1.
Prefectures of France
–
There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
Prefectures of France
–
Petite Couronne
2.
Communes of France
–
The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
Communes of France
–
Road sign marking the end of the village of
Y in the
Somme department of
Picardy
Communes of France
–
Map of the 36,569 communes of metropolitan France
Communes of France
–
Mittelhausbergen in
Alsace
Communes of France
–
Vacqueyras in
Provence, showing double French/
Provençal name
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
4.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
5.
Regions of France
–
France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
Regions of France
6.
Occitanie
–
Occitanie is an administrative region of France that was created on 1 January 2016 from former French regions Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées. Frances Conseil dÉtat approved Occitanie as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, the new Région Occitanie should not be confused with the wider cultural entity of Occitania, of which the new administrative region is part. The new region covers an area of more than 72,724 km2 with a population of 5,626,858. As the provisional name of the new region, the text of the law specified the hyphenated names of the predecessors, Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées. As for most of the regions, a permanent name was proposed by the new regional council. Enacted in 2014, the reform of the regions has been subject to debate for many years. The provisional name of the region was withdrawn on 30 September 2016, toulouse Montpellier Nîmes Perpignan Béziers Montauban Languedoc-Roussillon Midi-Pyrénées Regions of France Occitania Merger of the regions - France 3
Occitanie
–
Main Occitan cities, in Occitan
Occitanie
–
Linguistic map of Occitania
Occitanie
–
Gordes, a typical
Provençal village, named by
CNN the most beautiful village of the world.
Occitanie
–
View from a part of the old town of
Toulouse, former capital of
Languedoc.
7.
Departments of France
–
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
Departments of France
–
Geometrical proposition rejected
Departments of France
–
The 101 departments of France
Departments of France
–
The three Algerian departments in 1848
8.
Tarn-et-Garonne
–
Tarn-et-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France. It is traversed by the Rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name and this area was originally part of the former provinces of Quercy and Languedoc. The department was created in 1808 by Napoléon Bonaparte, with territory being taken from the departments of Lot, Haute-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, Gers and Aveyron. The department is mostly rural with fertile land in the broad river valley. The departmental prefecture is Montauban, and some of the large communes include Castelsarrasin, Molières, Caussade, Valence-dAgen. Quercy was part of Aquitania prima under the Romans, and Christianity was introduced during the 4th century, early in the 6th century the area fell under the authority of the Franks, and in the 7th century became part of the autonomous Duchy of Aquitaine. At the end of the 10th century its rulers were the counts of Toulouse. The kings of both England and France around this time tried to curry favour by adding to the privileges of the towns, in 1360, the Treaty of Brétigny was signed and the whole of Quercy passed to England. However, in the 1440s the English were finally expelled by the newly created army of Charles VII of France, in the 16th century Quercy was a stronghold of the Protestants, and the scene of fierce religious conflicts. The civil wars of the reign of Louis XIII largely took place around Montauban, before the departments formation in the nineteenth century, the northern half formed part of the old province of Quercy and the southern half, part of Languedoc. The department was created on 4 November 1808 during the First French Empire by a decision of Napoleon and he was impressed by their loyalty and granted their request. The department was formed out of territories that had previously been part of neighbouring areas, more than half of the territory was taken from the Department of Lot, over one-third was taken from Haute-Garonne, and the rest from the departments of Lot-et-Garonne, Gers, and Aveyron. The first Prefect was Félix Le Peletier dAunay, who was installed in his post on 31 December 1808, tarn-et-Garonne constitutes part of the Occitanie region in southern France. It borders on the departments of Lot to the north, Aveyron to the northeast, Tarn to the east, Haute-Garonne to the south, the capital of the department is Montauban which lies about 50 km north of Toulouse. Montauban is situated on the bank of the river Tarn at its confluence with the river Tescou. The second largest commune in the department is Castelsarrasin which stands near the confluence of the Tarn, Montauban is connected to the Garonne via the 11 km Canal de Montech. In the northeast of the department is higher land in the form of limestone known as the Causses. The highest point in the department, at 510 m, is the Pech Maurel, the economy of the department depends mainly on agriculture but there is also some industry, and it benefits from its proximity to Toulouse
Tarn-et-Garonne
–
Prefecture building of the Tarn-et-Garonne department, in Montauban
Tarn-et-Garonne
–
National square in
Montauban
Tarn-et-Garonne
–
Bruniquel, one of the formally listed
"Most Beautiful Villages of France"
Tarn-et-Garonne
–
Saint Barthelemy church in
Lauzerte
9.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
Daylight saving time
–
Ancient
water clock that lets hour lengths vary with season.
Daylight saving time
–
G. V. Hudson invented modern DST, proposing it first in 1895.
Daylight saving time
–
Retailers generally favor DST.
United Cigar Stores hailed a 1918 DST bill.
Daylight saving time
–
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.
10.
Central European Summer Time
–
It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
Central European Summer Time
–
light blue
11.
