Did you know ? Toulouse caught fire in 1463
With the floods of the capricious Garonne, fire is one of the great evils ofhistory of toulouse. Rare are those who have not had the echo of the terrible fire that ravaged Toulouse in May 1463. For good reason, the flames destroyed three quarters of the city, making it the biggest conflagration the city has ever known. The Independent Opinion looks back at the history of great fire of toulouse.
The origin of the great fire of Toulouse
The event occurred at dawn on May 7, 1463. The hearth of the fire started from a bakery located on rue Sesquières, now rue Maletache, in the Carmes district in the heart of the city. It would have been improved by a badly off four. The flames, fanned by the illustrious Toulouse autan wind, qualified like wildfire. The districts of Pont-Vieux, Daurade, Cordeliers, Bazacle, Pierre, Dalbade and Saint-Barthélemy, the commercial heart of the city, went up in smoke.
Indeed, the buildings were constructed of mud and timber, making them perfect combustibles. To make matters worse, the narrow and steep streets that are the charm of Toulouse, participated in the spread of the fire. Toulouse a pendant burned twelve to 15 days. Having destroyed a vast area of 800 m by 600 m, the flames ravaged no less than 7,064 houses, among many notable buildings, such as the Town Hall, the Church of the Daurade or the Augustinian spire. This disaster is one of the worst disasters of the French Middle Ages.
>> READ ALSO: Did you know? Discover the history of the Jacobins convent
What became of the perpetrators of the 1643 fire?
After such carnage, a legitimate question arises: what happened to the baker on rue Maletache? According to the work of Jules Chalande “The story of the streets of Toulouse”, the Catalans, inhabitants in the suburbs of the city, were singled out as being the authors of the fire. The people wanted to persecute them but a large number were locked up by the appeal judge to prevent a riot. They only relaxed when calm returned and the real culprit was judged.
The baker of the rue Maletache, as well as his wife, were condemned to hang on the place du Salin. A few hours before their execution, King Louis XI, who, passing through Toulouse, saw from his window the preparations for the execution, decided to pardon the unfortunates. According to the historian N. Bertrandy, the couple moved, in the days that followed, from the fright they had had.
>> READ ALSO: Who is this Toulousain, who “set fire” to the Stadium?
Toulouse rises from its ashes
It is perhaps because (or thanks) to this terrible event that the Pink City owes its charm. Indeed, after some recovery time, Toulouse rises from its ashes and learn from this terrible time. To avoid a new fire of this magnitude, the city promotes the use of brick to build its homes and monuments. This famous material which today makes Toulouse the Pink City. On May 28, 1463, King Louis XI, to relieve the misery of the city, granted him a hundred-year exemption from size.
Thus, it is estimated that in 1478, 11.4% of the city was still unrebuilt. Finally, subsidies and size exemptions were suspended by King Charles VIII in 1485, who considered that the city was very well and sufficiently rebuilt and repopulated.
Toulouse in flames
If it was the most devastating, this fire was not the last that the pink city suffered. In 1523, a fire, starting from rue Serminière, formerly rue Saint Rome, devoured 80 houses in its path. 16 years later, in 1539, about thirty houses perished in that of the rue des Filatiers. Not far from there, in Rue des Tourneurs, 200 houses went up in smoke in 1550. In 1672, the Saint-Michel district fell victim to a terrible fire. The toll was heavy, with 300 houses destroyed.
It is said that it was The Black Madonna, protector of the evils of the city, who saved the city from the flames. This would have come out of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Daurade basilica before parading through the streets to overcome the blaze. After each great fire, the Capitouls publish ordinances to prevent a new massacre. For example, after the great fire of toulouse, in 1476, they decided to place watchmen on the three largest bell towers of the city in order to sound the tocsins in the event of an alarm. Thus was born, in Toulouse, the ancestor of the fire siren.
>> READ ALSO: Haute couture collection, symbol of maternity… Discover the secrets of the Black Madonna of the Sea Bream