Ardèche

Ardèche (French pronunciation: [aʁdɛʃ] ^ⓘ; Occitan: Ardecha, pronounced [aɾˈdet͡ʃɔ]; Arpitan: Ardecha) is a department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019. Its prefecture is in Privas, but its largest city is Annonay.

Humans have inhabited the area at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The Ardèche river plateau has extensive standing stones (mainly dolmens and some menhirs), erected thousands of years ago. The river has one of Europe's largest canyons, and the caves that dot the cliffs—which go as high as 300 metres (1,000 feet)—are known for signs of prehistoric inhabitants (arrowheads and flint knives are often found).

The Vivarais, as the Ardèche is still called, takes its name and coat of arms from Viviers, which was the capital of the Gaulish tribe of Helvii, part of Gallia Narbonensis, after the destruction of their previous capital at Alba-la-Romaine. Saint Andéol, a disciple of Polycarp, is supposed to have evangelized the Vivarais during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, and was supposedly martyred in 208. Legend tells of Andéol's burial by Amycia Eucheria Tullia. In 430, Auxonius transferred the see to Viviers as a result of the problems suffered at its previous site in Alba Augusta.

The Vivarais area suffered greatly in the 9th century with raids by Hungarians and Saracen slavers operating from the coast of Provence resulting in an overall depopulation of the region.

In the early 10th century, economic recovery saw the building of many Romanesque churches in the region, including Ailhon, Mercuer, Saint Julien du Serre, Balazuc, Niègles, and Rochecolombe. The medieval county of Viviers or Vivarais at this time was administratively a part of the Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles, formed in 933 by Rudolph II of Burgundy's fusion of Provence and Burgundy and bequeathed by its last monarch Rudolph III of Burgundy to the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II in 1032. Locally throughout this period, the Church played an important role. John II (Giovanni of Siena), Cardinal and Bishop of Viviers (1073–1095), accompanied Pope Urban II to the Council of Clermont.

It was later held in fief by the Counts of Toulouse, who lost it to the French crown in 1229. In 1284, with the Cistercian Abbey of Marzan, Philip IV established Villeneuve de Berg, and by the treaty of 10 July 1305 Philip IV of France obliged the bishops of Vivarais to admit the sovereignty of the kings of France over all their temporal domain. The realm was largely ignored by the Emperors and was finally granted to France as part of the domain of the Dauphin, the future Charles VII of Valois in 1308. During this period, the Maillard family, as Counts of Tournon, were influential in the Ardèche. During the Hundred Years War, the area maintained its loyalty to the French crown despite frequent attacks from the west.

As a result of the reformation of John Calvin in Geneva, the Vivarais Ardèche was one of the areas that strongly embraced Protestantism partly as a result of Jacques Valery's missionary activity in 1534. During the Wars of Religion (1562–1598), the Ardèche was considered a strategically important location between Protestant Geneva, Lyon, and Catholic Languedoc. The region had prospered with the introduction of tobacco growing from America, and the agrarian experiments of Olivier de Serres, father of modern French agriculture. The influence of Protestant Lyon, and the growth of the silk industry, thanks to the planting of mulberry trees, gave the burghers of the Vivarais towns a certain independence of thinking, and with the support of powerful Protestant Huguenots (the Comte de Crussol and Olivier de Serres), the Vivarais became a Protestant stronghold. As a result, it suffered many attacks and eight pitched battles between 1562 and 1595. In 1598, the Edict of Nantes put an end to these struggles. At that time, the Vivarais had over 75 Protestant churches and five fortified strongholds with permanent garrisons. But the area's problems were not over. In 1629, Paule de Chambaud, daughter of the Huguenot lord of Privas, chose instead to marry a Catholic, the Vicomte de l'Estrange, who supported Cardinal Richelieu's persecution of Protestants. With a majority of the population Protestant, Privas refused to submit, and as a centre of the revolt of the Benjamin de Rohan, duc de Soubise, was burned to the ground by the forces of Louis XIII, sent to support the Vicomte de l'Estrange. As a result, one-fifth of the Vivarais Protestant population emigrated.

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which outlawed Protestantism, led the peasant family of Marie and Pierre Durand to revolt against royal authority. This led to the Camisard revolt of the Ardèche prophets. Louis XIV responded by dispatching Dragoons, who brutalised the population by "dragonnades", destroying a number of communities. The brutality of those years was enormous and peace was restored only in 1715. As a result of brutality on both sides, another 50,000 Archèche Protestants fled France, many for Switzerland, whilst others were forced into abjuration (conversion).