The diocese of Toulouse, located in Languedoc and Gascony, suffered significant destruction during the Wars of Religion. One-third of the religious buildings were destroyed in 1596. Inserted in a region where protestants conquered many cities, the Tolosans felt literally besieged by Protestantism, and this anxiety helped to strenghten the religious policy, conducted by the archbishop, the powerful Parliament of Toulouse or the laymen. The Catholic Reformation began in 1590, with the Cardinal de Joyeuse (1588-1605) and his provincial Council. He was strongly influenced by Borromean ideas, and he imposed the Reformation sustainable frameworks. A visit of the diocese was conducted, new institutions were created, and the foundations of the Council of Trent were published through the canons of the provincial Council. His successors, espite long periods of vacancy of the archiepiscopal seat, continued this policy. Through ecclesiastical conferences, we can observe a mutation of the institutions, a better knowledge of religious realities and an important reform of the priests and the faithful. A significant campaign of reconstruction was also started quite early, and became one of the most remarkable successes of the Catholic Reformation. Nevertheless, the chronology is differentiated. We will also study many aspectsof the reform of the clergy. The Catholic Reformation involved many actors. Their diversity was related to the social structure of the city of Toulouse, parliamentary city par excellence. The religious policy was then a constant articulation between the Catholic Reformation as a reform in capito and in membris and the Counter-Reformation, that is to say the eradication of any Protestant. This policy, which was carried out well beyond the geographical boundaries of the diocese, was a success at the end of the 17th century.
