Auch

Auch stands on the Gers River in the rolling country of Gascony, where a steep left-bank promontory faces broad farmland on the right bank. The river crossing and defensive height made the site a natural centre for routes between Toulouse, Bordeaux and the Pyrenees. Grain, wine, livestock and wool from the surrounding hills supported the town.

The Aquitanian Ausci occupied the site when Roman power reached Gascony in the first century BCE. The Romans called it Augusta Auscorum, and it became one of the principal cities of Novempopulana. After Eauze was destroyed in 409, Auch became the provincial capital and inherited its name from the Ausci.

The Catholic archbishopric made Auch a religious and administrative centre through the Middle Ages. A hilltop cathedral, canons’ quarters and markets clustered inside the old walls, while the lower town served river traffic and craftsmen. The Gers often flooded, forcing the city’s two levels to develop separately.

During the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Auch remained the capital of Gascony and a stronghold of Catholic institutions. Its parlement, seminary and noble families gave the small city regional influence, while rural roads brought grain, wine and pilgrims. Topography, river crossing and church government continued to determine its place.