Castres (Tarn)

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Castres
Castres coat of arms
Castres (France)
Castres
region Occitania
Department Camouflage
Arrondissement Castres
Canton Castres-1 (main town)
Castres-2 (main town)
Castres-3 (main town)
Community association Castres Mazamet
Coordinates 43 ° 36 '  N , 2 ° 14'  E Coordinates: 43 ° 36 '  N , 2 ° 14'  E
height 151-367 m
surface 98.17 km 2
Residents 41,636 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 424 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 81100
INSEE code 81065
Website http://www.ville-castres.fr

Saint-Benoit Cathedral

Castres ( Occitan Castras ) is a French commune with 41,636 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Tarn department in the Occitania region . It is the administrative seat of the Arrondissement of Castres and of several cantons .

geography

Castres is located around 45 km south-southeast of Albi and 72 km east of Toulouse on the banks of the Agout River , into which the tributaries Durenque and Thoré flow here. The municipality is near the Monts du Sidobre and the Montagne Noire .

Neighboring communities are:

Laboulbène , Montpinier Saint-Germier Roquecourbe , Burlats
Fréjeville , Jonquières Neighboring communities Saint-Salvy-de-la-Balme
Seix , Navès Labruguière , Lagarrigue Noailhac , Valdurenque

history

The place name is derived from the Latin castrum (fortified place). Castres grew around a Benedictine abbey founded around 648 and became an important stop on the Way of St. James , Via Tolosana , as the 9th century abbey church keeps relics of St. Vincent of Saragossa . The abbey came under the sovereignty of Saint-Victor in Marseille in 1074 .

In 1271, as a result of the Treaty of Paris of 1229 , Castres came under the direct rule of the king. In 1317 Castres was appointed a bishopric (see: List of Bishops of Castres ), in 1356 the rule of Castres was raised to a county (see: County of Castres ). Nevertheless, the 14th century was a period of decline for the city: in 1375 only 4,000 people lived in the city, a century earlier there had been twice as many.

After the expropriation of Jacques d'Armagnac , Duke of Nemours , who also owned the county of Castres, the land was taken over by King Louis XI. Boffille de Juge ( Boffillo del Giudice ), an Italian nobleman and adventurer, but returned to the crown in 1519.

Between 1530 and 1560, the city's residents converted to Protestantism . In the period after 1575, Castres became rich through trade with the Protestants, an independent republic and one of the most important Protestant squares in southern France. In 1629 King Ludwig XIII. drive out the Protestants and grind down the city walls, which did not detract from the city's prosperity (processing of furs, leather and wool). In 1648 the Académie de Castres was founded, a new episcopal palace built by Michel de Tubœuf , as well as a new cathedral; Castres became the seat of the Chambre de l'Édit des Parlement de Toulouse , a court established (after the Edict of Nantes ) to administer justice in cases involving Protestants. In 1665 there were again 7000 inhabitants, 4000 Catholics and 3000 Protestants. In 1670 the Chambre de l'Édit was relocated to Castelnaudary , which became a drain on lawyers and purchasing power for the city. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many Protestants went into exile.

In 1758 the city lost its liberal constitution, and around 1760 - a few years after the Calas affair in Toulouse - it became the scene of the nationally noted Sirven affair , in which the Protestant married couple Sirven were accused of murdering their daughter after she converted to Catholicism . The death sentence on March 29, 1764 was followed by Voltaire's proof of innocence in 1771 .

During the French Revolution , the Diocese of Castres was abolished and the city was subordinated to the Diocese of Albi. Elevated to the prefecture of the département in 1790 , the town was downgraded to a sub-prefecture in 1797 - also in favor of Albis. Nevertheless, Castres experienced a remarkable economic boom in the 19th century specializing in its old simple products; Around 1860 there were 50 wool factories in the city that gave work to 3,000 people. End of the century had been through the industrialization of the industrial textile processing enforced - Castres was now the largest city of the department, Albi exceeded by 5,000 people.

At the beginning of 1941 a secret prison of the Vichy regime with the code name Baraque 21 was set up in Castres in the Rue Émile Zola , in which anti-fascists from 18 countries, including Franz Dahlem and Luigi Longo , were imprisoned in 1941 . Many of the German prisoners were extradited to the Gestapo . On September 16, 1943 there was a “mass outbreak” of 36 of the 60 prisoners, organized by former interbrigadists around Heinz Priess and Ernst Buschmann . Today this building houses the municipal youth club MJC Center , which has an exhibition and events hall named Baraque 21 to commemorate it .

The second half of the 20th century brought another period of decline, triggered by the restructuring of the industry , which mainly affected textile processing. The geographical location did the rest: Castres in the shadow of the Montagne Noire and as the center of an agricultural area, now away from the traffic routes, is the only city in France of this size that is not connected to the motorway network.

religion

In 1836, Émilie de Villeneuve (1811–1854), the daughter of a Prefect of Castres, founded the Congrégation de Notre-Dame de l'Immaculée Conception de Castres , a congregation whose sisters lived in France, Spain, Italy, and Latin America (Brazil , Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela), Africa (Senegal, Gambia, Gabon, Benin) and the Philippines.

coat of arms

Description : Four left red tips split into silver under a blue shield head with three golden lilies set in bars .

administration

Castres is the administrative seat of several cantons.

Town twinning

Population development

  • 1831: 12 032
  • 1901: 19 483
  • 1954: 34 126
  • 1962: 36,978
  • 1968: 40 457
  • 1975: 45 978
  • 1982: 45 578
  • 1990: 44,812
  • 1999: 43 496
  • 2006: 43 141

from 1962 only residents with primary residence

economy

With around 62,000 inhabitants in the city and the surrounding area (1999), Castres is the third largest industrial area in the Midi-Pyrénées region after Toulouse and Tarbes , and the largest industrial area in Languedoc between Toulouse and Montpellier . The most important company is the multinational pharmaceutical and cosmetics group Laboratoires Pierre Fabre .

education

Attractions

  • Houses on the agout

  • Garden of the Bishops Palace

Sports

The rugby union club Castres Olympique is a four-time French champion (1949, 1950, 1993 and 2013).

The city has been a stage venue in the Tour de France four times since 1991 .

Personalities

Jean Jaurès

literature

  • Jonny Granzow: The breakout of the Spanish fighters from the secret prison: A historical report , edition bodoni, 2012, ISBN 978-3940781277

Web links

Commons : Castres  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Jérôme Ribet: Les Soeurs bleues de Castres . J. Briguet, Paris 1899.