RODEZ, a town of southern France, capital of the department of Aveyron, 51 m. N.N.E. of Albi by rail. Pop. (1931) 11,407. Rodez, Segodunum under the Gauls, Ruthena under the Romans, was the capital of the Rutheni, a tribe allied to the Arverni, and was afterwards the chief town in the district of Rouergue. In the 4th century it became Christian, and St. Amans, its first bishop, was elected in 401. In the middle ages the bishops held temporal power in the "cite," and the counts in the "bourg." The Albigenses were defeated near Rodez in 1210. The countship of Rodez, detached from that of Rouergue at the end of the 11th century, belonged first to the viscounts of Carlat, and from the early 14th century to the counts of Armagnac. From 136o to 1368 the Eng lish held the town. After the confiscation of the estates of the Armagnacs in 1475 the countship passed to the dukes of Alencon and then to the D'Albrets. Henry IV. finally annexed it to the
Crown of France.
Rodez is situated on the southern border of the Causse of Ro dez, on an isolated plateau bordered on the east and south by the river Aveyron. The cathedral (1277-1535) has a great Flamboy ant rose-window in the principal facade, which is flanked by two square towers and has no portal. Each transept has a fine Gothic doorway. On the north side of the building rises a 16th century tower. The episcopal palace (17th and 19th centuries), is flanked by a massive tower, relic of an older palace.
The town is the seat of a bishop, a prefect and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and commerce, and a chamber of commerce. The industries include wool-spinning and the weaving of woollen goods.