Living in the Languedoc:   Some Famous Residents of and visitors to the Languedoc-Roussillon

• Herakles (Hercules) and Pyrene. (dates unknown). Hercules passed this way - hence the road called the Heraclian way - on his way to the Staight of Gibralter (with the Pillars of Hercules on either side). He fell in love with an young local woman called Pyrene, who reciprocated. Pyrene's father disapproved of the match. The heartbroken Pyrene ran away to the mountains where she was attacked and killed by wild animals before Hercules could catch up with her. He named the mountains the Pyrenees in her honour.
• Hannibal (247 BC – c. 183 BC), Carthaginian General who marched his famous elephants from Spain to Italy through what is now the Languedoc-Roussillon. Click on the following link for more about Hannibal's journey .
• St Sara, St Martha, St Mary Magdalene, St Mary Salome, St Mary Jacob, Lazarus, Maximus and Sidonius et al (c 40 AD) - according to popular local legend. Languedoc saints. Click here for more on St Sara, St Martha, St Mary Magdalene, St Mary Salome, St Mary Jacob, Lazarus, Maximus and Sidonius
• Guilhem de Gellone (755 - c. 813), (Toulouse) Founder of the Abbey of Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert and consequently the town of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. A Languedoc Saint. Click here for more on Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert
• The Master of Cabestany (fl. 1150-1180), an anonymous medieval sculptor, famed for his distinctive style, who worked in the Languedoc and  Roussillon, and takes his epithet from the town of Cabestany ion the  Pyrénées-Orientales département. Click on the following link examples work by The Master of Cabestany
• Partisans of the Crusade against the Cathars (13th Century), Bernard of Clairvaux, Pope Innocent III, Arnaud Amaury, Simon de Montfort, Amaury de Montfort, Dominic Guzmán (Saint Dominic), Bernard Gui, Louis VIII of France, Blanche de Castile, Louis IX of France, Pierre Des Vaux-de-Cernay who wrote the Historia Albigensis, the troubadour Bishop Fulk de Marsielle.
• Opponents and Victims of the Crusade, and their Partisans: Peter II of Aragon, Raymond VI of Toulouse, Raymond VII of Toulouse, Raymond-Roger Trencavel, Raymond Trencavel II, Raymond Roger of Foix, Roger Bernard II of Foix, Roger IV of Foix, Savaric de Mauléon, Count of Comminges, Viscount of Béarn, Esclarmonde of Foix
• Jacques Fournier, Bishop of Pamiers (c 1280 - 1342): Famous for his Inquitation records which survived in the Vatican Archives after he was elected Pope (Benedict XII). Click here for more on Jacques Fournier
• Guilhem Belibaste (c 1280 - 1323): The last known Cathar Parfait in the Languedoc, burned at the stake in 1323. Click here for more on Guilhem Belibaste
• Saint Roch (1295 – 1327), A fictional figure supposedly from Montpellier, in the Hérault département. Credited with the ability to cure the Black Death in the fourteenth century, and still popular in Languedoc Churches today. Click here for more on Saint Roch (or Saint Roque)
• Edward the Black Prince (1330 – 1376), who travelled in the area more extensively than the French really liked in the Fourteenth Century. Edward led the Great Raid of 1355 on the Aquitaine-Languedoc Front, which crippled southern France, and provoked resentment of the French throne among French peasantry. The raid cushioned the area for conquest, opened up alliances with neighbours of Aquitaine (including Charles the Bad of Navarre). It caused many regions to reclaim their autonomy.
• Jean Nicot (1530 - 1600) (Nîmes), after whom nicotine is named. For more click here
• Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), who painted The Arcadian Shepherds (Et in Arcadia Ego) here around 1638. This painting plays a part in the famous mystery of Rennes-le-Château (Aude département). Click here for more about the mystery of Rennes-le-Château and here for more on Nicolas Poussin
• Pierre Paul Riquet (1609 - 1680), Baron de Bonrepos, (Saint-Ferréol), engineer, almost single-handedly responsible for designing, financing and building the Canal du Midi. Click here for more about Pierre-Paul Riquet
• Sébastion le Plestre de Vauban (1633-1707), Castle builder and military genius (who also helped out with the Canal du Midi). Click here for more about de Vauban
• Moliere (1622 – 1673), (Pézénas, Gard département), Playwrite and Pezenas fancier.
