In 1222, Cordes received its charter from the Count of Toulouse to become a
"bastide". It is generally considered to be the first of the bastides
of Southwest France. (Some historians classify Montauban, built in the 12th
century, as a bastide.) Bastides were "new towns," originally
conceived to resettle and shelter people who had been displaced by the Albigensian
Crusade. They were also intended to colonize southwest France and encourage
agricultural and related market development. Though not fortified, bastides
were often built in defensible locations.
Cordes was built between 1222 and 1229 to protect the
