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The Comminges is an ancient region of southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees
Pyrenees

The Pyrenees are a mountain range in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. They separate the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extend for about from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea ....
, corresponding closely to the arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens
Arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens

The arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, in the Midi-Pyr?n?es Regions of France....
 in the department of Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne

Haute-Garonne is a departments of France in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse....
. The region is normally associated with the former domain of the Counts of Comminges, although an alternate definition is based on the ancient diocese of Comminges
Ancient Diocese of Comminges

The former French Catholic diocese of Comminges existed at least from the sixth century, to the French Revolution. Its see was at Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, now no more than a village, in the modern department of Haute-Garonne in south-west France....
 which appeared to include more of what is now Spanish territory.

The earliest record is from Sidonius Apollinaris
Sidonius Apollinaris

Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris , a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius was "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg....
 who wrote of the persecution suffered by the bishops of Comminges at the hands of the Arian Goths in the 5th century.






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The Comminges is an ancient region of southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees
Pyrenees

The Pyrenees are a mountain range in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. They separate the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extend for about from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea ....
, corresponding closely to the arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens
Arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens

The arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, in the Midi-Pyr?n?es Regions of France....
 in the department of Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne

Haute-Garonne is a departments of France in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse....
. The region is normally associated with the former domain of the Counts of Comminges, although an alternate definition is based on the ancient diocese of Comminges
Ancient Diocese of Comminges

The former French Catholic diocese of Comminges existed at least from the sixth century, to the French Revolution. Its see was at Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, now no more than a village, in the modern department of Haute-Garonne in south-west France....
 which appeared to include more of what is now Spanish territory.

The earliest record is from Sidonius Apollinaris
Sidonius Apollinaris

Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris , a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius was "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg....
 who wrote of the persecution suffered by the bishops of Comminges at the hands of the Arian Goths in the 5th century. The earliest Bishop of Comminges we know of is Suavis, who assisted at the Council of Agde
Council of Agde

In the history of Roman Catholicism in France, the Council of Agde was held 10 September 506 at Agatha or Agde in Languedoc, under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles....
 in 506. The bishops of Comminges had their seat at Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges
Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges

Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges is a Communes of France in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France in southwestern France....
.

The Comminges was originally part of Gascony
Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that constituted a Provinces of France prior to the French Revolution. In historic references dating from the beginning of the Roman era, it was part of Gaul and became part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the conquests of Clovis I ....
, but in 836 García I Galíndez, Count of Aragon, was made Viscount of Comminges and Viscount of Couserans
Couserans

Couserans is a small former province of France located in the Pyrenees mountains. Today Couserans makes up the western half of the Ari?ge d?partement in France, around the towns of Saint-Girons and Saint-Lizier....
. Around 940, Comminges was divided between the descendants of Aznar II, until reunited in 1012 under Bernard of Comminges. Over the next centuries, that size of the county varied, stretching to Toulouse
Toulouse

Toulouse is a commune of France in southwest France on the banks of the Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea....
 at times.

The small, discontinuous province
Provinces of France

The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the d?partement in France system superseded provinces....
 of Nébouzan
Nébouzan

N?bouzan was a small province of France located in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, in the southwest of France. It was not a contiguous province, but it was made up of several detached territories, approximately half of them around the town of Saint-Gaudens in the south of the present-day d?partement in France of Haute-Garonne,...
 was partly contained within the Comminges and its viscounts were vassals of the counts of Comminges.

Although the county became the property of the French crown in 1498, it retained its identity. With the reorganisation of the regions into departments in 1790, Comminges wanted to join its eastern neighbour, the county of Couserans, to form a department but this broke down over arguments about where the prefecture would be located. Eventually Couserans joined with the county of Foix
County of Foix

The County of Foix was an independent medieval Fiefdom in southern France, and later a province of France, whose territory corresponded roughly the eastern part of the modern d?partement of Ari?ge ....
, leaving the Comminges to be joined with the larger county of Toulouse to form the Haute-Garonne. At the same time the diocese of Comminges was abolished and replaced with a larger diocese aligned with the new department.

The region still identifies itself as the Comminges and Saint-Gaudens
Saint-Gaudens

Saint-Gaudens is a Communes of France and a sub-prefecture of the Haute-Garonne Departments of France in southwestern FranceLocal history...
, its largest town, calls itself the "capital of the Comminges".