62-725: Midi Libre ( French pronunciation: [midi ˈlibʁ] ) is a French daily newspaper in Montpellier that covers general news. It began publication in 1944. Since 1949, the newspaper has organised a cycling stage race, the Grand Prix du Midi Libre . This French newspaper-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Montpellier Montpellier ( UK : / m ɒ n t ˈ p ɛ l i eɪ / , US : / ˌ m oʊ n p ɛ l ˈ j eɪ / ; French: [mɔ̃pəlje, -pɛl-] ; Occitan : Montpelhièr [mumpeˈʎɛ] )
124-698: A papal bull of 1289. It was suppressed during the French Revolution but was re-established in 1896. It is not known exactly at what date the schools of literature were founded which developed into the Montpellier faculty of arts; it may be that they were a direct continuation of the Gallo-Roman schools. The school of law was founded by Placentinus , a doctor from Bologna University , who came to Montpellier in 1160, taught there during two different periods, and died there in 1192. With regard to
186-401: A branch to Lattes and serves 32 stations. Line 4 circles the centre and serves as a connector line between the various arms of tram system. They intersect at Gare St. Roch station, Rives du Lez and Corum. Since 2019, €440 million were invested into the construction of a 5th tramway line, linking the south from Lavérune to Clapiers , up north. Since December 21, 2023, the public transport
248-503: A castle and walls around the united settlement. The name is from medieval Latin mons pisleri , "Woad Mountain" referring to the woad (Latin pastellus , pestellus ) used for dyeing locally. There is no real "mountain" in the area, with the mons referring to a pile of stones. In 986 the Lords of Montpellier begin with William I of Montpellier . In the 10th century the town consisted of two portions, Montpellier and Montpelliéret. In 1160
310-884: A dye shop with remains of both woad and madder have been excavated and dated to the 10th century. In medieval times, centres of woad cultivation lay in Lincolnshire and Somerset in England, Jülich and the Erfurt area in Thuringia in Germany, Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy, and Gascogne , Normandy , the Somme Basin (from Amiens to Saint-Quentin ), Brittany and, above all, Languedoc in France. This last region, in
372-684: A dye. There has also been some revival of the use of woad for craft purposes. The first archaeological finds of woad seeds date to the Neolithic period. The seeds have been found in the cave of l'Audoste, Bouches-du-Rhône , France. Impressions of seeds of Färberwaid (Isatis tinctoria L.) or German indigo, of the plant family Brassicaceae , have been found on pottery in the Iron Age settlement of Heuneburg , Germany. Seed and pod fragments have also been found in an Iron Age pit at Dragonby, North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. The Hallstatt burials of
434-546: A large measure of autonomy. Theology was at first taught in the convents, in which St. Anthony of Padua , Raymond Lullus , and the Dominican Bernard de la Treille lectured. Two letters of King John prove that a faculty of theology existed at Montpellier independently of the convents, in January 1350. By a Bull of 17 December 1421, Martin V granted canonical institution to this faculty and united it closely with
496-482: A neighbourhood council. The whole metropolitan area had a population of 813,272 at the 2020 census. In a study made by INSEE from 2007 to 2012 Montpellier saw the strongest population growth of France's main communes (+1.1%), ahead of Paris and Lyon. For most of its history, and even today, Montpellier has been known for its significant Spanish population, heritage and influence. Montpellier also houses significant Moroccan, Algerian, and Italian communities. The virgin
558-568: 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 . From the middle of the 14th century until the French Revolution (1789), Montpellier was part of the province of Languedoc . In the 14th century, Pope Urban VIII gave Montpellier a new monastery dedicated to Saint Peter , noteworthy for
620-436: A seed impression on an Anglo-Saxon pot. The authors theorize that vitrum could have actually referred to copper(II) sulfate 's naturally occurring variant chalcanthite or to the mineral azurite . A later study concluded the amount was "not of sufficient magnitude to provide convincing evidence that the copper was deliberately applied as paint". Woad was an important dyeing agent in much of Europe and parts of England during
682-531: A tattoo pigment have claimed that it does not work well, and is actually caustic and causes scarring when put into the skin. It has also been claimed that Caesar was referring to some form of copper - or iron -based pigment. Analysis done on the Lindow Man did return evidence of copper. The same study also noted that the earliest definite reference to the woad plant in the British Isles dates to
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#1732794225023744-484: A time, under Henry IV of France , the latter faculty had among its lecturers Isaac Casaubon . The Montpellier school of medicine owed its success to the ruling of the Guilhems, lords of the town, by which any licensed physician might lecture there; there was no fixed limit to the number of teachers, lectures were multiplied, and there was a great wealth of teaching. Rabelais took his medical degrees at Montpellier. It
