Montpellier, France

Montpellier is located about 240 km east of Toulouse and 170 km northwest of Marseille in hilly terrain, about 10 km from the Mediterranean coast, on the river Lez. The original name Monspessulanus derives either from Mont Pelé (bare hill, poor in vegetation), Mont de la Colline or Monte Pestelario.

Montpellier is one of the few important French cities without an ancient background. It was first mentioned in a document on 26 November 986, when Count Bernard de Melgueil (Melgueil corresponds to today's Mauguio) gave land to William III on the ancient Via Domitia, between the rivers Lez and Mosson, for his selfless services. His heirs built a castle, which housed a chateau and a chapel. Due to its excellent location between Catalonia and Italy on the Via Domitia next to the port of Lattes, Montpellier quickly became a commercial centre with links across the Mediterranean, to Spain and to northern Europe, and developed a mixed population of Jews, Muslims and later Protestants. Goldsmiths, clothiers and also merchants settled there, and even today you can tell by the street names in the historic centre what goods were traded there. On 9 November 1202, the dynasty of the Lords of Montpellier from the family of the Guilhems (in German Wilhelm) ended with the death of William VIII.

Montpellier came into the possession of the Kings of Aragon via the marriage of Marie of Montpellier to Peter II of Aragon in 1204 and their deaths in 1213. Montpellier was granted city privileges in 1204 and the right to appoint twelve ruling city councillors each year. The very extensive privileges remained until the death of James II. In the Middle Ages, the Via Domitia was used as a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. The church of Notre-Dame-des-Tables in Montpellier was an important stop for the pilgrims of Saint James. As a result of pilgrimage tourism and the expulsion of Jews and Moors from Spain, a number of hospices and charitable institutions developed in Montpellier. In 1220, Councillor Conrad of Urach (after 1170-1227), legate of Pope Honorius III, founded the Montpellier medical school. By the end of the thirteenth century, the school's reputation was already legendary.

In 1289, the medical school was granted the status of a university by Pope Nicholas IV. The university was equally influenced by the Jewish, Arab and Christian cultures. Adherents of all the aforementioned cultures studied there. This was an almost revolutionary state of affairs to which the university owed its enormous progressiveness. Montpellier was sold in 1349 by King James III of Majorca to the French King Philip VI of France to fill the war chest in the fight against Peter IV of Aragon to reconquer Majorca. The city was second only to Paris in importance in the French kingdom. But in the second half of the 14th century, the city lost more than a third of its population to epidemics.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the town experienced an economic boom thanks to its neighbouring port of Lattes and a commercial genius called Jacques Cœur, financier to the King of France Charles VII. During this period of economic prosperity, the medical faculty built a plant garden (1593-Jardin des Plantes), which can still be visited today and is the oldest of its kind in France. After further growth, the bishop of Maguelone finally moved in 1536 to the neighbouring parish of Montpelliéret, which was later absorbed by Montpellier (see Archbishopric of Montpellier). The cathedral of Saint-Pierre was built on the site of the monastery of Saint-Benoît (founded in 1364). In the 16th century, the Huguenots gained more and more influence in the city, due in part to the Huguenot Wars, which resulted in the Huguenots of France being pushed back to the south. After 36 years of war, the Edict of Nantes in 1598 brought peace to the city for the next 20 years.

Louis XIII of France waged war against the Huguenots despite the Edict of Nantes. He laid siege to the city in 1622 and conquered it after two months.

But due to the strong resistance of the Huguenots, especially in La Rochelle as well as Montauban, the king finally recognized the Edict of Nantes in the Peace of Montpellier on October 21, 1622. To nip any future resistance in the bud, Cardinal Richelieu had a massive citadel built just outside the city gates. Montpellier became the administrative centre of the lower Languedoc. In 1685, the Edict of Fontainebleau revoked the Edict of Nantes and established the Catholic religion as the sole state religion. There was a mass exodus of Huguenots from France. In 1693, the Arc de Triomphe Porte du Peyrou was inaugurated in Montpellier in honor of Louis XIV and his victory over the Huguenots.

Industrialization made the city a regional industrial center in the 19th century, and in the 1960s the immigration of French Algerians ("Pieds-noirs") caused rapid growth (see demographics).

The socialist Georges Frêche was elected mayor in 1977. Under his leadership, the cityscape changed rapidly. During his term of office, among other things, the Antigone was built, a social housing estate in the post-modern "Roman style" in the east of the city centre. Montpellier changed from a large city in the south of France to a metropolis with strong international influence. Among other things, it has an international orchestra, a centre for modern dance, the Corum congress centre and an exhibition centre. It also hosts the RadioFrance Festival and the Montpellier Danse Festival.

In 1943/44, the Kriegsmarine maintained a naval hospital in Montpellier.

Demographics

During the first half of the 20th century, Montpellier experienced low population growth, averaging 0.47% per year. Thereafter, growth increased explosively to an average of 2.2% per year between 1954 and 1999, with a record growth of 5.3% between 1962 and 1968. These were the years when the "pieds-noirs" fled to France from Algeria. According to INSEE projections, Montpellier had 244,100 inhabitants in 2004. This made Montpellier the eighth largest city in France, ahead of Bordeaux. With its enormous population growth, Montpellier has occupied the top places in France for years.

According to the 1999 census, Montpellier's population is made up of 20.9% people aged 0-19, 60.7% aged 20-59 and 18.4% aged over 60.