Caylus

Caylus is a real crossroads which largely explains the ancient existence of the city (prehistoric habitat, Gallic and Roman remains) and the significant development it experienced in the Middle Ages.
Some important dates:

Presence of prehistoric man.
Around 50 BC, first traces of Gallic agglomeration.
Around 1150, a castle stands at the top of the rocky peak with a first habitat around it.
1165, the primitive church of St Michel is cited to the northeast of the castrum.
1176, the city of Caylus is ceded to the Count of Toulouse.
1211, the suburb was burned during the crusade against the Albigenses.
1226, reconstruction in the moat of the castle.
1257, Caylus becomes the first castellany of Quercy administering 56 parishes.
1262, the charter of customs grants a certain freedom.
1271, the "Occitan" village passes into the royal domain.
1342, reconstruction of the Saint Jean Baptiste church.
1347, construction of a 2nd enclosure at the beginning of the 100 years war.
1362, Caylus becomes English.
1369, the English leave Caylus which sees its privileges confirmed.
1484, plague epidemic.
1562, pillage and massacre by the Calvinists.
1574, lead from the roof of the church is used to make bullets (against Protestants)
1622, Louis XIII stops at Caylus before besieging St Antonin.
1739, the bell tower of the parish church was rebuilt in stone.
1778, the rural parishes threaten to secede in the face of the development of the town.
1779, with its 1400 inhabitants, the town built a new town hall.
1790, the commune of Caylus becomes the capital of the canton with its 4800 inhabitants in the Lot.
1808, creation of Tarn-et-Garonne: Caylus "leaves" the Lot.
1905, the hall, built in 1505, was moved and enlarged to the west of the square.
1913, a train reaches Caussade at Caylus (for 19 years).
1954, the sculpture of Christ by Zadkine is installed in the church.
1967, creation of Lake Labarthe.
2000.1475 inhabitants live in Caylus between Rouergue and Quercy.
In 1257, Caylus became the first castellany of Quercy.
In 1562, during the wars of religion, the Calvinist troops of Dumas put Caylus to fire and sword. Half a century later, in 1622, Louis XIII established his headquarters there to organize the siege of Saint-Antonin.
The castle of Caylus appears for the first time in history in the 12th century. It was given in full ownership and right of alleu on April 1, 1176 by Armand and Bertrand de Montpezat and by Bertrand de Villemur their brother-in-law to Raymond V count of Toulouse in exchange for the towns of Montpezat and Montclar, which the count gave them yawned in fief.
Count Raymond VI then bequeathed it with the Château de Bruniquel to his natural son Bertrand in his will of September 20, 1209. dates from December 1224, count Raymond VII his brother, gave him Bruniquel, Montclar and Salvagnac but there was no question of the castle of Caylus.
In fact, Jeanne de Toulouse took it in from her father's estate and bequeathed it to Sicard d'Alarman, with a view to her marriage to Gailharde, daughter of Bertrand, Viscount of Bruniquel, by will of June 23, 1270, that Philippe the Bold considered as void by putting himself in possession of all the countries having belonged to Raymond VII and his daughter, and which was canceled in l274 by the Parliament of Paris, to the detriment of Philippe de Lomagne his heir.
From then on Caylus was part of the domain of the crown and King Philippe le Bel in his letters declared that he would never be removed from it. However for some time particular lords possessed rights over the jurisdiction, and seigniorial fiefs in the castle itself of Caylus. Thus Raymond and Pons Athon, sons of the late Pons Athon knight, recognized in May 1259 to Alphonse, count of Poitiers and Toulouse several of these fiefs and half of Bournac, Guillaume Athon said of Bournac of the same family is qualified co-lord de Caylus in a deed of transfer granted on August 5, 1393 before Armand de Trilha, notary, by Marquis de Bérail lord of Paulhac to Jean de Narcés rector of St-Martin d'Espiémont.
Geoffroy de Pons was deprived of all the rights he had over the jurisdiction of Caylus and in particular the ownership of sinister forks by virtue of a judgment rendered in April 1309 by the Parliament of Paris, for having given asylum in the castle called Caylus to two banished from the King. Following a dispute that had existed for a long time between the consuls of Caylus and the royal bailly because this town had been the capital of a bailiwick since 1256, the king's commissioners, responsible for reforming the domain in Quercy, returned on 8 March 1327 a decree in which the rights that the consuls and the inhabitants would have in the future were determined. It results from this stop to which one gave the title of "Privileges of Caylus" that the inhabitants were very few and that they had neither the resources nor all the industry that they had later.
Following the cession of Quercy made by King Jean II on May 8, 1360 to England (Treaty of Brétigny) Jean Chaudes, lieutenant general of Edward III, took possession on January 26, 1362 of the town of Caylus which was handed over by Giraud de Joly, Commissioner of the King of France and by the consuls Raimond Petit, Jehan del Perier and Peire de Meilho, but this town shook off the yoke of the English in 1369 and since then has always remained French.
Nevertheless, King Louis XI, forgetting his fidelity, openly violated the commitment which had been made in 1303 by Philippe le Bel, in 1342 by Philippe de Valois, in 1307 by Charles V, in 1403 by Charles VI and in 1442 by Charles VII never to separate Caylus from the crown by granting all the seigniorial rights he possessed there in 1479 to Bailly d'Orban and in 1481 to Pierre de Joigne, Sire de Blasimont, his chamberlain, but after having received strong protests from the inhabitants he revoked in the same year the cession made to the latter and the consuls returned to full possession of their privileges which gave them very great freedoms since they had civil and criminal justice including even the right to impose the death penalty.
However, François I having taken over the primitive rights of the crown and had the justice and the chatellery put up for sale, the consuls bought them back in 1537 for 225 pounds and they once again exercised the functions of royal bailiff of the chatellerie until that King Henry II had them awarded in 1552 by Pierre de Bertrand, abbot of Grandselve and Pierre Martres, lieutenant general in the seneschalsy of Quercy, his commissioners in favor of Brenguier de Masa lord of Saillacet de Gélibert de Cajarc lord of Gailhagues. The inhabitants redeemed themselves again before 1597, when a new sale took place followed by redemption by the consuls, but this time for the sum of 1000 crowns. The alienations of the domain of the king thus succeeded during the following reigns at more or less close periods. It was a roundabout way of taxing the communities or royal towns which always preferred to impose the heaviest sacrifices or inconveniences on themselves to sometimes suffer the sometimes exorbitant demands of a particular lord. However, the parliament of Toulouse, by a judgment of February 20, 1610, decided that justice would be exercised and returned to the inhabitants of the city and jurisdiction of Caylus, namely ez-civil cases by the ordinary judge of Quercy and Montauban and ez- criminal causes, both by the said judge and by the consuls, by prevention. This decision, which affected the inhabitants of Caylus in the most important prerogative of their consuls, was definitively consecrated by an edict of King Louis XIII dated November 1620. They bought it is true on January 5, 1640 the high, medium and low justice of their city and the place of Espinas for 3360 pounds, but they were obliged to restore it on August 21, 1670 to the royal domain in return for the reimbursement of a sum of 2400 pounds.
Even more, the king, in spite of their urgent complaints, alienated around 1720 part of his direct in favor of Joseph, Antoine de Gauléjac and restored in August 1723 the office of governor of the city with which the same lord was provided in 1724. From then on nothing remained of the old freedoms of Caylus. The first castle of Quercy where the states of the province met at periodic times when the seneschal of Montauban had been transferred in 1587 and in 1628 lost the importance it had had for nearly three centuries and fell back into primitive mediocrity..
Caylus who in the 13th century had not allowed herself to be seduced by the doctrines of the Albigensians later showed herself no less opposed to those of Calvin. Protestantism was introduced there however and was preached there publicly on February 19, 1562 by the minister Etienne Noailhan but it did not take deep roots there. On the contrary, the inhabitants defended the Catholic cause until the end of the religious wars (1629) with an ardor that never wavered. There was notably during this time, between them and the Calvinist population of St-Antonin a fierce struggle that political treaties or plowing will not always succeed in interrupting and which in the first wars continued for another four years after the entry of Henry IV in Paris.

