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Thirty years that made history
When the Saracens seized Villeneuve lès Maguelone, they found a prosperous island, a dynamic port, and a diocese. Villeneuve became the fearsome Port Sarrasin (French for Saracen), completely destroyed by Charles Martel in 737.
The Visigoth king Lieuba created the city of Villeneuve lès Maguelone on an island in a lagoon. Under his reign, in 589 (the first date found), the first diocese was created there. Even earlier, in the 4th century, the port’s activity made it a strategic position for Roman conquest and commercial maritime traffic with the Near East, the Iberian Peninsula, and North Africa. However, it was the capture of Maguelone by the Saracens, around the year 700, that has held the attention of historians and given the spot its aura of mystery and warrior grandeur.
Here’s the full story: the Saracens had barely taken possession of Spain when they began to covet Gaul. In 715, they seized Tarragona and Barcelona, and then crossed the Pyrenees. In 719, Narbonne fell into the hands of Emir Al Samh, whose domination extended all the way to Nîmes. Along the coast, Villeneuve's vibrant character kindled the Saracens’ envy. They captured it and immediately enlarged the port to the south of the cathedral, which communicated with the sea by a channel. The fearsome Port Sarrasin was born.
A former volcanic site (like Agde), Maguelone possessed basaltic rock resources, which favoured the construction of walls and ramparts.
But Charles Martel and his troops were approaching. After the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the Franks began to reconquer the territory. In 737, Charles’ troops took back Arles, Nîmes, and Béziers.
For Villeneuve lès Maguelone, Charles gave an order for "total destruction". Why would he do that? Charles, while a Christian, never tired of taking over fortified sites belonging to the Church, whose possessions he "secularised". Typically declared a champion of the Cross against the Infidels, some have described him in a less flattering manner, such as the tenth century chronicler Flodoard: "This bastard child of a servant was only bold when bringing harm to Christ's Churches."
In addition to this, Villeneuve was a strategic site. It was necessary to get rid of the Saracens, the Christian religious orders, the Diocese, as well as the buildings, fortifications, and places of worship built by the various sides. Maguelone was given over to the flames, the "country delivered to the horrors of war, the fanaticism of the Muslim hordes, and to the mercy of the victorious Franks" (Fabrège, scholar and owner of the island, in "L'histoire de Maguelone" [The History of Maguelone], 1894).
The bishop and the canons took refuge in Substantion (Castelnau-le-Lez), a site that has since disappeared. From the 11th to the 13th centuries, a time dominated by Byzantine piracy, no one lived or worked in Villeneuve lès Maguelone.
In the end, the Muslim presence in the city lasted just thirty years, and it left few physical traces. However, it did leave a strong impression on people's minds. Port Sarrasin became mythical. What’s more, a locality called La Sarrasine still appears on current maps and marks the site of the old channel, facing the islet of Maguelone.
Villeneuve was revived in 1030 on the initiative of Bishop Arnaud, who returned to the island and built a cathedral-fortress, now Saint Peter's cathedral— because even while destroyed and in ruins, the city of Maguelone never lost its prestige. The bishop also had a bridge built connecting the island to the village on the mainland—a daring project for its time, since it measured nearly one kilometre. The cathedral became a papal possession enjoying papal indulgence (decreed in Pope John XIX's Bull of 1033). Enlarged and embellished in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Maguelone cathedral rapidly became the centre for culture and spirituality that it is today.
