Originally, the convent of the hermits of Saint Augustin, cramped, insalubrious and stunk out by the nearby sewers of the town, was installed in an area of the Matabiau district. During pope Clement V's visit to the Abbey of Bonnefont in January 1309, the hermits requested his authorisation to buy land inside the city walls to build a new convent. This authorisation was granted by a notarial deed on 28th October 1310 under the patronage of the Bishop of Toulouse, Gailhard de Pressac. Arguing over ownership of three houses located on the land acquired by the Augustins and invoking questions of liturgy, the provost and the chapter of Saint-Etienne cathedral attempted a trial against the Augustin hermits, which, seventeen years later ended in an amicable agreement. The Augustins agreed to pay 3 500 Livres Tournois for the three houses and an annual parish tax of 2 gold florins. These differences of opinion did not hinder the hermits, who undertook the construction of the chevet of their church as soon as they acquired their land. The master contractor for Saint-Etienne, Jean de Lobres, participated in the construction. The chevet, originally designed as a central chapel flanked by two chapels to the north and two on the south side opening on to a transept, was changed towards 1317. Finally retained however, was a chevet with only three chapels opening directly on to the single wide nave, without a transept, but with, on the higher section, an arrangement of slanting wall sections characteristic of what is today called the southern gothic style. From May 1327, at the end of the trial, the Augustins were able to occupy the whole area designated for their church and started construction on the east wing and the buildings flanking the future cloister. According to the 17th Century chronicle of father Simplicien Saint Martin, the bishop Gailhard de Pressac donated the Notre-Dame de Pitié chapel to the Augustins. Work was conducted rapidly. Already in 1341, Prior Guillaume de Crémone brought a general chapter to the convent in Toulouse - a sign that construction was well and truly underway.