Marmande

Marmande stands in the Garonne valley, where a fortified town grew around a castle. Richard the Lionheart granted its inhabitants a charter of liberties in 1182, and river tolls helped sustain its growth. The town was besieged and taken during the Albigensian Crusade in 1219. Centuries later its walls again faced war: Henri of Navarre's Protestant forces besieged Marmande in 1576 and 1577, but the town refused to open its gates.