Editing Montpellier (section)

===Medieval period===
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[[File:Tour de la Babote Montpellier.JPG|thumb|left|Tour de la Babote]]In the [[Early Middle Ages]], the nearby episcopal town of Maguelone was the major settlement in the area but raids by [[piracy|pirates]] encouraged settlement a little farther inland. In 737 [[Charles Martel]] destroyed [[Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone#History|Maguelone]].<ref name="EBMontpellier">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Montpellier |volume=18 |page=789 |short=1}}</ref>

Montpellier, first mentioned in a document of 985, was founded under a local [[Feudalism|feudal]] dynasty, the Guilhem, who combined two hamlets and built a castle and walls around the united settlement. The name is from medieval Latin ''mons pisleri'', "Woad Mountain" referring to the [[Isatis tinctoria|woad]] (Latin ''pastellus'', ''pestellus'') used for dyeing locally. There is no real "mountain" in the area, with the ''mons'' referring to a pile of stones.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVRuDwAAQBAJ&q=%22mons+pislerius%22&pg=PT1172|title=The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names|first=John|last=Everett-Heath|date=13 September 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192562432|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 986 the [[Lords of Montpellier]] begin with [[William I of Montpellier]]. In the 10th century the town consisted of two portions, Montpellier and Montpelliéret.<ref name="EBMontpellier" /> In 1160 the law school was active.<ref name="EBMontpellier" />
[[File:Château d'eau du Peyrou, Montpellier 06.jpg|left|thumb|Peyrou water tower|200x200px]]
The two surviving towers of the city walls, the ''Tour des Pins'' and the ''Tour de la Babotte'', were built later, around the year 1200. Montpellier came to prominence in the 12th century—as a trading centre, with trading links across the Mediterranean world, and a rich Jewish cultural life that flourished within traditions of tolerance of [[Muslims]], Jews and [[Cathar]]s—and later of its Protestants. [[William VIII of Montpellier]] gave freedom for all to teach medicine in Montpellier in 1180. The city's faculties of law and medicine were established in 1220 by Cardinal [[Conrad of Urach]], legate of [[Pope Honorius III]]; the medical faculty has, over the centuries, been one of the major centres for the teaching of medicine in Europe. This era marked the high point of Montpellier's prominence. The city became a possession of the [[Kings of Aragon]] in 1204 by the marriage of [[Peter II of Aragon]] with [[Marie of Montpellier]], who was given the city and its dependencies as part of her [[dowry]].

Montpellier gained a charter in 1204 when Peter and Marie confirmed the city's traditional freedoms and granted the city the right to choose twelve governing consuls annually. Under the Kings of Aragon, Montpellier became a very important city, a major economic centre and the primary centre for the spice trade in the Kingdom of France. It was the second or third most important city of France at that time, with some 40,000 inhabitants before the [[Black Death]]. Montpellier remained a possession of the crown of Aragon until it passed to [[James III of Majorca]], who sold the city to the French king [[Philip VI of France|Philip VI]] in 1349, to raise funds for his ongoing struggle with [[Peter IV of Aragon]].

From the middle of the 14th century until the French Revolution (1789), Montpellier was part of the [[Languedoc|province of Languedoc]].