Occitan language
–
Occitan, also known as lenga dòc by its native speakers, is a Romance language. It is spoken in southern France, Italys Occitan Valleys, Monaco, and Spains Val dAran, collectively, Occitan is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese. However, there is controversy about the unity of the language, others include Catalan in this family, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. In fact, Catalan was considered an Occitan dialect until the end of the 19th century, today, Occitan is an official language in Catalonia, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val dAran. Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be the preferred language for use in the Val dAran. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish, there is no written standard language called Occitan. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, There are also significant lexical differences, where some dialects have words cognate with French, and others have Catalan and Spanish cognates. Nonetheless, there is a significant amount of mutual intelligibility, the long-term survival of Occitan is in grave doubt. According to the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages, four of the six dialects of Occitan are considered severely endangered. The name Occitan comes from lenga dòc, òc being the Occitan word for yes and this was not, of course, the only defining characteristic of each group. The word òc came from Vulgar Latin hoc, while oïl originated from Latin hoc illud, Old Catalan, and now the Catalan of Northern Catalonia also have hoc. Other Romance languages derive their word for yes from the Latin sic, thus, etc. such as Spanish sí, Eastern Lombard sé, Sicilian and Italian sì, or Portuguese sim. French uses si to answer yes in response to questions that are asked in the negative sense, the name Occitan is sometimes considered a neologism, however, it was attested around 1300 as occitanus, a crossing of oc and aquitanus. For many centuries, the Occitan dialects were referred to as Limousin or Provençal, after Frédéric Mistrals Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition and so became the most popular term for Occitan. The term first came into fashion in Italy, currently, linguists use the terms Provençal and Limousin strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitania, keeping the name Occitan for the language as a whole. Many non-specialists, however, continue to refer to the language as Provençal, NO·L LI TOLRÀ NO·L LI DEVEDARÀ NI NO LEN DECEBRÀ. Nec societatem non AURÀ, si per castellum recuperare NON O FA, et si recuperare potuerit in potestate Froterio et Raimundo LO TORNARÀ, carolingian litanies, both written and sung in Latin, were answered to in Old Occitan by the audience. Occitan was the vehicle for the poetry of the medieval troubadours and trobairises, At that time
Occitan language
–
Main cities of Occitania, written in the Occitan language
Occitan language
–
Occitan
Occitan language
–
"Speak French, Be Clean" written across the wall of a Southern French school
Occitan language
–
This bilingual street sign in
Toulouse, like many such signs found in historical parts of the city, is maintained primarily for its antique charm; it is typical of what little remains of the lenga d'òc in southern French cities.
12.
Commune of France
–
The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
Commune of France
–
Road sign marking the end of the village of
Y in the
Somme department of
Picardy
Commune of France
–
Map of the 36,569 communes of metropolitan France
Commune of France
–
Mittelhausbergen in
Alsace
Commune of France
–
Vacqueyras in
Provence, showing double French/
Provençal name
13.
Toulouse
–
Toulouse is the capital city of the southwestern French department of Haute-Garonne, as well as of the Occitanie region. The city lies on the banks of the River Garonne,150 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea,230 km from the Atlantic Ocean and it is the fourth-largest city in France with 466,297 inhabitants in January 2014. The Toulouse Metro area is, with 1312304 inhabitants as of 2014, Frances 4th metropolitan area after Paris, Lyon and Marseille and ahead of Lille and Bordeaux. Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, the Airbus Group, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. The city also hosts the European headquarters of Intel and CNESs Toulouse Space Centre, thales Alenia Space, and Astrium Satellites, Airbus Groups satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in Toulouse. The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe and, with more than 103,000 students, is the fourth-largest university campus in France, after the Universities of Paris, Lyon and Lille. The air route between Toulouse Blagnac and Paris Orly is the busiest in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers in 2014, according to the rankings of LExpress and Challenges, Toulouse is the most dynamic French city. It is now the capital of the Occitanie region, the largest region in metropolitan France, sernin, the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe, designated in 1998 because of its significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route. Toulouse is in the south of France, north of the department of Haute-Garonne, the city is traversed by the Canal de Brienne, the Canal du Midi and the rivers Garonne, Touch and Hers-Mort. Toulouse has a subtropical climate which can be qualified as submediterranean due to its proximity to the Mediterranean climate zone. The Garonne Valley was a point for trade between the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic since at least the Iron Age. The historical name of the city, Tolosa, it is of unknown meaning or origin, possibly from Aquitanian, or from Iberian, Tolosa enters the historical period in the 2nd century BC, when it became a Roman military outpost. After the conquest of Gaul, it was developed as a Roman city of Gallia Narbonensis. In the 5th century, Tolosa fell to the Visigothic kingdom and became one of its cities, in the early 6th century even serving as its capital. From this time, Toulouse was the capital of Aquitaine within the Frankish realm, in 721, Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeated an invading Umayyad Muslim army at the Battle of Toulouse. Odos victory was an obstacle to Muslim expansion into Christian Europe. Charles Martel, a later, won the Battle of Tours. The Frankish conquest of Septimania followed in the 750s, and a quasi-independent County of Toulouse emerged within the Carolingian sub-kingdom of Aquitaine by the late 8th century
Toulouse
–
Montage of Toulouse Top: Pont Saint Pierre and
Garonne River Middle:
Place du Capitole,
Pont Neuf Bottom:
Capitole de Toulouse, Ariane 5 at
Cité de l'espace,
Médiathèque José Cabanis
Toulouse
–
Vomitorium at the Roman amphitheatre in Toulouse
Toulouse
–
Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse was a leader of the
First Crusade
Toulouse
–
The
Capitole de Toulouse is an example of the 18th-century architectural projects in the city.
