84-803: Haute-Loire ( French pronunciation: [ot lwaʁ] ; Occitan : Naut Léger or Naut Leir ; English: Upper Loire ) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River , it is surrounded by the departments of Loire , Ardèche , Lozère , Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme . In 2019, it had a population of 227,570; its inhabitants are called Altiligériens in French (English : Altiligerians). The department, which has its prefecture in Le Puy-en-Velay , covers
168-671: A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998, as part of the " Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France ". Another site of pilgrimage is at Saint Michel d'Aiguilhe , a twelfth century chapel on top of a rocky pinnacle approached by a flight of 268 steps. Occitan language Italy Occitan ( English: / ˈ ɒ k s ɪ t ən , - t æ n , - t ɑː n / ; Occitan pronunciation: [utsiˈta, uksiˈta] ), also known as lenga d'òc ( Occitan: [ˈleŋɡɒ ˈðɔ(k)] ; French : langue d'oc ) by its native speakers, sometimes also referred to as Provençal ,
252-723: A Unesco World Heritage Site since 1998, as part of the " Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France ". Fountain Crozatier is also a noted site in the centre of the town. Le-Puy-en-Velay is twinned with: Le Puy is famous for a particular strain of green lentils and for its green liqueur " Verveine " flavored with verbena . The lentils, grown on the thin soils of the area, are very small and almost black in colour. Their unique quality and flavour derive from their high protein and relatively low carbohydrate content. They are widely used in soups and also to accompany goose, duck and sausage dishes. Le Puy green lentil (Lentille Verte du Puy)
336-546: A carpenter named Durandus, formed a conspiratio (sworn association) called the Capuciati (because of the white hoods they wore as a sign of their conspiratio). They challenged seigneurial dominance in a short-lived attempt at reformation. The Christianization legends of Mons Anicius relate that at the request of Bishop Martial of Limoges , Bishop Evodius/Vosy ordered an altar to the Virgin Mary to be erected on
420-553: A common origin (see Occitano-Romance languages ). The language was one of the first to gain prestige as a medium for literature among Romance languages in the Middle Ages. Indeed, in the 12th and 13th centuries, Catalan troubadours such as Guerau de Cabrera , Guilhem de Bergadan, Guilhem de Cabestany, Huguet de Mataplana , Raimon Vidal de Besalú, Cerverí de Girona , Formit de Perpinhan, and Jofre de Foixà wrote in Occitan. At
504-643: A consonant), whereas the southernmost dialects have more features in common with the Ibero-Romance languages (e.g. betacism ; voiced fricatives between vowels in place of voiced stops; - ch - in place of - it -), and Gascon has a number of unusual features not seen in other dialects (e.g. /h/ in place of /f/ ; loss of /n/ between vowels; intervocalic -r- and final -t/ch in place of medieval - ll -). There are also significant lexical differences, where some dialects have words cognate with French, and others have Catalan and Spanish cognates. Nonetheless, there
588-493: A dialect of French spoken by Jews in southern France. Southern Jewish French is now estimated to only be spoken by about 50–100 people. Domergue Sumien proposes a slightly different supradialectal grouping. Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay ( French pronunciation: [lə pɥi ɑ̃ vəlɛ] , literally Le Puy in Velay ; Occitan : Lo Puèi de Velai [lu ˈpœj ðə vəˈlaj] , before 1988: Le Puy )
672-469: A legendary list of bishops at this chief town of the pays of Le Velay: Macarius, Marcellinus, Roricius, Eusebius, Paulianus, and Vosy (Evodius), all of them canonized by local veneration. The Gaulish settlement of Ruessium/Vellavorum was given its Christianizing name, Saint-Paulien, from Bishop Paulianus. A bishop Evodius attended the Council of Valence in 374. In the early 1180s peasants of Le Puy, led by
756-746: A part of a wider Occitano-Romanic group. One such classification posits three groups: According to this view, Catalan is an ausbau language that became independent from Occitan during the 13th century, but originates from the Aquitano-Pyrenean group. Occitan has 3 dialects spoken by Jewish communities that are all now extinct. A sociolect of the Gascon dialect spoken by Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Gascony . It, like many other Jewish dialects and languages, contained large amounts of Hebrew loanwords. It went extinct after World War 2 with
