Gallo-Roman era ), Mimate (Mende) and Gredone (
Grèzes). Traces of dwellings dating from 200 BC were found, ancient Roman
villae, as well as around the city. However, residents could have been be domiciled here well before. Indeed, on Mont Mimat to Chapieu, a dolmen was found around 1913 This text speaks of the
martyrdom of , the first bishop of the
Gabali, who was the origin of a pilgrimage to the hermitage and the caves where he had retired. Mende in the 3rd century was then only a village. The history of Privat is thus situated around the 3rd century, while he was sent by
Austromoine to evangelize the
Gévaudan. It was during this period that the
Alemanni invaded the country, guided by their leader,
Chrocus. The Gabali took refuge in the fortress of
Grèzes where they were under siege for two years. Their bishop, Privat, was meanwhile in one of the caves of Mont Mimat which he had converted into a hermitage. When Chrocus learned that the bishop was not among his people, he went looking for him to use as a hostage in order to get the Gabali to leave Grèzes. Privat was martyred at his cave on near the village of Mimate. Presented to the Gabali, he refused to deliver his people despite all the barbaric tortures to which he was subjected (according to Gregory of Tours:
"The good shepherd refused to deliver his sheep to wolves, and they tried to force his to sacrifice to demons"). Exhausted, the Alemanni would leave the Gabali free, by promising them peace. Privat succumbed to his injuries in the following days. His act of resistance, refusing to deliver his compatriots, thus earned him great popular fervour, and it was around his tomb and his hermitage that pilgrimage began, allowing the village to grow.
Middle Ages In the 12th century
Gévaudan was part of the
County of Barcelona. In Mende, the counties have a castle, the castel frag. Three other lords had their castle around the Romanesque church: That of Canilhac (who owned the archtreasurer rights of the church), that of Cabrières (who was granted rights of archdeacon) and Dolan (who administered and ruled the episcopal home during the interregnum of bishops). In 1161, Mende, who was under the suzerainty of the
King of France, saw his Bishop get the royal rights. It was the
golden bull, an act signed by the king and marked with a royal seal in gold, which contained the terms of this agreement. It thus gave Aldebert and his successors, in perpetuity, the Royal power and the full powers of justice on the inhabitants of the bishopric. This fact is quite rare because only four golden bulls in six centuries were granted by the Kings of France. It was from this time that the city walls were built. Aldebert wished to protect the city and secure channels that lead there. he recovered and also built the fortress of Chapieu on , and was done so that it could accommodate a garrison. This allowed the monitoring of the direct route between
Mont Lozère and
Villefort, in other words towards the
Regordane Way, trade route. At that time, however, Mende was not provided the civil and religious capital of
Gévaudan. In fact the power was always dependent of two entities: The county and Viscount of
Grèzes. The Viscount, property of the King of Aragon, was recovered by the King of France in 1258. The bishop had great power as a vassal, but he didn't have the total legitimacy of some Royal officials. This situation ended from 1307 with the Act of
paréage between Bishop
Guillaume VI Durand and King
Philip IV. Indeed, it definitively fixed the possessions of the king and those of the bishop, even if some disputes persisted. During the
Hundred Years' War security increased with the strengthening of the fortifications and the construction of ditches to 1361-1362. At that time, the chapter of Mende had a castle on the heights of the city,
Chastel-Nouvel. In 1370 many locals felt safe from the ramparts of the city, despite threats from the
routiers. Also, few of them took refuge in Chastel-Nouvel. But the walls were insufficient, and could not prevent the pillages. This period isolated Mende from its neighbours, including
Le Puy-en-Velay, and waited the arrival of the Constable of France,
Bertrand du Guesclin, then the intervention of
Charles VI and the liberation of the region so that the roads reopened around 1452. In 1390, was in Mende, where
John III of Armagnac sought, on behalf of the King of France, to put an end to the private war that Raymond de Turenne led against the Pope from Avignon. The Gascon signed as a witness to an agreement between the legate of
Clement VII, Antoine de Lisa, , and a representative of the Viscount of Turenne. This interview of Mende helped the Florentines to send ambassadors to solicit the Count of Armagnac. He was proposed to cross the Alps and attack the Count of Vertus in Lombardy. It was also at this time that
Pope Urban V began the work of the cathedral (1368), for a completion in 1467. By its letters patent, King
Louis XI confirmed the privileges for this cathedral, granted by his predecessors, in September 1464. At the beginning of the 1470s, conflict erupted between Bishop and King Louis XI, because of the support that the bishop had given to the County of
Armagnac when it had revolted. To counter it, the king subtracted La Panouse authority over the city which then became autonomous. It wasn't until 1478 that the bishops found authority over the city, sharing revenues with the consul. At the end of the Hundred Years' War, Mende developed its production of drapery, and thus increased its role as a commercial crossroads between the
Languedoc and
Auvergne, exporting its fame. It is estimated that in the 16th century Mende was one of the richest dioceses of Languedoc before
Montpellier and
Toulouse. This wealth of the diocese reinforced the ecclesiastical power. Thus among the list of the bishops of the time one can count a number from the family of the
Pope.
