Maguelone (or Maguelon) was one of the "seven cities" that may have been the origin of the name for the region called
Septimania. Septimania was the western region of the
Roman province of
Gallia Narbonensis, which passed under the control of the
Visigothic kingdom in 462, when Septimania was ceded to
Theodoric II, king of the Visigoths. The seven cities were today's
Elne,
Agde,
Narbonne,
Lodève,
Béziers,
Nîmes and Maguelone. In the aftermath of the
Battle of Vouille (507), Maguelone managed to remain out of Frankish sway, and was part of the Visigothic kingdom. At first the stronghold of a Visigothic noble, on high ground protected by coastal
lagoons, Maguelone became the seat of a bishop. When the early history of Maguelone was compiled in 1583 by Abbé Gariel (
Histoire des évêques de Maguelonne) he provided the
see with an apostolic origin, as is
de rigueur for any long-established
bishopric of
Late Antiquity throughout the three
Gauls. The first
historical bishop of Maguelonne, Boetius, assisted at the
Council of Toledo in 589; doubtless the Christian community was far older. In the 8th century (circa 725) the
Umayyad forces conquered the area, but the stronghold was destroyed by
Charles Martel in his 737 campaign across Septimania, almost depopulating the region. The Gallo-Roman and Gothic nobility allied with the Andalusian military kept the position until 752, when Pepin the Short tipped the scale in favour of the Franks, who conquered Septimania. The diocese was removed to Substantion (
Sextantio), but Bishop Arnaud (1030–1060) returned it, rebuilt the destroyed sanctuary and constructed a bridge to link Maguelone to the "new district" of Villeneuve. The powerful and compact
Romanesque Maguelone Cathedral, dedicated to
Saint Peter, was constructed. The local
count retained the traditional
Carolingian right of nomination of bishops: in 1085 Pierre, count of Substantion and
Melgueil, offered himself as
vassal of the
Holy See and relinquished the right of nomination, and
Innocent III transferred the feudal rights of the county to the bishop of Maguelonne in 1215, which gave the bishops the right to issue coinage. The bishop, as well as the
King of Aragon and the Count of
Toulouse, authorized the coinage of Arabic money, not intended for circulation in Maguelonne, but to be sold for exportation to the merchants of the Mediterranean. With the expansion of trade in the revival of the
High Middle Ages,
Montpellier came to be the city for this region, first passing to the Crown of Aragon in 1204, then to that of France (1292 and 1349). In 1536 the see was finally transferred there. A sentimental and
chivalric romance of the high-born Miguelonne and Pierre, the son of the King of
Provence, who recognized each other in their old age after many heartbreaking separations, inspired a verse:
Epistle by
Clément Marot. For the history of the bishopric of Maguelonne, see
Bishopric of Montpellier as the episcopal see was transferred there in 1536. ==Geography==