Montcuq ( or ; Lengadocian: ''Montcuc'') is a town and former

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 Lot department in south-western

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 ...

, lying outside

Cahors Cahors (; oc, Caors ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region. The main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Que ...

. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montcuq-en-Quercy-Blanc. Its residents are known as ''Montcuquois''. The town remains vibrant and a popular tourist destination. It still has a rich agricultural industry, and is known for its manufacture of

meringue Meringue (, ; ) is a type of dessert or candy, often associated with Swiss, French, Polish and Italian cuisines, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream o ...

s and ''gaufres de Saint Daumes''

waffle A waffle is a dish made from leavened batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron and recipe use ...

s. The town's name could derive from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Mont Circus Vallium'', ''Mont Cuneus'' or ''montem cuci'', meaning "cuckoo mountain".

History

The town's foundation dates back to at least

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

. A stronghold of the

Cathars Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. F ...

, Montcuq received its charter from Raymond VI in the 12th century. On June 1, 1212,

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...

took the castle after it had been deserted by its defenders, and gave it to Beaudouin, half-brother of the Count of

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

, an ally of the Crusaders. On February 17, 1214, Beaudouin marched on the Château de Lolmie, and after a short battle was arrested by Ratier de Castelnau, despite also being an ally of Montfort. Transported to Montcuq and deprived of food, he refused to order his soldiers to surrender. The garrison offered to surrender if their lives were spared, but they were soon massacred. Beaudouin was taken to

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

and hanged at his brother's command. After the Treaty of

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

in 1229, the French king rebuilt the walls of both the town and castle. Only the keep of the castle remains nowadays. The castle was retaken several times by the English during the 14th century, and in the 16th century was plundered by the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s. Singer, actor and pop/rock musician

Nino Ferrer Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari (), known as Nino Ferrer (15 August 1934 – 13 August 1998), was an Italian-born French singer-songwriter and author. Biography and career Nino Ferrer was born on 15 August 1934 in Genoa, Italy, but lived the ...

lived in 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 ...

'' near Montcuq.

Geography

The village lies in the middle of the commune, above the left bank of the Barguelonnette, which flows southwestward through the commune. The

Séoune The Séoune (french: la Séoune) is a long river in the Lot, Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot-et-Garonne ''départements'', southwestern France. Its source is at Sauzet. It flows generally southwest. It is a right tributary of the Garonne into which it ...

forms part of the commune's northern border.

In popular culture

In a well-known skit (1976),

Daniel Prévost Daniel Prévost (born 20 October 1939) is a French actor, comedian and writer. Early life Daniel Prévost, alias Denis Forestier, was born to Micheline Chevalier and Mohand Ait Salem. His father was of Berber descent from Algeria (Kabylie re ...

in the TV show ' animated by Jacques Martin, visited the town and joked by asking the ''Montcuquois'' questions such as: "Is Montcuq well lit? Because I've heard that it is sometimes gloomy...". In French, Montcuq is pronounced the same as ''mon cul'', meaning ''my arse''. However the locals until recently spoke

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

and the village name, when pronounced correctly has the 'q' pronounced as 'k', Mon-cuk. In 2007,

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

, the company that manufactures the

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

game in France, had the idea to have the online community choose the cities that will appear on the new version of the game. Montcuq by far won the most votes (52879 votes), well ahead of Dunkirk with 30640 votes and Reims (20727 votes). Hasbro, however, decided it had "played long enough with web 2.0" and had "decided to maintain its editorial line and to develop products that fit a commercial demand", so decided to out Montcuq from the board game. Hasbro has nonetheless decided to issue an all-Montcuq edition.

References

External links

Tourist office
{{authority control Former communes of Lot (department) Quercy

History

Geography

In popular culture

See also

References

External links