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113-438: Nicolas Durand (born 4 October 1982 in Toulouse , France ) is a French rugby union footballer who plays scrum-half for USAP in France's Top 14 competition. His first professional club was Toulouse whom he played for in 2002. From 2002 until 2004 he played for Béziers . Upon their relegation to Pro D2 after the 2003–04 season, he moved to Perpignan , where he played for six seasons before arriving in Paris for

226-597: A métropole in 2015, spanning 37 communes with 806,503 inhabitants in 2020 census. Visigothic Kingdom The Visigoths were romanized central Europeans who had moved west from the Danube Valley . They became foederati of Rome, and wanted to restore the Roman order against the hordes of Vandals , Alans and Suebi . The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD; therefore, the Visigoths believed they had

339-554: A civil war ensued between them. Hermenegild became the first Visigothic king to convert to Nicene Christianity due to his ties with the Romans, but he was defeated in 584 and killed in 585. By the end of his reign, Liuvigild had united the entire Iberian peninsula, including the Suebic Kingdom which he conquered in 585 during a Suebi civil war that ensued after the death of King Miro . Liuvigild established amicable terms with

452-516: A conspiracy, and many were enslaved, especially those who had converted from Christianity. Egica also raised his son Wittiza as coruler in 698. Not much is known about his reign, but a period of civil war quickly ensued between his sons (Achila and Ardo) and King Roderic, who had seized Toledo. In 711, Tariq ibn Ziyad, a Muslim Berber client of Musa bin Nusair , the governor of Islamic Africa, invaded Spain with about 7,000 Berber men, while Roderic

565-456: A count and was annexed to the royal domain . The installation of numerous royal officers and the development of trade and crafts, which favoured the social ascension of merchants, renewed the city's elites. In 1298, King Philip the Fair greatly facilitated the possibility of ennobling the capitouls, whose council, renewed every year, was increasingly made up of rich merchants. The first half of

678-647: A fact which Odoacer formally accepted in a treaty. By 500, the Visigothic Kingdom, centered at Toulouse , controlled Gallia Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis and most of Hispania with the exception of the Suebic Kingdom of Galicia in the northwest and small areas controlled by independent Iberian peoples, such as the Basques and the Cantabrians . Euric's son Alaric II (484–507) issued

791-572: A flood of the Garonne devastated more than 1,000 houses and killed 200 people. It also destroyed all the bridges in Toulouse, except the Pont-Neuf . World War I brought to Toulouse (geographically sheltered from enemy attacks) chemical industries as well as aviation workshops ( Latécoère , Dewoitine ), which launched the city's aeronautical construction tradition and gave birth after the war to

904-414: A great autonomy, they created a municipal body of consuls, called capitouls in Toulouse, to lead the city. The Bourg , which had only a quarter of the inhabitants of Toulouse, obtained as many capitouls as the rest of the city. Economically, Toulouse, which was at the center of a large cereal-growing plain, was distinguished by its numerous mills that took advantage of the force of the Garonne, among which

1017-607: A growth of 15.3% for metropolitan France between 1990 and 2020, i.e. +0.48% per year. This was the second-highest population growth of any French metropolitan area larger than 500,000 inhabitants (only the Montpellier metropolitan area grew more than Toulouse between 1990 and 2019). The Toulouse metropolitan area reached 1,470,899 inhabitants in January 2020, and stood as the 5th most populated metropolitan area in France, behind

1130-403: A highly educated nobleman was king Sisebut , who was a patron of learning and writer of poems, one of them about astronomy. These kings and leaders – with the exception of Fritigern and possibly Alavivus – were pagans. These kings were Arians (followers of the theological teaching of Arius ). They tended to succeed their fathers or close relatives on the throne and thus constitute

1243-583: A new body of laws, the Breviarium Alarici , and held a church council at Agde . The Visigoths now came into conflict with the Franks under their King Clovis I , who had conquered northern Gaul. Following a brief war with the Franks, Alaric was forced to put down a rebellion in Tarraconensis, probably caused by recent Visigoth immigration to Hispania due to pressure from the Franks. In 507,

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1356-607: A new offensive. Reccared's son Liuva II became king in 601 but was deposed by the Visigothic noble Witteric (603–610), ending the short-lived dynasty. There were various Visigothic Kings between 610 and 631, and this period saw constant regicide. This period also saw the definitive conquest of the Byzantine territories in the south. War continued in the north against the Basques and Asturians , as indeed it would continue for

1469-455: A palace complex and mint, but it lay in ruins by the 9th century (after the Arab conquest). At a slightly later date, Liuvigild founded a city he named Victoriacum after his victory over the Basques. Though it is often supposed to survive as the city of Vitoria , contemporary 12th-century sources refer to the latter city's foundation by Sancho VI of Navarre . Liuvigild's son and namesake of

1582-409: A possible fifth city is ascribed to them by a later Arabic source. All of these cities were founded for military purposes and three of them in celebration of victory. The first, Reccopolis , was founded by Liuvigild in 578 after his victory over the Franks, near what is today the tiny village of Zorita de los Canes . He named it after his son Reccared and built it with Byzantine imitations, containing

