Editing Tours (section)

===Middle Ages===
In the 6th century, [[Gregory of Tours]], author of the ''Ten Books of History'', restored a cathedral destroyed by a fire in 561. Saint Martin's monastery benefited from its inception, at the very start of the 6th century from patronage and support from the Frankish king, [[Clovis I]], which increased considerably the influence of the saint, the abbey and the city in Gaul. In the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the [[Carolingian Renaissance]], in particular because of [[Alcuin]], of York in Northumbria, a renowned book collector and an abbot of [[Marmoutier Abbey (Tours)|Marmoutier Abbey]].

In 732, [[Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi]] and an army of Muslim horsemen from [[Al-Andalus]] advanced {{convert|500|km|-2|abbr=off}} deep into France, and were stopped at [[Vouneuil-sur-Vienne|Moussais-la-Bataille]]<ref>The Andalusian History, from the Islamic conquest till the fall of Granada 92–897 A.H. (711–1492 C.E.), by Professor [[:ar:عبد الرحمن علي الحجي|AbdurRahman Ali El-Hajji]], a professor of the Islamic history at Baghdad University, published in Dar Al-Qalam, in Damascus, and in Beirut. "Second Edition". p. 194</ref> (between [[Châtellerault]] and [[Poitiers]]) by [[Charles Martel]] and his infantry. This ignited the [[Battle of Tours]]. The Muslim army was defeated, preventing an Islamic conquest of France.

In 845, Tours repelled the first attack of the [[Viking]] chief [[Haesten]]. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the [[Seine]] and the Loire. Still led by Haesten, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked [[Angers]], Tours and Marmoutier Abbey.

During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres. The "City" in the east, successor of the late Roman '[[Gallo-Roman enclosure of Tours|castrum]]', was composed of the cathedral and palace of the archbishops as well as the castle of Tours. The castle of Tours acted as a seat of the authority of the Counts of Tours (later Counts of Anjou) and the King of France. In the west, the "new city" structured around the Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the city during the 10th century (an enclosure was built towards 918) and became "Châteauneuf". This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the economic centre of Tours. Between these two centres were Varennes, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the Abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire. The two centres were linked during the 14th century.
[[File:Tudor buildings in Tours, France.jpg|thumb|''Place Plumereau'', Medieval buildings]]

Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or [[Touraine]], a territory bitterly disputed between [[Blois|the counts of Blois]] and [[County of Anjou|Anjou]] – the latter were victorious in the 11th century. It was the capital of France at the time of Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of Montils (today the castle of Plessis-les-Tours, at the junction of the Loire and the Indre rivers). Tours and Touraine remained a permanent residence of the kings and court until the 16th century. The Renaissance gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles, joined to some extent under the generic name of the Châteaux of the Loire. It is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day.