[3] The castle, of which only ruins remain, was the scene of a murder in the 17th century that was the subject of Gothic Fiction by both the Marquis de Sade and Alexandre Dumas Père.

[4] The beautiful Dianne de Roussan was killed by her husband's brothers, who wanted her large fortune.

Natural silk was replaced by artificial, and later by nylon, and cottage industry gave way to factories; half a dozen or so still produce high quality stockings.

As a predominantly Huguenot town, it was involved in the Camisard revolts of the late 17th and early 18thC[5] and suffered from the anti-Protestant Dragonnades of the French monarchy.

It was the birthplace of the author, poet and composer Antoine Fabre d'Olivet (December 8, 1767, – March 25, 1825, Paris)[11]