The two surviving towers of the city walling, the Tour des Pins and the Tour de la Babotte are later in date, however. Montpellier came to prominence in the 10th century as a trading centre, with trading links across the Mediterranean world and a rich Jewish cultural life and traditions of tolerance of its Muslims, Jews and Cathars— and later of its Protestants.
The préfecture in Montpellier
William VII of Montpellier established a faculty of medicine in 1180; the city's university was established in 1220 and was one of the chief centers for the teaching of medicine. This marked the high point of Montpellier's prominence.
The city became a possession of the kings of Aragon in 1213 by the marriage of Peter II of Aragon with Marie of Montpellier, who brought the city as her dowry. Montpellier gained a charter in 1204 when Peter and Marie confirmed the city's traditional freedoms and granted the city the right to choose twelve governing consuls annually.
Montpellier remained a possession of the crown of Aragon until it passed to James III of Majorca, who sold the city to the French king Philip VI in 1349, to raise funds for his ongoing struggle with Peter IV of Aragon.
In the 14th century, Montpellier gained a church (not yet a cathedral) dedicated to Saint Peter, noteworthy for its very unusual porch supported by two high, somewhat rocket-like towers. With its importance steadily increasing, the city finally gained a bishop, who moved from Maguelone in 1536 and sat in the neighbouring community of Montpelliéret (eventually absorbed into Montpellier proper).
At the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, many of its inhabitants became Protestants (or Huguenots as they were known in France) and it became a stronghold of Protestant resistance to the (mainly Catholic) French crown.
In 1622, King Louis XIII besieged the city and took it after eight months, building the citadel to secure it. During the 19th century the city developed into an industrial centre. In the 1960s, its population grew dramatically after French settlers in Algeria were resettled in the city following Algeria's independence from France.
Lords of Montpellier
The Place De La Comedie, Montpellier
- William I of Montpellier (d. 1019)
- William II of Montpellier (d. 1025)
- William III of Montpellier (d. 1058)
- William IV of Montpellier (d. 1068)
- William V of Montpellier (d. 1120)
- William VI of Montpellier (d. 1149)
- William VII of Montpellier (d. 1179)
- William VIII of Montpellier (d. 1202)
- Marie of Montpellier (d. 1219)
- and Barral of Marseilles (d. 1194)
- and Bernard IV of Comminges (div. 1201)
- and King Peter II of Aragon (d. 1213)
- James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
- James II of Majorca (d. 1311)
Credits
: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the
Wikipedia article
"Montpellier".
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