1-Prehistory

The first remnants of life around Mazamet were traced back to the Paleolithic ages (20.000 B.C). Many remnants were found in the caves around.

Later (5.000 to 2.500 B.C), the Neolithic men, cultivators and stock breeders replaced the hunters-gatherers. At the same time in Egypt, the Pharaohs were having the pyramids built...

Men from the copper age left many megalithic monuments such as dolmens, 

2-The Barbarian Invasions

Then came the great Celtic invasions with the Volques, who celebrated the dead, brought pottery, and the work of metal. With the Ruthènes, they were the origins of the Gallo-Romans who lived in the region right after Vercingetorix's defeat in 52 BC. The only remnants one can still see today, are a few forges in the mountain, and a Roman way joining Mazamet to Hautpoul (The walk from Mazamet to Hautpoul, is about 1.30h long, and goes across a part of the mountain. All along the path, one can see the paving stones left by the Romans. Hautpoul is built on a granite crest which dominates all the valley), which was probably used to carry salt and tin. This quietness was disturbed by the arrival of the Visigoths, founders of the village of Hautpoul in 413 AD, under the reign of king Athaulf the 1^st.

One can still see today the remnants of their stay in the walls of the castle in Hautpoul, with a special fitting of the stones, called "fish-bones":

Hautpoul (details)

N.B: Those fittings may also be found in the most ancient part of the Medieval City of Carcassonne, which was occupied by the Visigoths too, and located on the other side of the Black Mountain, in the Languedocian plain

3-The Francs and the Middle Ages

Under the reign of Clovis, the Francs chased out the Visigoths to Spain, and settled in the walls of "Alt Pull" which became "Hautpoul"...

Until the middle-ages, the "Hautpoulois" (around Hautpoul) remained like that. In 1212, Izarn of Hautpoul, was seduced by the doctrine taught by those pairs of men wandering through the country from castle to village, and living out of begging: Catharism.

After the Albigensians' crusade, their castle destroyed, the inhabitants of Hautpoul went down in the valley along the shores of the Arnette river, and founded Mazamet...

And there comes the legend...

"Once upon a time, a Lady lived in this country. Nobody knew whether she was a fairy or a princess. She knew how to talk to the birds, and was very beautiful. Every day, she combed her beautiful golden hair with a golden comb, gazing at herself in the clear water of the stream. One day, she bent down too much, and the golden comb fell into the stream with a tuft of golden hair. The Lady screamed, buried her face in her hands, and cried a long time. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the water of the Arnette was shining with thousands of golden stars, and that houses had risen along its shores. Then her tears dried, for she was deeply happy to see such a beautiful landscape..."

4-The 16th century and the Religious wars

There are many origins to the name "Mazamet", and they have drawn many polemics. Therefore, I won't discuss those details. I'm going to explain now what became Mazamet after its creation...

Mazamet did not become a real city before 1509. The inhabitants of the region who had a tough and rebellious nature, and who were far from any central power, were again seduced by the spirit of opposition and tolerance of the Protestant reform. It actually reminded them the vivid memory of Catharism. Once again, the region was torn apart by the bloody Religion Wars. Under the reign of Henri the 4^th, it calmed down a little, but the massacres started again under the reign of Louis the 13^th, and Mazamet was destroyed in 1628 by the armies of prince of Condé. It raised back from its ashes though, but it did not know any real peace before the end of the 17^th century. It was then that the influence of the Protestant mentality started to change Mazamet. The revocation of the edict of Nantes had forbidden all the leading citizens of Mazamet to be notary, lawyer,... they became then traders. At the beginning of the 18^th century, Mazamet was therefore producing much textile. At the end of the French Revolution, the Protestant citizens of Mazamet were citizens like others, despite their religion.

5-From the 19th Century to nowadays

Two men were going to mark the economical recovery of Mazamet: Pierre-Elie Houlés, a cloth manufacturer, and Maréchal Soult, President of the Council in 1832, and who was born not far from Mazamet. At the head of his ministry, he decided to ask the industrialists of Castres and Mazamet, to manufacture the army clothes. Thanks to the dynamism and the cleverness of Pierre-Elie Houlés, the manufacturers of Mazamet obtained the market, and increased the textile activity, which had also an effect on the international side, with the world-wide trading posts...

A few months before his death, Pierre-Elie Houlés ordered two "balls" of "woollen-skins" from Argentina. It was the beginning of the biggest adventure of Mazamet: the birth of Fellmongery. This activity never stopped improving, pulling along another industry:" Mégisserie".

Till the 1970's, they built up Mazamet's wealth, but this is another story...

Thanks to the late Michel Bourguignon, Mayor of Mazamet until December 2002,
and whose book inspired those lines.