Midi Pyrénées

MENU OF VISIT - MIDI PYRÉNÉE

Conques (Aveyron)
	A THEFT OF RELICS
Bozouls (Averyon)
	TOWERING OVER HELL
Espalion: Church of Perse (Aveyron)
	A SARACEN HISTORY
Sylvanes (Aveyron)
	AFTER EXTENSIVE WANDERING
Saint-Lizier (Haute Garonne)
	A MIRACULOUS BISHOP
Vals (Ariege)
	MOST ANCIENT PRESENCES
Moissac (Tarn et Garonne)
	A LONG SERIES OF MISADVENTURES
Rocamadour (Lot)
	THE PILGRIMAGE OF SAINTS AND SOVEREIGNS
Toulouse (Upper Garonne) - Saint-Sernin Basilica
	A SPLENDID SYNTHESIS
Montsegur
	CITADEL OF HERSEY
Lescure - Church of Saint Michael (Tarn)
	TWELVE TO SAVE A CHURCH
Albi (Tarn) - Saint Salvy Church
	LAWYER WHO BECAME A MONK
Comba Romal (Aveyron)
	A YOUNG MAN WITH HIGH IDEALS
Castelnau-Pegayrols (Aveyron)
	ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS.
Saint Just de Valcabrere - Sant Bertrand de Comminges (Upper Garonne)
	THE EXILE OF HEROD
Saint Pierre de Bessuejouls (Averyon)
	MADE OF PINK STONE
Collioure (Eastern Pyrenees)
	EPHEMERAL SOVEREIGNS AND IMMORTAL ARTISTS

The Catharist religious movement which reached Europe in the 12th century, originated from the boundary areas between Asia Minor and the Balkans. The contrast between good and bad, spirit and matter characterizes the complex doctrine, which is embodied in the strict affirmation of an ideal of purity, also illustrated by the Greek word itself, cataros meaning pure. This heresy, also called Albigesian derived from the name of the centre of Guiana, that is Albi, rapidly spread throughout southern France and certain Italian zones. Although it always remained a minority religion, it spread particularly to noble classes in which anti-clerical sentiment was rife, being also involved in defending the independence of their local land against the domination of the French king.

Around the year One thousand the Provençal lands were divided amongst three great states: the Dukedom of Arquitania, that extended from the Loire to the Pyrenees, the County of Toulouse which extended from the Pyrenees of Toulouse to the Rhone; and the County of Barcellona which extended its dominion in Catalonia, along the coast of Languedoc and Provence, and which in 1137 became the Reign of Aragon. These independent regions were founded on modern values of paratge, consisting in the moral equality of all members of society, convivencia, tolerance and jòi, or love of life. Thereby providing the ideal environment for the trobadors, the moral values of which coincided with those of the courts giving rise to the expressions of "curtsey" and "courteous love".

Whilst it is undoubtedly the vine that has most contributed to the fame and wealth of the provençal lands it is not however the only provençal plant of plenty. In the 15th century the cultivation of the isatis plant was begun in the Toulouse region, also known as dyer's rocket or pastel, a plant from which a bright blue dye is extracted every three years which is highly prized by European textile manufacturers. This dyer's rocket, which promoted the growth and prosperity of the bourgeois classes of Toulouse, was therefore called cocanha in provençal, referring to a magical place in which one drinks and eats his fill.