diff --git a/features/step_definitions/jekyll_steps.rb b/features/step_definitions/jekyll_steps.rb
index 98f14ad1..c289df94 100644
--- a/features/step_definitions/jekyll_steps.rb
+++ b/features/step_definitions/jekyll_steps.rb
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ end
 Given /^I have the following (draft|page|post)s?(?: (in|under) "([^"]+)")?:$/ do |status, direction, folder, table|
   table.hashes.each do |input_hash|
     title = slug(input_hash['title'])
-    ext = input_hash['type'] || 'textile'
+    ext = input_hash['type'] || 'markdown'
     before, after = location(folder, direction)
 
     case status
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb b/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb
index 7ba9359b..5277405c 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/configuration.rb
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ module Jekyll
       'keep_files'    => ['.git','.svn'],
       'encoding'      => 'utf-8',
       'markdown_ext'  => 'markdown,mkdown,mkdn,mkd,md',
-      'textile_ext'   => 'textile',
       'full_rebuild'  => false,
 
       # Filtering Content
@@ -90,10 +89,6 @@ module Jekyll
           'coderay_bold_every'        => 10,
           'coderay_css'               => 'style'
         }
-      },
-
-      'redcloth' => {
-        'hard_breaks' => true
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/filters.rb b/lib/jekyll/filters.rb
index ff13a233..d9c84fe8 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/filters.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/filters.rb
@@ -4,17 +4,6 @@ require 'date'
 
 module Jekyll
   module Filters
-    # Convert a Textile string into HTML output.
-    #
-    # input - The Textile String to convert.
-    #
-    # Returns the HTML formatted String.
-    def textilize(input)
-      site = @context.registers[:site]
-      converter = site.find_converter_instance(Jekyll::Converters::Textile)
-      converter.convert(input)
-    end
-
     # Convert a Markdown string into HTML output.
     #
     # input - The Markdown String to convert.
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/site.rb b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
index 38ece4ca..b6ab7039 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/site.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ module Jekyll
       [posts, pages].flatten.each do |page_or_post|
         page_or_post.render(layouts, payload) if page_or_post.regenerate?
       end
-    rescue Errno::ENOENT => e
+    rescue Errno::ENOENT
       # ignore missing layout dir
     end
 
diff --git a/site/_docs/configuration.md b/site/_docs/configuration.md
index 67dd25d4..6d59119d 100644
--- a/site/_docs/configuration.md
+++ b/site/_docs/configuration.md
@@ -477,7 +477,6 @@ exclude:      []
 keep_files:   [".git", ".svn"]
 encoding:     "utf-8"
 markdown_ext: "markdown,mkdown,mkdn,mkd,md"
-textile_ext:  "textile"
 
 # Filtering Content
 show_drafts: null
@@ -542,9 +541,6 @@ kramdown:
     coderay_tab_width:         4
     coderay_bold_every:        10
     coderay_css:               style
-
-redcloth:
-  hard_breaks: true
 {% endhighlight %}
 
 ## Markdown Options
diff --git a/site/_docs/index.md b/site/_docs/index.md
index 633d7534..bbb18087 100644
--- a/site/_docs/index.md
+++ b/site/_docs/index.md
@@ -14,10 +14,9 @@ development of Jekyll itself.
 
 Jekyll is a simple, blog-aware, static site generator. It takes a template
 directory containing raw text files in various formats, runs it through
-[Markdown](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) (or
-[Textile](http://redcloth.org/textile)) and
-[Liquid](https://github.com/Shopify/liquid/wiki)
-converters, and spits out a complete, ready-to-publish static website suitable
+a converter (like [Markdown](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/))
+and our [Liquid](https://github.com/Shopify/liquid/wiki) renderer, and
+spits out a complete, ready-to-publish static website suitable
 for serving with your favorite web server. Jekyll also happens to be the engine
 behind [GitHub Pages](http://pages.github.com), which means you can use Jekyll
 to host your project’s page, blog, or website from GitHub’s servers **for
diff --git a/site/_docs/permalinks.md b/site/_docs/permalinks.md
index 7a47cc68..703a2289 100644
--- a/site/_docs/permalinks.md
+++ b/site/_docs/permalinks.md
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ enough to fix it all!
 