1695-423: A revolt by the army and by Gallo-Romans under Aegidius; as a result, Romans under Severus and the Visigoths fought other Roman troops, and the revolt ended only in 465. In 466, Euric , who was the youngest son of Theodoric I , came to the Visigothic throne. He is infamous for murdering his elder brother Theodoric II who had himself become king by murdering his elder brother Thorismund . Under Euric (466–484),

1808-548: A theologian and poet who, after he had fled to the Frankish kingdom, participated in the Carolingian Renaissance . A Muslim source referred to Visigothic Seville as the "abode of the sciences". The Institutionum disciplinae from the mid seventh/early eight century confirms that Visigothic nobles were not only taught in reading and writing but also in science, medicine, law and philosophy. An example of

1921-724: A university population of nearly 140,000 students. Toulouse counts three UNESCO World Heritage Sites : the Canal du Midi (designated in 1996 and shared with other cities), and the Basilica of St. Sernin , the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe, designated in 1998 along with the former hospital Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques because of their significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route . The city's unique architecture made of pinkish terracotta bricks has earned Toulouse

2034-523: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Toulouse Toulouse ( / t uː ˈ l uː z / too- LOOZ ; French: [tuluz] ; Occitan : Tolosa [tuˈluzɔ] ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania . The city is on the banks of the River Garonne , 150 kilometres (93 miles) from

2147-491: Is now the capital of the administrative region of Occitania , the second largest region in Metropolitan France . The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229). Toulouse is also the home of prestigious higher education schools, notably in the field of aerospace engineering. Together with the university, they have turned Toulouse into the fourth-largest student city in France, with

2260-489: Is to be identified with modern Olite . The possible fifth Visigothic foundation is Baiyara (perhaps modern Montoro ), mentioned as founded by Reccared in the Geography of Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar . The Visigothic rule has often been misattributed to be a part of the so-called Dark Ages , a time of supposedly cultural and scientific decay. Through the course of their existence the Visigoths supposedly remained "men of

2373-538: The Consistori del Gay Saber was created in Toulouse to preserve the lyric art of the troubadours by organizing a poetry contest; and Toulouse became the centre of Occitan literary culture for the following centuries. The Consistori is considered to be the oldest literary society in Europe, at the origin of one of the most sophisticated treatise on grammar and rhetoric of the Middle Ages, and in 1694 it

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2486-576: The 2010–11 season . Durand has played age grade level representative rugby for France's Under 18, Under 19, and Under 21 teams. He has also played twice for France . In May 2007 he was selected for France 's Test squad to play the All Blacks in New Zealand , and made his Test début against the All Blacks on 2 June 2007. This biographical article relating to French rugby union

2599-603: The Basques . The ethnic distinction between the Hispano-Roman population and the Visigoths had largely disappeared by this time (the Gothic language lost its last and probably already declining function as a church language when the Visigoths renounced Arianism in 589). This newfound unity found expression in increasingly severe persecution of outsiders, especially the Jews . The Visigothic Code , completed in 654, abolished

2712-629: The Battle of Narbonne in 436, but then in 439 at the Battle of Toulouse the Visigoths defeated the allied forces of Romans and Huns. By 451, the situation had reversed and the Huns had invaded Gaul ; now Theodoric fought under Flavius Aetius against Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains . Attila was driven back, but Theodoric was killed in the battle. The Vandals completed

2825-692: The Battle of Tours , also called the Battle of Poitiers). The Frankish conquest of Septimania followed in the 750s, and a quasi-independent County of Toulouse emerged within the Carolingian sub-kingdom of Aquitaine by the late 8th century. The Battle of Toulouse of 844 , pitting Charles the Bald against Pepin II of Aquitaine , was key in the Carolingian Civil War. Charlemagne had created

2938-643: The Bazacle Milling Company was the first recorded European joint-stock company. At the beginning of the thirteenth century the County of Toulouse was caught up in another crusade that would last twenty years (1209-1229), of which it was the target this time. The reason for this was the development of Catharism in the south of France, which the Pope Innocent III wanted to eradicate by all possible means. After an initial victory of

3051-701: The French Empire to the nations of the Sixth Coalition (a fact that the two armies involved were not yet aware of), the Battle of Toulouse pitted the Hispanic-British troops of Field Marshal Wellington against the French troops of Napoleonic Marshal Soult , who, although they managed to resist, were forced to withdraw. Toulouse was thus the scene of the last Franco-British battle on French territory. Unlike most large French cities, there

3164-476: The French Revolution of 1789 and the reform or suppression of all royal institutions, Toulouse lost much of its power and influence: until then the capital of the vast province of Languedoc, with a parliament ruling over an even larger territory, the city then found itself simply at the head of the single small department of Haute-Garonne . On 10 April 1814, four days after Napoleon 's surrender of

3277-601: The Garonne River between Bordeaux and Toulouse in Aquitaine during the 5th century, according to contemporary sources under the terms of the late Roman Empire as foederatii , or allies, and assigned billeting obligations to provide lodging for Roman soldiers, more or less as the imperial military had done in other provinces. Later in the century, following annexations made by King Euric in Gaul and Hispania once

