CASTRES, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Tarn, 29 m. S.S.E. of Albi. Pop. (1931) 21,862. The busiest town of its department, it has been a cloth-working centre since the 14th century. It lies on both banks of the Agout, which is fringed by old houses with projecting upper storeys.
Castres grew up round a Benedictine abbey, probably founded in the 7th century. It was a place of considerable importance as early as the 12th century, and ranked as the second town of the Albigenses. During the Albigensian crusade it surrendered to Simon de Montfort : in 1356 it was raised to a countship by King John of France, and was united to the crown by Francis I. in 1519. In the wars of the late 16th century the inhabitants sided with the Protestant party, fortified the town, and established an independent republic. They were brought to terms, however, by Louis XIII., and forced to dismantle their fortifications; and the town was made the seat of the chambre de l'edit, for the investi gation of the affairs of the Protestants, transferred (in 1679) to Castelnaudary. The bishopric of Castres, established by Pope John XXII. in 1317, was abolished at the Revolution. The church and former cathedral of St. Benoit dates only from the 17th and 18th centuries. The hotel de ville, which contains a museum with some fine paintings by Goya, occupies the former bishop's palace, designed by Jules Mansart in the 17th century; the Romanesque tower beside it is the only survival of the abbey. Of several old mansions the Renaissance hotel de Nayrac is the most interesting. Castres has a sub-prefecture, tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators and a chamber of com merce. Industries include, in addition to cloth-making, metal working, tanning, turnery and the making of wooden shoes and furniture.