We all know of people who used to live some place or the other.
Today, I visited where two of my characters from
Heretics and Lovers and
Murder in Paris lived in the late 1200s and early 1300s.
My characters were based on real people...Jacques Fournier who went on to become Pope Benedict XII and his Uncle Arnaud, who was abbot of Fontfroide. Arnaud is buried there.
The abbey is in a beautiful, almost deserted area. This was one site I'd written about without seeing relying on documents, but as I walked through the ancient buildings, I realised how close to target my research had been.
We were there because Rick and I were on our way to Geneva from Argelès and we stopped to film me reading from
Murder in Paris. We are planning to do videos of me reading from my different novels for my website
www.donnalanenelson.com
At one point I'm sure that the beautiful rose garden was planted with beans and other food for the monks.
Jacques Fournier probably would not have understood these modern sculptures. Much of what I knew about him came from the book
Montaillou, which goes into an inquisition against the Cathars.
Never one to pass up a good meal (and what I know of Fournier's battle with his weight, neither was he) we stopped at the restaurant. How many times have we seen signs saying things like "In business since 1934" ????
How about offering hospitality since 1093?
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1 comment:
Beautiful photographs. And interesting to read about your historical novels. I'll have a look at your website next.
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