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LANGUEDOC

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 181 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LANGUEDOC , one of the old provinces of See also:

France, the name of which See also:dates from the end of the 13th See also:century. In 1290 it was used to refer to the See also:country in whose See also:tongue (langue) the word for " yes " was oc, as opposed to the centre and See also:north of France, the langue d'oil (the oui of to-See also:day). Territorially Languedoc varied considerably in extent, but in See also:general from 136o until the See also:French Revolution it included the territory of the following departments of See also:modern France: See also:part of See also:Tarn et See also:Garonne, Tarn, most of Haute-Garonne, See also:Ariege, See also:Aude, See also:Pyrenees-Orientales, See also:Herault, See also:Gard, See also:Lozere, part of See also:Ardeche and Haute-See also:Loire. The country had no natural See also:geographical unity. Stretching over the See also:Cevennes into the valleys of the upper Loire on the north and into that of the upper Garonne on the See also:west, it reached the Pyrenees on the See also:south and the See also:rolling cities which had a high degree of See also:local See also:independence. Their local governments, with their consuls at the See also:head, show, at least in name, the See also:influence of See also:Roman ideas. It is still an open question how much of their See also:autonomy had remained untouched by the See also:barbarian invasions from the Roman See also:period. The citizens of these See also:free cities were in continual intercourse with See also:Saracens of See also:Palestine and See also:Moors of See also:Spain; they had never entirely abandoned See also:pagan customs; their See also:poetry—the poetry of the troubadours—taught them the joys of See also:life rather than the fear of See also:death, the See also:licence of their See also:chivalry with its courts of love led to the other extreme of See also:asceticism in such as were of religious temperament; all things combined to make Languedoc the proper See also:soil for See also:heresy. The See also:Church never had the hold upon the country that it had in the north, the See also:people of the Midi were always lukewarm in the faith; there was no noteworthy ecclesiastical literature in Languedoc from the end of the Carolingian period until after the Albigensian crusade, no theological centre like See also:Paris, Bec or See also:Laon. Yet Languedoc furnished the most heroic martyrs for the ascetic Manichaean creed. The era of heresy began with the See also:preaching of See also:Peter de Brueys and his follower, See also:Henry of See also:Lausanne, who emptied the churches and taught contempt for the See also:clergy. See also:Saint See also:Bernard himself was able to make but temporary headway against this See also:rebellion from a sacramental and institutionalized See also:Christianity.

In the first See also:

decade of the 13th century came the inevitable conflict. The whole See also:county of See also:Toulouse, with its fiefs of See also:Narbonne, See also:Beziers, See also:Foix, See also:Montpellier and See also:Quercy, was in open and scornful See also:secession from the See also:Catholic Church, and the suppression of this Manichaean or Cathar See also:religion was the end of the brilliant culture of Languedoc. (See ALBIGENSES, See also:CATHARS, See also:INQUISITION.) The crusade against the Albigenses, as the Cathars were locally termed, in 1209, resulted in the See also:union to the See also:crown of France in 1229 of all the country from See also:Carcassonne to the See also:Rhone, thus dividing Languedoc into two. The western part See also:left to See also:Raymond VII., by the treaty of 1229, included the See also:Agenais, Quercy, See also:Rouergue, the Toulousain and See also:southern Albigeois. He had as well the Venaissin across the Rhone. From 1229 to his death in 1249 Raymond VII. worked tirelessly to bring back prosperity to his ruined country, encouraging the See also:foundation of new cities, and attempting to gain reconciliation with the Church. He left only a daughter, Jeanne, who was married to See also:Alphonse of See also:Poitiers. Alphonse, a sincere Catholic, upheld the Inquisition, but, although ruling the country from Paris, maintained See also:peace. Jeanne died without heirs four days after her See also:husband, upon their return from the crusade in See also:Africa, in 1271, and although she attempted by will to prevent the reversion of her lands to the crown, they were promptly seized by See also:King See also:Philip III., who used the opposition of See also:Roger Bernard, See also:count of Foix, as an excuse to appear with a formidable See also:army, which had little to do to secure entire submission. Thus the county of Toulouse passed to the crown, though Philip III. turned over the Agenais to See also:Edward I. of See also:England in 1279. Ir. 1274 he ceded the county of Venaissin to See also:Pope See also:Gregory X., the papacy having claimed it, without legal €rounds, since the Albigensian crusade (see See also:AVIGNON).

Such was the See also:

fate of the reduced county of 'Toulouse. At the See also:division of Languedoc in 1229 See also:Louis IX. was given all the country from Carcassonne to the Rhone. This royal Languedoc was at first subject to much trickery on the part of See also:northern speculators and See also:government officials. In 1248 Louis IX. sent royal enqueeteurs, much like See also:Charlemagne's missi dominici, to correct all abuses, especially to inquire concerning peculation by royal agents. On the basis of their investigations the king issued royal edicts in 1254 and 1259 which organized the See also:administration of the See also:province. Two senechaussees were created—one at See also:Nimes, the other at Carcassonne—each with its lesser divisions of vigueries and bailliages. During the reign of Philip III. the enqueteurs were busily employed securing See also:justice for the conquered, preventing the seizure of lands, and in 1279 a supreme See also:court of justice was established at Toulouse. In 1302 Philip IV. convoked the estates of Languedoc, but in the century which followed they we •e less an See also:instrument for self-government than one for securing See also:money, thus aiding the enqueteurs, who during the See also:Hundred Years' See also:War became See also:mere See also:revenue hunters for the king. In 1355 the See also:Black See also:Prince led a See also:savage plundering See also:raid across the country to Narbonne. After the See also:battle of Poitiers, Languedoc supported he count of See also:Armagnac, but there was no See also:enthusiasm for a See also:national cause. Under See also:Charles V., Louis of See also:Anjou, the king's See also:brother, was See also:governor of Languedoc, and while an active opponent of the See also:English, he drained the country of money. But his extortions were surpassed by those of another brother, the due de See also:Berry, after the death of Charles V.