14.
Tarn River
–
The Tarn is a 381-kilometre long river in southern France, right tributary of the Garonne. Its basin covers approximately 12,000 square kilometres, and it has a flow of approximately 140 cubic metres per second. The Millau Viaduct spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau, the Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, carrying the A75 autoroute across the Tarn Gorge near Millau, opened in December 2004. The Tarn is famous for its brutal floodings, which are the most dangerous in Europe along with the Danube River. The flooding of March 1930 saw the Tarn rise more than 17 metres above its level in Montauban in just 24 hours. The Tarn was once navigable from its junction with the Garonne to Corbarieu and this stretch of river included seven river locks over a distance of 38 kilometres. The canal was linked to the Canal de Garonne in Moissac by a branch lock upstream of the first river lock, the two access points from the Canal de Garonne have both been restored, and boats can again access the immediate reaches of the river at these points. The remaining six river locks are disused and unnavigable, gorges du Tarn Tourism in Tarn http, //www. geoportail. fr The Tarn at the Sandre database French Waterways - River Tarn Navigation guide to the lower 40 km. http, //www. gorgesdutarn. net/. lang=en
Tarn River
–
High cliffs in the Gorges du Tarn
Tarn River
–
Tarn within France
Tarn River
–
A boatman with some tourists begins a ride through the Gorges du Tarn
Tarn River
–
Tarn gorge, seen from the point sublime
15.
Mont-de-Marsan
–
Mont-de-Marsan is a commune and capital of the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The French Air Force operates the Constantin Rozanoff Mont-de-Marsan airbase about 2 kilometres north of the town, the base includes CEAM, an air defense radar command reporting centre and an air defence control training site. Mont-de-Marsan airbase was formerly home to Frances first operational squadron of nuclear bombers, the Donjon Lacataye is the keep of a 14th-century castle Despiau-Wlérick Museum Dubalen Museum Marechal Fochs equestrian statue Stade Montois is the citys rugby and football team. Two historic punk rock festivals were held in Mont-de-Marsans bullring in 1976 and 1977. Festival Arte Flamenco international festival created in 1989 in Mont-de-Marsan by the council of the Landes department
Mont-de-Marsan
–
Confluence of the
Douze and
Midou rivers in Mont-de-Marsan
Mont-de-Marsan
16.
Bastides
–
Some of the first bastides were built under Raymond VII of Toulouse to replace villages destroyed in the Albigensian Crusade. He encouraged the construction of others to colonize the wilderness, especially of southwest France, almost 700 bastides were built between 1222 and 1372. The bastides were so successful against their opponents in the Hundred Years War that the English adopted them for themselves, first in France, Bastides were also later adopted in Holland and Friesland. Bastides were developed in number under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, landowners supported development of the bastides in order to generate revenues from taxes on trade rather than tithes. Farmers who elected to move their families to bastides were no longer vassals of the local lord — they became free men, the new inhabitants were encouraged to cultivate the land around the bastide, which in turn attracted trade in the form of merchants and markets. The lord taxed dwellings in the bastides and all trade in the market, the landholder might be a cartel of local lords or the abbot of a local monastery. Responsibilities and benefits were carefully framed in a charter, which delineated the franchises and coutumes of the bastide, residents were granted a houselot, a kitchen garden lot, and a cultivable lot on the periphery of the bastides lands. The bastide hall and the church were often first constructed of wood, after the bastide was established, they were replaced by structures of stone. Scholarly debate has taken place over the definition of a bastide. They are now described as any town planned and built as a single unit. The majority of bastides were developed with a layout of intersecting streets, with wide thoroughfares that divide the town plan into insulae, or blocks. They included a market square surrounded by arcades through which the axes of thoroughfares pass. The market square often provides the module into which the bastide is subdivided, the region of the bastides had been one of the last outposts of Late Antiquity in the West. The main feature of all bastides is a central, open place and it was used for markets, but also used for political and social gatherings. A typical square, can be found in Montauban, generally, there is just one square. Saint-Lys and Albias are different because they have two squares, one for the market, and one square for the church, the square is also used to divide the city into quarters. Generally it lies outside the street which carried the traffic. There are three possible layouts, completely closed, The square does not touch any street and these are very rare, there is one example at Tournay with a size of 70 metres by 72 m )
Bastides
–
Rebuilding of various epochs in the bastide of
Monpazier has preserved the market square couverts of the first planning.
Bastides
–
The Aquitain Model of a Bastide
Bastides
–
Model of Bastide in Gascon
Bastides
–
For other uses, see
Bastide (disambiguation).
17.