806-618: A woad mill model, photos and other items used in woad production. A major market for woad was at Görlitz in Lausitz. The citizens of the five Thuringian Färberwaid (dye woad) towns of Erfurt , Gotha , Tennstedt , Arnstadt and Langensalza had their own charters. In Erfurt, the woad-traders gave the funds to found the University of Erfurt . Traditional fabric is still printed with woad in Thuringia, Saxony and Lusatia today: it
868-475: Is "Notre Dame des Tables", named for the money changing tables at the Basilica of Notre-Dame des Tables . The A and M are for "Ave Maria". The inescutcheon is the arms of the Lords of Montpellier (Guilhem). The University of Montpellier is one of the oldest in the world, founded in 1160, and having been granted a charter in 1220 by Cardinal Conrad von Urach and confirmed by Pope Nicholas IV in
930-408: Is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis , derives from the ancient Greek word for the plant, ἰσάτις . It is occasionally known as Asp of Jerusalem . Woad is also the name of a blue dye produced from the leaves of the plant. Woad is native to the steppe and desert zones of
992-435: Is a centre for cultural events as there are many students. Montpellier has two large concert venues: Le Zenith Sud (7.000 seats) and L'Arena (14.000 seats). Le Corum cultural and conference centre contains three auditoriums. Montpellier is twinned with: Montpellier was the birthplace of: Other famous inhabitants include: The name Montpellier is used for towns and streets in as many as four continents. Many places in
1054-540: Is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea . One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania , Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault . At the 2020 census, 299,096 people lived in the city proper, while its metropolitan area had a population of 813,272. The inhabitants are called Montpelliérains . In the Middle Ages, Montpellier was an important city of
1116-605: Is a stronghold built in the seventeenth century by Louis XIII of France . Since the 1990s, Montpellier has experienced one of the strongest economic and demographic growths in the country. Its urban area has experienced the highest population growth in France since the year 2000. Numbering 70,000, students comprise nearly one-fourth of its population, one of the highest such proportions in Europe. Its living environment, with one of Europe's largest pedestrian areas, along with its rich cultural life and Mediterranean climate , explains
1178-409: Is around 630 millimetres (24.8 in), and is greatest in fall and winter, but not absent in summer, either. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −17.8 °C (−0.04 °F) recorded on 5 February 1963 and up to 43.5 °C (110.3 °F) on 28 June 2019. Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses
1240-489: Is built on two hills, Montpellier and Montpelliéret, thus some of its streets have great differences of altitude. Some of its streets are also very narrow and old, which gives it a more intimate feel. Montpellier has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csa ), with cool, damp winters, and hot, rather dry summers. The monthly mean ranges from 7.2 °C (45.0 °F) in January to 24.1 °C (75.4 °F) in July. Precipitation
1302-577: Is described in The History of Woad and the Medieval Woad Vat (1998) ISBN 0-9534133-0-6 . Woad is biodegradable and safe in the environment. In Germany, there have been attempts to use it to protect wood against decay without applying dangerous chemicals. Production of woad is increasing in the UK for use in inks , particularly for inkjet printers , and dyes. In certain locations,
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#17327942250231364-475: Is free for all residents. Previously, all residents under 18 and over 65 years of age have been transported free of charge since September 1, 2021. The TaM also manages the large bike sharing scheme Vélomagg' , started in June 2007, comprising 1200 bicycles and 50 stations. Montpellier was the finish of Stage 11 and the departure of Stage 12 in the 2007 Tour de France . It was also the finish of Stage 11 and
1426-616: Is known as Blaudruck (literally, "blue print(ing)"). In the Marche region, the cultivation of the plant was an important resource for the Duchy of Urbino in Italy. To fully understand the importance of the ford industry in the State of Urbino , it is enough to read the comprehensive Chapters of the art of wool in 1555, which dictated prescriptions regarding the cultivation and trade of woad, whether in loaves or macerated (powdered). Testifying to
1488-452: Is said to have stood for mont pelé (the naked hill, because the vegetation was poor), or le mont de la colline (the mount of the hill). Montpellier is located 170 km (106 mi) from Marseille , 242 km (150 mi) from Toulouse , and 748 km (465 mi) from Paris. Montpellier's highest point is the Place du Peyrou, at an altitude of 57 m (187 ft). The city
1550-537: Is served by railway, including TGV highspeed trains. Montpellier's main railway station is Saint-Roch . Since 2018, there is also a station on the high-speed railway linking Nîmes and Montpellier with the LGV Méditerranée , called Montpellier-Sud de France . The Montpellier – Méditerranée Airport is located in the area of Fréjorgues, in the town of Mauguio , southeast of Montpellier. The Transports de l'agglomération de Montpellier (TaM) manages
