City Culture
The region of Montpellier, as all the shore of the Mediterranean Sea between the Alps and Pyrenees, is a very ancient soil of population and passage. On the old prehistoric depths, Phoenicians, Greeks, Iberians, Ligures and Celts left a more or less important mark. Rome will be the last melting pot of these multiple influences. From 123 BC, Languedoc becomes Roman colony. Leading player of the conquest, consul Domitius marks the country by creating the road which bears its name, La Voie Domitienne. Up to now, it's still this east-west axis uniting Italy to Spain which structures the exchanges and the life of the region.
Montpellier see the light in 985, in the South of this old route and in the North of the Route du Sel. A strategic situation because the future city settles down on the Cami roumieu or Chemin romain which passes between both roads. The count of Melgueil (Mauguio) gives to Guilhem, a Lord appointed in the average valley of the Hérault in front of viscount of Béziers, a manse ( agricultural domain) onto Mons Pestelarium. The text of donation even makes us the name of the serf known which exploits(runs) him(it): Amalbert. On the other hand, the etymology of the place remains mysterious. Number of hypotheses was moved forward - including one poetics, but improbable Mount of the girls-. Montpellier, on this point, keeps its mystery, even if the most serious hypothesis evokes the strategic position of the hill : The mount of the bolt. The development of the domain goes hand in hand with that of the house of Guilhem. From the first part of the XIth century, the latter becomes more powerful than that of the counts of Melgueil. Flattering alliances illustrate this increase in importance of the Lord of Montpellier: Guilhem VII marries in 1156 a descendant of Hugo Capet, Mathilde de Bourgogne and Guilhem VIII, in 1174, gets married to Eudoxie, niece of the Emperor of Byzance.
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