Alphonse I of Toulouse
–
Alfonso Jordan was the Count of Tripoli, Count of Rouergue and Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence and Duke of Narbonne. He was the son of Raymond IV of Toulouse by his third wife and he was born in the castle of Mont Pèlerin in Tripoli while his father was on the First Crusade. He was given the name Jourdain after being baptised in the Jordan River, alfonsos father died when he was two years old and he remained under the guardianship of his cousin, William Jordan, Count of Cerdagne, until he was five. He was then taken to Europe, where his half-brother Bertrand had given him the county of Rouergue, upon Bertrands death in 1112, Alfonso succeeded to the county of Toulouse and marquisate of Provence. In 1114, Duke William IX of Aquitaine, who claimed Toulouse by right of his wife Philippa, daughter of Count William IV, invaded the county, Alfonso recovered a part in 1119, but he was not in full control until 1123. When at last successful, he was excommunicated by Pope Callixtus II for having expelled the monks of Saint-Gilles, Alfonso next had to fight for his rights in Provence against Count Raymond Berengar III of Barcelona. Not until September 1125 did their war end in peace and concord, at this stage, Alfonso was master of the regions lying between the Pyrenees and the Alps, the Auvergne and the sea. His ascendancy was, according to one commentator, a good to the country, for during a period of fourteen years art. In March 1126, Alfonso was at the court of Alfonso VII of León when he acceded to the throne, according to the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, Alfonso and Suero Vermúdez took the city of León from opposition magnates and handed it over to Alfonso VII. Among those who may have accompanied Alfonso on one of his extended stays in Spain was the troubadour Marcabru. About 1134 Alfonso seized the viscounty of Narbonne and ruled it during the minority of the Viscountess Ermengarde, in 1141 King Louis VII pressed the claim of Philippa on behalf of his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, even besieging Toulouse, but without result. In 1144, Alfonso again incurred the displeasure of the church by siding with the citizens of Montpellier against their lord, in 1145, Bernard of Clairvaux addressed a letter to him full of concern about a heretic named Henry in the diocese of Toulouse. Bernard even went there to preach against the heresy, an expression of Catharism. A second time he was excommunicated, but in 1146 he took the cross at a meeting in Vézelay called by Louis VII, in August 1147, he embarked for the near east on the Second Crusade. He lingered on the way in Italy and probably in Constantinople, Alfonso finally arrived at Acre in 1148. Among his companions he had enemies and he was destined to take no share in the crusade he had joined. He died at Caesarea, and there were accusations of poisoning, usually levelled against either by Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of Louis, or Melisende, the mother of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem. By his wife since 1125, Faydiva dUzès, he left two sons, Raymond, who succeeded him, and Alfonso
Alphonse I of Toulouse
–
A
denier minted at Narbonne during the minority of Ermengard (1134–43) bearing the obverse inscription DUX ANFOS and on the reverse CIVI NARBON
18.
County of Toulouse
–
The County of Toulouse was a territory in southern France consisting of the city of Toulouse and its environs, ruled by the Count of Toulouse from the late 9th century until the late 13th century. The territory is the center of a known as Occitania. Under the Carolingians, counts and dukes were appointed by the royal court, the Counts of Toulouse ruled the city of Toulouse and its surrounding county from the late 9th century until 1271. At times, the Counts of Toulouse or family members were also Counts of Quercy, Rouergue, Albi, and Nîmes, the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis fell to the Visigothic Kingdom in the 5th century. Septimania within the Frankish realm would become known as Gothia or Marca Gothica by the end of the 9th century, Pippin died in 768 and was followed by his sons Charlemagne and Carloman. Because of this event, Hunald, son of the late Duke Waifer, Charlemagne soon intervened and defeated him. In 771, Carloman died and Charlemagne was left as the ruler of the Frankish realm. In 778, Charlemagne led his army into Spain against the Arabs, on his way back the famous event of Roncesvalles occurred, Charlemagnes rear-guard was attacked in the pass of the same name by some Basque warriors. This led him to realize that Frankish power in Gascony and Aquitaine was still feeble, and that the local populations were not entirely loyal to the Franks. In 781, he set up the Kingdom of Aquitaine, comprising the whole of Aquitaine plus the Mediterranean coast from Narbonne to Nîmes, other such sub-kingdoms were created inside the wider Carolingian empire in places such as Bavaria or Lombardy. They were meant to ensure the loyalty of local populations in territories freshly conquered, crowns were given to the sons of Charlemagne. General supervision of this Basque frontier seems to have placed in the hands of Chorson. Toulouse was a major Carolingian military stronghold close to Muslim Spain, military campaigns against the Muslims were launched from Toulouse almost every year during Charlemagnes reign. Barcelona was conquered in 801, as well as a part of Catalonia. Together with the areas of Aragon and Navarre along the Pyrenees. In 814, Charlemagne died, and his surviving son was Louis, king of Aquitaine. The Kingdom of Aquitaine was transmitted to Pippin, the son of Louis the Pious. Gothia was detached from the Kingdom of Aquitaine and administered directly by the emperor, in 823, Charles the Bald was born from the second wife of Louis the Pious
County of Toulouse
–
The town in early Middle-age
County of Toulouse
–
County of Tolosa ca. 1160 Dark Green: Comtal lands Green: Vassal lands Yellow: Limits of
Trencavel demesne
County of Toulouse
–
Saint-Étienne cathedral
County of Toulouse
–
Map of the County of Toulouse in 1154
19.
