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Further information: History of the Valais
Remains of a Roman water supply in Martigny
Château de la Bâtiaz
The Gaulish name of the settlement in the 1st century BC was either Octodurus or Octodurum (whence Martigny is sometimes also called Octodure in French), an oppidum or vicus of the Veragri.[citation needed]
Octodurus was conquered by the Roman Republic in 57 BC, and occupied by Servius Galba with the twelfth legion and some cavalry in order to protect the strategically important pass of Poeninus (now known as the Great St. Bernard), by which road the mercatores had used to travel at great risk as well as paying great tolls. (B. G. iii. 1.) Galba, after capturing many local strongholds and receiving the submission of the people, sent troops into the country of the Nantuates, and with his remaining army determined to winter in Octodurus. Galba gave one part of the town to the Gauls to winter in, and assigned the other to his troops. He fortified himself with a ditch and rampart, and thought he was safe. He was, however, suddenly attacked by the Gauls before his defences were complete or all his supplies were brought into the camp, resulting in the Battle of Octodurus, and a very indecisive Roman victory; the Romans estimated the Gaulish force at more than 30,000, and Caesar says that more than a third part were destroyed; nevertheless Galba, "declining to try fortune too often" (B. G. iii. 6), burned the hamlet and retreated to the Province the next day.
Octodurus was later on joined to the Roman Empire, as part of the Alpes Poeninae province. Pliny (iii. c. 20) says that the Octodurenses received the Latinitas (Latio donati). Octodurus declined over the following decades, and between AD 41 and 47 (during the reign of Claudius), a new Roman colony named Forum Claudii Augusti, later renamed 'to Forum Claudii Vallensium, was established nearby to take the role of capital of the Vallis Poenina province. The town appears in the Antonine Itinerary and in the Tabula Peutingeriana. In the Notit. Prov., the place is called Civitas Vallensium Octodurus. At a later period it was called Forum Claudii Vallensium Octodurensium, as an inscription shows.
An episcopal see was established here in the 4th century (moved in the 6th century to Sion), making the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sion the oldest bishopric in what is now Switzerland. The first historically attested bishop of Octodurus was Theodulus (died in 391), who was present at the Council of Aquileia in 381. A restored Roman amphitheatre, temples, citizen living quarters, and thermal baths can be seen in Martigny today. One authority speaks of the remains of a Roman aqueduct at Martigny. Many coins, and other memorials of the Roman time, have been found about the place.
There are no records of the town during the early medieval period. In the Middle Ages, the town took Martin of Tours as its patron saint,[citation needed] and became known by the German name Martinach, recorded in Latinized form as Martiniacum in 1018. The church of Martigny, presumably at the site of the ancient cathedral, was consecrated to St. Mary in 1177, and to Notre-Dame-des-Champs in 1420. Martigny was placed under the protection of the House of Savoy in 1351, passing to Saint-Maurice in 1475, as the seven tithings (Sieben Zenden) in treaty with the bishop of Sion and the canton of Bern seized all of the Lower Valais. The town was granted a degree of autonomy, its citizens being allowed to elect their own local officials, known as the syndics (but no judges, as justice lay with the bishopric until 1798).[citation needed]
Martigny in 1820, lithograph illustrated by James Pattison Cockburn, printed by James Duffield Harding
The economy of Martigny was traditionally based on agriculture and viticulture. The town was often flooded by the Dranse, most severely in 1595 and in 1818. From 1798 to 1802, Martigny was part of the imperialist Napoleonic Republic of Valais, then in the Rhodanic Republic, which passed to France from 1810 to 1814. The Valais/Wallis passed to Switzerland in 1815. In the 1840s, Martigny was the stage of a confrontation between the liberal-radical "Young Switzerland" and the conservative "Old Switzerland" movements, culminating in the Battle at the Trient of 21 May 1844, taking place a few kilometres outside town.[citation needed] The town was split into independent municipalities of Martigny-Ville, Charrat, Martigny-Bourg and Martigny-Combe in the 1830s. La Bâtiaz and Trient were further split off Martigny-Combe in 1845 and 1899, respectively. This administrative fragmentation of the town was reversed in the 20th century, with a fusion of Martigny-Ville with La Bâtiaz in 1956 and with Martigny-Bourg in 1964.
Martigny was connected to the Simplon railway in 1878, with a separate railway station built in 1906. It was connected to the Swiss motorway system in 1981 with the completion of the Great-St-Bernard exit of the A9. Martigny had a population of 2,545 in 1850, of 3,550 in 1900 and of 5,915 in 1950.
