Gaillac - Le Manège Gaillacois

The town's origins date back to the 10th century when the Benedictine Abbey of St Michel was founded on the banks of the Tarn. Located on the Way of St. James, the abbey existed until the French Revolution.


The city itself benefited from its favorable location: the trade route from the Rouergue to Toulouse crossed the navigable Tarn here, which in turn formed the most important trade route to Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast. Viticulture and the cultivation of woad also contributed to the prosperity of Gaillac.


The Hundred Years' War and then the Black Death epidemic ruined Gaillac: it lost half its population and the wine trade ceased. These disasters were not the last, however, because between 1562 and 1572 , during the Wars of Religion , the city saw repeated fighting between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics were chased out of the town by Protestants. After their return and the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre on 24 August 1572, in Paris, the Catholic Gaillacois massacred 74 out of the 90 Huguenots in the town.

Gaillac is mainly known for its wine "Gaillac AOC". The region makes claims to be among the earliest viticultural centers of ancient Gaul, though possibly after those of Languedoc around Narbonne. Roman merchants transported wine to Bordeaux and Northern Europe down the Tarn.

A church dedicated to Saint-Pierre already existed in 972, when the Bishop of Albi donated it to the new Abbey of Saint-Michel de Gaillac. It then returned fairly quickly to the dependency of the bishops of Albi. In 1185 Bishop Guillaume V de Pierre donated to the commandant of the hospital. The residents of Gaillac took care of the equipment of the hospital.

Le Manège Gaillacois