In 1382 and 1383 the infuriated peasantry, abetted by some nobles, See also:

rose in a rebellion— known as the Tuchinswhich was put down with frightful butchery, while still greater sums were demanded from the impoverished country. In the anarchy which followed See also:brigandage increased. Redress did not come until 1420, when the dauphin, afterwards Charles VII., came to Languedoc and reformed the administration. Then the country he saved furnished him with the means for See also:driving out the English in the north. For the first See also:time, in the See also:climax of its miseries, Languedoc was genuinely See also:united to France. But Charles VII. was not able to drive out the brigands, and it was not until after the English were expelled in 1453 that Languedoc had even See also:comparative peace. Charles VII. united Comminges to the crown; Louis XI. See also:Roussillon and Cerdagne, both of which were ceded to See also:Aragon by Charles VIII. as the See also:price of its See also:neutrality during his expedition into See also:Italy. From the reign of Louis XI. until 1523 the governorship of Languedoc was held by the See also:house of See also:Bourbon. After the See also:treason of the See also:constable Bourbon it was held by the See also:Montmorency See also:family with but slight interruption until 1632. The See also:Reformation found Languedoc orthodox. Persecution had succeeded.

The Inquisition had had no victims since 1340, and the cities which had been centres of heresy were now strongly orthodox. Toulouse was one of the most fanatically orthodox cities in See also:

Europe, and remained so in See also:Voltaire's day. But See also:Calvin-ism gained ground rapidly in the other parts of Languedoc, and by 156o the See also:majority of the See also:population was See also:Protestant. It was, however, partly a See also:political protest against the See also:misrule of the Guises. The open conflict came in 1561, and from that until the See also:edict of See also:Nantes (1598) there was intermittent See also:civil war, accompanied with iconoclasm on the one See also:hand, massacres on the other and ravages on both. The See also:main figure in this period is that of See also:Henri de Montmorency, seigneur de Damville, later duc de Montmorency, governor of the province from 1563, who was, at first, hostile to the Protestants, then from 1574 to 1577, as See also:leader of the " Politiques," an See also:advocate of See also:compromise. But peace was hardly ever established, although there was a yearly truce for the ploughing. By the edict of Nantes, the Protestants were given ten places of safety in Languedoc; but civil strife did not come to an end, even under Henry IV. In 162o the Protestants in Languedoc rose under Henri, duc de See also:Rohan (1579-1638), who for two years defied the See also:power of Louis XIII. When Louis took Montpellier in 1622, he attempted to reconcile the Calvinists by bribes of money and See also:office, and left See also:Montauban as a See also:city of See also:refuge. See also:Richelieu's extinction of Huguenotism is less the See also:history of Languedoc than of the See also:Huguenots (q.v.). By 1629 Protestantism was crushed in the Midi as a political force.

Then followed the tragic See also:

episode of the rebellion of Henri II., duc de Montmorency, son of the old governor of Languedoc. As a result, Languedoc lost its old provincial See also:privilege of self-See also:assessment until 1649, and was placed under the governorship of See also:Marshal See also:Schomberg. During Louis XIV.'s reign Languedoc prospered until the revocation of the edict of Nantes. See also:Industries and See also:agriculture were encouraged, roads and See also:bridges were built, and the See also:great See also:canal giving a See also:water route from the See also:Atlantic to the Mediterranean increased the See also:trade of its cities. See also:Colbert especially encouraged its manufactures. The religious persecutions which accompanied the revocation of the edict of Nantes See also:bore hardest on Languedoc, and resulted in a guerilla warfare known as the rebellion of the See also:Camisards (q.v.). On the See also:eve of the Revolution some of the brightest scenes of contentment and prosperity which surprised See also:Arthur See also:Young, the English traveller in France, were those of the See also:grape harvests in Languedoc vineyards. In 1790 Languedoc disappeared from the See also:map of France, with the other old provinces; and the departments mentioned took its See also:place. But the See also:peculiar characteristics of the men of the Midi remain as clearly distinct from those of the north as the Scottish type is distinct from the English. The " peaceful insurrection " of the Languedoc See also:vine-growers in the summer of 1907 revealed to the astonished Parisians the same spirit of independence as had underlain the resistance to See also:Simon de See also:Montfort and Richelieu. The one monumental history of Languedoc is that of the See also:Benedictines, Dom See also:Claude Devic and Dom J. J.

Vaissete, Histoire generale de la province de Languedoc (5 vols., Paris, 1730-1745). This has been re-edited, and continued and increased by the addition of important monographs, to 15 volumes (Toulouse, 1872–1892). It is the great library of See also:

sources, See also:critical apparatus and See also:bibliographies concerning Languedoc, and carries the history up to 179o. The See also:fine See also:article " Languedoc " in La Grande Encyclopedia is by A. See also:Molinier, perhaps the greatest modern authority on Languedoc. (J. T.

End of Article: LANGUEDOC

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