1612-511: Is used as an herbal medicinal tea in China for colds and tonsillar ailments. Used as a tea, it has a brownish appearance and (unlike most Chinese medicines) is mildly sweet in taste. The dye chemical extracted from woad is indigo , the same dye extracted from "true indigo", Indigofera tinctoria , but in a lower concentration. Following the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India by
1674-617: The Caucasus , Central Asia to Eastern Siberia and Western Asia but is now also found in South-Eastern and Central Europe and western North America . Since ancient times, woad was an important source of blue dye and was cultivated throughout Europe, especially in Western and Southern Europe. In medieval times, there were important woad-growing regions in England, Germany and France. Towns such as Toulouse became prosperous from
1736-465: The Crown of Aragon (and was the birthplace of James I ), and then of Majorca , before its sale to France in 1349. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the world and has the oldest medical school still in operation, with notable alumni such as Petrarch , Nostradamus and François Rabelais . Above the medieval city, the ancient citadel of Montpellier
1798-559: The Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave and Hohmichele contained textiles dyed with woad. Melo and Rondão write that woad was known "as far back as the time of the ancient Egyptians, who used it to dye the cloth wrappings applied for the mummies." Skelton states that one of the early dyes discovered by the ancient Egyptians was "blue woad (Isatis tinctoria)." Lucas writes, "What has been assumed to have been Indian Indigo on ancient Egyptian fabrics may have been woad." Hall states that
1860-594: The Hôtel d'Assézat . One merchant, Jean de Bernuy, a Spanish Jew who had fled the Spanish Inquisition , was credit-worthy enough to be the main guarantor of the ransomed King Francis I after his capture at the Battle of Pavia by Charles V of Spain . Much of the woad produced here was used for the cloth industry in southern France, but it was also exported via Bayonne , Narbonne and Bordeaux to Flanders,
1922-766: The American state of Vermont was named Montpelier because of the high regard in which the Americans held the French who had aided their Revolutionary War against the British . Several other American cities are also named Montpelier. Places named Montpellier/Montpelier are also found in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the Caribbean. Isatis tinctoria Isatis tinctoria , also called woad ( / ˈ w oʊ d / ), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed , or glastum ,
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1984-559: The Britanni used to colour their bodies blue with vitrum , a word that means primarily ' glass ' , but also the domestic name for the woad ( Isatis tinctoria ), besides the Gaulish loanword glastum (from Proto-Celtic * glastos ' green ' ). The connection seems to be that both glass and the woad are "water-like" ( Latin : vitrum is from Proto-Indo-European *wed-ro- , ' water-like ' ). In terms of usage,
2046-620: The Catholic party. Even before the Edict of Alès in 1629, Protestant rule was dead and the ville de sûreté was no more. Louis XIV made Montpellier capital of Bas Languedoc , and the town started to embellish itself, by building the Promenade du Peyrou , the Esplanade and a large number of houses in the historic centre. After the French Revolution , the city became the capital of
2108-509: The Huguenots. The city's political institutions and the university were all handed over to the Huguenots. Increasing tension with Paris led to King Louis XIII besieging the city in 1622. The city surrendered after a two-month siege. Peace terms called for the dismantling of the city's fortifications and the building of the royal Citadel of Montpellier to secure the city for the government. The university and consulate were taken over by
2170-526: The Latin vitrum is more often used to refer to glass rather than woad. The use of the word for the woad might also be understood as "coloured like glass", applied to the plant and the dye made from it. Gillian Carr conducted experiments using indigo pigment derived from woad mixed with different binders to make body paint. The resulting paints yielded colours from "grey-blue, through intense midnight blue, to black". People with modern experiences with woad as
2232-642: The Low Countries, Italy, and above all Britain and Spain. After cropping the woad eddish could be let out for grazing sheep. The woad produced in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire in the 19th century was shipped out from the Port of Wisbech , Spalding and Boston , both the last to northern mills and the USA. The last portable woad mill was at Parson Drove , Cambridgeshire, Wisbech & Fenland Museum has
2294-533: The Revolution. The faculty numbered among its illustrious pupils of law Petrarch , who spent four years at Montpellier, and among its lecturers Guillaume de Nogaret , chancellor to Philip the Fair , Guillaume de Grimoard , afterwards pope under the name of Urban V, and Pedro de Luna , antipope as Benedict XIII. But after the 15th century this faculty fell into decay, as did also the faculty of arts, although for
2356-599: The Unicorn (1495–1505), though typically it is the dark blue of the woad that has lasted best. Medieval uses of the dye were not limited to textiles. For example, the illustrator of the Lindisfarne Gospels ( c. 720 ) used a woad-based pigment for blue paint. As does the late 13th century North Italian manual on book illumination Liber colorum secundum magistrum Bernardum describe its usage. In Viking Age levels at archaeological digs at York ,
