge of the Massif Central. It covers parts of the ''départements'' of Ardèche, Gard, Hérault and Lozère. Rich in geogra ...

, near the

Cévennes National Park Cévennes National Park (french: Parc national des Cévennes) is a French national park located in Southern France, in the mountainous area of Cévennes. Created in 1970, the park has its administrative seat in Florac at Florac Castle. It is l ...

Alès station Alès station is a railway station serving the town Alès, Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Sigebert, King of Austrasia, created a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. In his campaign against the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is k ...

, the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaul ...

king

Theudebert I Theudebert I (french: Thibert/Théodebert) ( 500 – 547 or 548) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 533 to his death in 548. He was the son of Theuderic I and the father of Theudebald. Sources Most of what we know about Theudebert comes f ...

(533–548) conquered part of the territory of the Diocese of Nîmes. His later successor Sigebert set up the new diocese, comprising fifteen parishes in the area controlled by the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools ...

, which included a number of towns to the north of the Cevenne: Alès, Le Vigan, Arre, Arrigas, Meyrueis,

Saint-Jean-du-Gard Saint-Jean-du-Gard ( oc, Sant Joan de Gardonenca) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. History This city of the Cévennes, first mentioned in a 12th-century papal bull (''San Johannis de Gardonnenca cum villa''), was very much ...

Anduze Anduze (; oc, Andusa) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.Anduze", Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. II, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1878, p. 24 . The village is at the foot of the Cevennes range, in the limesto ...

, and

Vissec Vissec (; Languedocien: ''Virsec'') is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. Population See also * Château de Vissec * Vis River *Communes of the Gard department This is a list of the 351 communes of the Gard department of ...

. The diocese disappeared in the 8th century with the conquest of the whole of

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) is a historical region in modern-day Southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septim ...

by the Franks. No longer a residential bishopric, Arisitum is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. After the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

, Alès was one of the ''places de sûreté'' given to the

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster B ...

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...

took back the town in 1629, and the

Peace of Alès The Peace of Alais, also known as the Edict of Alès or the Edict of Grace, was a treaty negotiated by Cardinal Richelieu with Huguenot leaders and signed by King Louis XIII of France on 28 June 1629. It confirmed the basic principles of the Edi ...

, signed on 29 June of that year, suppressed the political privileges of the Protestants, while continuing to guarantee toleration. At the request of

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

, a see was again created at Alais by

Pope Innocent XII Pope Innocent XII ( la, Innocentius XII; it, Innocenzo XII; 13 March 1615 – 27 September 1700), born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700. He ...

, in 1694. The future Cardinal de Bausset,

Bossuet Bossuet is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addr ...

's biographer, was Bishop of Alais from 1784 to 1790. It was suppressed after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, and its territory was divided between the diocese of Avignon and the

diocese of Mende The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mende (Latin: ''Dioecoesis Mimatensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Mende'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese covers the department of Lozère. The diocese was already i ...

Population

Economy

Alès is the centre of a mining district and hosts the

École des Mines d'Alès L'École des Mines d'Alès (EMA) was created in 1843 by King Louis Philippe, under the guardianship of the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Employment, is a French technology and engineering university. From 2012, its full name changed i ...

. Historically, according to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1911): :"The town is one of the most important markets for raw

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

and cocoons in the south of France, and the Gardon supplies power to numerous silk-mills. It is also the centre of a mineral field, which yields large quantities of coal, iron, zinc and lead; its blast-furnaces, foundries, glass-works and engineering works afford employment to many workmen."

Sports

The town has one

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team called Olympique Alès who currently play in the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

Sights

Historically, according to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition: :"The streets are wide and its promenades and fine plane-trees make the town attractive; but the public buildings, the chief of which are the Saint-Jean-Baptiste cathedral, a heavy building of the 18th century, and the citadel, which serves as barracks and prison, are of small interest." * Parc botanique de la Tour Vieille

Notable people

Rigord Rigord (Rigordus) ( 1150 – c. 1209) was a French chronicler. He was probably born near Alais in Languedoc, and became a physician. After becoming a monk he entered the monastery of Argenteuil, and then that of Saint-Denis, and described himsel ...

(),

chronicler A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

(probable birthplace) * Jean-Pierre des Ours de Mandajors (1679–1747), historian and playwright *

Jean-Baptiste Dumas Jean Baptiste André Dumas (14 July 180010 April 1884) was a French chemist, best known for his works on organic analysis and synthesis, as well as the determination of atomic weights (relative atomic masses) and molecular weights by measuring ...

(1800–1884), chemist * Gabriel Montoya (1868–1914), Parisian chansonnier * Charles Dugas (1885–1957), archaeologist and hellenist *

Edgard de Larminat Edgard de Larminat (29 November 1895 – 1 July 1962) was a French general, who fought in two World Wars. He was one of the most important military figures who rejoined the renegade Free French forces under the British in 1940. He was awarded ...

(1895–1962), general * Louis Leprince-Ringuet (1901–2000), physicist *

Lucile Randon Lucile Randon (; born 11 February 1904), also known as Sister André (), is a French supercentenarian. At the age of , she has been the world's oldest verified living person since 19 April 2022, following the death of Kane Tanaka. She is the old ...

(born 1904), the world's oldest verified living person. * Maurice André (1933–2012), trumpeter * Catherine Daufès-Roux (born 1963), former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to hi ...

(born 1965), footballer *

Stéphane Sarrazin Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin (born 2 November 1975) is a French professional racing driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and ...

(born 1975), sportscar racing driver, rally driver * Romain Dumas (born 1977), sportscar racing driver * Nabil El Zhar (born 1986), footballer *

Vincent Abril Vincent Abril (born March 1, 1995 in Alès, France) is a French- Monégasque race car driver based in Monaco. He was the 2015 Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup champion. Racing career In 2011, Abril raced in the SEAT León Supercopa France ser ...

(born 1995), sportscar racing driver

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

did his research on the

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically ...

disease (

pébrine Pébrine, or "pepper disease," is a disease of silkworms, which is caused by protozoan microsporidian parasites, mainly ''Nosema bombycis'' and, to a lesser extent, ''Vairimorpha'', '' Pleistophora'' and '' Thelohania'' species. The parasites inf ...

and flacherie) at Alès, and the town dedicated a bust to his memory. There is also a statue of the chemist J.B. Dumas.

Alphonse Daudet Alphonse Daudet (; 13 May 184016 December 1897) was a French novelist. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée, Léon and Lucien Daudet. Early life Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the ...

wrote his semi-autobiographical novel "

Le Petit Chose ''Le Petit Chose'' (1868), translated into English as ''Little Good-For-Nothing'' (1878, Mary Neal Sherwood) and ''Little What's-His-Name'' (1898, Jane Minot Sedgwick), is an autobiographical memoir by French author Alphonse Daudet. Contents Tak ...

" while teaching at the Collège of Alès.

Twin towns – sister cities

Alès is twinned with: *

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, Scotland, United Kingdom