• Clive of India (1725 - 1774), (Pézénas, Gard département). Lord Clive, Governor of India, removed to Pézénas. His Indian chef gave a Pézénas pastry cook a recipe for petits pâtés, which are now a local speciality. Click on the following link for more about petits pâtés
• Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), (Canal du Midi), visiting American dignitary interested in Canal du Midi (speculating about what is now the Panama Canal), but for famous for other things. He was also a great fan of Blanquette de Limoux.
• Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814 - 1879), Historical Architect who saved the historic city of Carcassonne (Aude département) Click on the following link for more about Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and his artistic work
• Frederick Mistral (1830 - 1914), Nobel Prize winner, largely responsible for the revival of the Occitan language. Click here for more about Frederic Mistral
• Jean-Paul Laurens (1838 - 1921), Painter. Click on the following link for more about Jean-Paul Laurens
• Jean Frédéric Bazille (1841 - 1870), Painter. Click on the following link for more about Jean Frédéric Bazille
• Edouard Bernard Debat-Ponsan (1847-1913), Languedoc painter. Click on the following link for more about Edouard Bernard Debat-Ponsan
• Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903), Painter. Click on the following link for more about Paul Gauguin
• Robert Louis Stevenson, (1850-1894), (Cevennes), Writer and Cevennes muleteer .
• Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), (Arles). Painter. Click on the following link for more about Vincent van Gogh
• Marie Petiet (1854 - 1893) and her husband Etienne Dujardin-Beaumetz. Painters in Limoux in the Aude département . Click on the following link for more about Marie Petiet and Etienne Dujardin-Beaumetz
• Jean Jaurès (1859 – 1914 ), Pacifist, Socialist and champion of the Occitan language. Click on the following link for more on Jean Jaurès
• Achille Laugé (1861 - 1944). Painter in Limoux in the Aude département. Click on the following link for more about Achille Laugé
• Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 - 1901). Painter from Albi. Click on the following link for more about Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928). Roussillon painter (Port Vendres) . Click on the following link for more about Charles Rennie Mackintosh
• Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954), Fauvist painter. Developed fauvism along with André Derain in the Roussillon, notably Coullioure in the Pyrénées-Orientales département. Click on the following link for more about Henri Matisse
• Paul Valery (1871 – 1945). Writer and poet from Sète, (Aude département) .
• Pablo Casals (1876 – 1973), (Ille-sur-Têt in the Pyrénées-Orientales département), 'Cellist.
• André Derain (1880 – 1954), Developed fauvism along with Henri Matisse in the Roussillon, notably Coullioure in the Pyrénées-Orientales département. Click on the following link for more about André Derain
• Sir William Russell Flint (1880 - 1969). Painted extensively in the Languedoc. Click on the following link for more about Sir William Russell Flint )
• Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973), Cubist painter who developed Cubism along with Georges Braque in the Roussillon, specifically in Céret in the Pyrénées-Orientales département. Click on the following link for more about Pablo Picasso
• Georges Braque (1882-1963), Cubist painter who developed Cubism along with Pablo Picasso in the Roussillon, specifically in Céret in the Pyrénées-Orientales département. Click on the following link for more about Georges Braque
• Juan Gris (1887 – 1927),
• Marc Chagall (1887-1985). Click on the following link for more about Marc Chagall
• Déodat Roché (1877-1978), (Arques in the Aude département), Cathar Historian.
• Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989), Click on the following link for more about Salvador Dali
• Patric O'Brian (1914–2000), (Collioure) Author and biographer who lived in the Roussillon and one of whose heros (Stephen) was half Catalan. He lived in Collioure in the Pyrénées-Orientales département
• George Brassens (1921 - 1981), Singer and poet from Sète, (Aude département) . For some of his songs, click here
• Gérard de Sède (1921 - 2004), the historian who popularised the mystery of Rennes-le-Château in the Aude département. For his obituary from the Independent, 24 June 2004, by Marcus Williamson, click here
• José Bové (1953 - ), (Béziers in the Hérault département), Agrarian champion. Click on the following link for more on José Bové

The present Languedoc represents the southern half of the area covered by the ancient Roman's first province outside Italy. The northern part is now called Provence. For more on Provence and notable Provençal people, click on the following link which will open a new window to Beyond the French Riviera www.beyond.fr