diff --git a/History.markdown b/History.markdown
index 27c262d8..6707a19e 100644
--- a/History.markdown
+++ b/History.markdown
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   * Remove support for Ruby 1.8.x (#1780)
   * Move to jekyll/jekyll from mojombo/jekyll (#1817)
   * Allow custom markdown processors (#1872)
+  * Provide support for the Rouge syntax highlighter (#1859)
 
 ### Minor Enhancements
   * Move the EntryFilter class into the Jekyll module to avoid polluting the
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@
   * Add in History and site changes from `v1-stable` branch (#1836)
   * Testing additions on the Excerpt class (#1893)
   * Update Kramdown to `~> 1.3` (#1894)
+  * Fix the `highlight` tag feature (#1859)
 
 ### Site Enhancements
   * Document Kramdown's GFM parser option (#1791)
diff --git a/features/site_configuration.feature b/features/site_configuration.feature
index 0a08f753..a7c59b00 100644
--- a/features/site_configuration.feature
+++ b/features/site_configuration.feature
@@ -91,11 +91,19 @@ Feature: Site configuration
     And I should see "<a href=\"http://google.com\">Google</a>" in "_site/index.html"
 
   Scenario: Highlight code with pygments
-    Given I have an "index.html" file that contains "{% highlight ruby %} puts 'Hello world!' {% endhighlight %}"
-    And I have a configuration file with "pygments" set to "true"
+    Given I have an "index.html" page that contains "{% highlight ruby %} puts 'Hello world!' {% endhighlight %}"
     When I run jekyll
     Then the _site directory should exist
-    And I should see "puts 'Hello world!'" in "_site/index.html"
+    And I should see "Hello world!" in "_site/index.html"
+    And I should see "class=\"highlight\"" in "_site/index.html"
+
+  Scenario: Highlight code with rouge
+    Given I have an "index.html" page that contains "{% highlight ruby %} puts 'Hello world!' {% endhighlight %}"
+    And I have a configuration file with "highlighter" set to "rouge"
+    When I run jekyll
+    Then the _site directory should exist
+    And I should see "Hello world!" in "_site/index.html"
+    And I should see "class=\"highlight\"" in "_site/index.html"
 
   Scenario: Set time and no future dated posts
     Given I have a _layouts directory
diff --git a/jekyll.gemspec b/jekyll.gemspec
index 564c264d..06dc2e56 100644
--- a/jekyll.gemspec
+++ b/jekyll.gemspec
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_development_dependency('activesupport', '~> 3.2.13')
   s.add_development_dependency('jekyll_test_plugin')
   s.add_development_dependency('jekyll_test_plugin_malicious')
+  s.add_development_dependency('rouge', '~> 1.3')
 
   # = MANIFEST =
   s.files = %w[
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb b/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb
index 340847c3..f5e10fe0 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb
@@ -24,12 +24,12 @@ module Jekyll
       'limit_posts'   => 0,
       'lsi'           => false,
       'future'        => true,           # remove and make true just default
-      'pygments'      => true,
 
       'relative_permalinks' => true,     # backwards-compatibility with < 1.0
                                          # will be set to false once 2.0 hits
 
       'markdown'      => 'maruku',
+      'highlighter'   => 'pygments',
       'permalink'     => 'date',
       'baseurl'       => '/',
       'include'       => ['.htaccess'],
@@ -210,6 +210,16 @@ module Jekyll
         config.delete('server_port')
       end
 
+      if config.has_key? 'pygments'
+        Jekyll.logger.warn "Deprecation:", "The 'pygments' configuration option" +
+                            " has been renamed to 'highlighter'. Please update your" +
+                            " config file accordingly. The allowed values are 'rouge', " +
+                            "'pygments' or null."
+
+        config['highlighter'] = 'pygments' if config['pygments']
+        config.delete('pygments')
+      end
+
       %w[include exclude].each do |option|
         if config.fetch(option, []).is_a?(String)
           Jekyll.logger.warn "Deprecation:", "The '#{option}' configuration option" +
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converter.rb b/lib/jekyll/converter.rb
index e2dc2796..c30f4944 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converter.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converter.rb
@@ -1,27 +1,27 @@
 module Jekyll
   class Converter < Plugin
-    # Public: Get or set the pygments prefix. When an argument is specified,
+    # Public: Get or set the highlighter prefix. When an argument is specified,
     # the prefix will be set. If no argument is specified, the current prefix
     # will be returned.
     #
-    # pygments_prefix - The String prefix (default: nil).
+    # highlighter_prefix - The String prefix (default: nil).
     #
     # Returns the String prefix.
-    def self.pygments_prefix(pygments_prefix = nil)
-      @pygments_prefix = pygments_prefix if pygments_prefix
-      @pygments_prefix
+    def self.highlighter_prefix(highlighter_prefix = nil)
+      @highlighter_prefix = highlighter_prefix if highlighter_prefix
+      @highlighter_prefix
     end
 
