Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges
commune in Haute-Garonne, France
Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ bɛʁtʁɑ̃ də kɔmɛ̃ʒ], literally Saint-Bertrand of Comminges; Gascon: Sent Bertran de Comenge) is a commune (municipality) and former episcopal see in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France ("The Most Beautiful Villages of France") association.
History
In 406, Saint Jerome wrote that the Roman General Pompey, while on the way back to Rome after a military campaign in Spain, founded a Roman colony there, presumably to defend the passage to the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees and the Iberian peninsula. However, extensive archaeological investigations have failed to find any evidence of this. The colony, built on the valley floor below the current hilltop village, was named Lugdunum Convenarum. This Roman town dates from the Augustan period and had reached around 30,000 people at its highest point. It belonged to the Roman province of Novempopulana and had a growing Christian community, which by the late fourth century got its own Diocese of Comminges, which was suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Eauze. It is claimed to have been the place of exile from 39 AD of Herod Antipas, with his wife Herodias, under Emperor Caligula's orders, although this is based on an unclear point in Josephus. In 405 the Vandals sacked the city and forced the peasantry to move to the citadel.
In 585 another Germanic invasion, by the Burgundians under king Guntram, attacked the city in the course of their pursuit of Gundoald.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges” is commune in Haute-Garonne, France. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, commune and Haute-Garonne, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “commune in Haute-Garonne, France” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q632081. VIAF identifies the subject as 138430118. The Library of Congress control number is n84200126. Authority coordinates are 43.028, 0.571. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges primary sources, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges archive and Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.