Forez

The Forez is a former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central region of the Loire département and a part of the Haute -Loire. The Forez is so much identified with the scene of L' Astrée by Honoré d' Urfé work that the region is sometimes called the Pays d' Astrée.

Pronunciation

The z in Forez is generally silent, is mitgesprochen occasionally only on the western slopes of the Monts du Forez. Thus, the Forez has the same pronunciation as the French word for forest ( Forêt).

Geography

The province was named after the place Feurs in the plane and gave it to the mountains of the Forez mountains, whose highest point is the Pierre- sur -Haute with 1631 meters is on. The mountain range provides a natural border between the two parts of the landscape is:

• The eastern slope and the level ( Plaine du Forez ) formed from the 10th century, a county Forez, corresponding roughly to the present-day district Montbrison. Here is a Franco- Provençal dialect was spoken until the 20th century.
• The western slope to the river Dore, now part of the department of Puy -de- Dôme, soon fell under the rule of the nobility of Auvergne; here they spoke auvergnatisch until the 20th century, a dialect of Occitan. This part of the Forez Forez never belonged to the province.

The term Forez also spoke in the name of the company founded in 1986 Regional Natural Park Livradois -Forez (French Parc naturel régional Livradois -Forez ), which is located on the western slopes and also has nothing to do with the ancient county of Forez. The nature park is part of the Puy-de -Dôme, especially to the arrondissements of Ambert and Thiers, but also to the north of the Haute -Loire.

The Loire is then also the main river in the area, another is the 58 km long Lignon.

History

Politically, the Forez in the Middle Ages of the Lyonnais region, lying to the west of the actual Lyonnais, south of the Charolais and Beaujolais, north of the Velay and Vivarais and east of the Auvergne; its capital was Feurs. Other major cities are Montbrison, the 1441 capital was, Saint- Étienne, Néronde, Chazelles, Roanne and Saint -Just- Saint -Rambert. The residents of the county of which were Segusiavi whose capital forum Segusiavorum, today Feurs. Already the Carolingian period, the area was named after this location Pagus forensis. A connection with the word Forêt ( Forest) does not exist: this word occurs in the 12th century for the first time.

During the French Revolution, the eastern part of the Forez belonged to a department Rhône -et -Loire, which was however already in 1793 divided into the Rhône and Loire.