Albigensian war
–
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in the south of France. The reforms were a reaction against the scandalous and dissolute lifestyles of the Catholic clergy in southern France. They became known as the Albigensians, because there were many adherents in the city of Albi, Innocent IIIs diplomatic attempts to roll back Catharism met with little success. After the murder of his legate, Pierre de Castelnau, in 1208 and he offered the lands of the Cathar heretics to any French nobleman willing to take up arms. After initial successes, the French barons faced an uprising in Languedoc which led to the intervention of the French royal army. The Albigensian Crusade also had a role in the creation and institutionalization of both the Dominican Order and the medieval inquisition. By the 12th century, organized groups of dissidents, such as the Waldensians and Cathars, were beginning to appear in the towns and cities of newly urbanized areas. In western Mediterranean France, one of the most urbanized areas of Europe at the time, the Cathars grew to represent a mass movement. Relatively few believers took the consolamentum to become full Cathars, the theology of the Cathars was dualistic, a belief in two equal and comparable transcendental principles, God, the force of good, and Satan, or the demiurge, the force of evil. They held that the world was evil and created by this demiurge. Rex Mundi encompassed all that was corporeal, chaotic and powerful, the Cathar understanding of God was entirely disincarnate, they viewed God as a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter. He was the God of love, order and peace, jesus was an angel with only a phantom body, and the accounts of him in the New Testament were to be understood allegorically. As the physical world and the body were the creation of the evil principle. Civil authority had no claim on a Cathar, since this was the rule of the physical world, deriving from earlier varieties of gnosticism, Cathar theology found its greatest success in the Languedoc. The Cathars were known as Albigensians because of their association with the city of Albi, in Languedoc, political control was divided among many local lords and town councils. Before the crusade there was fighting in the area and it had a fairly sophisticated polity. Western Mediterranean France itself was at that time divided between the Crown of Aragon and the county of Toulouse, on becoming Pope in 1198, Innocent III resolved to deal with the Cathars and sent a delegation of friars to the province of Languedoc to assess the situation. One of the most powerful, Count Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, openly supported the Cathars and he refused to assist the delegation
Albigensian war
–
This
Pedro Berruguete work of the 15th century depicts a story of
Saint Dominic and the Albigensians, in which the texts of each were cast into a fire, but only Saint Dominic's proved miraculously resistant to the flames.
Albigensian war
–
Political map of Languedoc on the eve of the Albigensian Crusade
Albigensian war
–
Cathars being expelled from
Carcassonne in 1209.
Albigensian war
–
The
yellow cross worn by Cathar repentants.
20.
Inquisition
–
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the government system of the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy. It started in 12th-century France to combat religious sectarianism, in particular the Cathars, other groups investigated later included the Spiritual Franciscans, the Hussites and Beguines. Beginning in the 1250s, inquisitors were generally chosen from members of the Dominican Order, the term Medieval Inquisition covers these courts up to mid-15th century. During the Late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the concept and scope of the Inquisition significantly expanded in response to the Protestant Reformation and it expanded to other European countries, resulting in the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition. The Spanish and Portuguese operated inquisitorial courts throughout their empires in Africa, Asia, the institution survived as part of the Roman Curia, but in 1908 was given the new name of Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. In 1965 it became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the term Inquisition comes from Medieval Latin inquisitio, which referred to any court process that was based on Roman law, which had gradually come back into usage in the late medieval period. Today, the English term Inquisition can apply to any one of several institutions that worked against heretics within the system of the Roman Catholic Church. He Inquisition, as a church-court, had no jurisdiction over Moors, generally, the Inquisition was concerned only with the heretical behaviour of Catholic adherents or converts. The overwhelming majority of sentences seem to have consisted of penances like wearing a cross sewn on ones clothes, going on pilgrimage, etc. The laws were inclusive of proscriptions against certain religious crimes, thus the inquisitors generally knew what would be the fate of anyone so remanded, and cannot be considered to have divorced the means of determining guilt from its effects. The 1578 edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum spelled out the purpose of inquisitorial penalties, quoniam punitio non refertur primo & per se in correctionem & bonum eius qui punitur, sed in bonum publicum ut alij terreantur, & a malis committendis avocentur. Such punishments had a number of opponents, although some countries punished heresy with the death penalty. In the 12th century, to counter the spread of Catharism, the Church charged councils composed of bishops and archbishops with establishing inquisitions. The first Inquisition was temporarily established in Languedoc in 1184, the murder of Pope Innocents papal legate Pierre de Castelnau in 1208 sparked the Albigensian Crusade. The Inquisition was permanently established in 1229, run largely by the Dominicans in Rome, historians use the term Medieval Inquisition to describe the various inquisitions that started around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition and later the Papal Inquisition. Other Inquisitions followed after these first inquisition movements, by 1256 inquisitors were given absolution if they used instruments of torture. In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IX assigned the duty of carrying out inquisitions to the Dominican Order, Most inquisitors were friars who taught theology and/or law in the universities. They used inquisitorial procedures, a legal practice adapted from the earlier Ancient Roman court procedures
Inquisition
–
A 19th-century depiction of Galileo before the Holy Office, by
Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury
Inquisition
–
Pedro Berruguete, Saint Dominic Presides over an Auto da Fe (c. 1495). Many artistic representations depict torture and
burning at the stake as occurring during the
auto-da-fé (Portuguese for "Act of Faith").
Inquisition
–
A copper engraving from 1685: "Die Inquisition in Portugall"
Inquisition
–
Ministry of Jesus &
Apostolic Age
21.
