Montauban

Montauban, the capital of the French department of Tarn-et-Garonne, on the river Tarn, 31 miles N. of Toulouse. A well-built, handsome place, it has a modernised brick bridge (1335), 224 yards long; a fine cathedral (1739) in the Italian style; and a monument (1871) to Ingres, the painter, a native. Besides considerable woollen manufactures, it carries on a great trade in wine, grain, leather, &c. Montauban was founded in 1144 by Count Alphonse of Toulouse, became the seat of a bishop in 1317, embraced the Reformation in 1560, and acquired historical celebrity as the great stronghold of the Huguenots, being vainly besieged for three months by De Luynes for Louis XIII. in 1621. It suffered much in the Dragonnades; but nearly half the inhabitants still are Protestants, and maintain a theological college. Pop. (1872) 18,855; (1891) 22,616.