2418-522: The United Kingdom and Ireland carry the name Montpellier. Often they are in resort locations claiming some of the healthy attributes for which the French city was renowned in earlier centuries. The variant spelling "Montpelier" is common, and is of quite early provenance. Brewer uses that spelling. The first example was the early 19th-century suburb of Montpelier in Brighton . The capital of
2480-757: The ancient Egyptians created their blue dye "by using indigotin, otherwise known as woad." A dye known as סטיס , satis in Aramaic , is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud . Celtic blue is a shade of blue, also known as glas celtig in Welsh , or gorm ceilteach in both the Irish language and in Scottish Gaelic . Julius Caesar reported (in Commentarii de Bello Gallico ) that
2542-473: The city's public transportation, including its 56-kilometre (35 mi) tramway network consisting of four lines and several parking facilities. Line 1 runs from Mosson in the west to Odysseum in the east. Line 2 runs from Jacou in the northeast to St. Jean-de-Vedas in the southwest. Line 3 and Line 4 opened in April 2012. Line 3, which is 22.4-kilometre (13.9 mi) long, links Juvignac and Pérols with
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2604-492: The city's thriving university culture, though many other universities have been well established there. The coastal city also benefited in the past 40 years from major construction programs such as Antigone , Port Marianne and Odysseum districts. The city is situated on hilly ground 10 km (6 mi) inland from the Mediterranean coast, on the river Lez . The name of the city, which was originally Monspessulanus ,
2666-582: The city's traditional freedoms and granted the city the right to choose twelve governing consuls annually. Under the Kings of Aragon, Montpellier became a very important city, a major economic centre and the primary centre for the spice trade in the Kingdom of France. It was the second or third most important city of France at that time, with some 40,000 inhabitants before the Black Death . Montpellier remained
2728-729: The departure of Stage 12 in the 2016 edition . The city is home to a variety of professional sports teams: Montpellier was one of the hosts of the FIBA EuroBasket 2015 . The city is home to the Open Sud de France tennis tournament since 2010, and will host the XXXI World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship . The main athletics stadium is the Philippidès Stadium , which is owned by the University of Montpellier . The city
2790-539: The development of a chemical process to synthesize the pigment, both the woad and natural indigo industries collapsed in the first years of the 20th century. The last commercial harvest of woad until recent times occurred in 1932, in Lincolnshire , Britain. Small amounts of woad are now grown in the UK and France to supply craft dyers. The classic book about woad is The Woad Plant and its Dye by J. B. Hurry, Oxford University Press of 1930, which contains an extensive bibliography. A method for producing blue dye from woad
2852-601: The enthusiasm for the city, which is nicknamed the "Gifted". Montpellier was nominated for "Best Emerging Culture City of the Year 2017" by the think tank LCD. It is ranked as a Sufficiency city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . Montpellier is the third-largest French city near the Mediterranean coast, behind Marseille and Nice . It is the seventh-largest city of France , and has also been
2914-409: The faculty of law. In the 16th century the faculty of theology disappeared for a time, when Calvinism , in the reign of Henry II of France , held complete possession of the city. It resumed its functions after Louis XIII had reestablished the royal power at Montpellier in 1622; but the rivalries of Dominicans and Jesuits interfered seriously with the prosperity of the faculty, which disappeared at
2976-550: The fastest-growing city in the country for 25 years. In the Early Middle Ages , the nearby episcopal town of Maguelone was the major settlement in the area but raids by pirates encouraged settlement a little farther inland. In 737 Charles Martel destroyed Maguelone . Montpellier, first mentioned in a document of 985, was founded under a local feudal dynasty, the Guilhem, who combined two hamlets and built
3038-470: The grapes needed for wine. After this the city had grown because it welcomed French repatriates from Algeria and other parts of northern Africa after Algeria's independence from France . In the 21st century Montpellier is between France's number seventh and eighth largest city. The city had another influx in population more recently, largely due to the student population, who make up about one-fourth of Montpellier's population. The school of medicine kickstarted
3100-543: The importance that this crop had in the economy in addition to the archival documents was the identification of a hundred millstones surveyed by Delio Bischi in the province of Pesaro and Urbino, the original use of which had become completely unknown as their memory had been lost. The woad plant's roots are used in Traditional Chinese medicine to make a medicine known as banlangen ( bǎnlán'gēn 板蓝根 ) that purports to have antiviral properties. Banlangen