 ## Permalink style examples
 
-Given a post named: `/2009-04-29-slap-chop.textile`
+Given a post named: `/2009-04-29-slap-chop.md`
 
 <div class="mobile-side-scroller">
 <table>
diff --git a/site/_docs/plugins.md b/site/_docs/plugins.md
index 36173caf..0748afac 100644
--- a/site/_docs/plugins.md
+++ b/site/_docs/plugins.md
@@ -164,8 +164,9 @@ Generators are only required to implement one method:
 ## Converters
 
 If you have a new markup language you’d like to use with your site, you can
-include it by implementing your own converter. Both the Markdown and Textile
-markup languages are implemented using this method.
+include it by implementing your own converter. Both the Markdown and
+[Textile](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-textile-converter) markup
+languages are implemented using this method.
 
 <div class="note info">
   <h5>Remember your YAML Front Matter</h5>
@@ -495,6 +496,7 @@ You can find a few useful plugins at the following locations:
 
 #### Converters
 
+- [Textile converter](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-textile-converter): Convert `.textile` files into HTML. Also includes the `textilize` Liquid filter.
 - [Slim plugin](https://github.com/slim-template/jekyll-slim): Slim converter and includes for Jekyll with support for Liquid tags.
 - [Jade plugin by John Papandriopoulos](https://github.com/snappylabs/jade-jekyll-plugin): Jade converter for Jekyll.
 - [HAML plugin by Sam Z](https://gist.github.com/517556): HAML converter for Jekyll.
diff --git a/site/_docs/posts.md b/site/_docs/posts.md
index ccdd76ad..c2d2e24d 100644
--- a/site/_docs/posts.md
+++ b/site/_docs/posts.md
@@ -14,11 +14,12 @@ and web-based CMS systems, this will be a welcome change!
 ## The Posts Folder
 
 As explained on the [directory structure](../structure/) page, the `_posts`
-folder is where your blog posts will live. These files can be either
-[Markdown](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) or
-[Textile](http://redcloth.org/textile) formatted text files, and as long as
-they have [YAML Front Matter](../frontmatter/), they will be converted from their
-source format into an HTML page that is part of your static site.
+folder is where your blog posts will live. These files are generally
+[Markdown](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) or HTML, but can
+be other formats with the proper converter installed.
+All posts must have [YAML Front Matter](../frontmatter/), and they will be
+converted from their source format into an HTML page that is part of your
+static site.
 
 ### Creating Post Files
 
@@ -52,12 +53,12 @@ file. For example, the following are examples of valid post filenames:
 
 All blog post files must begin with [YAML Front Matter](../frontmatter/). After
 that, it's simply a matter of deciding which format you prefer. Jekyll supports
-two popular content markup formats:
-[Markdown](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) and
-[Textile](http://redcloth.org/textile). These formats each have their own way
-of marking up different types of content within a post, so you should
-familiarize yourself with these formats and decide which one best suits your
-needs.
+[Markdown](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) out of the box,
+and has [myriad extensions for other formats as well](/docs/plugins/#converters-1),
+including the popular [Textile](http://redcloth.org/textile) format. These
+formats each have their own way of marking up different types of content
+within a post, so you should familiarize yourself with these formats and
+decide which one best suits your needs.
 
 <div class="note info">
   <h5>Be aware of character sets</h5>
diff --git a/site/_docs/templates.md b/site/_docs/templates.md
index 1b2877b2..9cb3eede 100644
--- a/site/_docs/templates.md
+++ b/site/_docs/templates.md
@@ -175,17 +175,6 @@ common tasks easier.
         </p>
       </td>
     </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td>
-        <p class="name"><strong>Textilize</strong></p>
-        <p>Convert a Textile-formatted string into HTML, formatted via RedCloth</p>
-      </td>
-      <td class="align-center">
-        <p>
-         <code class="filter">{% raw %}{{ page.excerpt | textilize }}{% endraw %}</code>
-        </p>
-      </td>
-    </tr>
     <tr>
       <td>
         <p class="name"><strong>Markdownify</strong></p>
diff --git a/test/helper.rb b/test/helper.rb
index 132b1f62..fa546b97 100644
--- a/test/helper.rb
+++ b/test/helper.rb
@@ -8,11 +8,9 @@ end
 require 'rubygems'
 require 'test/unit'
 require 'ostruct'
-gem 'RedCloth', '>= 4.2.1'
 
 require 'jekyll'
 
