was not among his people, he went looking for him to use as a hostage in order to get the Gabali to leave Grèzes. Privat was martyred at his cave on near the village of Mimate. Presented to the Gabali, he refused to deliver his people despite all the barbaric tortures to which he was subjected (according to Gregory of Tours:"The good shepherd refused to deliver his sheep to wolves, and they tried to force his to sacrifice to demons"). Exhausted, the Alemanni would leave the Gabali free, by promising them peace. Privat succumbed to his injuries in the following days. His act of resistance, refusing to deliver his compatriots, thus earned him great popular fervour, and it was around his tomb and his hermitage that pilgrimage began, allowing the village to grow. Middle Ages In the 12th century Gévaudan was part of the County of Barcelona. In Mende, the counties have a castle, the castel frag. Three other lords had their castle around the Romanesque church: That of Canilhac (who owned the archtreasurer rights of the church), that of Cabrières (who was granted rights of archdeacon) and Dolan (who administered and ruled the episcopal home during the interregnum of bishops). In 1161, Mende, who was under the suzerainty of the King of France, saw his Bishop get the royal rights. It was the golden bull, an act signed by the king and marked with a royal seal in gold, which contained the terms of this agreement. It thus gave Aldebert and his successors, in perpetuity, the Royal power and the full powers of justice on the inhabitants of the bishopric. This fact is quite rare because only four golden bulls in six centuries were granted by the Kings of France. It was from this time that the city walls were built. Aldebert wished to protect the city and secure channels that lead there. he recovered and also built the fortress of Chapieu on , and was done so that it could accommodate a garrison. This allowed the monitoring of the direct route between Mont Lozère and Villefort, in other words towards the Regordane Way, trade route. At that time, however, Mende was not provided the civil and religious capital of Gévaudan. In fact the power was always dependent of two entities: The county and Viscount of Grèzes. The Viscount, property of the King of Aragon, was recovered by the