I am off on Monday to Rennes. I came across references to two new characters who I thought might be part of the whole story, in the book about churches on Bornholm, which is co-written by Henry Lincoln. I have had the book for years and I thought I had read it but I must have just glanced through it. The two characters are:
Bernard of Clairvaux
Basically he founded the Monastory of Clairvaux - he was a Cistercian (white) monk and hugely influential. For us the important bit is that in the year 1128, Bernard assisted at the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, who soon became the ideal of Christian nobility. He was very sympathetic to the Knights Templar and in fact viewed by many to be the de facto Grand Master for a while.
and
Bertrand de Blanchefort
I think it's obvious why I thought he would be relevant because of the name Blanchefort.
I turns out that really neither is pertinent to our enquiries. Bernard, while he was very close with the Templars, actually preached against the Cathares and so I don't think he offers much of a connection between the Cathares and the Templars. As for Blanchefort, apparently the name is misleading and Betrand had nothing to do with the castle at Blanchefort near Rennes.
I will be away for 3 weeks but since I will, no doubt, have a lot of information to collate when I return, I will probably not post until near the end of September.
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