The
Gaulish name of the settlement in the 1st century BC was either
Octodurus or
Octodurum (whence Martigny is sometimes also called
Octodure in French), an
oppidum or
vicus of the
Veragri. Octodurus was conquered by the
Roman Republic in 57 BC, and occupied by
Servius Galba with the
twelfth legion and some
cavalry in order to protect the strategically important pass of Poeninus (now known as the
Great St. Bernard), by which road the
mercatores had used to travel at great risk as well as paying great tolls. (
B. G. iii. 1.) Galba, after capturing many local strongholds and receiving the submission of the people, sent troops into the country of the
Nantuates, and with his remaining army determined to winter in Octodurus. Galba gave one part of the town to the Gauls to winter in, and assigned the other to his troops. He fortified himself with a ditch and rampart, and thought he was safe. He was, however, suddenly attacked by the Gauls before his defences were complete or all his supplies were brought into the camp, resulting in the
Battle of Octodurus, and a very indecisive Roman victory; the Romans estimated the Gaulish force at more than 30,000, and Caesar says that more than a third part were destroyed; nevertheless Galba, "declining to try fortune too often" (
B. G. iii. 6), burned the hamlet and retreated to the Province the next day. Octodurus was later on joined to the
Roman Empire, as part of the
Alpes Poeninae province.
Pliny (iii. c. 20) says that the Octodurenses received the
Latinitas (
Latio donati). Octodurus declined over the following decades, and between AD 41 and 47 (during the reign of
Claudius), a new Roman colony named
Forum Claudii Augusti, later renamed 'to
Forum Claudii Vallensium, was established nearby to take the role of capital of the
Vallis Poenina province. The town appears in the
Antonine Itinerary and in the
Tabula Peutingeriana. In the
Notit. Prov., the place is called
Civitas Vallensium Octodurus. At a later period it was called
Forum Claudii Vallensium Octodurensium, as an inscription shows. An episcopal see was established here in the 4th century (moved in the 6th century to
Sion), making the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sion the oldest bishopric in what is now Switzerland. The first historically attested bishop of Octodurus was
Theodulus (died in 391), who was present at the
Council of Aquileia in 381. A restored
Roman amphitheatre, temples, citizen living quarters, and
thermal baths can be seen in Martigny today. One authority speaks of the remains of a Roman aqueduct at Martigny. Many coins, and other memorials of the Roman time, have been found about the place. There are no records of the town during the early medieval period. In the Middle Ages, the town took
Martin of Tours as its patron saint, and became known by the German name
Martinach, recorded in Latinized form as
Martiniacum in 1018. The church of Martigny, presumably at the site of the ancient cathedral, was consecrated to St. Mary in 1177, and to
Notre-Dame-des-Champs in 1420. Martigny was placed under the protection of the
House of Savoy in 1351, passing to
Saint-Maurice in 1475, as the seven tithings (
Sieben Zenden) in treaty with the bishop of Sion and the canton of Bern seized all of the Lower Valais. The town was granted a degree of autonomy, its citizens being allowed to elect their own local officials, known as the
syndics (but no judges, as
justice lay with the bishopric until 1798). illustrated by
James Pattison Cockburn, printed by
James Duffield Harding The economy of Martigny was traditionally based on agriculture and
viticulture. The town was often flooded by the Dranse, most severely in 1595 and in 1818. From 1798 to 1802, Martigny was part of the imperialist Napoleonic
Republic of Valais, then in the
Rhodanic Republic, which passed to
France from 1810 to 1814. The Valais/Wallis passed to Switzerland in 1815. In the 1840s, Martigny was the stage of a confrontation between the liberal-radical "Young Switzerland" and the conservative "Old Switzerland" movements, culminating in the Battle at the Trient of 21 May 1844, taking place a few kilometres outside town. The town was split into independent municipalities of
Martigny-Ville,
Charrat,
Martigny-Bourg and
Martigny-Combe in the 1830s.
La Bâtiaz and
Trient were further split off
Martigny-Combe in 1845 and 1899, respectively. This administrative fragmentation of the town was reversed in the 20th century, with a fusion of Martigny-Ville with La Bâtiaz in 1956 and with Martigny-Bourg in 1964. Martigny was connected to the Simplon railway in 1878, with a separate railway station built in 1906. It was connected to the Swiss motorway system in 1981 with the completion of the Great-St-Bernard exit of the A9. Martigny had a population of 2,545 in 1850, of 3,550 in 1900 and of 5,915 in 1950. ==Coat of arms==