Privas (French: [pʁiva]; Occitan: Privàs [pɾiˈβas], also Catalan: [pɾiˈbas]) is a city located in France, in the department of Ardèche.

The earliest traces of the commune are attested in the hamlet of Lac where recent archaeological excavations have revealed a Roman villa dating to the beginning of the Empire, as well as a medieval burying-ground.

The earliest bourg of Privas developed around the church of Saint-Thomas (place de la République), a dependency of the Cluniac priory of Rompon.

The château (castri) of Privas on the site of the present collège-couvent des Récollets is not attested prior to the 13th century, when the town was walled.

In the twelfth century Privas belonged to the seigneurie of the Poitiers-Valentinois, comtes de Valence, whose liege lords were the counts of Toulouse.

Aymar de Poitiers, in 1281, and his son in 1309, granted charters to the town, guaranteeing its traditional liberties, and its fiscal, economic and military rights.

In the 13th century the town expanded from two originals centres, Bize and Clastre, to develop on the level towards the east, in two new quarters, Claux and Mazel.

In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation took swift and deep roots in Privas, among common people, the high bourgeoisie and the nobles alike.

Nevertheless, the reform movement spread, and for nearly seventy years no Catholic mass was said at Privas, where the church itself was demolished in 1570 and the French garrison refused entry.

Nevertheless, on 22 May, the Swiss mercenaries of the attacking Royalist Catholic army of Cardinal Richelieu managed to haul by hand six huge pieces of artillery, each weighing about four tons, from Tauléac across the Ouvèze river and up the zig-zag path onto the plateau of Le Vanel, to the east of the town walls.

From this decisive vantage point they bombarded the town until its surviving defenders were forced to evacuate and take their last stand on Mont Toulon on its west.