At the request of the cultural association “Of Mice and Books”, the Lot historian Patrice Foissac will present a conference entitled “Cities and urban life in the Middle Ages in Quercy” on Saturday January 25, 2025 at 4 p.m. in the Prayssac association hall (behind the village hall); FREE ENTRANCE.
The speaker, originally from Prayssac, associate professor of history, retired after a career in a college in Cahors, is a recognized medievalist; doctor in history, regularly publishing articles in the journal “Etudes du Lot” (which he chaired for a time), he has already fascinated the participants in the association's conferences on several occasions. After having planned a different subject, “The presence of the English in the Middle Ages in the lower Lot valley”, he had to change his mind, not having been able to consult for the moment the Toulouse archives relating to this period. He gives us some thoughts on the theme he is going to address: “Quercy has been and remained a rural province, but the urban phenomenon has not been completely foreign to it. However, in the absence of demographic data, what is a city in the Middle Ages? City, town, town, castrum: we must first try to better understand it through a vocabulary which does not make things easier. Isn't the definition ultimately political? ?
A community which organizes and administers itself with its own laws, constitutions and activities.” A whole reflection which could be the subject of a comparison with the current situation; we know the adage: ” You have to know the past to understand the present and build the future.” Who can better than a local child talk (with the support of numerous visuals) about city life in the medieval era? A debate will conclude the session and will not be reserved only for fans of the history of our ancestors.