840-540: A second Occitan immigration of this period was assimilated by the similar Navarro-Aragonese language , which at the same time was fostered and chosen by the kings of Aragon . In the 14th century, Occitan across the whole southern Pyrenean area fell into decay and became largely absorbed into Navarro-Aragonese first and Castilian later in the 15th century, after their exclusive boroughs broke up (1423, Pamplona 's boroughs unified). Gascon-speaking communities were called to move in for trading purposes by Navarrese kings in
924-489: A single written standard form, nor does it have official status in France, home to most of its speakers. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, whereas others are based on a particular dialect. These efforts are hindered by the rapidly declining use of Occitan as a spoken language in much of southern France, as well as by the significant differences in phonology and vocabulary among different Occitan dialects. According to
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#17327722144681008-561: A touch of Saint Peter 's staff. The expanding legend of this St. George, which, according to the Church historian Louis Duchesne is not earlier than the 11th century, then makes that saint one of the seventy disciples of the Gospel of Luke . It tells that he founded the church of the [civitas] que dicitur Vetula in pago Vellavorum , the city "called Vetula in the pays of the Vellavii "
1092-476: A unitary language, as it lacks an official written standard . Like other languages that fundamentally exist at a spoken, rather than written, level (e.g. the Rhaeto-Romance languages , Franco-Provençal , Astur-Leonese , and Aragonese ), every settlement technically has its own dialect, with the whole of Occitania forming a classic dialect continuum that changes gradually along any path from one side to
1176-625: A written account in Occitan from Pamplona centered on the burning of borough San Nicolas from 1258, while the History of the War of Navarre by Guilhem Anelier (1276), albeit written in Pamplona, shows a linguistic variant from Toulouse . Things turned out slightly otherwise in Aragon, where the sociolinguistic situation was different, with a clearer Basque-Romance bilingual situation (cf. Basques from
1260-410: Is "probably not more divergent from Occitan overall than Gascon is". There is no general agreement about larger groupings of these dialects. Max Wheeler divides the dialects into two groups: Pierre Bec divides the dialects into three groups: In order to overcome the pitfalls of the traditional romanistic view, Bec proposed a "supradialectal" classification that groups Occitan with Catalan as
1344-631: Is a Romance language spoken in Southern France , Monaco , Italy 's Occitan Valleys , as well as Spain 's Val d'Aran in Catalonia ; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania . It is also spoken in Calabria ( Southern Italy ) in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area (mostly Guardia Piemontese ). Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as
1428-411: Is a significant amount of mutual intelligibility . Gascon is the most divergent, and descriptions of the main features of Occitan often consider Gascon separately. Max Wheeler notes that "probably only its copresence within the French cultural sphere has kept [Gascon] from being regarded as a separate language", and compares it to Franco-Provençal, which is considered a separate language from Occitan but
1512-645: Is an appellation recognised throughout the European Union ( Protected Designation of Origin ). The town holds a jubilee in years when the feast of the Annunciation falls on Good Friday . The Jubilee of Le Puy (see Jubilé du Puy-en-Velay in the French Misplaced Pages ) occurred last in 2005 and 2016, but the next occurrence will not be until 2157. The Jubilee of Le Puy is the oldest aside from those of Rome and Jerusalem, taking its original cue from
1596-559: Is close to a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) under the Köppen system but still remains oceanic (Cfb) due to its coldest month, slightly above freezing on average. The city is prone to mountain cold in winter, with at least four months with average lows below freezing and frequent snowfall, like in Saint-Étienne in the neighbouring department of Loire . Summers are pleasantly warm, with quite hot days and cool nights. On
1680-511: Is the prefecture of the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Located near the river Loire , the city is famous for its cathedral , for a kind of lentil , for its lace-making, as well as for being the origin of the Chemin du Puy, one of the principal origin points of the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela in France . In 2021,