-    # Public: Get or set the pygments suffix. When an argument is specified,
+    # Public: Get or set the highlighter suffix. When an argument is specified,
     # the suffix will be set. If no argument is specified, the current suffix
     # will be returned.
     #
-    # pygments_suffix - The String suffix (default: nil).
+    # highlighter_suffix - The String suffix (default: nil).
     #
     # Returns the String suffix.
-    def self.pygments_suffix(pygments_suffix = nil)
-      @pygments_suffix = pygments_suffix if pygments_suffix
-      @pygments_suffix
+    def self.highlighter_suffix(highlighter_suffix = nil)
+      @highlighter_suffix = highlighter_suffix if highlighter_suffix
+      @highlighter_suffix
     end
 
     # Initialize the converter.
@@ -31,18 +31,18 @@ module Jekyll
       @config = config
     end
 
-    # Get the pygments prefix.
+    # Get the highlighter prefix.
     #
     # Returns the String prefix.
-    def pygments_prefix
-      self.class.pygments_prefix
+    def highlighter_prefix
+      self.class.highlighter_prefix
     end
 
-    # Get the pygments suffix.
+    # Get the highlighter suffix.
     #
     # Returns the String suffix.
-    def pygments_suffix
-      self.class.pygments_suffix
+    def highlighter_suffix
+      self.class.highlighter_suffix
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
index 178eaaa8..f68af673 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ module Jekyll
     class Markdown < Converter
       safe true
 
-      pygments_prefix "\n"
-      pygments_suffix "\n"
+      highlighter_prefix "\n"
+      highlighter_suffix "\n"
 
       def setup
         return if @setup
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
index 9af80571..7a805fe9 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ module Jekyll
           end
         end
 
-        module WithoutPygments
+        module WithoutHighlighting
           require 'cgi'
 
           include CommonMethods
@@ -37,19 +37,50 @@ module Jekyll
           end
         end
 
+        module WithRouge
+          require 'rouge'
+          require 'rouge/plugins/redcarpet'
+
+          if Rouge.version < '1.3.0'
+            abort "Please install Rouge 1.3.0 or greater and try running Jekyll again."
+          end
+
+          include Rouge::Plugins::Redcarpet
+          include CommonMethods
+
+          def block_code(code, lang)
+            code = "<pre>#{super}</pre>"
+
+            output = "<div class=\"highlight\">"
+            output << add_code_tags(code, lang)
+            output << "</div>"
+          end
+
+          protected
+          def rouge_formatter(opts = {})
+            Rouge::Formatters::HTML.new(opts.merge(wrap: false))
+          end
+        end
+
+
         def initialize(config)
           require 'redcarpet'
           @config = config
           @redcarpet_extensions = {}
           @config['redcarpet']['extensions'].each { |e| @redcarpet_extensions[e.to_sym] = true }
 
-          @renderer ||= if @config['pygments']
+          @renderer ||= case @config['highlighter']
+                        when 'pygments'
                           Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
                             include WithPygments
                           end
+                        when 'rouge'
+                          Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
+                            include WithRouge
+                          end
                         else
                           Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
-                            include WithoutPygments
+                            include WithoutHighlighting
                           end
                         end
         rescue LoadError
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
index 54e93749..d05b2169 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ module Jekyll
     class Textile < Converter
       safe true
 
-      pygments_prefix '<notextile>'
-      pygments_suffix '</notextile>'
+      highlighter_prefix '<notextile>'
+      highlighter_suffix '</notextile>'
 
       def setup
         return if @setup
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
index 4d8cb37f..397383e5 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
@@ -145,8 +145,8 @@ module Jekyll
       info = { :filters => [Jekyll::Filters], :registers => { :site => self.site, :page => payload['page'] } }
 
