 Rennes-le-Château was part of Septimania in the 6th and 7th centuries.It has been suggested that it was once an important Visigothic town, with some 30,000 people living in the city around 500-600 AD.And until 1659-1745, the area was not considered french territory, as is part of the Catalan Country, since 988 until 1659/1745 However, British archaeologist Bill Putnam and British physicist John Edwin Wood argued that while there may have been a Visigothic town on the site of the present village, it would have had "a population closer to 300 than 30,000".By 1050 the Counts of Toulouse held control over the area, building a castle in Rennes-le-Château around 1002, though nothing remains above ground of this medieval structure—the present ruin is from the 17th or 18th century.