1764-413: Is the other native language. Up to seven million people in France understand the language, whereas twelve to fourteen million fully spoke it in 1921. In 1860 , Occitan speakers represented more than 39% of the whole French population (52% for francophones proper); they were still 26% to 36% in the 1920s and fewer than 7% in 1993. Occitan is fundamentally defined by its dialects, rather than being
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#17327722144681848-467: Is worthier and better suited for romances and pastourelles ; but [the language] from Limousin is of greater value for writing poems and cançons and sirventés ; and across the whole of the lands where our tongue is spoken, the literature in the Limousin language has more authority than any other dialect, wherefore I shall use this name in priority. The term Provençal , though implying a reference to
1932-527: The òc language (Occitan), the oïl language (French), and the sì language (Italian). The word òc came from Vulgar Latin hoc ("this"), while oïl originated from Latin hoc illud ("this [is] it"). Old Catalan and now the Catalan of Northern Catalonia also have hoc ( òc ). Other Romance languages derive their word for "yes" from the Latin sic , "thus [it is], [it
2016-640: The Romance of Flamenca (13th century), the Song of the Albigensian Crusade (1213–1219?), Daurel e Betó (12th or 13th century), Las, qu'i non-sun sparvir, astur (11th century) and Tomida femina (9th or 10th century). Occitan was the vehicle for the influential poetry of the medieval troubadours ( trobadors ) and trobairitz : At that time, the language was understood and celebrated throughout most of educated Europe. It
2100-595: The Gascon language ) is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Occitan is an official language of Catalonia, Spain, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken (in the Val d'Aran ). Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be
2184-797: The Holy Land , he gave the cathedral an ebony image of the Blessed Virgin clothed in gold brocade. She is one of the many dozens of venerable " Black Virgins " of France. It was destroyed during the Revolution, but replaced at the Restoration with a copy that continues to be venerated. After him, Le Puy was visited by Philip the Bold in 1282, by Philip the Fair in 1285, by Charles VI in 1394, by Charles VII in 1420, and by Isabelle Romée ,
2268-736: The Massif Central . The north part of the department is part of the Livradois-Forez Regional Natural Park , a protected area of traditionally-farmed agricultural land and woodland, covering a total area of 297,000 hectares (730,000 acres). The department has four mountain ranges running north and south. These are the Haut-Vivarais and its continuation, the Boutières range, the Massif du Meygal ,
2352-468: The UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages , four of the six major dialects of Occitan (Provençal, Auvergnat , Limousin and Languedocien) are considered severely endangered , whereas the remaining two ( Gascon and Vivaro-Alpine ) are considered definitely endangered . The name Occitan comes from the term lenga d'òc ("language of òc "), òc being the Occitan word for yes. While
2436-582: The Val d'Aran cited c. 1000 ), but a receding Basque language (Basque banned in the marketplace of Huesca, 1349). While the language was chosen as a medium of prestige in records and official statements along with Latin in the early 13th century, Occitan faced competition from the rising local Romance vernacular, the Navarro-Aragonese , both orally and in writing, especially after Aragon's territorial conquests south to Zaragoza , Huesca and Tudela between 1118 and 1134. It resulted that
2520-537: The Velay mountains and the Margeride Mountains. The highest point of the department is the Mont Mézenc (1753 m) and its average elevation is 719 m. The two-thirds of the area is over 800 m and the lowest point is 393 m. Historically, Velay has been associated with the traditional region of Vivarais , now part of Ardèche. The two regions share a common dialect which is similar to that spoken in
2604-557: The commune had a population of 18,629. Le Puy-en-Velay was a major bishopric by the early period of medieval France . Its foundation is largely legendary. According to a martyrology compiled by Ado of Vienne , published in many copies in 858, and supplemented in the mid-10th century by Gauzbert of Limoges, a priest named George accompanied a certain Front, the first Bishop of Périgueux , when they were sent to proselytize in Gaul . Front
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2688-475: The 5th of March 2005, the temperature dipped to −22 °C. Le Puy-en-Velay's most striking attraction is the Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy , dating chiefly from the first half of the 12th century. The façade, striped in courses of white sandstone and black volcanic breccia, is reached by a flight of sixty steps, and consists of three orders, the lowest composed of three high arcades opening into
