BASTIDE DE GRENADE

The bastide was founded in 1290 by the Abbey of Grand Selve. The town-planning of Granada, in a checkerboard pattern, was thought out according to the daily life of its inhabitants: with its 13th century market hall, its parish church and its typical South-Western town planning.
Built in the 13th century, Granada is a bastide, that is to say a new town built according to a geometric plan with streets laid out in chalk lines. It is made up of mills (blocks of houses) divided into lots of identical size and the market hall occupies the central mill.
About 350 bastides were built in the 12th and 13th centuries in the south-west of France. At a time of strong population growth, the founders attracted new inhabitants by granting them rights and privileges. They also granted them a charter of customs which constituted written local law and which governed with great precision all aspects of daily life. These included the functioning of justice, the regulation of tolls, ovens, mills, markets and fairs.
For the creation of Granada, the two founders, Eustache de Beaumarchais, Seneschal of the King of France Philippe le Bel and Pierre Alfarici, abbot of the Grandselve abbey, signed a deed of trimming on September 4, 1290. The King of France wanted to strengthen the royal power at the limits of the English possessions (Guyenne). For its part, the abbey wanted to attract labour to exploit its lands. Finally, the two founders wished to develop markets and fairs and to make the trade bear fruit in order to generate income.