mistreated the leader of the populi minuti and had held him captive with the connivance
of the royal bailiff.
The 14th century saw the decline of the general economic prosperity of Languedoc,
the breakdown of the social peace maintained by the échelles and of the political peace
maintained by the royal government. The devastation of the Hundred Years’ War was felt
most severely in Quercy, Agenais, and the Rouergue, where free companies and
mercenary bands added to the destruction. Crop failures, including massive famines in
1332, 1335, 1351, and 1374–76, occurred with increasing frequency and led to the final
crisis of medieval Languedoc. The famine of 1374–76, which exacerbated social tensions
in the cities, combined with increased demand for taxes by the royal government and the
machinations of Gaston Phoebus, count of Foix, to produce an explosion of urban revolts
that swept Languedoc from 1378 to 1382. Riots directed against the consuls, the rich, the
agents of royal government, and the king’s lieutenant the duke of Berry, occurred at Le
Puy, Montpellier, Clermont-l’Hérault, Alais, Nîmes, Narbonne, and Béziers. These were
followed by the great peasant revolt known as the rebellion of the Tuchins, which was not
suppressed until 1384.
In the 15th century, Languedoc recovered something of its economic vitality. Its
loyalty to the crown survived the crises of the previous century and preserved for the
dauphin Charles a base of support during the 1420s. The last great independent fiefs, the
counties of Foix and Armagnac, passed to the family of Albret and Navarre and were
united to the crown with the accession of Henry IV.
Alan Friedlander
[See also: ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE; CATALONIA; CATHARS; FEUDALISM;
FOIX; HERESY; MONTFORT; MONTPELLIER; NÎMES; OCCITAN LANGUAGE;
SAINT-GILLES; TOULOUSE; TRENCAVEL]
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