2772-478: The 7th century founded a hospital at the gates of the basilica, and St. Agrevius , the 7th-century martyr from whom the town of Saint-Agrève Chiniacum took its name, were really bishops. Duchesne thinks that the chronology of these early bishops rests on very little evidence and that very ill-supported by documents. Before the 10th century, only six individuals are known of whom it can be said with certainty that they were bishops of Le Puy. The first of these, Scutarius,
2856-568: The 8th century, however, the stone, popularly known as the "stone of visions", was taken down and broken up. Its pieces were incorporated into the floor of a particular section of the church that came to be called the Chambre Angélique , or the "angels' chamber". It is impossible to say whether this St. Evodius is the same person who signed the decrees of the Council of Valence in 374. Neither can it be affirmed that St. Benignus, who in
2940-613: The Judeo-Occitan dialects, Judeo-Niçard was spoken by the community of Jews living in Nice , who were descendants of Jewish immigrants from Provence, Piedmont, and other Mediterranean communities. Its existence is attested from a few documents from the 19th century. It contained significant influence in both vocabulary and grammar from Hebrew. All three of these dialects have some influence in Southern Jewish French,
3024-580: The Visigothic dominions were generally known as Septimania . The king of the Visigoths, Alaric I was killed at the Battle of Vouillé in 507, a battle won by Clovis I and Velay came under Frankish rule. On Clovis' death in 511, his kingdom was divided among his four sons, and Velay was included in the part of the king of Austrasia , then part of the French kingdom. These subdivisions were united under
3108-699: The auspices of his longest surviving son Chlothar I , only to be split again under his four sons at his death. It was reunited once more under Chlothar II who became the sole ruler of the Frankish people in 613. In about 928, the area became a fiefdom of the Count of Toulouse , and later came under the control of the Count of Poitiers . In 1137, Eleanor of Aquitaine succeeded to the Duchy of Aquitaine and her marriage to Henry, Duke of Normandy, who later became Henry II of England , brought Auvergne under English rule. By
3192-452: The cities in southern France is unlikely to hear a single Occitan word spoken on the street (or, for that matter, in a home), and is likely to only find the occasional vestige, such as street signs (and, of those, most will have French equivalents more prominently displayed), to remind them of the traditional language of the area. Occitan speakers, as a result of generations of systematic suppression and humiliation (see Vergonha ), seldom use
3276-426: The commune, was the birthplace of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette in 1757. Originally named Chavaniac, the commune was renamed Chavaniac-Lafayette in 1884 in honor of its most famous resident. The department has attractive landscapes and is popular with tourists. Le Puy-en-Velay has a historic cathedral at which pilgrims gather before starting their journey to Santiago de Compostela . The cathedral has been
3360-522: The control of a Gaulish tribe called Vellavi and at the time of Julius Caesar 's Gallic Wars , this area lay on the border of Gallia Narbonensis . The area became a Roman province in 121 BC, originally under the name Gallia Transalpina (Transalpine Gaul). The name distinguished it from Cisalpine Gaul on the near side of the Alps to Rome. In 40 BC, during the Second Triumvirate , Lepidus
3444-467: The cupola at the crossing forming a lantern; the choir and transepts are barrel vaulted . The striking parti-colored cloister is connected to remains of 13th-century fortifications that separated the cathedral precincts from the rest of the city. Near the cathedral, the 11th-century baptistery of St John is built on Roman foundations. The iron statue of Notre-Dame de France (The Virgin Mary) overlooking
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3528-507: The department, centred on Le Puy-en-Velay , used to be part of the former province of Languedoc and is known as Velay. The geographical distance from Toulouse had allowed this region to enjoy a great deal of autonomy. During the Second World War, French partisans aided by Allied supply drops and leaders were able to liberate the province from Germans. By mid-August 1944 five weeks after the invasion at Normandy, Le Puy-en-Velay
