Castres

Castres lies in the old province of Languedoc in southern France, east of Toulouse and near the wooded foothills of the Massif Central. The Agout and Durenque rivers cross this inland site, providing power and water while leaving the town somewhat removed from the main east-west corridors. Its name comes from Latin castrum, “fortified place”. The settlement grew around the Benedictine abbey of Saint Benoît, believed founded in AD 647, perhaps on the site of an older Roman fort.

By about 1560, most of the population had converted to Protestantism. During the later religious wars, residents fortified Castres, supported the Protestant party and established an independent republic. It became one of southern France’s largest Protestant strongholds, alongside Montauban and La Rochelle. Henry of Navarre stayed there in 1585. Louis XIII brought the town to terms in 1629, and Richelieu personally came to have its fortifications dismantled.

Peace allowed commercial recovery, especially in wool, tanning and fur. Mechanized textile mills arrived in the nineteenth century, the first wool mill being set up in 1815. Castres was the largest town in the Tarn department, and Albi later surpassed it. The riverside town’s history therefore moves from abbey and religious conflict to manufacturing and rivalry within Languedoc.