Abstract
From the 10th to the 15th centuries, the counts of Comminges developed their important domain and resisted the ambitions of their powerful neighbors. Alliances, treaties, marriages, wars, everything has been good to preserve their goods. These counts played happily with their personalities, their strengths, their weaknesses, their malice. They supported the economic and social development. The population gradually migrated from the mountains to the plain, first with the help of the Church and the creation of the “sauvetés”. Then the liberality of the counts allowed the construction of numerous “bastides” in the 13th century. The county families provided the majority of the Commingeois bishops and reinforced the importance of the Secular Church. By their permanent support to the Regular Church, they favored the establishment of large monastic and templar domains, the development of as much farming land. The progressive close up with the raimondine city of Toulouse, placed the County under his protection after the crusade by the Albigensians in 1218. The war against the English, the devastations of the Black prince in 1355 opened the last page of this story, accompanied by calamities that left in 1453 a bloodless Comminges in the hands of the King of France.
Highlights
Medieval Comminges occupied the southern part of the present Haute-Garonne department and some nearby territories in the departments of Ariège, Hautes Pyrénées and Gers
In the 8th century the Saracens, based in the North of Spain, crossed the Pyrenees to be defeated in Poitiers in 732
North Pyrenean regions, mainly residing in these mountains, were protected against possible new risks. They protected the valleys of Luchon and Garonne by building a network of watchtowers, a total of twenty, like the towers of Oo, Casteblancat, Castelvielh... and protection fortresses (St Béat, Fronsac, Marignac, Montespan, Aspet, etc.)
Summary
Medieval Comminges occupied the southern part of the present Haute-Garonne department and some nearby territories in the departments of Ariège, Hautes Pyrénées and Gers. In the 8th century the Saracens, based in the North of Spain, crossed the Pyrenees to be defeated in Poitiers in 732. Before this date they had not invaded the South of France but carried out devastating raids, looted villages, massacred populations. North Pyrenean regions, mainly residing in these mountains, were protected against possible new risks. They protected the valleys of Luchon and Garonne by building a network of watchtowers, a total of twenty, like the towers of Oo, Casteblancat, Castelvielh... The few existing texts are too thin to deal with it seriously
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