Pope John XXII
–
Pope John XXII, born Jacques Duèze, was Pope from 7 August 1316 to his death in 1334. Like his predecessor, Clement V, Pope John centralized power and income in the Papacy, the son of a shoemaker in Cahors, Jacques Duèze studied medicine in Montpellier and law in Paris, yet could not read a regal letter written to him in French. Duèze taught both canon and civil law at Toulouse and Cahors, on the recommendation of Charles II of Naples he was made Bishop of Fréjus in 1300. In 1309 he was appointed chancellor of Charles II, and in 1310 he was transferred to Avignon and he delivered legal opinions favorable to the suppression of the Templars, but he also defended Boniface VIII and the Bull Unam Sanctam. On 23 December 1312, Clement V made him Cardinal-Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina, the death of Pope Clement V in 1314 was followed by an interregnum of two years due to disagreements between the cardinals, who were split into two factions. After two years, Philip, in 1316, finally managed to arrange a papal conclave of cardinals in Lyon. This conclave elected Duèze, who took the name John XXII and was crowned in Lyon and he set up his residence in Avignon rather than Rome, continuing the Avignon Papacy of his predecessor. John XXII involved himself in the politics and religious movements of many European countries in order to advance the interests of the Church and his close links with the French crown created widespread distrust of the papacy. Pope John XXII was an excellent administrator and efficient at reorganizing the Church and he had sent a letter of thanks to the Muslim ruler Uzbeg Khan, who was very tolerant of Christians and treated Christians kindly. John XXII has traditionally been credited with having composed the prayer Anima Christi, and the basis for the hymn Soul of Christ, Sanctify My Breast. On 27 March 1329 John XXII condemned many writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical in his papal bull In Agro Dominico, prior to John XXIIs election a contest had begun for the Holy Roman Empires crown between Louis IV of Bavaria and Frederick I of Austria. Louis IV was assisted in his dispute with the papacy by Marsilius of Padua. Louis IV invaded Italy, entered Rome and set up Pietro Rainalducci as Antipope Nicholas V in 1328, guelphic predominance at Rome was later restored, and Pope John excommunicated William of Ockham. However, Louis IV had silenced the claims and John XXII stayed the rest of his life in Avignon. In 1317, John XXII formally condemned the group of known as the Fraticelli. The experts disagreed among themselves, but the majority condemned the idea on the grounds that it would condemn the Churchs right to have possessions. On 12 November 1323, he issued the bull Quum inter nonnullos, influential members of the order protested, such as the minister general Michael of Cesena, the English provincial William of Ockham, and Bonagratia of Bergamo. In 1324, Louis the Bavarian sided with the Spirituals and accused the Pope of heresy, in 1328 Michael of Cesena was summoned to Avignon to explain the Orders intransigence in refusing the Popes orders and its complicity with Louis of Bavaria
Pope John XXII
–
Pope John XXII
Pope John XXII
–
17th-century engraving of Pope John XXII
Pope John XXII
–
Pope John XXII cameo
22.
Diocese of Montauban
–
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Montauban, is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. The diocese is coextensive with Tarn-et-Garonne, currently a suffragan of the archdiocese of Toulouse, the episcopal seat is in Montauban Cathedral. Re-established by the Concordat of 1817, it was filled only in 1824, the monks protested, and in 1149 a satisfactory agreement was concluded. Notwithstanding the sufferings of Montauban during the Albigensian wars, it grew rapidly. -Papoul, diocese of Rieux, bertrand de Puy, abbot at Montauriol, was first bishop of Montauban. Montauban counts among its bishops, Cardinal Georges dAmboise, minister of Louis XII, and Jean de Lettes, who married and became a Protestant. In 1570 Montauban became one of the four strongholds granted the Protestants and in 1578,1579, in spite of the unsuccessful siege of Montauban by Louis XIII, the fall of La Rochelle entailed the submission of the city, and Richelieu entered it on 20 August 1629. Legend attributes to Clovis the foundation of Moissac Abbey in 506, the abbey grew, and in a few years its possessions extended to the gates of Toulouse. The church of Moissac, formerly the church, has a portal built in 1107 which is a veritable museum of Romanesque sculpture. The threats and incursions of the Saracens, Hungarians, and Northmen brought the monks of Moissac to elect knight abbots who were laymen, some of the abbots were saints, Saint Ausbert, Saint Leotadius, Saint Paternus, Saint Amarandus. The union of Moissac with Cluny was begun by Abbot Stephen as early as 1047, four filial abbeys and numerous priories depended on Moissac Abbey. Among the commendatory abbots were Louis of Lorraine, Cardinal de Guise, Charles of Lorraine, in 1618 Moissac was transformed into a collegiate church which had, among other titulars, Cardinal Mazarin, and Cardinal de Loménie de Brienne, minister of Louis XVI. This confraternity, reorganized in 1615 by letters patent of Louis XIII, as late as 1830 pilgrims were still seen in the Moissac processions. In fact Moissac and Spain were long closely united, a monk of Moissac, in 1632 the Jesuits established themselves at Montauban, but in 1659 transferred the Academy to Puylaurens. In 1808 a faculty of Protestant theology was created at Montauban and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. Diocese of Montauban
Diocese of Montauban
–
Montauban Cathedral
23.