3390-648: The Iron Age . The historical name of the city, Tolosa (Τολῶσσα in Greek , and of its inhabitants, the Tolosates , first recorded in the 2nd century BC), is of unknown meaning or origin, possibly from Aquitanian or Iberian , but it has also been connected to the name of the Gaulish Volcae Tectosages , or to the same root as Irish tulach or Welsh twlch , (little hill). Tolosa enters

3503-617: The Mediterranean Sea , 230 km (143 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean and 680 km (420 mi) from Paris . It is the fourth-largest city in France after Paris , Marseille and Lyon , with 504,078 inhabitants within its municipal boundaries (2021); its metropolitan area has a population of 1.5 million inhabitants (2021). Toulouse is the central city of one of the 22 metropolitan councils of France. Between

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3616-685: The Ostrogothic Kingdom , who invaded and defeated him at Barcelona . Gesalec fled and regrouped, but was defeated again at Barcelona , and was captured and killed. Theodoric then installed his grandson Amalaric (511–531), the son of Alaric II, as king. Amalaric, however, was still a child and power in Spain remained under the Ostrogothic general and regent, Theudis . Only after Theodoric's death (526) did Amalaric obtain control of his kingdom. His rule did not last long, as in 531, Amalaric

3729-565: The Rhone and the Loire rivers which comprised most of southern Gaul. He also occupied the key Roman cities of Arles and Marseilles . In his campaigns, Euric had counted on a portion of the Gallo-Roman and Hispano-Roman aristocracy who served under him as generals and governors. The Visigothic Kingdom was formally recognized as an independent kingdom in former Roman territory instead of having

3842-612: The Visigothic Code ( Latin : Liber Iudiciorum ), which would become the basis for Spanish law throughout the Middle Ages . From 407 to 409 AD, an alliance of Germanic Vandals , Iranian Alans and Germanic Suebi crossed the frozen Rhine and swept across modern France and into the Iberian Peninsula. For their part, the Visigoths under Alaric famously sacked Rome in 410 , capturing Galla Placidia ,

3955-510: The 14th century was a prosperous period, despite the dismemberment in 1317 of the very large bishopric of Toulouse (which lost two thirds of its area and a large part of its income, a loss only partially compensated by its elevation to the rank of archbishopric), and the episode of the Shepherds' Crusade which brought a pogrom against Toulouse's Jewish population in 1320. In 1335, Toulouse had between 35,000 and 40,000 inhabitants. In 1323,

4068-648: The 2014 and 2020 censuses, its metropolitan area was the third fastest growing among metropolitan areas larger than 500,000 inhabitants in France. Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus , the SPOT satellite system , ATR and the Aerospace Valley . It hosts the CNES 's Toulouse Space Centre (CST) which is the largest national space centre in Europe, but also, on

4181-720: The 6th and 7th centuries is sometimes called the Regnum Toletanum or Kingdom of Toledo after the new capital of Toledo in Hispania. A civil war starting in 549 resulted in an invitation from the Visigoth Athanagild , who had usurped the kingship, to the Byzantine emperor Justinian I to send soldiers to his assistance. Athanagild won his war, but the Byzantines took over Cartagena and a good deal of southern Hispania, until 624 when Swinthila expelled

4294-522: The AZF fertiliser factory, causing 31 deaths, about 30 seriously wounded and 2,500 light casualties. The blast measured 3.4 on the Richter scale and the explosion was heard 80 km (50 mi) away. In 2016, a territorial reform made Toulouse the regional prefecture of Occitanie , the second largest region in metropolitan France, giving it a role commensurate with its past as a provincial capital among

4407-510: The Franks attacked again, this time allied with the Burgundians . Alaric II was killed at the Battle of Campus Vogladensis ( Vouillé ) near Poitiers , and Toulouse was sacked. By 508, the Visigoths had lost most of their Gallic holdings save Septimania in the south. After Alaric II's death, his illegitimate son Gesalec took power until he was deposed by Theodoric the Great , ruler of

4520-473: The Franks through royal marriages, and they remained at peace throughout most of his reign. Liuvigild also founded new cities, such as Reccopolis and Victoriacum ( Vitoria ), the first barbarian king to do so. On becoming King, Liuvigild's son Reccared I (586–601) converted from Arian to Chalcedonian Christianity . This led to some unrest in the kingdom, notably a revolt by the Arian bishop of Mérida which

4633-652: The Roman Empire of the West had collapsed, specially after the Battle of Vouille , many Goths and their federated peoples, such as the Vandals , Ostrogoths and Sarmatians , moved to settle more freely under their kindred clans' rulers, the reiks , who received dukedom territories or comital offices as counts over smaller territories or key urban locations within the provinces of Hispania and in southwestern Gaul and its Mediterranean coast. Their settlements were made around

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4746-600: The Roman cities of Emerita Augusta (Mérida), Barcino (Barcelona), Hispalis (Seville), Toletum (Toledo) and Septimanian Narbonne, which would be the main bases of Gothic power politically as well as militarily during the rest of the kingdom's history, as well as other settlements that were dispersed in rural farming areas between the upper reaches of the Douro , Ebro and Tagus rivers, in an area between Tierra de Campos , also known as Campi Gothorum , around Central Castile and León and Rioja , and Toledo to