       # render and transform content (this becomes the final content of the object)
-      payload["pygments_prefix"] = converter.pygments_prefix
-      payload["pygments_suffix"] = converter.pygments_suffix
+      payload["highlighter_prefix"] = converter.highlighter_prefix
+      payload["highlighter_suffix"] = converter.highlighter_suffix
 
       self.content = self.render_liquid(self.content,
                                         payload,
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/deprecator.rb b/lib/jekyll/deprecator.rb
index 23af739d..7600cd29 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/deprecator.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/deprecator.rb
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ module Jekyll
       arg_is_present? args, "--auto", "The switch '--auto' has been replaced with '--watch'."
       arg_is_present? args, "--no-auto", "To disable auto-replication, simply leave off \
                           the '--watch' switch."
-      arg_is_present? args, "--pygments", "The 'pygments' setting can only be set in \
-                          your config files."
+      arg_is_present? args, "--pygments", "The 'pygments'settings has been removed in \
+                          favour of 'highlighter'."
       arg_is_present? args, "--paginate", "The 'paginate' setting can only be set in your \
                           config files."
       arg_is_present? args, "--url", "The 'url' setting can only be set in your config files."
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/site.rb b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
index 8fee59cf..95bb46f9 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/site.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 module Jekyll
   class Site
     attr_accessor :config, :layouts, :posts, :pages, :static_files,
-                  :categories, :exclude, :include, :source, :dest, :lsi, :pygments,
+                  :categories, :exclude, :include, :source, :dest, :lsi, :highlighter,
                   :permalink_style, :tags, :time, :future, :safe, :plugins, :limit_posts,
                   :show_drafts, :keep_files, :baseurl, :data, :file_read_opts, :gems
 
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ module Jekyll
     def initialize(config)
       self.config          = config.clone
 
-      %w[safe lsi pygments baseurl exclude include future show_drafts limit_posts keep_files gems].each do |opt|
+      %w[safe lsi highlighter baseurl exclude include future show_drafts limit_posts keep_files gems].each do |opt|
         self.send("#{opt}=", config[opt])
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
index 2ea144df..8719511f 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
@@ -41,8 +41,11 @@ eos
       end
 
       def render(context)
-        if context.registers[:site].pygments
+        case context.registers[:site].highlighter
+        when 'pygments'
           render_pygments(context, super)
+        when 'rouge'
+          render_rouge(context, super)
         else
           render_codehighlighter(context, super)
         end
@@ -58,9 +61,28 @@ eos
           @lang
         )
 
-        output = context["pygments_prefix"] + output if context["pygments_prefix"]
-        output = output + context["pygments_suffix"] if context["pygments_suffix"]
-        output
+        output = context["highlighter_prefix"] + output if context["highlighter_prefix"]
+        output << context["highlighter_suffix"] if context["highlighter_suffix"]
+
+        return output
+      end
+
+      def render_rouge(context, code)
+        require 'rouge'
+
+        linenos = @options.keys.include?('linenos')
+        lexer = Rouge::Lexer.find_fancy(@lang, code) || Rouge::Lexers::PlainText
+        formatter = Rouge::Formatters::HTML.new(line_numbers: linenos, wrap: false)
+
+        pre = "<pre>#{formatter.format(lexer.lex(code))}</pre>"
+
+        output = context["highlighter_prefix"] || ""
+        output << "<div class=\"highlight\">"
+        output << add_code_tags(pre, @lang)
+        output << "</div>"
+        output << context["highlighter_suffix"] if context["highlighter_suffix"]
+
+        return output
       end
 
       def render_codehighlighter(context, code)
diff --git a/lib/site_template/_config.yml b/lib/site_template/_config.yml
index 85daa771..627c7898 100644
--- a/lib/site_template/_config.yml
+++ b/lib/site_template/_config.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 name: Your New Jekyll Site
 markdown: redcarpet
-pygments: true
+highlighter: pygments
diff --git a/site/_config.yml b/site/_config.yml
index f14c4e05..fc1fd46d 100644
--- a/site/_config.yml
+++ b/site/_config.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-pygments: true
+highlight: pygments
 relative_permalinks: false
 gauges_id: 503c5af6613f5d0f19000027
 permalink: /news/:year/:month/:day/:title/
diff --git a/site/docs/configuration.md b/site/docs/configuration.md
index f903adde..1c1b4938 100644
--- a/site/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/site/docs/configuration.md
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ encoding:    nil
 future:      true
 show_drafts: nil
 limit_posts: 0
-pygments:    true
+highlighter: pygments
 
 relative_permalinks: true
 
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ Jekyll handles two special Redcarpet extensions:
         # ...ruby code
         ```
 
-    With both fenced code blocks and pygments enabled, this will statically highlight the code; without pygments, it will add a `class="LANGUAGE"` attribute to the `<code>` element, which can be used as a hint by various JavaScript code highlighting libraries.
+    With both fenced code blocks and highlighter enabled, this will statically highlight the code; without any syntax highlighter, it will add a `class="LANGUAGE"` attribute to the `<code>` element, which can be used as a hint by various JavaScript code highlighting libraries.
 - `smart` --- This pseudo-extension turns on SmartyPants, which converts straight quotes to curly quotes and runs of hyphens to em (`---`) and en (`--`) dashes.
 
