MONTPELIER, the capital city of Vermont, U.S.A., and the county seat of Washington county; 4o m. E.S.E. of Burling ton, on the Winooski river, Federal highway 2, and the Central Vermont and the Montpelier and Wells River railways. The population was 7,125 in 192o and 7,837 in 1930. It is in a region of great beauty, within 20 m. of many lakes and the finest scenery of the Green mts. The State house (first occupied in 1836, almost destroyed by fire in 1857, and subsequently rebuilt and enlarged) is of granite from the famous quarries at Barre, 6 m. S.E. The city has several factories and extensive interests in the granite industry of the region. The town of Montpelier (named after Montpellier, France) was granted to a company of 6o proprietors in 1780. Settlement began in 1787. In 1805 it was chosen to be the capital of the State, and in 1808 the legislature met here for the first time. It was chartered as a city in MONTPELLIER, a town of southern France, capital of the department of Herault, 31 m. S.W. of Nimes on the P.L.M. rail way and 7 m. from the Mediterranean at Cette. Pop. (1931) 72,518.
Montpellier rose into importance after Charles Martel de stroyed Maguelonne in 737. In the loth century its two portions, Montpellier and Montpellieret, were held from the bishops of Maguelonne by the family of Guilhem. The Guilhems were suc ceeded, through marriage, by the house of Aragon, a member of which in 1349 sold his rights to Philip of Valois, Montpellieret having already in 1292 been ceded to the Crown by the bishops. In i141 Montpellier acquired a charter afterwards materially ex tended, and the same century saw the rise of its school of medi cine. Several of the ablest teachers of that school were members of an important Jewish colony established in the town. Its school of law dates from ii6o, and its university was founded by Pope Nicholas IV. towards the close of the 13th century. Louis IX. granted to Montpellier the right of free trade with the whole of the kingdom. The bishopric of Maguelonne was transferred
thither in 1536. In the wars of religion the Protestants captured it in 1567 and it supported the duc de Rohan, only submitting after a long siege (1622). The town-walls, except the royal citadel then just built (1624), were razed (1628). Louis XIII. made Montpellier the seat of one of the generalites of Languedoc, and the States of that province met there during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Montpellier, the chief town of Languedoc, stands in a fruitful plain near the right bank of the small river Lez. Features of the town are a fine terrace with views of the Mediterranean, the Pyr enees and the Alps, and the famous Botanical garden, founded in 1593. The 14th century Gothic cathedral, once the church of a Benedictine monastery, suffered severely during the religious wars, and the choir has been rebuilt in 13th century style. The mon astery, after being converted into the bishop's palace, has since 1795 been occupied by the famous medical school. A gallery de voted to the portraits of professors since 1239 contains one of Rabelais. Close to the medical school is the Tour des Pins, the chief relic of the mediaeval fortifications. The Musee Fabre con tains good collections of paintings and sculptures. Montpellier possesses old houses of the 15th and 16th centuries. The Lez is canalized so as to connect Montpellier with the canal du Midi and with the sea at Palavas. The town has a considerable trade in wine, brandy and fruit. Candles, soap, chemicals, casks, choco late and liquorice are made. The town is the centre of an aca demie (educational division), of a bishop and a prefect, of courts of appeal and assizes, tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a board of trade arbitrators, and the headquarters of the XVI. army corps.