History History

Numerous skeletons and animal bones have been found in Montreal, forming the finest paleontological deposit in Europe. The first human traces date back to 38,000 BC.

Tool fragments dating from 3,000 B.C. to 700 B.C. attest to the sedentarization of humans in the region. Three peoples have been identified: the Ausques (Auch), the Élusates (Eauze) and the Lectorates (Lectoure).

Crassus added southwestern France to the Roman Empire, renamed Aquitaine Gaul by Augustus in 27 B.C.

Creation by the Romans of Novempopulania or "Land of the Nine Peoples", stretching from the left bank of the Garonne to the Pyrenees.

The Visigoths enter the service of Emperor Honorius. Their mission was to drive the barbarians out of Gaul and Spain.

Auréolé of success, King Wallia is gratified by the Novempopulanie.

Clovis defeated the Visigoths at Vouillé. Novempopulania comes under Frankish control.

Long years of civil war and brigandage enabled the Vascons from the southern slopes of the Pyrenees to seize control of Novempopulania.

Dagobert reconquered Vasconia, but his successors lost interest in the region, which gradually regained its autonomy.

Eudes of Aquitaine, King of Vasconia, defeats the Arabs at Toulouse. He kept them at bay until 731.

Charles Martel stops the Arab advance at Poitiers, with the help of Eudes of Aquitaine. The enemy retreated to Spain.

Pepin the Short divided Aquitaine into two duchies: the Duchy of Aquitaine between the Loire and Garonne rivers, and the Duchy of Vasconia between the Garonne and Pyrenees. The Vascons chose Eudes d'Aquitaine's son, Wolf II, as their duke.

Garcia Sanche le Courbé, Duke of Gascony died. He took care to divide his duchy into several stems, in order to honour his three sons. Sanche Garcie inherits the duchy. Guillaume Garcie is made Count of Fezensac and Armagnac and Arnaud Garcie, Count of Astarac.

Through succession, Eleanor of Aquitaine inherited Gascony, which she brought as a dowry to Henry II Plantagenet, King of England.

The Hundred Years War divided the lords of the Gascon fiefs. Western Gascony united with England while Eastern Gascony, federated around the counties of Armagnac and Bigorre, supported the Valois.

King Henry II issues repressive edicts against Protestants in France. Persecution of the "Reformed" began.

Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre and the King's aunt from Brittany, converted to Protestantism.

Blaise de Monluc, a gentleman recruited by the King's lieutenant, learns that 500 Béarnais sent by Jeanne d'Albret are marching on Lectoure. He takes the town on September 28.

The Peace of Amboise puts an end to the first War of Religion.

Jeanne d'Albret recruited the Count of Montgomery to reconquer her lost territories. He recaptured Béarn and Tarbes in a flash and devastated Gascony as he marched on Toulouse.

Henri III of Navarre converted to Catholicism to become King of France under the name Henri IV. The Wars of Religion come to an end, but Gascony is ravaged for years to come.

Royal letters patent order the division of France into 83 départements. The department of Gers took over the boundaries of Gascony.

Many Gersois joined Napoleon's armies. Some communes lost up to half their inhabitants.

Away from the fighting, the Gers was transformed into a field hospital: schools, colleges, convents, hotels and thermal baths were requisitioned.

After the bloodletting of the Great War, the Gers welcomed 15,000 Italians who came to work in the fields.

The Gers is chosen by the authorities to receive a large number of refugees from the Upper Rhine. Lectoure took in 925 Saint-Louis residents.

The first Gers resistance network was created in Auch.

The Germans invade the free zone. Resistance movements intensify in the Gers.

The maquis of Meilhan is decimated on denunciation. The Wehrmacht killed 76 maquisards in only two hours. There were only 16 survivors.

The Armagnac battalion completed the liberation of the Gers by winning the battle of l'Isle-Jourdain.