bastide

American  

[ba-steed] / bæˈstid /

noun

1. a medieval fortified town, planned as a whole and built at one time, especially in southern France, for strategic or commercial purposes.

2. a small country house in southern France.

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Etymology

Origin of bastide

1515–25; < Middle French < Old Provençal bastida fortification, noun use of feminine past participle of bastir to build, equivalent to basti- (< Germanic; see baste ¹) + -da < Latin -ta feminine past participle suffix

Example Sentences

Cordes, which covers the summit and slopes of an isolated hill, was a bastide founded by Raymond VII., count of Toulouse, in the first half of the 13th century.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 4 "Coquelin" to "Costume" by Various

I was up with them through every night at this time; and it was an odd life in the little desolate bastide, as it was long impossible to procure help.

From Story of My Life, volumes 1-3 by Hare, Augustus J. C.

His farm or bastide was subjected to the same minuteness of seizure.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Lea, Henry Charles

Looking from the Chateau de Notre Dame de la Garde, it would seem as if there was a bastide for every arpent.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson

The name Castelsarrasin appears in the 13th century, when the village of Villelongue was replaced by the present bastide.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 4 "Carnegie Andrew" to "Casus Belli" by Various