Les forts villageois du bas Moyen Âge dans le Midi aquitain et méditerranéen : recherches en cours

Abstract

The issue of fortified redoubts or village forts, specific to the late Middle Ages and introduced during the Hundred Years War, has never yet enjoyed a genuine overview on the scale of the region south of Toulouse, nor at the scale of more restricted areas within this region. However, these confined areas intended for sheltering goods and people as well as providing community defence – to which should be added certain fortified churches – were identified in historiography from the 19th century onwards, but they were not considered as a subject for specific study. To attempt to evaluate the magnitude, distribution, development and actual historical significance of these collective fortified works, a line of research intends to clarify the criteria of identification and the original characters of the village forts, the last form of concentration in rural housing in the medieval centuries.