In the Palaeolithic the mountain area in the term of Montblanc was already inhabited. Some cave paintings which have been declared Humanity Inheritance by the UNESCO are still preserved.
Between the IV and I century BC, in the little hill of Santa Barbera there was an Iberian village, which was supposed to have seen Hannibal troops with his elephants when they passed through Montblanc on their way to conquer Rome (218 BC).
Montblanc has had three names throughout history. At about 1080 the name was ‘Duesaigües’, near the confluence of the rivers ‘Francolí’ and ‘Anguera’, this place was later called ‘Vila-Salva’ from 1155 and become a royal town. In 1163 the town moved to the present area and was called Montblanc.
The name of Montblanc (Montis Albis) refers neither to a snowed mountain nor to a calcareous mountain. It adopts this name as a synonym of mountain without vegetation, typical of the clayish hill of Santa Bārbara.
Montblanc troops went with the king Jaume I when he conquered Mallorca and Valčncia. In Valčncia the name of Montblanc was given to a street, to thank their participation.
The convent of Sant Francesc in Montblanc is one of the oldest in Catalonia, after the ones in Barcelona and Girona. According to tradition Sant Francesc d’Assís stayed in the town.
The king Pere el Gran constructed the convent (municipality) (11th January 1284), and lasted, with some modifications until the ‘Decret de Nova Planta’, a decree (1714).
It had the privilege of having markets and fairs (1281 and 1297).
Montblanc has an own shield from 1287, after the Oloron treaty in which five towns created their own shields. The others besides Montblanc were Barcelona, Huesca, Lleida and Cervera.
The king Jaume II is known as the one who most loved Montblanc because of the great impulse he gave to the town.
The king Joan I, the hunter, gave the title of duke of Montblanc to his brother Martí (16th January 1387). This title finished when he died in 1396.
There is not information about the population when the town was founded. The first information we have dates from the last years of the 14th century, when the decline period began. At this time Montblanc was the seventh most important town in Catalonia, after Barcelona, Lleida, Tortosa, Girona, Tarragona and Puigcerdā.
The General Catalan Courts were held in Montblanc on four occasions.
1307 in the temple of Sant Miquel, summoned by king Jaume II
1333 in the temple of Santa Maria, summoned by king Alfons III
1370 in the temple of Sant Miquel, summoned by king Pere III, the ceremonious
1414 in the convent of Sant Francesc, summoned by king Ferran d’Antequera
During the interregnum and before the Casp Agreement (Compromís de Casp) (10th September 1410) the temple of Sant Miquel held the General Parliament of Catalonia. It could not be finished because of the pest, which provoked that only a few assistants came here. It continued in Barcelona and then in Tortosa, where they chose the Catalan representatives who went to Casp to choose a new king.
From the 15th century the priest of the temple of Santa Maria in Montblanc has the title of ‘plebā’. Nowadays there are two more called like this: in Oliva (la Safor) and Ontinyent (la Vall d’Albaida).
In 1640, the king Felip III (IV in Castila) planned to convoke General Courts in Montblanc again. But for different reasons they were never celebrated.
Montblanc, throughout history, has suffered a lot of attacks, lootings and destructions. Some of the most bloody took place in the 17th century, after the Segadors revolt, and the Castilian troops always took a leading part in them:
30th August and 23rd September 1642: first the Castilian army with 8.000 men arrived here and there were lootings which frightened the population. Then on the way from Tarragona to Lleida, they attacked the town and there were lootings again. This was called ‘the general burning’, in which the municipality and the parish archives were destroyed and also the ones in the hospital of Santa Magdalena.
29th September 1649: 7.000 infantrymen and 3.000 horses attacked the town, because French troops had been fortified in the temple of Santa Maria.
March 1651.There was a siege which finished the 16th July, when the Castilian troops pulled down part of the temple of Santa Maria (the gothic faįade), several towers and parts of the walls.
During the second half of the 18th century there was a demographic explosion, due to the agricultural development of the town. A lot of people came to the town and the population increased about 300% during this century.
In Montblanc fra Magí Catalā i Guasch (an important friar) was born (1761- 1830), he was a missionary on the west coast of North-America (from Califōrnia to Canada). There is an island in his honour in front of Vancouver which is called Catalā Island.
The economical progress in the 19th century made the houses which were in a bad state be redone and it also began the construction of new ones. In 1833 there were 625 houses and in 1897 there were 1.189.
The term of Montblanc had its maximum population in 1860 with 6.628 inhabitants, during the period called ‘la Febre d’Or’ (the Gold Fever) which was produced thanks to the vineyard.
Between the years 1855 and 1865 the arches that covered part of Major Street were demolished because the carts could not pass. The two porches at the sides of Major Street (Sant Francesc Porch and Sant Antoni Porch) were also demolished.
In 1878 It began a new gas lightning service.
The 26th September 1947 Montblanc was declared Monumental Artistic Ensemble.
The 30th September 1978 the president Josep Tarradellas visited Montblanc.
The writer about customs and manners Joan Amades collects the tradition which says that Saint George killed the dragon in Montblanc. Because of this, every year, from 1987, we celebrate the Medieval Week of Saint George, with performances and activities according to the medieval period.
Every year, during the celebration of the Medieval Week, there is a Town Plenary in which the town councillors are dressed like the ones in the medieval period and they wear the symbols of authority in memory of an old privilege.
From the 10th of September 2000 Montblanc has its own hymn, a piece composed by Josep M. Amorķs i Bayer, a musical composer who was born in the town .
