The city of Montauban is situated on a terrace between the right bank of the Tarn and its two tributaries, the Tescou and the Lagarrigue. Its origins date back to the abbey of St. Theodard, founded c. 820 in the place called Montauriol; in 1144 Count Alfonso Jourdain of Toulouse established the bastide of Montauban, which absorbed the group of inhabitants that had grown up around the abbey. The city suffered greatly from the heresy of the Albigensians; Pope John XXII, with the bull *Salvator* of 25 June 1317, elevated the abbey to a diocese, separating it from the diocese of Toulouse, of which it became a suffragan. The basilica of St. Theodard was raised to the status of cathedral. In the 16th century the Calvinists made such progress there that in 1561 they prohibited Catholic worship, destroyed not only the cathedral but also other churches, and made Montauban the meeting place of the Reformed churches in France between 1578 and 1584. In 1621 a battle was fought there between the army of Louis XIII and the Protestant forces led by the Duke of Rohan, and it was not until 1629
MONTAUBAN, DIOCESI DI
