Grenade (;

Languedocien Languedocien (French name, ), Languedocian or Lengadocian (), is an Occitan dialect spoken in rural parts of southern France such as Languedoc, Rouergue, Quercy, Agenais and Southern Périgord. It is sometimes also called Languedocien-Guyennai ...

: ''Granada''), also referred to as Grenade-sur-Garonne, is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country' ...

department in southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

The town is a

bastide Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the fir ...

founded in the 1290s on the initiative of the Cistercian monks of the Abbey of Grandselve who had founded Beaumont-de-Lomagne ten years earlier. The city is the subject of a '' paréage'' agreement between the monks and the seneschal

Eustache de Beaumarchais Eustache de Beaumarchais (''c''. 1235 – 23 August 1294) was a French baron and military leader who served as seneschal of the County of Poitou (1268–76) and the County of Toulouse (1272–94). He took part in the War of the Navarrería in 12 ...

representing King Philip IV. The new bastides created at this time are baptized with the names of large influential cities of the time, from Spain or Italy , such as Fleurance (

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

), or

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. Grenada is therefore called so to show that it is destined to be an influential city in the South West of France. It has also been suggested that Granada comes from the Latin Granat - meaning grain - as the region was noted for its agriculture. Later, when the king had regained control of the different regions of the South-West, a “network” of bastides was created. Under this royal protection, Granada prospered thanks to the cultivation of the cleared plains around it. Moreover, the initial plan of the city provided for more than 3,000 dwellings, but only 1,000 were built.

Population

Monuments

Grenade - Hotel de ville.jpg, Town hall Grenade - Halle - Exterieur.jpg, Market hall 31 - Grenade (Haute-Garonne) - Monument aux Morts.jpg, War memorial Église Notre-Dame de l'Assomption (Grenade) Portail - face.jpg, Church portal Église Notre-Dame de l'Assomption (Grenade) interieur.jpg, Church interior Grenade - Couvent des Ursulines.jpg, Convent

References

Communes of Haute-Garonne Populated places established in the 1290s {{HauteGaronne-geo-stub

History

Population

Monuments

See also

References