ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Handwritten Annals of the City of Toulouse

Ok, so imagine you have a book where you write down everything that happens in your city, like who becomes the mayor, when new buildings are built or when people get married. Well, a really long time ago, people in the city of Toulouse did that too, but instead of using a computer to type everything out, they wrote it down by hand.

These handwritten annals of the city of Toulouse are special because they go back over 800 years, which is a really, really long time. Imagine writing in a book for 800 years, that's a lot of writing! The first entry in the annals dates back to the year 1060, when a man named Raymond of Saint-Gilles became the count of Toulouse.

These annals help us know about the history of Toulouse and the people who lived there a long time ago. It's like a time capsule! Imagine digging up something you wrote as a little kid and then reading it when you're all grown up. That's what the handwritten annals of the city of Toulouse are like, but for a whole city!