The town was founded in the second century CE by the
Gauls who created a river port where they exported their wine into
Gallia Narbonensis. When
Aquitania was conquered by Rome, Gaillac gained prosperity with its
wine. However, the barbarian invasions annihilated the town and left nothing behind. It was only when the monks of Saint-Michel gained viticulture privileges from the
Bishop of Albi, in 972, that the population stabilized and Gaillac started to become a town again. Their wines were at first sent to Bordeaux where they would be exported to England. The was constructed in the 10th century and rebuilt in 1271. In 1524 the abbey was secularized but the title of abbey retained. During the religious wars, the "Gaillacois" refused to change their religion and remained Catholics and were chased out of the town by Protestants. They took refuge at
Castelnau-de-Montmiral. After the
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre on 24 August 1572, in Paris, the Gaillacois massacred 74 out of the 90 Huguenots in the town. The abbey was once again rebuilt between 1572 and 1620. In the seventeenth century the was erected. It was from the town of Gaillac that
Louis-Philippe I addressed the words: Nous chercherons à nous tenir dans un
juste milieu, également éloigné des excès du pouvoir populaire et des abus du pouvoir royal. Which may be translated: "We seek to keep ourselves in proper state, aloof from both the excesses of popular power and the abuses of royal power." This sentence would define the
July Monarchy. ==Population==