The city of Toulouse lies well outside the borders of the
Languedoc-Roussillon.
Anyone new to the area might therefore imagine that there
is no connection between the two. On the contrary, there
are very powerful links between all of the ancient territories
ruled by the family of Saint-Gilles
throughout the early Middle Ages. The family of St-Gilles,
Counts
of Toulouse, were once one of the most powerful families
in Europe, ruling an area rather bigger than that then controlled
by the King of France. To take one example of how strong
the ancient links still are, their heraldic device, the
Cross
of Toulouse, is still in daily use throughout their
ancient territories. You will see it everywhere you go in
the Languedoc. The present four departements of the Languedoc
all feature the Cross of Toulouse in their coats of arms
- as do a further five departments outside the Languedoc.
They were all previously part of the old Province
of Languedoc, roughly corresponding the territories
ruled by the medieval Counts of Toulouse.
Some people mistakenly refer to the Cross of Toulouse as the Cathar Cross. For others the Cross of Toulouse is inextricably linked to the language spoken in the Counts' territories, Occitan, the first modern literary language of Europe, the famous language of the Troubadours.