4859-534: The Vandals, Alans and Suebi. In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates under King Wallia (reigned 415–418) by giving them land in the Garonne valley of Gallia Aquitania on which to settle. This probably took place under the system of hospitalitas . It seems likely that at first the Visigoths were not given a large amount of land estates in the region (as previously believed), but that they acquired

4972-591: The Visigothic capital, were heavily influenced by the contemporary Byzantine architecture. When the Muslims looted Spain during their conquest they were amazed by the fine and innumerable Visigothic treasures. A few of these treasures were preserved as they were buried during the Muslim invasions – e.g., the votive crowns from the treasure of Guarrazar . While only the senior monks were allowed to read books of non-Christian or heretic authors this did not prevent

5085-458: The Visigoths began expanding in Gaul and consolidating their presence in the Iberian peninsula. Euric fought a series of wars with the Suebi who retained some influence in Lusitania and brought most of this region under Visigothic power, taking Emerita Augusta ( Mérida ) in 469. Euric also attacked the Western Roman Empire, capturing Hispania Tarraconensis in 472, the last bastion of (Western) Roman rule in Spain. By 476, he had extended his rule to

5198-420: The Visigoths had succeeded in expelling the Byzantines from Hispania and had established a foothold at the port of Ceuta in Africa. Most of the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by Umayyad troops from North Africa in 711 to 719, with only the northern reaches of Hispania remaining in Christian hands. The medieval Kingdom of Asturias in northern Spain reputedly began when a Visigothic nobleman called Pelagius

5311-405: The call of the Pope Urban II to join the First Crusade , of which he was one of the main leaders. This exodus of its warriors and nobles, reinforced by the creation of the faraway County of Tripoli by Raymond IV at the beginning of the 12th century, weakened the city militarily as well as the ascendancy that its counts had over it. The Duke William IX of Aquitaine challenged the possession of

5424-414: The cities in Gallaecia, part of the Suebi Kingdom quite brutally: they massacred a portion of the population and even attacked some holy places, probably due to the clergy's support of the Suebi. Theodoric took control over Hispania Baetica , Carthaginiensis and southern Lusitania . In 461, the Goths received the city of Narbonne from the emperor Libius Severus in exchange for their support. This led to

5537-439: The city became the first European centre for the trade in woad, the only blue dye then known in Europe which was very much in demand in the textile industry at the time. Its humanist milieu developed thanks to its university and parliament, which trained and attracted intellectual elites. The wealth generated by this culturally and economically dynamic environment is the source of the superb Renaissance mansions in Toulouse. In 1550

5650-414: The city for fifteen days. After this dramatic event, King Louis XIII exempted the city from taxes for 100 years. The capitouls issued municipal decrees favouring the use of brick in buildings, rather than excessively flammable wood or cob. In the 16th century, and until 1562, the economy of Toulouse experienced a golden age: its Parliament made it the judicial capital of a large part of southern France, and

5763-501: The city of Toulouse proper. As of February 2004 estimate, the total population of the Community of Agglomeration of Greater Toulouse was 651,209 inhabitants, 65.5% of whom live in the city of Toulouse. Due to local political feuds, the Community of Agglomeration only hosts 61% of the population of the metropolitan area, the other independent suburbs having refused to join in. Since 2009, the Community of agglomeration has become an urban community (in French: communauté urbaine). This has become

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5876-435: The city on the grounds that it should have been inherited by his wife Philippa (daughter of the previous count of Toulouse , whereas Raymond IV was only his brother). More than 50 years later his granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine still claimed the inheritance in vain. In the 12th century the city left its Roman limits and a new district developed around the church of Saint-Sernin : the Bourg . The church of Saint-Sernin

5989-421: The city was the key stronghold of the French defence in the south of France during the worst years of the Hundred Years' War, when the English troops from Aquitaine had taken Montauban and only Toulouse remained as an obstacle to their conquest of southern France. This military threat to the city and especially to the surrounding countryside was not conducive to its development, despite the strengthening of ties with

6102-473: The city's population. In 1963, Toulouse was chosen to become one of the country's eight "balancing Metropolis", regaining a position among the country's major cities that it had always had, but lost in the 19th century. The French state then encouraged the city's specialisation in aeronautics and space activities, sectors that had experienced strong growth in recent decades, fueling economic and population growth. On 21 September 2001, an explosion occurred at

6215-426: The conquest of North Africa when they took Carthage on October 19, 439, and the Suebi had taken most of Hispania. The Roman emperor Avitus now sent the Visigoths into Hispania. Theodoric II (453–466) invaded and defeated the king of the Suebi, Rechiarius , at the battle on the river Órbigo in 456 near Asturica Augusta ( Astorga ) and then sacked Bracara Augusta ( Braga ), the Suebi capital. The Goths sacked

6328-410: The county of Toulouse in 778 to guard the border of Muslim Spain, but the disintegration of the kingdom of Aquitaine and the weakness of royal power in the following centuries led to the de facto independence of the county of Toulouse and many provinces. In the 11th and 12th centuries, southern France was still steeped in Latin culture. Unlike the north of France, justice followed written Roman law and

6441-405: The crusaders led by Simon de Montfort who defeated the combined forces of Count Raymond VI of Toulouse and King Peter II of Aragon at the Battle of Muret , the following years saw the fate of the county of Toulouse swing alternately in favour of one party or the other. Finally, a late intervention by King Louis VIII of France in 1226 tipped the balance in favour of the crusaders, resulting in