-require 'RedCloth'
 require 'rdiscount'
 require 'kramdown'
 require 'redcarpet'
diff --git a/test/test_filters.rb b/test/test_filters.rb
index 0e18dc02..cb44b65b 100644
--- a/test/test_filters.rb
+++ b/test/test_filters.rb
@@ -27,10 +27,6 @@ class TestFilters < Test::Unit::TestCase
       ]
     end
 
-    should "textilize with simple string" do
-      assert_equal "<p>something <strong>really</strong> simple</p>", @filter.textilize("something *really* simple")
-    end
-
     should "markdownify with simple string" do
       assert_equal "<p>something <strong>really</strong> simple</p>\n", @filter.markdownify("something **really** simple")
     end
diff --git a/test/test_post.rb b/test/test_post.rb
index 6fdea40d..4a33bbc9 100644
--- a/test/test_post.rb
+++ b/test/test_post.rb
@@ -746,13 +746,6 @@ class TestPost < Test::Unit::TestCase
       assert conv.kind_of?(Jekyll::Converters::Identity), "The converter for .Rmd should be the Identity converter."
     end
 
-    should "process .text as textile under alternate configuration" do
-      @site.config['textile_ext'] = 'textile,text'
-      post = setup_post '2011-04-12-text-extension.text'
-      conv = post.converters.first
-      assert conv.kind_of? Jekyll::Converters::Textile
-    end
-
   end
 
   context "site config with category" do
diff --git a/test/test_redcloth.rb b/test/test_redcloth.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 964591be..00000000
--- a/test/test_redcloth.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,86 +0,0 @@
-require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/helper'
-
-class TestRedCloth < Test::Unit::TestCase
-
-  context "RedCloth default (no explicit config) hard_breaks enabled" do
-    setup do
-      @textile = Converters::Textile.new
-    end
-
-    should "preserve single line breaks in HTML output" do
-      assert_equal "<p>line1<br />\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
-    end
-  end
-
-  context "Default hard_breaks enabled w/ redcloth section, no hard_breaks value" do
-    setup do
-      config = {
-        'redcloth'      => {}
-        }
-      @textile = Converters::Textile.new config
-    end
-
-    should "preserve single line breaks in HTML output" do
-      assert_equal "<p>line1<br />\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
-    end
-  end
-
-  context "RedCloth with hard_breaks enabled" do
-    setup do
-      config = {
-        'redcloth'      => {
-          'hard_breaks' => true # default
-        }
-      }
-      @textile = Converters::Textile.new config
-    end
-
-    should "preserve single line breaks in HTML output" do
-      assert_equal "<p>line1<br />\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
-    end
-  end
-
-  context "RedCloth with hard_breaks disabled" do
-    setup do
-      config = {
-        'redcloth'      => {
-          'hard_breaks' => false
-        }
-      }
-      @textile = Converters::Textile.new config
-    end
-
-    should "not generate break tags in HTML output" do
-      assert_equal "<p>line1\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
-    end
-  end
-
-  context "RedCloth w/no_span_caps set to false" do
-    setup do
-      config = {
-        'redcloth'       => {
-          'no_span_caps' => false
-        }
-      }
-      @textile = Converters::Textile.new config
-    end
-    should "generate span tags around capitalized words" do
-      assert_equal "<p><span class=\"caps\">NSC</span></p>", @textile.convert("NSC").strip
-    end
-  end
-
-  context "RedCloth w/no_span_caps set to true" do
-    setup do
-      config = {
-        'redcloth'       => {
-          'no_span_caps' => true
-        }
-      }
-      @textile = Converters::Textile.new config
-    end
-
-    should "not generate span tags around capitalized words" do
-      assert_equal "<p>NSC</p>", @textile.convert("NSC").strip
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/test/test_tags.rb b/test/test_tags.rb
index c6df3e05..7b6b60f4 100644
--- a/test/test_tags.rb
+++ b/test/test_tags.rb
@@ -231,17 +231,6 @@ puts "3..2..1.."
 CONTENT
     end
 
-    context "using Textile" do
-      setup do
-        create_post(@content, {}, Jekyll::Converters::Textile)
-      end
-
-      # Broken in RedCloth 4.1.9
-      should "not textilize highlight block" do
-        assert_no_match %r{3\.\.2\.\.1\.\.&quot;</span><br />}, @result
-      end
-    end
-
     context "using Maruku" do
       setup do
         create_post(@content)