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[Mr Taylor’s] explorations will intrigue anyone with an interest in both French and British history as well as providing holiday inspiration.
- France Magazine, January 2019
The Lauragais lies in south-west France at the heart of Occitania. Today it is largely ignored by the millions who visit its neighbours each year – Toulouse and Carcassonne – but in times gone by it rarely escaped the attentions of the great and the good, or the ambitious and the avaricious.
This is a book with big characters – Simon de Montfort, the Black Prince, Thomas Jefferson and the Duke of Wellington among others – but most of all it tells the story of the people who have shaped this land, the living and the dead, families that have lived in the same house or village for hundreds of years. This is the story of their lives, their religion, their forgotten language and their environment.
This is a book with big characters – Simon de Montfort, the Black Prince, Thomas Jefferson and the Duke of Wellington among others – but most of all it tells the story of the people who have shaped this land, the living and the dead, families that have lived in the same house or village for hundreds of years. This is the story of their lives, their religion, their forgotten language and their environment.
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On the autoroute, a journey through the Lauragais will take you three-quarters of an hour, but all you will see are tantalising glimpses of gorgeous countryside and distant signs of human habitation. In this book, the author takes you on a more leisurely trip through time in a land that is endearingly modest about its illustrious past.
Lauragais is not a history book, even if it does follow a path that is broadly chronological. Instead, it is a tale of exploration, the discovery of people, places and events in the present as well as the past. It is divided into nine main sections:
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Those Murderous Cathars
The only time the Cathars crushed Simon de Montfort’s crusaders during the Albigensian Crusade was at Château de Montgey in 1211. With the help of the current owner, the author investigates the massacre of 6,000 pilgrim-soldiers perpetrated by the lord of Montgey. |
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On the Trail of a Troubadour
A couple of generations ago, most people in the Lauragais still spoke Occitan, the language of the troubadours. The author sets out on the trail of a wandering minstrel who lived the life of a modern celebrity, and explores the history and future prospects of the language with the help of an expert from the University of Montpellier. |
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Of Bastides and Adulterers
A visit to one of the most beautiful markets in France reveals what it was like to live in a new town in the 1340s when war, famine, pestilence and death stalked the land. We also meet the man who rediscovered the last remaining section of the town walls hidden inside an abandoned garage. |
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A Hundred Years of Misery
The author retraces the Black Prince’s devastating campaign through the Lauragais in 1355, and discovers the ruined hideout of the fearsome brigands who terrorised the countryside for forty years. |
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In Search of Pastel
Starting in 1460, Toulouse and the Lauragais enjoyed an extraordinary century of prosperity built on pastel, or woad. The author retraces its meteoric rise and spectacular fall, and learns about the industry’s rebirth in the 1990s from those who work with woad today. |
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A Question of Religion
Today, Puylaurens is a sleepy town, but its turbulent history encapsulates the story of French Protestantism, from Jean Calvin to the flight of the Huguenots, interspersed with four decades of relentless civil wars and a quarter-of-a-century of academic achievement. |
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From the Bottom of a Lake
The author profits from a rare chance to get to the bottom of what keeps the Canal du Midi full of water. The key is the dam of Saint-Ferréol, started in 1667, hailed in its day as the eighth wonder of the world. Thomas Jefferson provides social commentary on life on the canal. |
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The English Cemetery
The mystery of who is really buried in a forgotten English cemetery takes the author back to the Battle of Toulouse in 1814, a pointless battle fought by the Duke of Wellington and 100,000 other men after the war was over. |
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A Deadly Occupation
The author retraces the footsteps of the Resistance: where they hid, how they operated and the battles they fought against the Germans in 1944. The owners of the Château de Garrevaques recount their wartime experiences and how the Germans tried to blow up their home. |
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'In the Lauragais, the reminders of these vibrant and often violent times have not been consigned to the museums, the history books and the gift shops. This is a land where the past is a part of everyday life. You can stumble across it during a country stroll, hear it spoken during a sortie to an ancient market, pull it over your head in the shape of a pastel-dyed garment, or drink it down with a glass of the world’s oldest sparkling wine.'
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Lauragais
A Brief Journey Through Time This ten-minute video was made so that readers of 'Lauragais' can see the places described in the book.
To understand all the references, you need to read the book, but meanwhile, feel free to enjoy these glorious images of the Lauragais! |
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