Albi et l'albigeois, veme-xveme siecles

Albi and the albigeois (vth-xvth century)

• Auteur / Autrice : Jean-Louis Biget
• Direction : Philippe Wolff
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Histoire
• Date : Soutenance en 1993
• Etablissement(s) : Toulouse 2

Mots clés

Mots clés libres

Histoire

Moyen age economie demographie histoire religieuse

France. Albigeois

Histoire urbaine

Histoire rurale

Agriculture

Catharisme

Demographie historique

Feodalite

Architecture gothique

Résumé

L'albigeois medieval forme un champ privilegie pour l'observation de certains phenomenes structurels du moyen age. Apres l'essor economique et demographique, lent et obscur, posterieur au viie siecle, le systeme feodal s'instaure dans cette region par une mutation rapide et profonde entre 980 et 1070. La reforme "gregorienne" apparait comme l'un des effets de cette mutation. La ville s'affirme element organique du systeme feodal, complementaire de la campagne, et tres largement dependante de celle-ci pour sa vitalite economique. Un signe : la construction des cathedrales meridionales est financee par les dimes rurales. L'evolution du systeme feodal entraine des desequilibres sociaux et s'accompagne de l'essor du catharisme. Ce dernier, toutefois, se limite a la chevalerie et aux elites urbaines. Ni populaire, ni national, il s'efface, avant tout, grace a la reconquete spirituelle operee par les ordres mendiants. Le gothique toulousain, dont la cathedrale d'albi marque l'epanouissement, constitue l'une des reponses donnees a l'heresie. La subordination economique de la ville a la campagne et le caractere fondant de la population urbaine a partir de 1320 favorisent l'association d'albi au regime monarchique, dont les modeles culturels inspirent le decor interieur de la cathedrale.

The albigeois region provides a privileged field of observation for certain mediaeval structural phenomena. After the economic growth, having developed gradually and inconspicuously, which began during the viith century, the feudal system took hold in the region, between 980 and 1070, through a rapid and profound mutation. The gregorian reform seems to be one of the effects of this change. The town appears as an organic element of the feudal system, a complement to the countryside, and very dependent upon it for its economic vitality. A sign of this is the fact that the building of cathedrals in southern france was financed by rural lithes. The evolution of the feudal system brought with it social imbalance, accompanied by the rise of catharism, which however was limited to knights and to the urban elites. Neither popular nor national, it disappeared, largely due to the spiritual conquest carried out by the mendicant orders. The toulousan gothic style, of which albi cathedral is the finest example, constituted one of the ways of reacting against the heresy. The economic subordination of town to country, and the unstable and shrinking nature of the urban population from 1320 onwards, contributed to albi's association with the monarchie regime, the cultural models of which inspired the interior decoration of the cathedral.