Velay
Velay () is a historical area of France situated in east Haute-Loire "département" and south east of Massif central. History. Julius Caesar mentioned the vellavi as subordinate of the arverni. Strabon suggested that they might have made secession from the arverni and Ptolemy located them as "vellauni". The country is well delimited by natural obstacles: Allier river in the south, Mount Boutières and Mézenc on the east, Mount Devès on the west. Devès has Celtic toponyms clearly suggesting an antic border (Fix from "finis"; la Durande from Gaulish "Equiranda" meaning frontier). No explanation concerning the toponym, except 19th century 's naïve scholastic ones that connected the name to PIE root "wel" (land of "well ... people") or even to the mythological "Hel" (“land or mountains of the hell” referring to the volcanic geology). Middle Ages. In the early Middle Ages Velay was known as and was placed under the rule of the Duchy of Aquitaine, and followed the Auvergne destiny. The first mention of a county of Velay was in 1142. By the beginning of the 10th century, Le Puy-en-Velay had supplanted Ru-Essio (Saint-Paulien) as religious and administrative capital of the Velay. In 1162, Velay becomame  an independent county, with its bishop as count reporting directly to the King. Velay was divided into eighteen baronies. From the mid 14th century it was part of Languedoc but kept its own States General until 1789. During the same period, it was a crossroads of pilgrimage trails. Modern period. In the beginning of the 16th century Velay was wealthy, but the religious wars ruined the country. Le Puy was ardently catholic but the extreme south east of Velay was deeply Protestant. It is still nowadays the most Protestant area of France. Velay ceased to exist after the French Revolution  on March 4, 1790. The department of Haute-Loire was created from the former county of Velay, on top of it a portion of Auvergne, Gévaudan and Vivarais are added. The first part of "Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes" (1879( from Robert Louis Stevenson is entitled Velay, the country being the starting point of the writer's trip. The name is kept for geographical terms (Mounts of the Velay) or new French geographical administrative entity ("Communautés de communes du Velay"). References. Sources