To discover: the medieval streets; the Maison aux Loups (14th century - listed as a Historic Monument); the church of Saint John the Baptist (13th and 14th century - listed as a historic monument) with its old stained glass windows and the monumental Christ of Ossip Zadkine; the Chantepleures fountain (13th century); the "modern" castle (18th century); the Gauléjac pavilion (15th century); the old royal castle (12th century); the hall with its grain measures (16th century - listed as a Historic Monument).
Also to discover: the Maison du Patrimoine, an open-visit ecomuseum, and the Permanent Center for Environmental Initiative offering country walks; the sensitive natural site of Labarthe with the lake reserved for fishing and the woods of Labarthe.
In Saint-Pierre-de-Livron (2 km): the Sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Livron, place of pilgrimage.
Supervised paddling pool for children near the lake (open in July and August).

Information points	Tourist Office of Caylus
Monuments	Church Saint-Jean-Baptiste House of the Loups
Natural sites	Lake of Labarthe

"Pentecost at Caylus", every year during the Pentecost weekend: garage sale, gourmet market, entertainment for children, concerts, balls...
Potters' Market on August 15 of each year.
Christmas market on the 2nd Sunday of December.
Guided and commented tours of the medieval village of Caylus, all summer by reservation and all year round for groups on request (Tourist Office).
Nocturnal guided tours, by torchlight with entertainment in July and August.
Gourmet markets.

On the canton:

In Lacapelle-Livron (5 km): the Notre-Dame des Grâces chapel (15th century), the former Commandery of the Templars and the Templar church, the miniature market.
In Saint-Projet: the castle of Reine Margot (visit from July 1 to November 20).

On Caylus and surroundings: 17 short hiking trails will make you discover the small built heritage (gariottes, bread ovens, washhouses, dovecotes) - Country walks - GR de Pays.

Tourism, holidays & weekends guide in the Tarn-et-Garonne

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Caylus

Caylus

Tourism, holidays & weekends guide in the Tarn-et-Garonne

Additional informationCaylus

Things to see and do

Places of interest

Events and festivities

Photos

Visits, leisure and activities nearby

Restaurants

Bed & breakfasts

Vacation rentals

Campsites

Hotels

Related articlesCaylus

Additional information
Caylus

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Caylus