Giuliano della Rovere was ordained bishop of Mende, although he never visited in the capital of Gévaudan (practice known as
commendation). His nephews,
Clement and , succeeded him in this position. During his tenure, François adorned the cathedral with its bell towers, which one hosted the
Non Pareille, the largest bell in the world. In October 1485, when Clément de La Rovère came to the episcopal seat, old quarrels between the consul and the bishopric re-emerged, first mentioned with fear of losing this privilege. Thus they barricaded the gates of Mende, so that the bishop could not access. At this time the bishops primarily used their
Balsièges Castle as a residence (that of
Chanac being the summer residence). In vain as the
Della Rovere family covered the full authority by notice of the king in 1492. The title of consul was held in place of the traditional title of trustee.
Renaissance In the 16th century, the main events were the
Reformation and the
Wars of Religion which resulted. On 21 July 1562, 4,000 Protestants got within the walls of the city. They destroyed the unprotected monuments and besieged the city by depriving it of water. They withdrew four days later, largely due to being given 2,000 ecus. This ransom ensured the city a few years of peace. During the
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Astorg de Peyre was murdered in the king's room: his widow then hired a young man,
Matthieu Merle to avenge the death of her husband. From 1569 to 1576 he held with his troops the fortress of
Grèzes where he gradually seized the north of
Gévaudan. From 1577 he moved with his troops to
Marvejols intending to seize Mende, although not ceasing his conquests to the north, he failed however in August 1578 at
Saint-flour. The night of
Christmas 1579, to enter the city, Merle's soldiers waited until the people of Mendes were at midnight
mass, and made their takeover of the city. According to one account, Merle's soldiers "seized the city by betrayal and massacred 400 priests or followers, most of them within the walls itself, of the cathedral." During his stay in Mende, Merle made further fortification to the city, not hesitating razing 120 homes to restore the ramparts. In February 1581, while he ruled all the
Gévaudan, he enforced the threat he had made to the people. He had in fact asked them to deliver 4,000 ecus, a sum that the Mendois could not collect. He partially destroyed
Mende Cathedral built by
Pope Urban V. He saved a bell tower to avoid damaging the episcopal palace where his home was established. It was at this time that the
Non Pareille was melted, the biggest bell in the world, The seneschal took its place. The Tower of Auriac, today known as the Tower of Penitents, was built to accommodate one hundred soldiers. The seneschal gradually took precedence over the diocese, which called for the help of the Duke of Languedoc in 1597. It was after this episode that the Seneschal of Mende disappeared. Far from the splendour of the original, while taking up the same plane, this new cathedral was characterised by a bell tower which was smaller than the other. Between 1645 and 1660, the city was the scene of strife between two rival factions: The Marmaux and the Catharinaux, all members of the consuls or the bourgeoisie, but not having the same opinion on the importance of episcopal power, the latter being opposed. The bishop was also the target of an attack while he officiated in Mende Cathedral in 1645 (he was actually not touched). After several trials, it was not without difficulty that the kingdom gave back his ancestral power, the consul remaining under his control. At the end of the century, landscaped a lane which joined to the Lot (since known as
"Allée Piencourt") and especially acquired the
Aubusson tapestries for the episcopal palace. These tapestries, classified, since adorn the cathedral. It was also behind the early educational development in the city and contributed to the building of the hospital. It also made the hospital its heir, allowing it to develop. In 1702, the war of the
Camisards was triggered in the
Cévennes. Mende somewhat landscaped its walls in order to prevent any attack. However, this war which began with the murder of
Father du Chayla at
Le Pont-de-Montvert never reached Mende. In 1721, the
Great Plague arrived in
Gévaudan affecting the town of Mende with an amount of 1,078 victims in one year. Two generations later, the walls were removed (in 1768), "so the air circulates better". Once all these troubles passed, the city redeveloped its economy around wool and