6554-462: The east and south. After the fall of the Galician Kingdom of the Suebi , some further settlements were made along the Tagus river north of Lisbon , by Oporto and Astorga former strongholds of the Suebi . Little Visigothic settlement occurred elsewhere in the kingdom. The Visigoths founded the only new cities in Western Europe between the fifth and eighth centuries. It is certain (through contemporary Spanish accounts) that they founded four, and

6667-409: The establishment of colleges in the university towns of southern France, not only Toulouse but also Montpellier, Cahors and Avignon. The Black Death in 1348, then the Hundred Years' War caused a major crisis that lasted until the following century. Despite strong immigration, the population lost more than 10,000 inhabitants in 70 years. By 1405 Toulouse had only 19,000 people. In these hardships,

6780-453: The famous Aéropostale , a pioneering airmail company based in Toulouse and whose epics were popularised by the novels of writers such as Joseph Kessel and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (himself an Aéropostale pilot). In the 1920s and 1930s the rise of the Toulouse population was increased by the arrival of Italians and Spaniards fleeing the fascist regimes of their country. Then, in the early 1960s, French repatriates from Algeria swelled

6893-405: The first Visigothic city founded his own sometime around 600. It is referred to by Isidore of Seville as Lugo id est Luceo in the Asturias , built after a victory over the Asturians or Cantabri . The fourth and possibly final city of the Goths was Ologicus (perhaps Ologitis ), founded using Basque labour in 621 by Swinthila as a fortification against the recently subjected Basques. It

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7006-431: The governor of Ifriqiya , arrived with another army of 18,000, with large Arab contingents. He took Mérida in 713 and invaded the north, taking Saragossa and León , which were still under King Ardo, in 714. After being recalled by the Caliph , Musa left his son Abd al-'Aziz in command. By 716, most of the Iberian Peninsula was under Islamic rule, with Septimania taken between 721 and 725. The only effective resistance

7119-402: The historical period in the 2nd century BC, when it became a Roman military outpost. After the conquest of Gaul , it was developed as a Roman city in Gallia Narbonensis . Under the reign of Emperor Augustus and thanks to the Pax Romana , the Romans moved the city a few kilometres from the hills where it was an oppidum to the banks of the Garonne, which were more suitable for trade. In

7232-423: The import of olive oil, wine and other goods from the Mediterranean regions. In the 18th century, Toulouse was a provincial capital that prided itself on its royal academies (the only city in France, along with Paris, to have three royal academies), but sometimes seemed far removed from the debates of ideas that agitated the Enlightenment . A famous example illustrates this backwardness of Toulouse mentalities of

7345-423: The king, replacing him with Chintila (636–639). The church councils were now the most powerful institution in the Visigothic state; they took the role of regulating the process of succession to the kingship by election of the king by Gothic noble 'senators' and the church officials. They also decided to meet on a regular basis to discuss ecclesiastical and political matters affecting the Church. Finally, they decided

7458-415: The kings should die in peace, and declared their persons sacred, seeking to end the violence and regicides of the past. Despite all this, another coup took place and Chintila was deposed in 639, and King Tulga took his place; he was also deposed in the third year of his reign and the council elected the noble Chindaswinth as king. The reigns of Chindaswinth and his son Recceswinth saw the compilation of

7571-430: The last Byzantine garrisons from the peninsula, occupying Orcelis , which the Visigoths called Aurariola (today Orihuela in the Province of Alicante ). Starting in the 570s Athanagild's brother Liuvigild compensated for this loss by conquering the Kingdom of the Suebi in Gallaecia (corresponding roughly to present-day Galicia and the northern part of Portugal ) and annexing it, and by repeated campaigns against

7684-442: The metropolitan areas of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Lille, but ahead of the metropolitan area of Bordeaux, which the Toulouse metropolitan area passed in population in the 1990s. A local Jewish group estimates there are about 2,500 Jewish families in Toulouse. A Muslim association has estimated there are some 35,000 Muslims in town. The Community of Agglomeration of Greater Toulouse ( Communauté d'agglomération du Grand Toulouse )

7797-431: The military side, the newly created NATO space centre of excellence and the French Space Command and Space Academy. Safran , Thales Alenia Space , Airbus Defence and Space , Collins Aerospace and Liebherr-Aerospace also have a significant presence in Toulouse. The air route between Toulouse–Blagnac and the Parisian airports is the busiest in France, transporting 3.2 million passengers in 2019. According to

7910-478: The monarchy at the expense of the nobility; he executed some 700 nobles, forced dignitaries to swear oaths, and in the seventh council of Toledo laid down his right to excommunicate clergy who acted against the government. He was also able to maneuver his son Recceswinth on the throne, sparking a rebellion by a Gothic noble who allied with the Basques, but was put down. Recceswinth (653–672) held another council of Toledo, which reduced sentences for treason and affirmed

