Medea

History

During the Roman Empire there was a settlement called Lamdia at Médéa. Lamdia was the seat of an ancient Christian bishopric of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis. Only one bishop of the town is known. The Donatist Felix attended the 411 Conference of Carthage. The town at that time had no Catholic bishops. Today Lamdia survives as a titular bishopric of the Roman Church and the current bishop is Marian Eleganti, bishop of Chur. Following the defeat of the Berbers in the 11th century, Arab tribes of Hilal and Sulaym descent were settled in the region, mixing with and Arabicizing the local Berbers. Médéa was the capital of the Beylik of Titteri; a Bey, deputy of the Dey of Algiers, was resident there. The beylik of Titteri (chief Medea) was established in 1548. The last Bey, Mostefa Boumezrag, ran it from 1819 to 1830, when the French arrived. In 1837, after the Treaty of Tafna, Medea became one of the capitals of the part of Algeria ruled by Abdelkader El Djezairi, but was occupied by the French when they eventually took possession of the whole of Algeria. Until 1962 Médéa was a garrison town for the French army. In the nearby village of Tibhirine is the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas. The monastery was from 1935 to 1996 home to a Trappist community when most of them were abducted by the Armed Islamic Group on 27 March 1997. Two months later, the group announced their deaths and their heads were found though it remains uncertain as to who was responsible for their deaths. The monastery buildings were then turned over to Chemin Neuf Community, a Catholic community originally from Lyon, France.