Vesoul
Vesoul () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté located in eastern France. It is the most populated municipality of the department with inhabitants in 2014. The same year, the Communauté d'agglomération de Vesoul which covers 20 municipalities together had inhabitants while the Urban area of Vesoul which includes 78 municipalities, had inhabitants. Its inhabitants are known in French as "Vésuliens". Built on top of the hill of La Motte in the first millennium under the name of "Castrum Vesulium", the city gradually evolved into a European commercial and economic center. At  the end of the Middle Ages, the city experienced a challenging period beset with plagues, epidemics, and localized conflict. Main urban center of the department, Vesoul is also home to a major PSA parts manufacturing plant and to the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema. It was immortalized by Jacques Brel in his 1968 song "Vesoul". The town is the capital of the department of Haute-Saône. History. Vesoul is first mentioned in a document dated 899. That document speaks about an elevation with a fortified watchtower. The document speaks about "Castrum Vesulium". Castrum is a fortification, and "Vesulium  has the syllable ves" which meant hill or mountain in a language that was spoken before the Celts. Today, there is a castle that forms the centre of the city. The first houses were built inside the walls of the castle. Newcomers who found no place settled outside the city walls, on the flanks of the hill. Growing wine was popular. In 1814, after the fall of the empire, a buffer state was created, with Vesoul as capital. The principality was that of Free County, of the Vosges and of Porrentruy. Today, one of the main factories of PSA Peugeot  Citroën is near Vesoul. Geography. Vesoul is located in the easter part of France, about 100 kilometers away from the Germany and the Switzerland's border and between the Jura and the Vosges's mountain ranges. Vesoul is also situated in the center of the Haute-Saône, which is in the nord of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Inside of this region, Vesoul is included in the "Pays de Vesoul et du Val de Saône", a geographical region composing of the Vesoul's area and the northern part of the river Saône. By the road, Vesoul is from Luxeuil-les-Bains, from  Lure and from Gray, that are the main towns close to Vesoul. About the biggest cities in the French East region, Vesoul is located from Besançon, from Belfort and from Dijon and from Nancy. Situated at the equidistance of Dijon and Mulhouse, Vesoul is from the city of Paris. The town of Vesoul is located at the intersection of highways 19 and 57, on the SNCF Paris-Basel railway line . The area of Vesoul is also included in the "Pôle métropolitain Centre Franche-Comté" which is a government structure unifying the biggest areas of central Franche-Comté. There are nine  communes that are bordering the town of Vesoul. Vesoul is crossed by four watercourses : two rivers (Durgeon and Colombine) and two streams (Vaugine and Méline). All of them are tributaries and sub-tributaries of the Saône, the fourth longest river in France with 473 kilometers long and flowing about ten kilometers from the western side of Vesoul. Population and society. Media. "Vesoul" is also the name of a song by Jacques Brel from 1968, a fast-paced waltz during the recording of which Brel famously yelled "Chauffe, Marcel, chauffe!" ("heat up, Marcel, heat up!") at his accordionist, Marcel Azzola. The  town is also mentioned facetiously in the satirical rap "Fous ta cagoule" by Michael Youn. Education. Vesoul has schools of higher education. The city has 1,200 students divided between an IUT, an IUFM, an Institute of Nursing Training, a School of Management and Commerce and BTS. A Council of Student Life (CVE), led by the Officer in charge of Higher Education, was established in 2011. It offers activities to stimulate student life. In all, Vesoul has 10,000 students. Culture and heritage. Library. The first public library of Vesoul opened in 1771. The "abbé" (abbot) Bardenet, superior of the Saint-Esprit  hospital in Besançon, gave his book collection to the town. There were 1772 books. The collections became a lot larger with the Revolution. At that time, the revolutionaries (people who led the French Revolution) took the books from the monasteries of the town ("capucins") and even of the region ("Luxeuil" and "Faverney" monasteries). Around 20,000 books were added to the library this way, including some 11th century manuscripts. The Mayor's office was responsible for keeping the books. In 1981, the municipality decided to build a new building to encourage the public to read. The library was recently equipped with  computers. There are around 200 manuscripts and 150 incunables.