8023-489: The most important Visigothic law book, the Liber Iudiciorum ( Spanish : Fuero Juzgo , English : Book of Judgements), also called Lex Visigothorum or the Visigothic Code promulgated by king Chindaswinth (642–653 AD) and completed in 654 by his son, king Recceswinth (649–672), abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Hispano-Romans and Visigoths. The new laws applied to both Gothic and Hispano-Roman populations who had been under different laws in

8136-490: The most important in France. The population of the city proper (French: commune ) was 498,003 at the January 2020 census, with 1,470,899 inhabitants in the metropolitan area , up from 1,268,438 at the January 2009 census. Thus, the metropolitan area registered a population growth rate of +1.36% per year between 2009 and 2020, the third-highest growth rate of any French metropolitan area larger than 500,000 inhabitants in France, after Montpellier and Bordeaux , although it

8249-592: The nickname La Ville rose ("The Pink city"). Toulouse is in the south of France, north of the department of Haute-Garonne, on the axis of communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is about 100 km from the Pyrenees and the borders with Andorra and Spain. The city is traversed by the Canal de Brienne , the Canal du Midi , the Canal de Garonne and

8362-592: The nobles were highly educated. This was the time of the troubadours who wrote their poetry in Occitan (called "Provençal" at the time), then one of the most sophisticated languages in Europe. Like the other great lords of the Midi , the counts of Toulouse maintained and favoured these poets, this is how Count Raymond V employed for some time the famous Bernard de Ventadour , expert in singing courtly love . In 1096, Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse , left with his army at

8475-409: The old tradition of having different laws for Hispano-Romans and for Visigoths. The 7th century saw many civil wars between factions of the aristocracy. Despite good records left by contemporary bishops, such as Isidore and Leander of Seville , it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish Goths from Hispano-Romans, as the two became inextricably intertwined. Despite these civil wars, by 625 AD

8588-435: The past, and it replaced all older codes of law. The code included old laws by past kings, such as Alaric II in his Breviarium Alarici , and Leovigild, but many were also new laws. The code was based almost wholly on Roman law, with some influence of Germanic law in rare cases. Among the eliminated old laws were the harsh laws against Jews. The Liber showed the old system of military and civil divisions in administration

8701-490: The population of the city made it the second or third largest city in France. It was estimated to have 50,000 inhabitants, a figure it would not regain until the 18th century. In 1562, the French Wars of Religion began and Toulouse became an ultra-Catholic stronghold in a predominantly Protestant region, the era of economic prosperity came to an end. The governor of Languedoc, Henri II de Montmorency , who had rebelled,

8814-439: The power of the councils to elect kings. Following Recceswinth, King Wamba (672–680) was elected king. He had to deal with Flavius Paulus ' revolts in Tarraconensis and Hilderic of Nimes , and because of this, he felt a need to reform the army. He passed a law declaring all dukes, counts and other military leaders, as well as bishops, had to come to the aid of the kingdom once danger became known or risk harsh punishment. Wamba

8927-581: The rankings of L'Express and Challenges , Toulouse is the most dynamic French city. Founded by the Romans, the city was the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom in the 5th century and the capital of the province of Languedoc in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution ), making it the unofficial capital of the cultural region of Occitania (Southern France). It

9040-781: The regions around the Pyrenees with the establishment of the Marca Hispanica from 760 to 785 by the Frankish Empire . The Berbers settled in the south and the Meseta Central in Castile . Initially, the Muslims generally left the Christians alone to practise their religion, although non-Muslims were subject to Islamic law and treated as second-class citizens. Visigothic settlements were concentrated along

9153-458: The rest of the Visigothic Kingdom's existence. These Kings also worked on religious legislature, especially King Sisebut (612–621), who passed several harsh laws against Jews and forced many Jews to convert to Christianity. Sisebut was also successful against the Byzantines, taking several of their cities, including Málaga . The Byzantines were finally defeated by Swinthila (621–631), who had captured all of their Spanish holdings by 625. Suinthila

9266-469: The right to take the territories that Rome had promised in Hispania in exchange for restoring the Roman order. Under King Euric —who eliminated the status of foederati—a triumphal advance of the Visigoths began. Alarmed at Visigoth expansion from Aquitania after victory over the Gallo-Roman and Breton armies at Déols in 469, Western Emperor Anthemius sent a fresh army across the Alps against Euric, who

9379-425: The rise of intellectuals such as, most prominently: Isidore of Seville , one of the most quoted scholars of the Middle Ages, known for the breadth of his literary output, highlighted by his Etymologies , an encyclopedia of the knowledge of the epoch that was known and translated throughout medieval Europe; Eugenius I of Toledo , a theologian and poet expert in mathematics and astronomy ; or Theodulf of Orléans ,

9492-632: The rivers Garonne , Touch and Hers-Mort . Toulouse has a four-season humid subtropical climate ( Cfa in the Köppen climate classification ). Too much precipitation during the summer months prevents the city from being classified in the Mediterranean climate zone. The Garonne Valley was a central point for trade between the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic since at least

9605-535: The royalty that it entailed. In 1369, pope Urban V attributed to the Dominican church of the Jacobins of Toulouse the bones of the Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas , perhaps to honor the city that had been the cradle of the Dominican order at the beginning of the previous century. The political and economic situation improved by the middle of the 15th century. In 1443 King Charles VII established

