Historical development and transformation Before the present day town was founded, another town, Villelongue, with its mid 12th century Romanesque church, already existed on that spot, lying along the banks of the Baïse. A dependency of the seigneurs (feudal lords) of Montgaillard, Villelongue belonged to Viane de Gontaud, Vital de Gontaud’s daughter and Henry, Lord of Biron’s grand-daughter. She later married first Amanieu VI d’Albret, one of the greatest noblemen in Gascony, and then Elie de Castillon. Eventually both marriages were annulled by the church. On her own and childless, Viane donated all her rights to Montgaillard to her nephew Jourdain de l’Isle on 2nd April 1275. She died on 21st February 1281 in Condom at the Preaching Friars monastery where she had retired. Between those two dates, Edward I, King of England, and the Duke of Aquitaine, had just gained retrocession from Agenais by the king of France. On 10th August 1279, the appropriation took place with great pomp and ceremony in the town of Agen. At that time, Jourdain de l’Isle took an oath of allegiance to the King and Duke for his possessions in Agenais. Shortly afterwards, a « paréage » (co-founding of a town) was established between Jean de Grailly, the King of England’s representative, and Jourdain de l’Isle, who were the lords of the lands on which a project for foundation of a bastide was under consideration. This was to be called Vianna (= nova bastida seu villa vocata Vianna). Its boundaries were precisely defined, extending from the Baïse near the Villelongue church to the Montgaillard rocks on the one hand, and from Betz de Caseneuve’s lands to the English fiefs of Lavardac on the other. The contract was signed on 22nd November 1284. Vianne was involved in the great movement of the “bastides”, as fortified towns are called in the “Pays d’Oc”. One should more appropriately refer to the movement of populations that spread all over western Europe and ended up in the south-west of France where the history of the bastides started. Vianne must be considered an archetype of all European towns founded in the Middle Ages. The new medieval towns spread over a vast area, extending from Spain to Poland and passing through England, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Italy and France. Since the 11th century and for various reasons, an existing, fairly scattered built-up area had been re-organized on a new pattern. Owing to a considerable economic and demographic boom, regrouping of the populations led to simultaneous or successive establishment of «sauvetés», «bourgs ecclésiaux», «bourgs castraux», «castelnaux» and new towns. With regard to south-western France, the remarkable emergence of the new towns began with the 1229 Meaux-Paris treaty which put an end to the Albigenses war, thereby sanctioning the Count of Toulouse’s defeat and ensuring seizure of these eastern territories. Furthermore, it prepared the ground for future integration of everything that the French crown had power over, and a marriage was arranged between Louis IX’s brother, Alphonse de Poitiers and Jeanne Raymond VII’s only daughter, thereby uniting the royal family and the Raymond family. The authorization to rebuild houses for the innumerable victims of what had in fact been a real war, led to regrouping houses into towns or market-towns, which were to be called «bastides». The rapid growth of urban centres was to last from the end of the Albigenses war (a crusade against the Catharist schism) to the Hundred Years War which broke out in 1337. Vianne was part of a programme for developing the country, initiated on behalf of the King of England, and was in keeping with the positions of that time : English bastides face to face with French bastides. This was the same with Durance, Vianne and Villefranche-de-Queyran facing Damazan, Lavardac and Montreal, established earlier on by Alphonse de Poitiers. Meant to induce settlements and generate wealth through trade, these towns were built on a formal pattern with a central square, surrounded by mere ditches, in order to keep them as open towns. But later on, between 1323-1325, fortifications became necessary to protect the towns from the exactions and skirmishes which announced the French-English hostilities. So, originating as a market town with a plan stressing openness and accessibility beneficial to trade and exchanges, the bastide suffered from the hazards of the feudal system and had to shut itself up in order to protect the town dwellers from the disruptions of a war that was likely to last a long time.