Editing Aigues-Mortes (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Seventh crusade.jpg|thumb|[[Louis IX]] on a ship departing from Aigues-Mortes, for the [[Seventh Crusade]]]]
[[File:Aigues-Mortes et la Petite Camargue Gravure de Bellin 1764.jpg|thumb|Map of Aigues-Mortes and its access to the sea]]
[[Image:Plan.Aigues.Mortes.png|thumb|Aigues-Mortes Plan]]

In 791, [[Charlemagne]] erected the {{Interlanguage link|Matafère Tower|fr|Tour Matafère}} amid the swamps for the safety of fishermen and salt workers. Some argue that the signaling and transmission of news was not foreign to the building of this tower which was designed to give warning in case of arrival of a fleet, as for the {{Interlanguage link|Magne Tower|fr|Tour Magne}} at [[Nîmes]].

The purpose of this tower was part of the war plan and spiritual plan which Charlemagne granted at the [[Benedictine]] abbey, dedicated to ''Opus Dei'' (work of God) and whose incessant chanting, day and night, was to designate the convent as ''Psalmody'' or ''Psalmodi''. This monastery still existed in 812, as confirmed by an act of endowment made by the Badila from Nîmes at the abbey.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ot-aiguesmortes.fr/FR/VIIIsiecle.htm |title=''Aigues-mortes'', The salt of Life |access-date=2013-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721015352/http://www.ot-aiguesmortes.fr/FR/VIIIsiecle.htm |archive-date=2011-07-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

At that time, the people lived in reed huts and made their living from fishing, hunting, and salt production from several small salt marshes along the sea shore. The region was then under the rule of the monks from the [[Psalmody Abbey|Abbey of Psalmody]].

In 1240, [[Louis IX]], who wanted to get rid of the dependency on the [[Italian maritime republics]] for transporting troops to the [[Crusades]], focused on the strategic position of his kingdom. At that time, [[Marseille]] belonged to his brother [[Charles of Anjou]], King of Naples, [[Agde]] to the [[Count of Toulouse]], and [[Montpellier]] to the King of Aragon. Louis IX wanted direct access to the Mediterranean Sea. He obtained the town and the surrounding lands by exchange of properties with the monks of the abbey.<ref>Bothamley (1916) p.221</ref> Residents were exempt from the salt tax which was previously levied so that they could now take the salt unconstrained.<ref>Gérard Noiriel, ''op. cit''., p. 18</ref>

He built a road between the marshes and built the {{Interlanguage link|Carbonnière Tower|fr|Tour Carbonnière}} to serve as a watchtower and protect access to the city. Louis IX then built the {{Interlanguage link|Constance Tower|fr|Tour de Constance}} on the site of the old Matafère Tower, to house the garrison. In 1272, his son and successor, [[Philip III the Bold]], ordered the continuation of the construction of walls to encircle the small town completely. The work would not be completed for another 30 years.

This was the city from which Louis IX twice departed for the [[Seventh Crusade]] in 1248 and for the [[Eighth Crusade]] in 1270, where he died of [[dysentery]] at [[Tunis]].

The year 1270 has been established, mistakenly for many historians, as the last step of a process initiated at the end of the 11th century. The judgment is hasty because the transfer of crusaders or mercenaries from the harbour of Aigues-Mortes continued after this year. The order given in 1275 to Sir Guillaume de Roussillon by [[Philip III the Bold]] and [[Pope Gregory X]] after the [[Second Council of Lyon|Council of Lyons]] in 1274 to reinforce [[Saint-Jean d'Acre]] in the East shows that maritime activity continued for a ninth crusade which never took place.<ref>Order of Guillaume de Roussillon in 1275 - (Roger, La noblesse de France aux croisades, [Édition ? Date ?] p. 158; C. Rollat, ''The case of Guillaume de Roussillon in the Templar Tragedy of Pilat at Aigues Mortes) 1274–1312'' {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

There is a popular belief that the sea reached Aigues-Mortes in 1270. In fact, as confirmed by studies of the engineer Charles Leon Dombre, the whole of Aigues-Mortes, including the port itself, was in the Marette pond, the ''Canal-Viel'' and ''Grau Louis'', the Canal Viel being the access channel to the sea. The Grau-Louis was approximately at the modern location of [[La Grande-Motte]].

At the beginning of the 14th century, [[Philip IV of France|Philip the Fair]] used the fortified site to incarcerate the [[Templars]]. Between 8 and 11 November 1307, forty-five of them were put to the question, found guilty, and held prisoner in the ''Tower of Constance''.<ref>Michel Melot, ''Guide to the Mysterious Sea'', Éd. Tchou et Éditions Maritimes et d'Outre-Mer, Paris, 1970, p. 714. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>