3612-519: The dolmen outlined the foundations of the future church. The Bishop was apprised in a vision that the angels themselves had dedicated the future cathedral to the Blessed Virgin, whence the epithet "Angelic" given to the cathedral of Le Puy. The great dolmen was left standing in the center of the Christian sanctuary, which was constructed around it; the stone was re-consecrated as the Throne of Mary. By
3696-490: The early 12th century to the coastal fringe extending from San Sebastian to the river Bidasoa , where they settled down. The language variant they used was different from the ones in Navarre, i.e. a Béarnese dialect of Gascon. Gascon remained in use in this area far longer than in Navarre and Aragon, until the 19th century, thanks mainly to the fact that Donostia and Pasaia maintained close ties with Bayonne . Though it
3780-921: The end of the 11th century, the Franks , as they were called at the time, started to penetrate the Iberian Peninsula through the Ways of St. James via Somport and Roncesvalles , settling in various locations in the Kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon enticed by the privileges granted them by the Navarrese kings . They settled in large groups, forming ethnic boroughs where Occitan was used for everyday life, in Pamplona , Sangüesa , and Estella-Lizarra , among others. These boroughs in Navarre may have been close-knit communities that tended not to assimilate with
3864-676: The end of the thirteenth century the area was known as the Dauphiné d’Auvergne. Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790, by order of the National Constituent Assembly . The new departments were to be uniformly administered and approximately equal to one another in size and population. Haute-Loire was formed from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne , Languedoc , and Lyonnais . Two thirds of
3948-534: The geographical territory in which Occitan is spoken is surrounded by regions in which other Romance languages are used, external influences may have influenced its origin and development. Many factors favored its development as its own language. Catalan in Spain's northern and central Mediterranean coastal regions and the Balearic Islands is closely related to Occitan, sharing many linguistic features and
4032-476: The language at the beginning of the 13th century by Catalan troubadour Raimon Vidal de Besalú(n) in his Razós de trobar : La parladura Francesca val mais et [es] plus avinenz a far romanz e pasturellas; mas cella de Lemozin val mais per far vers et cansons et serventés; et per totas las terras de nostre lengage son de major autoritat li cantar de la lenga Lemosina que de negun'autra parladura, per qu'ieu vos en parlarai primeramen. The French language
4116-460: The language in the presence of strangers, whether they are from abroad or from outside Occitania (in this case, often merely and abusively referred to as Parisiens or Nordistes , which means northerners ). Occitan is still spoken by many elderly people in rural areas, but they generally switch to French when dealing with outsiders. Occitan's decline is somewhat less pronounced in Béarn because of
4200-480: The language. Following the pattern of language shift , most of this remainder is to be found among the eldest populations. Occitan activists (called Occitanists ) have attempted, in particular with the advent of Occitan-language preschools (the Calandretas ), to reintroduce the language to the young. Nonetheless, the number of proficient speakers of Occitan is thought to be dropping precipitously. A tourist in
4284-461: The larger collection of dialects grouped under the name langues d'oïl ) should be used for all French administration. Occitan's greatest decline occurred during the French Revolution , in which diversity of language was considered a threat. In 1903, the four Gospels ( "Lis Evangèli" , i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were translated into Provençal as spoken in Cannes and Grasse. The translation
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#17327722144684368-515: The last speakers being elderly Jews in Bayonne . About 850 unique words and a few morphological and grammatical aspects of the dialect were transmitted to Southern Jewish French. Judeo-Provençal was a dialect of Occitan spoken by Jews in Provence . The dialect declined in usage after Jews were expelled from the area in 1498, and was probably extinct by the 20th century. The least attested of
