ABSTRACT
Montauban lies 50 km north of Toulouse in the upper reaches of the province of Guyenne. It is a medieval town, founded in the early twelfth century by the Count of Toulouse. The new town's charter released Montauban from ecclesiastical jurisdiction and bestowed upon the town a range of privileges. The town's development owed much to its strategic location on the river Tarn, linking together the provinces of Guyenne and Languedoc. A magnificent bridge - still standing today - spans the river and offered one of the few crossing points connecting the southern economy centred on Toulouse with that of the north. The Hundred Years War provided the opportunity for the town to extend its political and military prowess. Any visitor passing through Montauban surely would have been struck by the town's formidable defences. Bounded on one side by the Tarn, the town stood upon a raised wedge of land sandwiched on either side by two other tributaries. The town's natural strength of location was enhanced by thick surrounding walls, five fortified gates, a series of dykes and ramparts, two immense towers and three chateaux. 1 The town's layout was equally striking with its streets set in a grid-like pattern: five streets running from north to south and five streets running from east to west, dividing the town into five administrative districts with a central market square. This was the classic layout of the fortified bastide towns of southern France.2
