TOULOUSE

city, capital, Haute-Garonne dpartement, Midi-Pyrnes region, France, at the junction of the Canal Latral la Garonne and the Canal du Midi, where the Garonne River curves northwest from the Pyrenean foothills. Founded in ancient times, it was the stronghold of the Volcae Tectosages and developed as Tolosa during the Roman period. As capital of the Visigoths (AD 419507) it was taken (508) by Clovis and included in the Merovingian kingdom. It successfully withstood a siege by Saracens in 721, was chief town of the Carolingian kingdom of Aquitaine, and after 778 became the seat of the feudal countship of Toulouse. Its counts adhered to the Cathari heresy and resisted the anti-heretic crusade in the 13th century. Afterward, many religious houses and the university (1229) were founded. Its Parlement, established in 1420, had jurisdiction over Languedoc until the French Revolution. During the Wars of Religion in the 16th century, the city sided with the Catholic League. Marshal Soult unsuccessfully fought the last battle of the Peninsular War against the Duke of Wellington outside the city on April 10, 1814. The old city (vieux quartier), on the right high bank and surrounded by medieval faubourgs (incorporated suburbs), embraces the business section. On the left low-lying bank is the faubourg of Saint-Cyprien. Toulouse, a bishopric (since the 4th century) and an archbishopric (since 1317), abounds in medieval churchesnotably the Gothic cathedral of Saint-tienne, the Romanesque basilica of Saint-Sernin, and the Gothic glise des Jacobins (mother church of the Dominican order and site of the tomb of St. Thomas Aquinas). Many Renaissance and 16th17th-century buildings (built by prosperous woad dye merchants) form one of the most splendid series in France and include the htels de Bernuy, du Vieux Raisin, d'Espie, and de Pierre. The Htel d'Asszat houses the Acadmie des Jeux Floraux, founded in 1323 to encourage literary talent. The Duc de Montmorency was executed (1632) in the interior courtyard of the Capitole (town hall). Noteworthy art museums are those of Saint-Raymond, des Augustins, and Paul Dupuy. The cole des Beaux-Arts is on an 18th-century riverside embankment and, nearby, the Catholic Institute occupies a 16th-century convent. The city's architecture was long characterized by rose-red brick. The most run-down portions of the old centre have been demolished and replaced by an ultra-modern commercial centre, which clashes sharply with the older architecture. To make room for the vigorous population growth of the city, a new town, named Mirail (Miracle), was constructed to the southwest of the older neighbourhood of Saint-Cyprien. Toulouse progressed commercially with the advent of railways in the 19th century. Diversified industrial development (which includes the manufacture of chemicals, aircraft, and machinery) has been augmented by the availability of hydropower from the Pyrenees and natural gas from Lacq. The aerospace industry has seen extraordinary development: research, experiments, training of specialists, and production of vehicles (Caravelle, Concorde, Airbus, and military hardware). Because of its strategic position, with routes converging from north and south, it acts as a trading centre between the Mediterranean and the Aquitaine Basin, whose farm produce it markets. Pop. (1982) 344,917. medieval county of southern France from the 8th to the 13th century. The countship can be dated from AD 778, when Charlemagne attempted to create bulwarks against the Muslims of Spain. The great dynasty, however, dates from 849, when Count Fredelon, a vassal of King Pippin II of Aquitaine, delivered Toulouse to Charles II the Bald of France, who thereupon confirmed him as count. Dying in 852, Fredelon left a heritage including Rouergue (around Rodez) and the Pyrenean countships of Pallars and Ribagorza as well as the Toulousain to his brother Raymond I, who added Limousin to it; but Septimania was then probably detached. Marriages and partitions changed the extent of the counts' dominion. By 1053 it included Quercy, the Albigeois (around Albi), and Rouergue. Raymond IV (d. 1105) added the marquessate of Provence but pawned Rouergue. The crusaders Raymond IV and his son Bertrand (d. 1112) won the countship of Tripoli in the Holy Land; but at home the dynasty was weakened by quarrels with the house of Barcelona over Provence and with William IX of Aquitaine, who usurped the countship in 10981100 and again in 111419. Towns such as Toulouse and vassals such as the Trencavel viscounts of Bziers and Carcassonne became practically autonomous. Raymond VII (d. 1249) left the countship to his son-in-law Alphonse of Poitiers, on whose death in 1271 it was annexed to the French crown.