4452-772: The latter term for the language as a whole. Many non-specialists, however, continue to refer to the language as Provençal . One of the oldest written fragments of the language found dates back to 960, shown here in italics mixed with non-italicized Latin: De ista hora in antea non decebrà Ermengaus filius Eldiarda Froterio episcopo filio Girberga ne Raimundo filio Bernardo vicecomite de castello de Cornone ... no·l li tolrà ni no·l li devedarà ni no l'en decebrà ... nec societatem non aurà , si per castellum recuperare non o fa , et si recuperare potuerit in potestate Froterio et Raimundo lo tornarà , per ipsas horas quæ Froterius et Raimundus l'en comonrà . Carolingian litanies ( c. 780 ), though
4536-664: The leader sang in Latin , were answered to in Old Occitan by the people ( Ora pro nos ; Tu lo juva ). Other famous pieces include the Boecis , a 258-line-long poem written entirely in the Limousin dialect of Occitan between the year 1000 and 1030 and inspired by Boethius 's The Consolation of Philosophy ; the Waldensian La nobla leyczon (dated 1100), Cançó de Santa Fe ( c. 1054 –1076),
4620-585: The legendary architect of the first cathedral, dates from the end of the 4th century according to an inscription that notes his name.. Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy was a central figure in the First Crusade . Pope Clement IV was also bishop of Le Puy. Though the ancient diocese was suppressed by the Concordat of 1801 , it was re-erected in 1823. In February 1965, Le Puy absorbed the former commune Taulhac-près-le-Puy. Because of its altitude, Le Puy
4704-415: The modern Occitan-speaking area. After Frédéric Mistral 's Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition and so became the most popular term for Occitan. According to Joseph Anglade , a philologist and specialist of medieval literature who helped impose the then archaic term Occitan as the standard name, the word Lemosin was first used to designate
4788-402: The mother of Joan of Arc , in 1429. Louis XI made the pilgrimage in 1436 and 1475, and in 1476 halted three leagues from the city and walked barefoot to the cathedral. Charles VIII visited it in 1495, Francis I in 1533. The legendary ancient shrine on the summit of Mons Anicius, which drew so many, would seem to predate the founding of an early church of Our Lady of Le Puy at Anicium. It
4872-422: The negative sense: for example, "Vous n'avez pas de frères?" "Si, j'en ai sept." ("You have no brothers?" "But yes, I have seven."). The name "Occitan" was attested around 1300 as occitanus , a crossing of oc and aquitanus ( Aquitanian ). For many centuries, the Occitan dialects (together with Catalan ) were referred to as Limousin or Provençal , after the names of two regions lying within
4956-488: The officially preferred language for use in the Val d'Aran. Across history, the terms Limousin ( Lemosin ), Languedocien ( Lengadocian ), Gascon , in addition to Provençal ( Provençal , Provençau or Prouvençau ) later have been used as synonyms for the whole of Occitan; nowadays, the term "Provençal" is understood mainly as the Occitan dialect spoken in Provence , in southeast France. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish , Occitan does not have
5040-424: The other. Nonetheless, specialists commonly divide Occitan into six main dialects: The northern and easternmost dialects have more morphological and phonetic features in common with the Gallo-Italic and Oïl languages (e.g. nasal vowels ; loss of final consonants; initial cha/ja- instead of ca/ga- ; uvular ⟨r⟩ ; the front-rounded sound /ø/ instead of a diphthong, /w/ instead of /l/ before
5124-432: The pinnacle that surmounts Mont Anis. Some such beginning of the shrine Christianized the pagan site; it later became the altar site of the cathedral of Le Puy. This marked one starting-point or meeting-point for the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela , a walk of some 1600 km, as it still does today. The old town of Le Puy developed around the base of the cathedral. Pilgrims were early visitors to Le Puy, and it
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#17327722144685208-419: The porch, which extends beneath the first bays of the nave . Above it are three central windows that light the nave, and above them are three gables on the gable-end of the nave, flanked by two openwork screening gables. The south transept doorway is sheltered by a Romanesque porch. Behind the choir rises a separate Romanesque bell-tower in seven storeys. The bays of the nave are roofed by octagonal cupolas,
5292-431: The predominantly Basque -speaking general population. Their language became the status language chosen by the Navarrese kings, nobility, and upper classes for official and trade purposes in the period stretching from the early 13th century to the late 14th century. Written administrative records were in a koiné based on the Languedocien dialect from Toulouse with fairly archaic linguistic features. Evidence survives of
