NERAC, a town of France in the department of Lot-et Garonne, 16 m. W.S.W. of Agen by road. Pop. (1931) 3,264. Nerac in the 11th century was a possession of the monks of St. Pierre de Condom. The lords of Albret deprived them of their authority and at the beginning of the 14th century founded a castle on the Baise. Nerac, the inhabitants of which had adopted the Reformed religion, was seized by the Catholics in 1562. The conferences, held there at the end of 1578 between the Catholics and Protestants, ended in the peace of Nerac, 1579. In 1580 the town was used by Henry IV. as a base for attacks on the Agenais, Armagnac and Guienne. A Chambre de l'Edit for Guienne and a Chambre des Comptes were established there by Henry IV. In 1621, however, the town took part in the Protestant rising, was taken by the troops of Louis XIII. and its fortifications dis mantled. Soon after it was deprived both of the Chambre de l'Edit and of the Chambre des Comptes, and its ruin was com pleted by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The
town, once the capital of the dukes of Albret, is divided by the Baise into Grand-Nerac and Petit-Nerac. The river is spanned by the 16th century bridge of Pont Vieux, and by the Pont Neuf, of modern construction. From the left bank a staircase leads to the rue Henri Quatre, where stands a wing of the castle in which Henry IV. lived. The former palace of the Chambre des Comptes is now occupied by the tribunal of commerce, the library and the museum. The remains of a Roman villa have been found near the promenade of La Garenne. A road leads from the south end of La Garenne to the ruins of the feudal castle of Nazareth. The Château du Tasta of the 15th century is within a short distance of Nerac. The industries include brewing and cork-working. It has a large trade in wines, brandy, corks, fruit and vegetables.