. In 118 B.C., Rome established the colony of Narbo Martius in southwestern France for war veterans, and it soon became a flourishing seaport. In 27 B.C., a senatorial province, known as Gallia Narbonensis, was created here by Emperor Augustus. In all Gaul, Narbonne was second only to Lyon in population. In A.D. 413, the Visigoths took Narbonne. In 719, the city fell to the Mus-lims but was won from them by Franks under Pepin the Short in 759. During the Carolingian period, Narbonne was the capital of the province of Gothia.
From the 9th to the 14th century, Narbonne remained the largest Mediterranean seaport within the kingdom of France. Its vital economic position and the authority of its archbishops made Narbonne a key to Languedoc. Viscounts of Narbonne appear from 821. Rivalry between the secular and ecclesiastical lords intensified in the 11th century, particularly after the accession of the vigorous archbishop Wifred (r. 1019–79). By the 12th century, Narbonne was a co-seigneurie; the archbishops retained jurisdiction over the western half of the city, the viscounts generally over the eastern half and the bourg. Narbonne reached the peak of its political power during the remarkable reign of Vis-countess Ermessinde (r. 1137–92), who played an aggressive role in the struggles between the counts of Toulouse and Barcelona, often as an ally of the latter. After 1226, the temporal independence of the viscounts and archbishops was circumscribed by the power of the royal seneschalsy of Carcassonne.
The earliest clear reference to the commune and consulates of Narbonne is in 1209. By 1221, consuls functioned in both the cité and the bourg, and rivalry, sometimes violent, between these two districts remained a constant feature of the society of Narbonne. Until the 14th century, cité and bourg retained separate consular regimes. In 1309, a long dispute over jurisdiction ended with a pariage between the king and viscount. Both consulates were placed under the king’s hand and merged in 1338.
Despite early problems with the Inquisition, Narbonne does not appear to have been heavily tainted by Cathar heresy. As at Béziers, the inquisitors recorded few pursuits for Catharism but later serious problems with Spiritual Franciscans and béguines. The economic and political importance of Narbonne declined rapidly in the 14th century, as its prosperity, built on commerce, eroded under pressure of competition from Montpellier and elsewhere, compounded by a shifting and silting of the mouth of the Aude River. The archiepiscopal province of Narbonne was reduced in 1317, and the dynasty of the viscounts ended in 1424.
Alan Friedlander
The present city contains many medieval buildings, among them the basilica of Saint-Paul-Serge (12th-13th c.), the church of the Franciscans, Notre-Dame-de-Consolation (14th-15th c.), and the Archbishop’s Palace (13th-14th c.). Saint-Paul-Serge, built on the site of a 4th-century cemetery established by Constantine, houses interesting early Chris-tian sarcophagi.
The cathedral of Saint-Just is the most prominent medieval edifice in Narbonne. Although the current cathedral dates to the 13th century, its history goes back much farther. After the Peace of Constantine in 313, a modest church was erected and subsequently destroyed by fire in 441. In that year, Bishop Rusticius laid the first stone of a new edifice. Completed in 445, the cathedral was dedicated to St. Genes, martyr of Arles. In 782, the church was reconsecrated to the Spanish martyrs Justus and Pastor, two young brothers scourged and beheaded under Emperor Diocletian in the 4th century. The edifice fell into ruin, and reconstruction, under the direction of Archbishop Téodard, commenced in 890. Excavations undertaken in the 1940s revealed the construction to be relatively modest in proportions: 181 feet long and 66 feet wide, consisting of an unvaulted nave extended by a transept and a chevet. Its lopsided belfry still exists.
In 1272, the first stone of the present buidling, sent from Rome by Pope Clement IV, was laid. Built by Jean Deschamps (1286) in the Gothic style of the Île-de-France, the cathedral of Saint-Just features a vast choir with ambulatory and polygonal chapels. By 1354, however, the building reached the city’s ramparts and could expand no farther, so no nave or transept was ever built. Stained glass in the triforium bays and in the chapels dates to the 13th and 14th centuries.
A cloister joins the fortified Archbishop’s Palace to the cathedral. The palace façade includes three towers dating from the 13th and 14th centuries.
Caille, Jacqueline. “Les seigneurs de Narbonne dans le conflit Toulouse-Barcelone au XIIe siècle.” Annales du Midi 97 (1985):227–44.
Emery, Richard W. Heresy and Inquisition in Narbonne. New York: Columbia University Press, 1941.
Michaud, Jacques, and André Cabanis. Histoire de Narbonne. Toulouse: Privat, 1981.
Régné, Jean. Amaury II, vicomte de Narbonne (1260?–1328): sa jeunesse et ses expéditions, son gouvernement, son administration. Narbonne: Caillard, 1910.
——. Étude sur la condition des Juifs de Narbonne du Ve au XIVe siècle. 1912; Marseille: Lafitte, 1981.
Sigal, Abbé. “Les origines de la cathédrale de Narbonne.” Bulletin de la Commission Archéologique de Narbonne (1921).
This is the complete article, containing 832 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