Montauban Cathedral
–
Montauban Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral, and a national monument of France, located in the town of Montauban. It is the seat of the Bishopric of Montauban, created in 1317, abolished by the Concordat of 1801 and transferred to the Archdiocese of Toulouse, the cathedral of Montauban was Protestant from the start of the Wars of Religion until Catholicism returned to Montauban in 1629. The construction of a new church, the present building, was agreed after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the cornerstone of the new cathedral was laid in 1692, and the church was consecrated in 1739. Initially, the architect François dOrbay supervised the works, when he died in 1697, he was succeeded by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte. The interior is decorated with pilasters, metopes and triglyphs, a famous painting by Ingres, The Vow of Louis XIII, hangs in the north arm of the transept. Location Catholic Encyclopedia, Diocese of Montauban Catholic Hierarchy, Diocese of Montauban Picture of organ in Cathedral
Montauban Cathedral
–
Montauban Cathedral
Montauban Cathedral
–
Interior view of Montauban Cathedral.
Montauban Cathedral
–
Organ
24.
Redition of Montauban
–
The Redition of Montauban occurred on 21 August 1629, when the Huguenot city of Montauban surrendered to the Catholic troops of the French king Louis XIII under the direction of Richelieu. In 1622, Mautauban had successfully resisted the assaults of Louis XIII, Montauban was considered to be the most powerful Huguenot fortress in France after La Rochelle. The redition was the chapter of the Huguenot rebellions, as the remnants of Huguenot power in southern France surrendered to the king. After the sieges of Privas and Alès, the remaining Huguenot cities rapidly fell and this was one of the last events in the repression of the Huguenot rebellions in France. Soon after the redition, the fortifications of Montauban were taken down by Richelieu, catholicism was reinstated in Montauban, and a governing body, formed of half Protestants and half Catholics, established, as well as a senior administrator representing the king in 1635. In the space of 30 years, numerous discriminatory rules were established against the Protestants of Montauban, the Huguenots of Montauban were finally broken by Catholic military repression, the Dragonnades, in 1683
Redition of Montauban
–
Redition of the city of
Montauban, 21 August 1629.
Château de Richelieu.
Redition of Montauban
–
Montauban during the 1621
Siege of Montauban.
Redition of Montauban
–
Louis XIII arriving for the redition of Montauban, 1629 (detail).
25.
Huguenot
–
Huguenots are the ethnoreligious group of French Protestants who follow the Reformed tradition. It was used frequently to members of the French Reformed Church until the beginning of the 19th century. The term has its origin in 16th-century France, Huguenot numbers peaked near an estimated two million by 1562, concentrated mainly in the southern and western parts of France. As Huguenots gained influence and more openly displayed their faith, Catholic hostility grew, in spite of political concessions, a series of religious conflicts followed, known as the French Wars of Religion, fought intermittently from 1562 to 1598. The Huguenots were led by Jeanne dAlbret, her son, the future Henry IV, the wars ended with the Edict of Nantes, which granted the Huguenots substantial religious, political, and military autonomy. Huguenot rebellions in the 1620s prompted the abolishment of their political and they retained religious provisions of the Edict of Nantes until the rule of Louis XIV. Nevertheless, a minority of Huguenots remained and faced continued persecution under Louis XV. By the death of Louis XV in 1774, French Calvinism was almost completely wiped out, persecution of Protestants officially ended with the Edict of Versailles, signed by Louis XVI in 1787. Two years later, with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 and they also spread to the Dutch Cape Colony in South Africa, the Dutch East Indies, the Caribbean, New Netherland, and several of the English colonies in North America. Small contingents of families went to Orthodox Russia and Catholic Quebec, a term used originally in derision, Huguenot has unclear origins. Geneva was John Calvins adopted home and the centre of the Calvinist movement, the label Huguenot was purportedly first applied in France to those conspirators involved in the Amboise plot of 1560, a foiled attempt to wrest power in France from the influential House of Guise. The move would have had the effect of fostering relations with the Swiss. Thus, Hugues plus Eidgenosse by way of Huisgenoten supposedly became Huguenot, a version of this complex hypothesis is promoted by O. I. A. Roche, who writes in his book, The Days of the Upright, A History of the Huguenots, that Huguenot is, a combination of a Dutch and a German word. Gallicised into Huguenot, often used deprecatingly, the word became, Some disagree with such double or triple non-French linguistic origins, arguing that for the word to have spread into common use in France, it must have originated in the French language. The Hugues hypothesis argues that the name was derived by association with Hugues Capet, king of France and he was regarded by the Gallicans and Protestants as a noble man who respected peoples dignity and lives. Janet Gray and other supporters of the hypothesis suggest that the name huguenote would be equivalent to little Hugos. It was in place in Tours that the prétendus réformés habitually gathered at night
Huguenot
–
Persecution of the
Waldensians in the
Massacre of Mérindol in 1545.
Huguenot
–
John Calvin
Huguenot
–
Propaganda print depicting Huguenot aggression against Catholics at sea, Horribles cruautés des Huguenots, 16th century.
Huguenot
–
Millais ' painting,
Huguenot Lovers on St. Bartholomew's Day.
26.
