Guillaume Besse (fl. 17th century) was a French historian. Little is known of his life. He was a native of Carcassonne. By 1635 he was a lawyer, but there is no mention of him later than 1668.
According to Besse, in 1652 he received scrap of parchment from a prebendary of Saint-Étienne de Toulouse. He published it eight years later under the title "Charte de Niquinta" in a three-page appendix to his Histoire des ducs, marquis et comtes de Narbonne. The poorly written "charter" purports to be extracts from three Latin documents copied by Peire Polhan and Peire Izarn in 1223 or 1233. These record a Cathar council held at Saint-Félix-de-Caraman in 1167, a sermon given by a papa (or pope) named Niquinta (Nicetas) at this council and the demarcation of boundaries of new Cathar dioceses in Toulouse, Carcassonne and Agen. The original parchment is lost. Although many historians have lent great weight to the "Charte de Niquinta", others have labelled it a forgery, either of Besse himself or of Peire Polhan and Peire Izarn in the 13th century. [1]
Aude is a department in Southern France, located in the Occitanie region and named after the river Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Cathar Country" after a group of religious dissidents active in the 12th to 14th centuries.
Languedoc-Roussillon is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and bordered the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées towards the north, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean Sea towards the south. It was the southernmost region of mainland France.
Comte Antoine-François Bertrand de Molleville was a French politician.
Charles Constance César Joseph Matthieu d'Agoult de Bonneval was a French Roman Catholic bishop, and after his resignation of his diocese a political writer.
Ermengarde, was a viscountess of Narbonne from 1134 to 1192. She was the daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne and his first wife, also named Ermengarde.
The Council of Saint-Félix, a landmark in the organisation of the Cathars, was held at Saint-Felix-de-Caraman, now called Saint-Félix-Lauragais, in 1167. The senior figure, who apparently presided and gave the consolamentum to the assembled Cathar bishops, was papa Nicetas, Bogomil bishop of Constantinople.
The former Catholic diocese of Narbonne existed from early Christian times until the French Revolution. It was an archdiocese, with its see at Narbonne, from the year 445, and its influence ran over much of south-western France and into Catalonia.
The former French Catholic diocese of Alet was created in 1317 from territory formerly in the diocese of Narbonne. The diocese continued until the French Revolution when it was suppressed by the Concordat of 1801.
The Archdiocese of Albi(Latin: Archidioecesis Albiensis–Castrensis–Vauriensis); is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Toulouse, and it comprises the department of Tarn.
The Diocese of Carcassonne and Narbonne is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Aude. It is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Montpellier.
The Archdiocese of Toulouse is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the Department of Haute-Garonne and its seat is Toulouse Cathedral. Archbishop Guy de Kerimel has been its head since 2021.
Jean-Antoine de Mesmes, comte d'Avaux (1661–1723) was a premier president of the Parlement of Paris and member of the Académie française. As premier president he presided at the rescinding of the will of Louis XIV and in 1720 at the remonstrance against the regent, Philippe of Orléans, for allowing Law's disastrous financial scheme and appointing Guillaume Dubois as archbishop of Cambrai.
Walter III of Châtillon was a French knight and Lord of Châtillon, Montjay, Troissy, Crécy et Pierrefonds until his death in 1219. With his marriage, he became Count of Saint-Pol. He was also the Butler of Champagne and the Seneschal of Burgundy.
Jean-Jacques de Mesmes, comte d'Avaux, vicomte de Neufchâtel (1630–1688) was a French magistrate, intendant of Soissons, and Président à mortier of the Parlement of Paris. He developed the town of Avaux-la-Ville, which is now called Asfeld. He was a member of the Académie française. He was brother of Jean-Antoine de Mesmes, the diplomat, and father of Jean-Antoine de Mesmes, the premier president of the Parlement of Paris.
The Cité de Carcassonne is a medieval citadel located in the French city of Carcassonne, in the Aude department, Occitania region. It is situated on a hill on the right bank of the river Aude, in the south-eastern part of the city proper.
Musée Saint-Raymond is the archeological museum of Toulouse, opened in 1892. The site originally was a necropolis, and in later constructions was a hospital for the poor and pilgrims, prison, student residence, stables, barracks and presbytery, eventually becoming a museum in 1891. It is housed in the former Saint-Raymond university college dating from the sixteenth century that borders Basilica of Saint-Sernin.
The House of Toulouse, sometimes called House of Saint-Gilles or Raimondines, is a family of Frankish origin established in Languedoc having owned the County of Toulouse. Its first representative was Fulcoald of Rouergue, who died after 837, whose sons Fredelo and Raymond I were the first hereditary counts of Toulouse from 849 to 863; the last holder of the county in the agnatic line was Raymond VII who died in 1249. This family therefore reigned over the county for four centuries.
Canon or abbot Antoine Sabarthès, full name Antoine Auguste Sabarthès, was a French ecclesiastic, writer and historian, a specialist of the Aude department.
Guillaume Besaucèle was an ecclesiastic who was constitutional bishop of Aude from 1791 to 1801.
Jean-Antoine de Mesmes, called d'Avaux (1640–1709), was a French diplomat in the service of Louis XIV. He is probably best known for accompanying King James II of England in his Irish expedition. He also negotiated for France the Peace of Nijmegen, which ended the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678). He was French ambassador in Venice, The Hague, Stockholm and finally The Hague again.