3162-699: The law school was active. The two surviving towers of the city walls, the Tour des Pins and the Tour de la Babotte , were built later, around the year 1200. Montpellier came to prominence in the 12th century—as a trading centre, with trading links across the Mediterranean world, and a rich Jewish cultural life that flourished within traditions of tolerance of Muslims , Jews and Cathars —and later of its Protestants. William VIII of Montpellier gave freedom for all to teach medicine in Montpellier in 1180. The city's faculties of law and medicine were established in 1220 by Cardinal Conrad of Urach , legate of Pope Honorius III ;
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#17327942250233224-494: The medical faculty has, over the centuries, been one of the major centres for the teaching of medicine in Europe. This era marked the high point of Montpellier's prominence. The city became a possession of the Kings of Aragon in 1204 by the marriage of Peter II of Aragon with Marie of Montpellier , who was given the city and its dependencies as part of her dowry . Montpellier gained a charter in 1204 when Peter and Marie confirmed
3286-583: The medieval period. However, dye traders began to import indigo during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which threatened to replace locally grown woad as the primary blue dye. The translation of vitrum as woad may date to this period. Woad was one of the three staples of the European dyeing industry, along with weld (yellow) and madder (red). Chaucer mentions their use by the dyer ("litestere") in his poem The Former Age : The three colours can be seen together in tapestries such as The Hunt of
3348-401: The much smaller Department of Hérault . During the 19th century the city thrived on the wine culture that it was able to produce due to the abundance of sun throughout the year. The wine consumption in France allowed Montpellier's citizens to become very wealthy until in the 1890s the phylloxera induced fungal disease had spread amongst the vineyards and the people were no longer able to grow
3410-440: The navigator Vasco da Gama in 1498, great amounts of indigo were imported from Asia. Laws were passed in some parts of Europe to protect the woad industry from the competition of the indigo trade. It was proclaimed that indigo caused yarns to rot. This prohibition was repeated in 1594 and again in 1603. In France, Henry IV , in an edict of 1609, forbade under pain of death the use of "the false and pernicious Indian drug". With
3472-462: The provincial universities in France. University of Montpellier 1 and University of Montpellier 2 reunified in January 2015 to form the University of Montpellier. Paul Valéry University Montpellier, remains a separate entity. Moreover, Montpellier was ranked 119th best student city in the world for 2013, according to QS Best Student Cities 2023 ranking. Public service schools Montpellier
3534-482: The school of medicine, there were excellent physicians at Montpellier. The statutes given in 1220 by Cardinal Conrad, legate of Honorius III , which were completed in 1240 by Pierre de Conques, placed this school under the direction of the Bishop of Maguelonne . Pope Nicholas IV issued a Bull in 1289, combining all the schools into a university, which was placed under the direction of the bishop, but which in fact enjoyed
3596-577: The time of the Reformation in the 16th century, many of the inhabitants of Montpellier became Protestants (or Huguenots as they were known in France) and the city became a stronghold of Protestant resistance to the Catholic French crown. Montpellier was among the most important of the 66 villes de sûreté ('cities of protection' or 'protected cities') that the Edict of Nantes granted to
3658-422: The triangle created by Toulouse , Albi and Carcassonne , known as the Lauragais , was for a long time the biggest producer of woad, or pastel , as it was locally known. One writer commented that "woad […] hath made that country the happiest and richest in Europe." The prosperous woad merchants of Toulouse displayed their affluence in splendid mansions, many of which still stand, as the Hôtel de Bernuy and
3720-412: The very unusual porch of its chapel, 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 the huge monastery chapel became a cathedral. In 1432, Jacques Cœur established himself in the city and it became an important economic centre, until 1481 when Marseilles overshadowed it in this role. At
3782-399: The woad trade. Woad was eventually replaced by the more colourfast Indigofera tinctoria and, in the early 20th century, both woad and Indigofera tinctoria were replaced by synthetic blue dyes. Woad has been used medicinally for centuries. The double use of woad is seen in its name: the term Isatis is linked to its ancient use to treat wounds; the term tinctoria references its use as
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#17327942250233844-472: Was in this school that the biological theory of vitalism , elaborated by Barthez (1734–1806), had its origin. The French Revolution did not interrupt the existence of the faculty of medicine. The faculties of science and of letters were re-established in 1810; that of law in 1880. It was on the occasion of the sixth centenary of the university, celebrated in 1889, that the Government of France announced its intention—which has since been realized—of reorganizing
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