bastide

[ba-steed] /bæˈstid/
noun
1.
a medieval fortified town, planned as a whole and built at one time, especially in southern France, for strategic or commercial purposes.
2.
a small country house in southern France.
Origin
1515-25; < Middle French < Old Provençal bastida fortification, noun use of feminine past participle of bastir to build, equivalent to basti- (< Germanic; see baste1) + -da < Latin -ta feminine past participle suffix
Encyclopedia Article for bastide

type of village or town built largely in the 13th and 14th centuries in England and Gascony and laid out according to a definite geometric plan. It is thought by some to have been an influence on English colonists when building such New World settlements as New Haven, Conn

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