Montauban - Place Nationale

Montauban is the second oldest bastide in southern France. Its foundation dates from 1144 when Count Alphonse Jourdain of Toulouse, granted it a liberal charter. The inhabitants were drawn chiefly from Montauriol, a village that had grown up around the neighboring monastery of St Théodard.

In the 13th century, the town suffered much from the ravages of the Albingensian War. In 1317 it became the head of a diocese. In 1360, it was ceded to the English, but they were expelled by the inhabitants in 1414. In 1560 the bishops and magistrates embraced Calvinistic Protestantism. They expelled the monks, and in 1561, crowds broke down the cathedral doors, looted the church and set it on fire. In the Edict of Nantes in 1598, Montauban, like La Rochelle, became a "safe place" (place de sûreté). The city became a small Huguenot republic with 15,000 inhabitants. It was the headquarters of the Huguenot Rebellion of 1621 and successfully withstood an 86-day siege by Louis XIII. The city was still destroyed and impoverished. Richelieu conquered La Rochelle and also conquered Montauban in 1629.

Because Montauban was a Protestant town, it resisted and held its position against the royal power, refusing to give allegiance to the Catholic King. Montauban did not submit to royal authority until after the fall of La Rochelle in 1629. The same year Richelieu conquered Montauban and the fortifications were destroyed. The Protestants again suffered persecution later in the century, as Louis XIV began to persecute Protestants by sending troops to their homes (dragonnades) and then in 1685 revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had granted the community tolerance.
The layout of the Place Nationale still shows the marketplace of the planned city of the Middle Ages. Deep arched arcades surround the square.