 All other extensions retain their usual names from Redcarpet, and no renderer options aside from `smart` can be specified in Jekyll. [A list of available extensions can be found in the Redcarpet README file.][redcarpet_extensions] Make sure you're looking at the README for the right version of Redcarpet: Jekyll currently uses v2.2.x, and extensions like `footnotes` and `highlight` weren't added until after version 3.0.0. The most commonly used extensions are:
diff --git a/site/docs/installation.md b/site/docs/installation.md
index 8fb82a0a..7e4bd570 100644
--- a/site/docs/installation.md
+++ b/site/docs/installation.md
@@ -66,9 +66,10 @@ Check out [the extras page](../extras/) for more information.
   <h5>ProTip™: Enable Syntax Highlighting</h5>
   <p>
     If you’re the kind of person who is using Jekyll, then chances are you’ll
-    want to enable syntax highlighting using Pygments. You should really
-    <a href="../templates/#code_snippet_highlighting">check out how to do
-    that</a> before you go any further.
+    want to enable syntax highlighting using <a href="http://pygments.org/">Pygments</a>
+    or <a href="https://github.com/jayferd/rouge">Rouge</a>. You should really
+    <a href="../templates/#code_snippet_highlighting">check out how to
+    do that</a> before you go any farther.
   </p>
 </div>
 
diff --git a/site/docs/posts.md b/site/docs/posts.md
index 88036bdb..e944885e 100644
--- a/site/docs/posts.md
+++ b/site/docs/posts.md
@@ -139,8 +139,8 @@ your `excerpt_separator` to `""`.
 ## Highlighting code snippets
 
 Jekyll also has built-in support for syntax highlighting of code snippets using
-Pygments, and including a code snippet in any post is easy. Just use the
-dedicated Liquid tag as follows:
+either Pygments or Rouge, and including a code snippet in any post is easy. Just
+use the dedicated Liquid tag as follows:
 
 {% highlight text %}
 {% raw %}{% highlight ruby %}{% endraw %}
diff --git a/site/docs/templates.md b/site/docs/templates.md
index 67b30123..6c34993b 100644
--- a/site/docs/templates.md
+++ b/site/docs/templates.md
@@ -230,8 +230,14 @@ These parameters are available via Liquid in the include:
 
 Jekyll has built in support for syntax highlighting of [over 100
 languages](http://pygments.org/languages/) thanks to
-[Pygments](http://pygments.org/). To use Pygments, you must have Python installed on your
-system and set `pygments` to `true` in your site's configuration file.
+[Pygments](http://pygments.org/). To use Pygments, you must have Python installed
+on your system and set `highlighter` to `pygments` in your site's configuration
+file.
+
+Alternatively, you can use [Rouge](https://github.com/jayferd/rouge) to highlight
+your code snippets. It doesn't support as many languages as Pygments does but
+it should fit in most cases and it's written in pure Ruby ; you don't need Python
+on your system!
 
 To render a code block with syntax highlighting, surround your code as follows:
 
@@ -247,8 +253,9 @@ end
 
 The argument to the `highlight` tag (`ruby` in the example above) is the
 language identifier. To find the appropriate identifier to use for the language
-you want to highlight, look for the “short name” on the [Lexers
-page](http://pygments.org/docs/lexers/).
+you want to highlight, look for the “short name” on the [Pygments' Lexers
+page](http://pygments.org/docs/lexers/) or the [Rouge
+wiki](https://github.com/jayferd/rouge/wiki/List-of-supported-languages-and-lexers).
 
 #### Line numbers
 
@@ -288,7 +295,7 @@ will generate the correct permalink URL for the post you specify.
 {% endraw %}
 {% endhighlight %}
 
-If you organize your posts in subdirectories, you need to include subdirectory 
+If you organize your posts in subdirectories, you need to include subdirectory
 path to the post:
 
 {% highlight text %}
diff --git a/site/docs/troubleshooting.md b/site/docs/troubleshooting.md
index e481af6b..c27c1665 100644
--- a/site/docs/troubleshooting.md
+++ b/site/docs/troubleshooting.md
@@ -123,8 +123,8 @@ bug](http://aaronqian.com/articles/2009/04/07/redcloth-ate-my-notextile.html)
 and will hopefully be fixed for 4.2. You can still use 4.1.9, but the
 test suite requires that 4.1.0 be installed. If you use a version of
 RedCloth that does not have the notextile tag, you may notice that
-syntax highlighted blocks from Pygments are not formatted correctly,
-among other things. If you’re seeing this just install 4.1.0.
+syntax highlighted blocks from Pygments or Rouge are not formatted
+correctly, among other things. If you’re seeing this just install 4.1.0.
 
