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MONTPELLIER

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 789 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MONTPELLIER , a See also:

town of See also:southern See also:France, See also:capital of the See also:department of See also:Herault, about 7 M. from the Mediterranean, and 3r m. S.W. of See also:Nimes on the See also:Paris-See also:Lyon railway between that town and See also:Cette. Pop. (1906), 65,983. Montpellier, the seat of a university and the See also:principal See also:place of See also:lower See also:Languedoc, is situated in a fruitful See also:plain less than a mile from the right See also:bank of the small See also:river Lez. Composed for the most See also:part of narrow winding streets, the town has at the same See also:time several spacious thorough-fares and some See also:fine squares and promenades, notably the much-frequented Place de la Comedie, the Esplanade and the Peyrou. The last terminates in a See also:terrace commanding a magnificent view of the coasts of the Mediterranean, and of the See also:Pyrenees and See also:Alps. On the terrace is situated the See also:reservoir of the town, the See also:water being brought from a distance of about 8 m. by an See also:aqueduct. In the centre of the square is an equestrian statue of See also:Louis XIV., while opposite the entrance is the See also:Porte de Peyrou, a triumphal See also:arch erected at the end of the 17th See also:century to commemorate the achievements of Louis XIV. The See also:Boulevard See also:Henri IV. to the See also:north leads past the botanical See also:garden, founded in 1593 and thus the See also:oldest in France, the medical See also:college, and the See also:cathedral; to the See also:east the See also:Rue Nationale leads to the See also:palace of See also:justice, the prefecture, and the citadel. The cathedral (14th century), which until 1536 was the See also:church of a See also:Benedictine monastery, suffered severely during the religious See also:wars, and about the See also:middle of the 19th century the See also:choir and one of the four towers at the angles of the See also:nave were rebuilt in the See also:style of the 13th century. The monastery, after being converted into the See also:bishop's palace, has since 1795 been occupied by the famous medical school.

A See also:

gallery devoted to the portraits of professors since 1239 contains one of See also:Rabelais. See also:Close to the medical school is the Tour See also:des Pins, the See also:chief relic of the See also:medieval fortifications. The museum (Musee See also:Fabre) contains See also:rich collections of See also:Italian, Flemish, Dutch and See also:modern See also:French paintings and -of French sculptures. Its See also:nucleus was the collection given to it by the painter F. X. P. Fabre (1766-1837), See also:born at Montpellier. The principal public buildings are the palace of justice—a modern structure, the See also:theatre and the prefecture, also modern. Montpellier possesses old houses of the 15th and 16th centuries. The Lez is canalized so as to connect Montpellier with the See also:canal du Midi and with the See also:sea at Palavas. The town has a consider-able See also:trade in See also:wine, See also:brandy, See also:fruit and See also:silk. The principal See also:industrial See also:establishment is a manufactory for candles and See also:soap.

There are also tanneries, distilleries and manufactories of See also:

cotton and woollen goods, chemicals, casks, See also:hosiery and See also:chocolate. The town is the centre of an academia (educational See also:division) and has See also:long been renowned as a seat of learning. Montpellier university comprises faculties of See also:medicine, See also:law, See also:science and letters, and a higher school of See also:pharmacy. Montpellier is also the seat of a bishop and a See also:prefect, of courts of See also:appeal and assizes, tribunals of first instance and of See also:commerce, a chamber of commerce, a See also:board of trade See also:arbitration, and headquarters of the XVI. See also:army See also:corps. Montpellier first See also:rose into importance after the destruction of Maguelonne by See also:Charles Martel in 737. In the loth century it consisted of two portions, Montpellier and Montpellieret, held from the bishops of Maguelonne by the See also:family of Guilhem. The Guilhems were succeeded, through See also:marriage, by the See also:house of See also:Aragon, a member of which in 1349 sold his rights to See also:Philip of See also:Valois, Montpellieret having already in 1292 been ceded to the See also:Crown by the bishops. In 1141 Montpellier acquired a See also:charter afterwards materially extended, and the same century saw the rise of its school of medicine. Several of the ablest teachers of that school were members of an important Jewish See also:colony established in the town. It had a school of law in 116o, and a university was founded by See also:Pope See also:Nicholas IV. towards the close of the 13th century. Louis IX. granted to Montpellier the right of See also:free trade with the whole of the See also:kingdom, a See also:privilege which greatly increased its prosperity. The importance of the town was enhanced when the bishopric of Maguelonne was transferred thither in 1536.

During the wars of See also:

religion the town was a stronghold of the Protestants, who captured it in 1567. It strenuously supported the See also:duke of See also:Rohan in his revolts and in 1622 only succumbed to Louis XIII. after a See also:siege of eight months. In 1628 the duke was defeated there and the walls of the town razed, the royal citadel built in 1624 being, however, spared. Louis XIII. made Montpellier the seat of one of the generalites of Languedoc, and the states of that See also:province met there during the 17th and 18th centuries. See A. C. Germain, Histoire du commerce de Montpellier anterieurement a l'onverture du See also:port de Cette (2 vols., Montpellier, 1861), and Histoire de la See also:commune de Montpellier (3 vols., Montpellier, 1851); Aigrefeuille, Histoire de la ville de Montpellier (4 vols., Montpellier, 1875-1882).

End of Article: MONTPELLIER

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