9718-496: The second parliament of France after that of Paris. Reinforcing its place as an administrative and judicial center, the city grew richer, participating in the trade of Bordeaux wine with England, as well as cereals and textiles. A major source of income was the production and export of pastel , a blue dye made from woad . Toulouse suffered several fires, but it was in 1463 that the Great Fire of Toulouse broke out, ravaging

9831-525: The second half of the 1st century, the emperor Domitian distinguished Toulouse by placing it under the patronage of the goddess Pallas Athena , so that the Latin poets Martial , Ausonius and Sidonius Apollinaris called the city Palladia Tolosa (Palladian Toulouse), a term that was still used in the Renaissance and even today when the city is presented as propitious to the arts and letters. Around

9944-625: The sister of Western Roman emperor Honorius . Athaulf (king of the Visigoths from 410 to 415) spent the next few years operating in the Gallic and Hispanic countrysides, diplomatically playing competing factions of Germanic and Roman commanders against one another to skillful effect, and taking over cities such as Narbonne and Toulouse (in 413). After he married Placidia, the Emperor Honorius enlisted him to provide Visigothic assistance in regaining nominal Roman control of Hispania from

10057-527: The small province of Spania for the Byzantine Empire along the coast of southern Spain. Agila was eventually killed, and his enemy Athanagild (552–568) became the new king. He attacked the Byzantines, but he was unable to dislodge them from southern Spain and was obliged to formally acknowledge the suzerainty of the Empire. The next Visigothic king was Liuvigild (569 – April 21, 586). He

10170-673: The status of foederati when the Western emperor Julius Nepos (474–475) signed in 475 an alliance with Euric, granting him the lands south of the Loire and west of the Rhone in exchange for military service and the lands in Provence (including Arles and Marseilles). The lands in Hispania remained under de facto Visigothic control. After Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor in the West, Romulus Augustulus , Euric quickly recaptured Provence ,

10283-476: The submission of Count Raymond VII to the French Crown and the end of the independence of the County of Toulouse. But beyond the military crusade, this struggle took on several important aspects for the city of Toulouse: In 1271, Joan of Toulouse and her husband Alphonse of Poitiers died without heirs. Toulouse, which since the treaty of 1229 had been subordinate to the kingdom of France , no longer had

10396-582: The taxes of the region, with the local Gallic aristocrats now paying their taxes to the Visigoths instead of to the Roman government. The Visigoths with their capital at Toulouse , remained de facto independent, and soon began expanding into Roman territory at the expense of the feeble Western empire. Under Theodoric I (418–451), the Visigoths attacked Arles (in 425 and 430 ) and Narbonne (in 436), but were checked by Litorius using Hunnic mercenaries . This resulted at first in Theodoric's defeat at

10509-613: The time: in 1762 its powerful parliament sentenced Jean Calas to death. The philosopher Voltaire then accused the Parlement of Toulouse of religious intolerance (Calas was a Protestant), gave the affair a European repercussion and succeeded in having the judgment of the parliament quashed by the King's Council, which did much damage to the reputation of the parliament. It was on this occasion that Voltaire published one of his major philosophical works: his famous Treatise on Tolerance . With

10622-539: The woods never strayed too far from there," as Thomas F. Glick puts it. However, in fact, the Visigoths were preservers of the classical culture. The bathing culture of Andalusia, for example, often said to be a Muslim invention, is a direct continuation of Romano-Visigothic traditions. Visigothic Mérida housed baths supplied with water by aqueducts , and such aqueducts are also attested in Cordoba , Cadiz and Recopolis. Excavations confirm that Recopolis and Toledo,

10735-588: The year 250, Toulouse was marked by the martyrdom of Saturnin , the first bishop of Toulouse. This episode illustrates the difficult beginnings of Christianity in Roman Gaul. In the 5th century, Toulouse fell to the Visigothic kingdom and became one of its major cities, even serving as its capital , before it fell to the Franks under Clovis in 507 during the Battle of Vouillé . From that time, Toulouse

10848-737: Was an effective military leader and consolidated Visigothic power in Spain. Liuvigild campaigned against the Eastern Romans in the south in the 570s and he took back Cordova after another revolt. He also fought in the north against the Galician Kingdom of the Suebi and various small independent states, including the Basques and the Cantabrians. He pacified northern Spain but was unable to completely conquer these peoples. When Liuvigild established his son Hermenegild as joint ruler,

10961-501: Was besieging Arles . The Roman army was crushed in the Battle of Arles nearby and Euric then captured Arles and secured much of southern Gaul. Sometimes referred to as the Regnum Tolosae or Kingdom of Toulouse after its capital Toulouse in modern historiography, the Visigothic kingdom lost much of its territory in Gaul to the Franks in the early 6th century, save the narrow coastal strip of Septimania . The kingdom of

11074-690: Was changing, and dukes ( duces provinciae ) and counts ( comites civitatis ) had begun taking more responsibilities outside their original military and civil duties. The servants or slaves of the king became very prominent in the bureaucracy and exercised wide administrative powers. With the Visigoth law codes, women could inherit land and title and manage it independently from their husbands or male relations, dispose of their property in legal wills if they had no heirs, and could represent themselves and bear witness in court by age 14 and arrange for their own marriages by age 20. Chindaswinth (642–653) strengthened

