Monpazier

Monpazier is a municipality with 511 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) in France in the Dordogne, in the Aquitaine region. Les plus beaux by the Association villages de France Monpazier was declared one of the most beautiful villages in France.

Geography

The municipality is located in the south of the Périgord, approximately 45 km from Bergerac. Monpazier is from the river Dropt, a right tributary of the Garonne, crosses.

History

Monpazier was originally an English bastide, founded in 1284 by Jean de Grailly, commander of the English king. Edward I extended so that the British defense line of Lalinde about Beaumont -du -Périgord further south. The city granted a Royal Charter was connected to the residents with numerous advantages, such as tax exemption and abolition manorial law.

The Hundred Years' War Monpazier was repeatedly fought fiercely and was occupied by British and French several times. In the time of the Reformation, which the inhabitants resisted fiercely, the Huguenots were able to temporarily occupy the city in 1574 under Geoffroy de Vivans. End of the 16th century was Monpazier finally one of the main venues of over decades protracted large peasant uprising in the Périgord. One of the main leader, Weber Buffarot, was captured by the Duke of Epernon 1637 and executed in the central square of Monpazier.

Cityscape

Monpazier was, as with all fortified towns usual, applied over a rectangle with strictly perpendicular extending streets around a central square around. The original city image has changed little over the centuries. The houses around the square are connected to each other by similar basements with arcades which open onto the square. The buildings from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque form a leading around the square portico in this way.

In the square there is a fountain and the hewn chestnut logs Market Hall from the 16th century. As with the usual fortified towns, the church is very near, at the northeast corner of the square. It dates back to the founding of the city, but frequently was damaged and restored several times and rebuilt.