Clermont-Ferrand Hotels

Clermont-Ferrand is a city in central B>France, the capital of the Auvergne region. Population 140,000. Clermont-Ferrand is famous for the chain of extinct volcanoes that ring the city, including the highest, Puy-de-Dôme, some 13 km away from the city centre. One of the oldest cities of France, its first mention was by the Greek geographer Strabo, who called it Nemessos, a Gaulish word for a sacred forest. The settlement witnessed the famous Battle of Gergovia, in which the Gauls led by Vercingetorix triumphed temporarily over the Romans led ultimately by Julius Caesar. After the Roman conquest, the city was renamed Augustonemetum, a name which combined its original Gallic name with that of the Emperor Augustus. Its population was estimated at 15,000–30,000 inhabitants in the 2nd century CE, making it one of the largest cities of Roman Gaul. In 848, the city was renamed Clairmont, after the castle Clarus Mons. Clairmont was an episcopal city ruled by its bishop, and famously the starting point of the First Crusade raise to free Jerusalem from Muslim domination. Pope Urban II preached Crusade in 1095 at the Council of Clermont. In 1120, to counteract the power of the clergy, the counts of Auvergne founded the city of Montferrand on the model of the new cities of the Midi. In 1551, Clermont became a royal city, and in 1610, the inseparable property of the Crown. On 15 April 1630, the Edict of Troyes (the First Edict of Union) forcibly joined the two cities of Clermont and Ferrand. This union was confirmed in 1731 by Louis XV with the Second Edict of Union. At this time Montferrand was no more than a satellite city of Clermont, in which condition it remained until the beginning of the 20th century. Wishing to retain its independence, Montferrand made three demands for independence, in 1789, 1848, and 1863.