Pamiers

Pamiers grew in the Ariège valley beneath the Pyrenees, a town whose liberties were contested by the counts of Foix, its bishops, and the French crown. Its abbey of Saint-Antonin gave way to a bishopric created in 1295; one early bishop, Jacques Fournier, later became Pope Benedict XII.

The town's consuls claimed privileges set down in a charter of 1229, but their office was suppressed for much of the fourteenth century. During the Hundred Years' War, Pamiers raised a tax on bread, wine and meat to build defenses in 1356; customers coming to its markets and fairs also helped pay for the walls. The consulate was restored in 1391.

Religious division brought further upheaval in the sixteenth century. During the Wars of Religion, Protestant forces destroyed churches and repeatedly attacked the bishop's palace, leaving the town to rebuild its religious life amid the struggle for authority.