The bastides of Languedoc form a significant sector of medieval urban history, yet their descriptions are often clouded by conflicting opinions and anachronistic views. This article aims to clarify some of the confusion about the word "bastide" through an etymological study and examination of charters in which the word was first used to designate new towns. The economic and political contexts preceding the bastide foundations are equally important. The bastides did not appear in southwestern France as an ex novo phenomenon ; rather, they followed on the heels of experiments in residential development and in a monetary economy that had been ongoing for two centuries by the counts of Toulouse.