Villefranche-de-Rouergue
Villefranche-de-Rouergue (Vilafranca de Roergue ) is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. Villefranche-de-Rouergue station has rail connections to Toulouse, Figeac and Aurillac.
At the end of the Albigensian Crusade from the northern "barons" against the southern Occitania on a religious pretext (fighting the Cathar heresy), the Count of Toulouse was defeated and concluded the Treaty of Paris in 1229. With this, the Count gave the Rouergue county to his daughter. She married Alphonse de Poitiers, brother of Saint Louis, King of France. Alphonse founded Villefranche on the place of an old village called La Peyrade in 1252.
In 1348 it was so flourishing that sumptuary laws were passed. Soon afterwards the town fell into the hands of Edward the Black Prince, but was the first place in Guyenne to rise against the English. New privileges were granted to the town by Charles V, but these were taken away by Louis XI.
In 1588 the inhabitants repulsed the forces of the Hanseatic League, and afterwards murdered a governor sent by Henry IV. The town was ravaged by plague in 1463, 1558 and 1628, and in 1643 a revolt was cruelly repressed. During World War II, while occupied by Nazi Germany, Villefranche received a large 13th Waffen SS Handschar (1st Croatian) division. Led by Ferid Džanić, Eduard Matutinović, Božo Jelinek and Nikola Vukelić, one battalion staged a rebellion against the Nazis on 17 September 1943, (Villefranche-de-Rouergue uprising) but were soon suppressed and mostly executed on site. The few that escaped inspired the French resistance in Aveyron that had not been formed until then. After the war, an avenue in Villefranche was named Avenue des Croates (Avenue of the Croats) in honour of the uprising.
At the end of the Albigensian Crusade from the northern "barons" against the southern Occitania on a religious pretext (fighting the Cathar heresy), the Count of Toulouse was defeated and concluded the Treaty of Paris in 1229. With this, the Count gave the Rouergue county to his daughter. She married Alphonse de Poitiers, brother of Saint Louis, King of France. Alphonse founded Villefranche on the place of an old village called La Peyrade in 1252.
In 1348 it was so flourishing that sumptuary laws were passed. Soon afterwards the town fell into the hands of Edward the Black Prince, but was the first place in Guyenne to rise against the English. New privileges were granted to the town by Charles V, but these were taken away by Louis XI.
In 1588 the inhabitants repulsed the forces of the Hanseatic League, and afterwards murdered a governor sent by Henry IV. The town was ravaged by plague in 1463, 1558 and 1628, and in 1643 a revolt was cruelly repressed. During World War II, while occupied by Nazi Germany, Villefranche received a large 13th Waffen SS Handschar (1st Croatian) division. Led by Ferid Džanić, Eduard Matutinović, Božo Jelinek and Nikola Vukelić, one battalion staged a rebellion against the Nazis on 17 September 1943, (Villefranche-de-Rouergue uprising) but were soon suppressed and mostly executed on site. The few that escaped inspired the French resistance in Aveyron that had not been formed until then. After the war, an avenue in Villefranche was named Avenue des Croates (Avenue of the Croats) in honour of the uprising.
Map - Villefranche-de-Rouergue
Map
Country - France
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Inhabited since the Palaeolithic era, the territory of Metropolitan France was settled by Celtic tribes known as Gauls during the Iron Age. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture that laid the foundation of the French language. The Germanic Franks formed the Kingdom of Francia, which became the heartland of the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, with West Francia becoming the Kingdom of France in 987. In the High Middle Ages, France was a powerful but highly decentralised feudal kingdom. Philip II successfully strengthened royal power and defeated his rivals to double the size of the crown lands; by the end of his reign, France had emerged as the most powerful state in Europe. From the mid-14th to the mid-15th century, France was plunged into a series of dynastic conflicts involving England, collectively known as the Hundred Years' War, and a distinct French identity emerged as a result. The French Renaissance saw art and culture flourish, conflict with the House of Habsburg, and the establishment of a global colonial empire, which by the 20th century would become the second-largest in the world. The second half of the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Catholics and Huguenots that severely weakened the country. France again emerged as Europe's dominant power in the 17th century under Louis XIV following the Thirty Years' War. Inadequate economic policies, inequitable taxes and frequent wars (notably a defeat in the Seven Years' War and costly involvement in the American War of Independence) left the kingdom in a precarious economic situation by the end of the 18th century. This precipitated the French Revolution of 1789, which overthrew the Ancien Régime and produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
EUR | Euro | € | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
EU | Basque language |
BR | Breton language |
CA | Catalan language |
CO | Corsican language |
FR | French language |
OC | Occitan language |