Templar Quest

The Rise and Fall of the Knights Templar.

Tours in the Languedoc, France covering the Knights Templar, The Cathars, Rennes-le-Chateau, Gnosticism, Mary Magdalene and the Gnostic Gospels, Rennes-le-Château, Montsegur, The Troubadours, The Priory of Sion, The Sacred Feminine, The Kabbalah, The Voynich Manuscript, and more

20/02/2016

Pembroke Castle (Welsh: Castell Penfro),
Pembroke, West Wales.
In 1093 Roger of Montgomery built the first castle at the site when he fortified the promontory here during the Norman invasion of Wales. A century later this castle was given to William Marshal by his friend King Richard I of England (The Lionheart). Marshall rebuilt Pembroke in stone creating most of the structure that remains today.The castle was the original seat of the Earldom of Pembroke.
The great keep, a innovative and very distinctive huge circular tower, is still known as William Marshal's Tower.

17/02/2016

Alet-les-Bains,
Aude, Languedoc, France.

http://www.templar-quest.com/photographs.htm

09/02/2016

The Aude Gate, Cité, Carcassonne,
Languedoc, France.

www.catharcountry.info

Just inside this gate was the thirteenth century house of the Dominican Inquisitors - there’s a plaque on the wall. Outside the gate was the “Wall” the Inquisitors’ prison where people were imprisoned in dark, cold, damp conditions, chained up without sanitation, living on stale bread and filthy water, often until they died.

Carcassonne is the largest surviving medieval walled city in Europe. Inside is the Château Comtal, the Castle of Raymond Roger Trencavel, Viscount of Carcassonne, Béziers, Albi and the Razès. He died in his own prison here in 1209, aged 24, after being taken prisoner while under a safe-conduct from the Cistercian Abbot Arnaud Amaury the papal legate and military leader of the Albigensian Crusade who was besieging Carcassonne (and who then appointed Simon de Montfort as military leader of the crusade in his place).

08/02/2016

Château de Quéribus,
Cucugnan, Aude, Languedoc, France.

http://www.catharcountry.info

The castle of Quéribus is high and isolated. From a distance it can be seen on the horizon, sticking up into the sky. Quéribus is sometimes regarded as the last Cathar stronghold. In a sense it was. After the fall of the Château of Montségur in 1244 surviving Cathars gathered together in the Corbières at this mountain-top stronghold on the border of Aragon (The present border between the Aude département and the Pyrénées-Orientales département). The Cathar deacon of the Razès, Benoît de Termes, took refuge here under Chabert de Barbaira, who was finally forced to surrender to Saint-Louis in 1255. The last stronghold to fall, eleven years after the fall of Montségur, Quéribus then became part of the French frontier defence system against Aragon.

This is one of the “Five Sons of Carcassonne”, along with Termes, Aguilar, Peyrepertuse and Puilaurens: five castles strategically placed to defend the new French border against the Spanish. It lost all strategic importance after the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 when the border was moved even further south to its present position along the crest of the Pyrenees.

02/02/2016

Languedoc Cathars. Cathar beliefs. Cathari and heretics, Catharism and the Albigensian Crusade. The Role of the Roman Catholic Church: Innocent III and his holy wars (Crusades). The Dominicans and the Inquisition, martyrdom, Persecution of the Jews, genocide and the annexation of the Languedoc to Fr…

28/01/2016

William Marshal

International star jouster.

According to Stephen Langton the “best knight that ever lived.”

The “flower of chivalry”, known throughout Europe as ‘The Marshal’.

1st Earl of Pembroke.

Builder of great castles in Normandy, England, Ireland and Wales, including Pembroke Castle and Chepstow Castle.

Favourite of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Loyal friend to five Plantagenet kings – The Young Henry, Henry II, Richard I, John, and Henry III (and knighted two of them).

Regent of England.

In his 70's funded and personally led an army against overwhelming odds, winning the Battle of Lincoln and saving England from becoming a French kingdom.

Reissued Magna Carta on behalf of the infant Henry III under his own initiative, and under his own seal, in 1206 and 1207, to end the civil war after the death of King John. (This is the one that is the “Magna Carta” of English Law, not the one of 1215 which had been annulled)

Joined the Knights Templar just days before his death in 1219 (which is why he was buried in Temple Church - see photo of his tomb effigy damaged by bombing in the Second World War)

The most egregiously underrated man in history?

www.templar-quest.com/photographs.htm

20/01/2016

The demon Asmodeus,
supporting the holy water stoup in the
Church of Saint Mary Magdalene
Rennes-le-Château, Languedoc, France.

http://www.templar-quest.com/photographs.htm

One of the curious features of this mysterious church, refurbished by Bérenger Saunière.

17/01/2016

Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon Templar Commandery,
Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon, Aveyron, France.

http://www.templar-quest.com

After1158, Raymond Béranger, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, gave the town of Sainte-Eulalie, and the surrounding area (the "Larzac") to Élie de Monbrun. Soon afterwards the Templers fortified the area from their new Commandery at Sainte-Eulalie.

Their properties passed to the Hospitallers in 1312. The present ramparts were built between 1442 and 1450. The town and Commandery was originally called Sainte-Eulalie-du-Larzac, but in 1889, it was renamed Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon, The inhabitants are officially called Saint-Eulaliens, but in Occitan they are still called Cristoulis, a reference to the town's past as the home to the Soldiers of Christ (Templars, then Hospitallers).

10/01/2016

La Couvertoirade,
Aveyron department, on the Larzac plateau, France.

www.templar-quest.com

From the twelfth century this fortified town was owned by the Knights Templar Commandery of Sainte-Eulalie. The Templars built a fortress here, though its two upper floors have since been removed. Following their dissolution in 1312, the Templars' property in the causses was taken over by the Knights Hospitaller (or Knights of St John of Jerusalem) who were responsible for building the curtain wall at La Couvertoirade between 1439 and 1450.

03/01/2016

This statue of William Marshal holding a copy of Magna Carta stands behind the monarch's throne in the House of Lords.

Why? Because the version of Magna Carta that survives in English law was not the one sealed under duress by King John in 1215, but the one sealed voluntarily by Marshal as Regent of England in 1216. Marshal's statue stands behind the monarch as a reminder of the provisions of Magna Carta that he issued on behalf of the Crown.

Why is this mentioned here? Because this is the 800th anniverary, and because Marshal joined the Knights Templar just days before he died. He is buried in the Temple Church in London.

www.templar-quest.com

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