The first document relating to the city of Moulins dates to 1147, although Gallo-Roman remains—villas, fortified sites, and necropolises—have been found in several places along the Roman road from Lyon to Cherbourg. In the 12th century, it was a modest borough, taking its name from the mills situated along the banks of the Allier and the pond of Brechimbault (now the site of the Post Office and the Theatre). Archambaud VI of Bourbon-Dampierre granted Moulins communal privileges; between 1269 and 1290, the Hospital of St Julian was built. At that time, Moulins had two chapels dedicated to St Peter: the first stood where the Cathedral now stands, while the second, known as St-Pierre-de-Bourgogne, was erected in 1250. Duke Louis I of Bourbon began the construction of the castle around 1340, completed only in 1379 by Louis II. In 1788, Pope Pius VI established the Diocese of Moulins, with Monsignor De Gallois de la Tour as its first bishop, then residing in Moulins as vicar general of the Bishop of Autun; however, everything was suspended due to the Revolution. The see was re-established in 1817 and its first incumbent took office in 1822; it was formed by the division of the dioceses of Autun, Bourges, and Clermont-Ferrand. Organizer of the diocese was Monsignor A. de la Grange de Pons (1823–49); among his successors were Monsignor P. S. de Dreux-Brézé (1850–93) and E. Dubourg (1893–1906).
The diocese is a suffragan of Sens. The first stone of the Cathedral (Notre-Dame) was laid in 1468 by Duchess Agnes of Bourbon to replace the chapel of St Peter, which had become collegiate in 1386. The building consists of a Gothic choir surrounded by an ambulatory with a rectangular plan, similar to St-Germain-l’Auxerrois in Paris and St-Jean-de-Troyes. Around the mid-19th century, a triple nave with five bays and a façade framed by two tall towers were added. The choir’s stained glass, from the 16th century, depicts scenes from the life of St Catherine, the Crucifixion, the Virgin Mary, the Tree of Jesse, episodes from a crusade, the martyrdom of St Barnabas, the Annunciation, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, including portraits of the donors. A wooden statue of the Madonna and Child known as the *Vierge noire*, attributed to the 12th century, is venerated there (E. Mâle, *L’art religieux de la fin du moyen âge en France*, Paris 1931, p. 288). In the sacristy is preserved the triptych called *Le Maître de Moulins*, a panel from 1498 depicting the Assumption; on the sides, St Anne and St Peter present to the Virgin Duke Peter II, with his wife Anne de Beaujeu and their daughter Suzanne. On 27 October 1949, Pope Pius XII elevated the cathedral of Moulins to the rank and dignity of a minor basilica (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 548–49). The church of St-Pierre-des-Menestreaux was built between 1400 and 1450 on the site of the former library; the chapel of the Jacobins’ convent (1515–20) is now occupied by the church of the Sacred Heart (1844–70). The church of St Peter (1470–97) stands where the Carmelite church, destroyed in 1411, had been built in 1352. Its bell tower dates to the 19th century. The former Jesuit college, built in 1604 to a design by Fr Martellange, is now the Law Courts. At the Visitation Monastery in Moulins, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began; St Jane Frances de Chantal died there in 1641. Today it houses the Banville Lycée, and the chapel preserves the sumptuous tomb of the Duke of Montmorency (1648).
Within the diocese’s territory, at Souvigny (Sylviniacum), stands the Abbey of St Peter, founded by Abbot Berno in 916. His successors included St Majolus (d. 994) and St Odilo (d. 1049). The church begun by Odilo was consecrated in 1064 by Peter Damian. It was restored from 1424 to 1444, then passed into commendatory tenure. The church (measuring 83 x 38 m) contains the mausoleums of the Dukes of Bourbon. An octagonal column is surmounted by a capital with crude scenes relating to the privilege of minting coinage, obtained by the monks at the end of the 11th century. The abbey library, rich in illuminated manuscripts, was dispersed in 1790, part going to the city library of Moulins and part to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. However, the precious Bible of Souvigny is preserved in the Mantis Museum of Moulins, established in 1910 (L. Bréhier, *La Bible de Souvigny et la Bible de Clermont*, in *Bulletin de la Société d’émulation Bourbonnaise*, 1910, pp. 240–55). The monastery of St-Lieu-Sept-Fonds (Septem Fontes) near Bourbon-Lancy was founded by the Cistercians in 1132, suppressed in 1789, and restored by the Trappists in 1836; its abbey church was destroyed during the Revolution (Cotineau, II, cols. 1310–11). Among the shrines venerated are those of Notre-Dame at St-Germain-des-Fossés and St George at Bourbon-l’Archambault.