In the early thirteenth century Prouille was a decayed village, a fortified enclosure with a few buildings surrounding a crumbling church attached to the parish of Fanjeaux. Diego de Acebo, bishop of Osma, and his canon, Dominic, established themselves at Prouille, deep in Cathar country, in late 1206. Bishop Foulques of Toulouse allowed them to use the church, and, more important, Guillaume and Raymonde Claret of Prouille gave themselves and their cottage. On 17 April 1207 — the first certain date in the history of Notre-Dame-de-Prouille — bishop Bérenger of Narbonne gave the new establishment the revenues of the church of Saint-Martin at Limoux, though this gift was destined to be disputed by the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire. In 1211 Foulques gave the revenues of Prouille itself, part of his o