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Montréal (Municipality, Gers, France)

Presentation of Montréal
Banner of Montréal

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Presentation of Montréal

Monréal (1,180 inhabitants in 2021; 6,305 ha), sometimes called Montréal-du-Gers, formerly called Montreal-en-Condomoisis is a commune in the Gers department.

The village is a typical 13th century bastide, built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Auzoue river, on the site of a Celtiberian oppidum. It is one of the first bastides in Gascony and the first in the Gers. It was founded on March 30, 1255 by Alphonse de Poitiers, brother of Saint-Louis, who became master of the county of Toulouse and the county of Agenais by his marriage in 1229 to Jeanne, daughter of Raymond VII. One of his officers, Guillaume de Balneolis, seneschal for the Agenais, came himself to choose the location of the bastide in the spring of 1255 and baptized it Montreal (Mont Royal) in honor of the Capetian dynasty whose authority gradually established itself in Gascony. It was a notary from Agen, Pons Maynard, who was responsible for drawing up the plan and writing down the customs. Montreal, first attached to the county of Toulouse, passed into the domain of the crown under King Philippe III with the rest of Languedoc. Located "on the border", Montréal had to suffer for two hundred years from Franco-English rivalries. In 1279 it was united to the crown of England with several other cities of the duchy of Guyenne. In 1324 Montréal returned to France, then again to England in 1360. During the long years of the Hundred Years War, Montréal was torn and often moved from one camp to another.

Charles IX visited Montréal on July 26, 1565 and received the honors of a solemn entry. During the Wars of Religion, Montgomery, a Protestant leader, burned down Montréal after 1565 under the orders of Jeanne d'Albret. Today, there are remnants of the fortifications, destroyed during the Revolution.

Ivan Sache, 25 November 2012

Banner of Montréal

Banner of Montréal - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 8 July 2022

The coat of arms of Montréal is blazoned: Azure a mount Or sumounted by a crown of the same.
The arms are featured in the Armorial Général [source]. The arms read as a rebus of the town's name, lit. "royal mount".

No flag observed but vertical swallowtailed banners in the colours of the arms (B/Y) can be spotted in the village: photo (2019), photo.

Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 8 July 2022