sheep farming. The city extended a little bit under the development of the appearance of the mills, and its first factory. In 1754, Mende saw
Louis Mandrin the famous brigand, who lodged in a house there and, according to legend, hid treasure. Between 1764 and 1767, Mende was the witness the comings and goings of the wolf-hunters of the king, who came to seek rest in the city before returning to hunt the
beast which was terrorising the north of the country. It was seen close to Mende, once at Pailhou and between Rieutort-de-Randon and
Chastel-Nouvel but remained primarily in
Margeride. At this time the quarrel between the consul and the bishop was brought up to date by the edict on municipal organizations. The burghers and nobles opposed, but the bishop finally retained power in 1771. During the
French Revolution, Mende had to share with Marvejols the function of department capital of Gévaudan. This was renamed in the Lozère department in 1790, and the guardianship of the church disappeared in 1791, thus putting an end to the
paréage of 1307. Mende was the scene of small counter-revolutionary clashes, but without great effects. It became the sole capital shortly after.
Since the 19th century In 1800, the prefect settled in the city, and the prefecture occupies the episcopal palace after the sale of the property of the church. In the middle of the 19th century, the causses around Mende are planted with Austrian black pine, this national forest has continued since then. The choice of
black pine was due to its ease of acclimation, and its robustness. The presence of this forest often protected Mende from floods. Then the
railway appeared in the prefecture, then linking to
Sévérac-le-Château (3 May 1884). The railway line follows the Lot to cross the city, and also continues to follow, like the newly created road. In 1887 the old episcopal palace disappeared in flames, the prefecture had to be rebuilt. On 8 April 1888 Mende became one of the first cities in France, and the first
chef-lieu to have electric lighting. and located on the market square. The building was destroyed in summer 2013, to be replaced by a multi-cultural hall. In 1939, shortly before World War II, an
internment camp was built in the
woods of the Rieucros. The population was opposed to this transit camp for anti-fascists and communists. It then became an internment camp exclusively for women. condemned the
Vichy regime and the camp in his hometown, where he made sure that children interned with their mother followed a normal education. His hostile words and acts to the regime in place led him to be removed from his post in 1941. He then joined
Resistance where he became one of the leaders for the Lozère. Arrested and sent to German camps in 1944, he died during a transfer in 1945. Ideally placed between the
Maquis of the
Cévennes and the
Aubrac, the town was located as well as a centre for the coordination of the Lozère Interior Resistance. As for the population, it protected itself where shelters against aerial bombardments were implemented. From the 1970s, the city had a sizable population growth. The city then extended to the Causse d'Auge. In the 1980s and 1990s, one can also see that the department was depopulating overall, while its prefecture was expanding. Culture and sport took more importance in the life of the city. During the 1990s, the city developed administrative reconciliations with nearby cities. Therefore, it formed the Estelle city network with
Aurillac and
Rodez. The principle of the network was to share experiences and pool resources to develop such medium-sized cities. Shortly after, it was with other networks that Mende became closer to other cities of the
Massif Central. This is the case, for example, with the Cyber Massif network dedicated to the digital opening up of the region. Moreover, since the beginning of the 21st century, Mende had tried to actively participate in the policies of opening up of the Massif Central. The city lies in the Lot Valley and reached an area of in the 2000s. It also seeks to enroll in a
sustainable development project, in the image of the department with, among other projects, the construction of a
cogeneration plant and the establishment of a
network of heat. The timber industry, so important in the economy of the city, could therefore be put to further use. The establishment of bio-energy in the city has also been carried out by the appearance of a
wind farm north of the city. ==Politics and administration==