5376-555: The province's history (a late addition to the Kingdom of France), though even there the language is little spoken outside the homes of the rural elderly. The village of Artix is notable for having elected to post street signs in the local language. The area where Occitan was historically dominant has approximately 16 million inhabitants. Recent research has shown it may be spoken as a first language by approximately 789,000 people in France , Italy , Spain and Monaco . In Monaco, Occitan coexists with Monégasque Ligurian , which
5460-410: The region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes . The capital and largest town in the department is Le Puy-en-Velay . To the north of Haute-Loire lie Puy-de-Dôme and Loire , to the east lies Ardèche , to the south lies Lozère and to the west lies Cantal . The river Loire rises in the southern part of the department and flows northwards, creating a wide valley. On either side of this lie ranges of mountains in
5544-466: The region of Provence , historically was used for Occitan as a whole, for "in the eleventh, the twelfth, and sometimes also the thirteenth centuries, one would understand under the name of Provence the whole territory of the old Provincia romana Gallia Narbonensis and even Aquitaine ". The term first came into fashion in Italy . Currently, linguists use the terms Provençal and Limousin strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitan, using
5628-421: The riders retraced their predecessors' route to Millau. Marino Lejarreta won the day. In 1996 the town again hosted two stages, stage 12 from Valence, won by Pascal Richard , and stage 13 to Super-Besse , won by Rolf Sørensen . Recently, Giuseppe Guerini won the stage from Issoire in 2005. Stage 15 of the 2017 Tour de France finished in Le Puy-en-Velay. It was won by Bauke Mollema of Trek-Segafredo . It
5712-402: The south of Dauphiné , the reason probably being associated with the trade links between the two regions. The most populous commune is Le Puy-en-Velay , the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 6 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants: The president of the Departmental Council is Marie-Agnès Petit, elected in July 2021. Claude-Jean Allouez (1622–1689) was born in Saint-Didier-en-Velay. He
5796-405: The statement of a monk Bernhard who predicted the end of the world in 992 when the feast of the Annunciation would fall on Good Friday . The number of pilgrims to Le Puy was so remarkable that, after the dread date had safely passed, Pope John XV declared that each such date would be marked by a Jubilee. The first such anniversary occurred in 1065. In the Jubilee of 1407, the press of the crowd
5880-525: The term would have been in use orally for some time after the decline of Latin, as far as historical records show, the Italian medieval poet Dante was the first to have recorded the term lingua d'oc in writing. In his De vulgari eloquentia , he wrote in Latin, "nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil" ("for some say òc , others sì , yet others say oïl "), thereby highlighting three major Romance literary languages that were well known in Italy, based on each language's word for "yes",
5964-476: The town was designed by the French sculptor Jean-Marie Bonnassieux , and is made from 213 Russian cannons taken in the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) . It was presented to the town on 12 September 1860 in front of 120,000 people. Three miles from Le Puy are the ruins of the Château de Polignac, one of the most important feudal strongholds. Each morning, pilgrims gather to be blessed before starting their journey to Santiago de Compostela. The cathedral has been
6048-653: The upper reaches of the Loire and consists of the Loire Valley and the surrounding mountains in the Massif Central . It is one of the original 83 departments of France created in 1790 during the French Revolution. Parts of the department are included in the Livradois-Forez Regional Natural Park . The first known inhabitants of this region were hunter-gatherers and it was later occupied by pastoralists, shepherds living in caves or simple huts. It later came under
6132-511: Was a Jesuit missionary and explorer in North America who is said to have converted ten thousand Native Americans . The town of Allouez, Wisconsin is named after him. The de Polignac family has its historic seat in the department, and various descendants of General Lafayette were senators for this region in the nineteenth century. The black metal band Peste Noire comes from the city La Chaise-Dieu. The Château de Chavaniac , located in
