Languedoc Topics
Mysteries of the Languedoc
Introduction

Interest in the mystery of Rennes-le-Château, revived by Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code, has a much longer history. This section is dedicated to students of the mystery and associated areas of interest including the Cathars and Catharism, the Priory of Sion, the Knights Templars.

Learn about the mysterious treasure discovered by Abbé Bérenger Saunière, the priest of Rennes-le-Château in the South of France. Was it treasure hidden centuries earlier by the Visigoths, or by the Cathar refugees from Montsegur, or by the powerful Knights Templars?

The area overflows with history. It was here that the Troubadours emerged, bringing the new concept of Courtly Love to Europe. At the time the Languedoc was not part of France, but an independent state under the famous Counts of Toulouse. It was because the Counts permitted Catharism to flourish in their lands that the Roman Catholic Church launched a crusade against the people of the Languedoc, leading to the siege of famous cities like Carcassonne, the creation of the Dominican Order, the foundation of the first Papal Inquisition, and ultimately the annexation of the Languedoc by the French Crown.

The Cathars of the Languedoc were accused of Dualism & Heresy though in truth, they preserved a very early form of belief from the Early Christian Church which we now know from recently discovered Gnostic Gospels.

Before its annexation the Languedoc was culturally far in advance of the rest of Europe. Jews were not persecuted as they were throughout Europe, but allowed to flourish. It is here that the medieval Jewish Kabbalah was invented, near where the The Tarot was developed, and not far from the birthplace of Nostradamus.

You can read about a number of modern theories. Was the treasure of Rennes-le-Château a relic from ancient times, perhaps the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant? Is Sacred Geometry embedded in the Languedoc Countryside? What was the connection between the Templars and the Shroud of Turin? And did the Cathars preserve their teachings in the mysterious Voynich Manuscript?

If you want to learn more about these questions from experts like Henry Lincoln, on location in the Languedoc, you might be interested in Templar Quest Tours.

If you are more interested in the Cathars of the Languedoc, you might be more interested in Cathar Country Tours.