Huguenot rebellion
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The uprising occurred a decade following the death of Henry IV, who, himself originally a Huguenot before converting to Catholicism, had protected Protestants through the Edict of Nantes. His successor Louis XIII, under the regency of his Italian Catholic mother Marie de Medici, the Huguenot rebellions came after two decades of internal peace under Henry IV, following the intermittent French Wars of Religion of 1562–98. The government was replaced by a French-style parliament in which only Catholics could sit, feeling their survival was at stake, the Huguenots gathered in La Rochelle on 25 December 1620. In 1621, Louis XIII moved to eradicate what he considered an open rebellion against his power, after a lull, combat resumed with numerous atrocities in 1622, with the terrible Siege of Nègrepelisse in which all the population was massacred and the city was burnt to the ground. In La Rochelle, the fleet of the city under Jean Guiton started to harass royal vessels, the Royal fleet finally met head-to-head with the fleet of La Rochelle in the Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré on 27 October 1622 in an inconclusive encounter. Meanwhile, the Treaty of Montpellier was negotiated, putting an end to hostilities, the Huguenot fortresses of Montauban and La Rochelle could be kept, but the fortress of Montpellier had to be dismantled. The year 1624 saw the arrival of Cardinal Richelieu to power as chief minister, Louis XIII did not, however, uphold the terms of the Treaty of Montpellier, sparking renewed Huguenot resentment. The threat of a siege on the city of La Rochelle was obvious. In February 1625, Soubise led a second Huguenot revolt against Louis XIII, from there he sailed up to Brittany where he led a successful attack on the royal fleet in the Battle of Blavet, although he could not take the fort after a three weeks siege. Soubise then returned to Ré with 15 ships and soon occupied the Ile dOléron as well, through these deeds, he was recognized as the head of the Huguenots, and named himself Admiral of the Protestant Church. The French Navy on the contrary was now depleted, leaving the central government very vulnerable. The Huguenot city of La Rochelle voted to join Soubise on 8 August 1625 and these events would end with the defeat of the fleets of La Rochelle and Soubise, and the full Capture of Ré island by September 1625. The third and last Huguenot rebellion started with an English military intervention aimed at encouraging an upheaval against the French king. The rebels had received the backing of the English king Charles I, Buckingham ultimately ran out of money and support, and his army was weakened by diseases. The English intervention ended with the unsuccessful Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, after a last attack on Saint-Martin they were repulsed with heavy casualties, and left in their ships. The English intervention was followed by the Siege of La Rochelle, Cardinal Richelieu acted as the commander of the besieging troops. Residents of La Rochelle resisted for 14 months, under the leadership of the mayor Jean Guitton, during the siege, the population of La Rochelle decreased from 27,000 to 5,000 due to casualties, famine and disease. Rohan continued to resist in Southern France, where the forces of Louis XIII continued to intervene in 1629, in the Siege of Privas, the inhabitants were massacred or expelled, and the city was burnt to the ground
Huguenot rebellion
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Henri, duc de Rohan (1579-1638) was chosen as the leader of the rebellion.
Huguenot rebellion
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Huguenot regions (purple) and royal intervention (red) between 1620 and 1622.
Huguenot rebellion
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Re-establishment of the Catholics in Béarn, Melchior Tavernier, 1620.
Huguenot rebellion
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Louis XIII in the failed
Siege of Montauban in 1621.
27.
Louis XIII of France
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Louis XIII was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1610 to 1643 and King of Navarre from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. Shortly before his birthday, Louis became king of France. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during his minority, Louis XIII, taciturn and suspicious, relied heavily on his chief ministers, first Charles dAlbert, duc de Luynes then Cardinal Richelieu, to govern the kingdom of France. King and cardinal are remembered for establishing the Académie française, the reign of Louis the Just was also marked by the struggles against Huguenots and Habsburg Spain. This battle marked the end of Spains military ascendancy in Europe and foreshadowed French dominance in Europe under Louis XIV, his son, born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the oldest child of King Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de Medici. As son of the king, he was a Fils de France and his father Henry IV was the first French king of the House of Bourbon, having succeeded his ninth cousin, Henry III of France, in application of Salic law. Louis XIIIs paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme and his maternal grandparents were Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Eleonora de Medici, his aunt, was his godmother. His mother Marie de Medici acted as Regent until 1617, although Louis XIII became of age at thirteen, his mother did not give up her position as Regent until 1617. Marie maintained most of her husbands ministers, with the exception of Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully and she mainly relied on Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, and Pierre Jeannin for political advice. Marie pursued a policy, confirming the Edict of Nantes. She was not, however, able to prevent rebellion by nobles such as Henri, Prince of Condé second in line to the throne after Maries second surviving son Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Condé squabbled with Marie in 1614, and briefly raised an army, but he found support in the country. Nevertheless, Marie agreed to call an Estates General assembly to address Condés grievances, the assembly of this Estates General was delayed until Louis XIII formally came of age on his thirteenth birthday. Although Louiss coming-of-age formally ended Maries Regency, she remained the de facto ruler of France, the Estates General accomplished little, spending its time discussing the relationship of France to the Papacy and the venality of offices, but reaching no resolutions. Beginning in 1615, Marie came to rely increasingly on the Italian Concino Concini, Concini was widely unpopular because he was a foreigner. This further antagonised Condé, who launched another rebellion in 1616, Huguenot leaders supported Condés rebellion, which led the young Louis XIII to conclude that they would never be loyal subjects. Eventually, Condé and Queen Marie made peace via the Treaty of Loudun, which allowed Condé great power in government, but did not remove Concini
Louis XIII of France
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Louis XIII
Louis XIII of France
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Half Louis d'Or (1643) depicting Louis XIII
Louis XIII of France
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Louis XIII in 1611 by
Frans Pourbus the Younger (
Palazzo Pitti)
Louis XIII of France
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Louis XIII, young King, by
Frans Pourbus the younger, 1620
.svg)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Montauban". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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