 ### Liquid
 
diff --git a/test/test_configuration.rb b/test/test_configuration.rb
index d911b779..36e6cb1d 100644
--- a/test/test_configuration.rb
+++ b/test/test_configuration.rb
@@ -51,11 +51,12 @@ class TestConfiguration < Test::Unit::TestCase
   context "#backwards_compatibilize" do
     setup do
       @config = Configuration[{
-        "auto"    => true,
-        "watch"   => true,
-        "server"  => true,
-        "exclude" => "READ-ME.md, Gemfile,CONTRIBUTING.hello.markdown",
-        "include" => "STOP_THE_PRESSES.txt,.heloses, .git"
+        "auto"     => true,
+        "watch"    => true,
+        "server"   => true,
+        "exclude"  => "READ-ME.md, Gemfile,CONTRIBUTING.hello.markdown",
+        "include"  => "STOP_THE_PRESSES.txt,.heloses, .git",
+        "pygments" => true,
       }]
     end
     should "unset 'auto' and 'watch'" do
@@ -78,6 +79,11 @@ class TestConfiguration < Test::Unit::TestCase
       assert @config.backwards_compatibilize.has_key?("include")
       assert_equal @config.backwards_compatibilize["include"], %w[STOP_THE_PRESSES.txt .heloses .git]
     end
+    should "set highlighter to pygments" do
+      assert @config.has_key?("pygments")
+      assert !@config.backwards_compatibilize.has_key?("pygments")
+      assert_equal @config.backwards_compatibilize["highlighter"], "pygments"
+    end
   end
   context "#fix_common_issues" do
     setup do
diff --git a/test/test_redcarpet.rb b/test/test_redcarpet.rb
index c6e8b922..dabcd62c 100644
--- a/test/test_redcarpet.rb
+++ b/test/test_redcarpet.rb
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class TestRedcarpet < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
     context "with pygments enabled" do
       setup do
-        @markdown = Converters::Markdown.new @config.merge({ 'pygments' => true })
+        @markdown = Converters::Markdown.new @config.merge({ 'highlighter' => 'pygments' })
       end
 
       should "render fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting" do
@@ -42,9 +42,25 @@ puts "Hello world"
       end
     end
 
-    context "with pygments disabled" do
+    context "with rouge enabled" do
       setup do
-        @markdown = Converters::Markdown.new @config.merge({ 'pygments' => false })
+        @markdown = Converters::Markdown.new @config.merge({ 'highlighter' => 'rouge' })
+      end
+
+      should "render fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting" do
+        assert_equal "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre><code class=\"ruby language-ruby\" data-lang=\"ruby\"><span class=\"nb\">puts</span> <span class=\"s2\">\"Hello world\"</span>\n</code></pre></div>", @markdown.convert(
+          <<-EOS
+```ruby
+puts "Hello world"
+```
+          EOS
+        ).strip
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "without any highlighter" do
+      setup do
+        @markdown = Converters::Markdown.new @config.merge({ 'highlighter' => nil })
       end
 
       should "render fenced code blocks without syntax highlighting" do
diff --git a/test/test_tags.rb b/test/test_tags.rb
index 3d9abd1b..8ecaf19b 100644
--- a/test/test_tags.rb
+++ b/test/test_tags.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class TestTags < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   def create_post(content, override = {}, converter_class = Jekyll::Converters::Markdown)
     stub(Jekyll).configuration do
-      Jekyll::Configuration::DEFAULTS.deep_merge({'pygments' => true}).deep_merge(override)
+      Jekyll::Configuration::DEFAULTS.deep_merge({'highlighter' => 'pygments'}).deep_merge(override)
     end
     site = Site.new(Jekyll.configuration)
 
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ class TestTags < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
     info = { :filters => [Jekyll::Filters], :registers => { :site => site } }
     @converter = site.converters.find { |c| c.class == converter_class }
-    payload = { "pygments_prefix" => @converter.pygments_prefix,
-                "pygments_suffix" => @converter.pygments_suffix }
+    payload = { "highlighter_prefix" => @converter.highlighter_prefix,
+                "highlighter_suffix" => @converter.highlighter_suffix }
 
     @result = Liquid::Template.parse(content).render!(payload, info)
     @result = @converter.convert(@result)