11187-470: Was created in 2001 to better coordinate transport, infrastructure and economic policies between the city of Toulouse and its immediate independent suburbs. It succeeds a previous district which had been created in 1992 with fewer powers than the current council. It combines the city of Toulouse and 24 independent communes , covering an area of 380 km (147 sq mi), totalling a population of 583,229 inhabitants (as of 1999 census), 67% of whom live in

11300-467: Was defeated by the Frankish king Childebert I and then murdered at Barcelona. Afterwards, Theudis (531–548) became king. He expanded Visigothic control over the southern regions, but he was also murdered after a failed invasion of Africa. Visigothic Spain suffered a civil war under King Agila I (549–554), which prompted the Roman/Byzantine emperor Justinian I to send an army and carve out

11413-406: Was deposed by the Franks and replaced by Sisinand . The instability of this period can be attributed to the power struggle between the kings and the nobility. Religious unification strengthened the political power of the church, which it exercised through church councils at Toledo along with the nobles. The fourth council, held during the brief reign of Sisinand in 633, excommunicated and exiled

11526-729: Was elected princeps and became the leader of the Astures and of the Visigoths who had taken refuge in mountains. The Visigoths and their early kings were Arians and came into conflict with the Church in Rome, but after they converted to Nicene Christianity , the Church exerted an enormous influence on secular affairs through the Councils of Toledo . The Visigoths also developed the highly influential legal code known in Western Europe as

11639-402: Was eventually deposed in a bloodless coup. King Ervig (680–687) held further church councils and repealed the previous harsh laws of Wamba, though he still made provisions for the army. Ervig had his son-in-law Egica made king. Despite a rebellion by the bishop of Toledo, the 16th council, held in 693, denounced the bishop's revolt. The 17th council in 694 passed harsh laws against the Jews, citing

11752-465: Was executed in 1632 in the Capitole in the presence of King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu . In 1666, Pierre-Paul Riquet started the construction of the Canal du Midi which links Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea, and is considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century. Completed in 1681, the canal stimulated the economy of Toulouse by promoting the export of cereals and

11865-481: Was famous and revered for its many relics, and the chapter of its canons, which had possessions as far away as Spain, was powerful enough to free itself from the control of the bishop of Toulouse. This dissent had important local political repercussions, making the Bourg in practice a separate district from the city. In 1152, the notables of Toulouse took advantage of a weakening of the county power to obtain for their city

11978-580: Was in Asturias, where a Visigothic nobleman named Pelagius revolted in 718, and defeated the Muslims at the battle of Covadonga ; this was the beginning of the Reconquista . According to Joseph F. O'Callaghan, the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths

12091-597: Was in the north fighting the Basques . The tale that Julian, Count of Ceuta , facilitated the invasion because one of his daughters had been dishonored by Roderic is possibly mythical. By late July, a battle took place at the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz . Roderic was betrayed by his troops, who sided with his enemies, and the king was killed in battle. The Muslims then took much of southern Spain with little resistance and went on to capture Toledo, where they executed several Visigothic nobles. In 712, Musa,

12204-402: Was no real industrial revolution in 19th century Toulouse. The most important industries were the gunpowder factory, to meet military needs, and the tobacco factory. In 1856 the railway arrived in Toulouse and the city was modernised: the ramparts were replaced by large boulevards, and major avenues such as the rue d'Alsace-Lorraine and the rue de Metz opened up the historic centre. In 1875,

12317-587: Was occurring at a fast pace. Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people, the gens Gothorum or the Hispani . An unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias, they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of native Astures , Galicians , Cantabri , Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society. Resistance also continued in

12430-662: Was put down; he also beat back another Frankish offensive in the north. Reccared then oversaw the Third Council of Toledo in 589, where he announced his faith in the Nicene creed and denounced Arianism. He adopted the name Flavius, the family name of the Constantinian dynasty, and styled himself as the successor to the Roman emperors. Reccared also fought the Byzantines in Hispania Baetica after they had begun

12543-521: Was slightly lower than the growth rate registered between the 1990 and 2009 censuses. Toulouse is the fourth most populated city in France, after Paris , Marseille and Lyon , and the fifth most populated metropolitan area after Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Lille . Fueled by booming aerospace and high-tech industries, the Toulouse metropolitan area's population grew by 57.3% between the 1990 and 2020 censuses (within its 2020 borders), which means +1.52% per year on average during those 30 years, compared with

12656-429: Was the capital of Aquitaine within the Frankish realm. In 721, Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeated an invading Umayyad Muslim army at the Battle of Toulouse . Many Arab chroniclers consider that Odo's victory was the real stop to Muslim expansion into Christian Europe , incursions of the following years being simple raids without real will of conquest (including the one that ended with Charles Martel 's victory at

12769-757: Was transformed into the Royal Academy of the Floral Games ( Académie des Jeux Floraux ), still active today, by king Louis XIV . The 14th century also saw a significant increase in the influence of the University of Toulouse, particularly following the move of the papacy from Rome to Avignon. Many law graduates from the University of Toulouse had brilliant careers in the Avignon curia , several became cardinals and three became popes: John XXII , Innocent VI and Urban V . These powerful prelates financed

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