6216-401: Was added to the list of the apostles to Gaul, who in tradition are described as being sent out to reorganize Christians after the persecutions that are associated with Decius , circa 250. As with others of the group, notably Saint Martial of Limoges , later mythology pushed the activities of Saint Front and the priest George back in time. It tells that George had been restored to life with
6300-463: Was attributed to Bishop Vosy, who transferred the episcopal see from Ruessium to Anicium. Crowning the hill was a megalithic dolmen . A local tradition rededicated the curative virtue of the sacred site to Mary, who healed ailments when a person touched the standing stone. When the founding bishop Vosy climbed the hill, he found that it was snow-covered in July; in the snowfall the tracks of a deer around
6384-461: Was besieged. Roads, railroad and telephone lines were cut. On 18 August, the Germans attempted to escape in a fifty-truck convoy. Five hundred were captured, and about 150 killed in a massive ambush. The town fell the next day. Estivareilles in nearby Loire fell on 22 August. Paris was captured by conventional forces on 24 August. Haute-Loire is a department in south central France and is part of
6468-444: Was done], etc.", such as Spanish sí , Eastern Lombard sé , Italian sì , or Portuguese sim . In modern Catalan, as in modern Spanish, sí is usually used as a response, although the language retains the word oi , akin to òc , which is sometimes used at the end of yes–no questions and also in higher register as a positive response. French uses si to answer "yes" in response to questions that are asked in
6552-590: Was given responsibility for Narbonese Gaul (along with Hispania and Africa), while Mark Antony was given the balance of Gaul. The area was ravaged by barbarian invasions in the last years of the Roman Empire, and Galla Narbonensis and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom between 462 and 477 AD, permanently ending the political control of Rome. After the Gothic takeover,
6636-484: Was given the official Roman Catholic Imprimatur by vicar general A. Estellon. The literary renaissance of the late 19th century (in which the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Frédéric Mistral, among others, was involved) was attenuated by World War I , when (in addition to the disruption caused by any major war) many Occitan speakers spent extended periods of time alongside French-speaking comrades. Because
6720-458: Was how a document of 1004 termed it. This was what the settlement of Ruessium began to be called during the 4th century. Vetula means "the old woman", and pagans were still making small images of her as late as the 6th century in Flanders, according to the vita of Saint Eligius . This was the first cathedral at Le Puy. Following St. George the founder, later medieval local traditions evoke
6804-508: Was so great that two hundred pilgrims suffocated. Of three Jubilees in the 20th century, the Jubilee of 1932 attracted over 300,000 pilgrims. Le Puy has hosted the Tour de France on six occasions. In 1954, it was the finish town of stage 15, from Millau , which was won by Dominique Forlini. The next day, Jean Forestier won the race from Le Puy to Lyon . The race did not return until 1990, when
6888-543: Was still an everyday language for most of the rural population of southern France well into the 20th century, it is now spoken by about 100,000 people in France according to 2012 estimates. There is a movement in regions of France where Occitan was widely spoken to introduce educational programs to encourage young people in these regions to learn the language. According to the 1999 census, there were 610,000 native speakers (almost all of whom were also native French speakers) and perhaps another million people with some exposure to
6972-521: Was the maternal language of the English queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and kings Richard I (who wrote troubadour poetry) and John . With the gradual imposition of French royal power over its territory, Occitan declined in status from the 14th century on. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) decreed that the langue d'oïl (French – though at the time referring to the Francien language and not
7056-655: Was the most popular destination in France during the Middle Ages. Charlemagne came twice, in 772 and 800. There is a legend that in 772, he established a foundation at the cathedral for ten poor canons ( chanoines de paupérie ), and he chose Le Puy, with Aachen and Saint-Gilles , as a center for the collection of Peter's Pence . Other notable medieval visitors to Le Puy were Charles the Bald in 877, Odo, count of Paris in 892, Robert II in 1029, and Philip Augustus in 1183. Louis IX met James I of Aragon here in 1245, and in 1254, when passing through Le Puy on his return from
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