User:Dadewebster/St-Claude

Saint-Claude is a commune of the Jura département, in France.

The municipality of Saint-Claude is located in the valley of Bienne, in the Jura mountains. It is the traditional capital of Upper Jura (Haut Jura).

History
In the early 5th century a monastry was built dominating the confluency of the rivers Bienne and Tacon. The place harboured ruins of a Gallo-Roman temple and was called Condadisco, from the Celtic word condat meaning confluency. Saint Eugendus (Augendus) ( Oyand, Oyan) significantly increased the monastery and transformed it into a Principality that ruled all Upper Jura.

The monastery and the village that developed nearby were known as Saint-Oyend-de-Joux after Saint Eugendus. However, when St. Claudius resigned his Diocese of Besançon and had died, in 696, as twelfth abbot, the number of pilgrims who visited his grave was so great that, since the thirteenth century, the name "Saint-Claude" came more and more into use and has to-day superseded the other.

Economy
As early as in the 13th century, the town obtained municipal rights from the abbey and developed a very active craft industry: beads, whistles and other kinds of small items made of wood or bones were sold to pilgrims. They were so famous that they were later named articles de Saint-Claude. The town was the seat of the Grande Judicature, the administrative and legal court of the abbey; very early, Saint-Claude opened a law school where the lawyers to be hired by the Judicature were taught and trained. The most famous of them was Christin, who defended the rights of the serfs of Upper Jura and gained the support of Voltaire.

The French Revolution and the big blaze of 1799 stopped the increase of the population of Saint-Claude; it resumed at the end of the First Empire with the incorporation in 1811 of the neighbouring municipalities of Etables and Vaucluse and the beginning of the industrialization: a paper mill, a coton mill and wire works, powered by the driving force of the watercourses, were set up. In 1855, the production of briar pipes became a monopoly (it employed 4,500 workers in Saint-Claude in 1925), and is still the main fame of Saint-Claude, even if this activity is today restricted to a few craftmen. Cutting of gems started in the 18th century and really developed in the 1880s, and was a main sucess of the cooperative movement (cooperatives Adamas and Le Diamant); this activity is still on in the neighbouring municipalities of Villard-Saint-Sauveur and Septmoncel.

Economical Crisis of 1930
During the Second World War and because of its cramped geographical location, Saint-Claude declined until the 1960s. In 1970, the business park of Plan d'Acier was created outside the town to harbour the metallurgy and plasturgy factories that had succeeded the 19th century mills. In 1974, the incorporation of the neighbouring municipalities of Chaumont, Chevry, Cinquétral, Ranchette and Valfin brought 450 new inhabitants and some more space. The new business parks, however, were built farther in the valley of Bienne after the creation of the communauté de communes de Val de Bienne in 1974 by the municipalities of Saint-Claude, Chassal and Molinges. The villages of Choux, Coiserette, Coyrière, Larrivoire, Viry and Vulvoz joined the Community in 2002, followed in 2003 by Avignon-les-Saint-Claude. The valley of Bienne is nicknamed "Plastics Valley".

Demography
Evolution of Population Population Structure Age Pyramid Homes Saint-Claude  National Average Total number of homes	     5 243	     23 810 161 Homes with 1 people	     35,4%	     31% Homes with 2 people	     31,2%	     31,1% Homes with 3 people	     14,2%	     16,2% Homes with 4 people	     11,2%	     13,8% Homes with 5 people	     5,1%	     5,5% Homes with 6 people or more  3%	   2,4% Referendium on European Constitution (29 may 2005) Saint-Claude  National Average Yes 	                     40,11%	     45,32% No 	                     59,89%	     54,68% Abstention                   37,13%	     30,66% Sources: INSEE

Events
The festival of comic strips and literature of the Upper-Jura. This demonstration organized by Générations Bédés and Salmigondis features authors from Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and France. The 3rd festival was held in Saint-Claude on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of April 2006.
 * Le festival de bandes dessinées et de littératures du Haut-Jura.