The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-05-10

1ACu' tAlc Su4Ldu Oh NOC6Fa, as Charles OF
Anjou called him, put all his confidence
i'll the Saracens, who guarded for him
his fathers strOnghOlds and treasures.
He trusted hardly any other, sent for
nine thousand more from Sicily, and in
his last battle, at Grandella, in the veal
1866, it wasat their head that he charged
the enemy.
1t was, however, not only in Southern
Italy and, of course, in Spain, where the
native Saracen element wasvery numer-
Gus, that we find this spirit of federation
OF religious indifference. The same is
met with in Southern France.
The Scientific element-the Jewish and
Arab-was prominent in Languedoe and
Provence. NarbOnne had long been the
capital Of the Saracens in France. Mont
pelier entertained closer relations with
Salerno and Cordova than with Rome,
an active commerce rather approxima-
ting than dividing them. Since the first
crusade Upper LanguedOe had turned
toward the East-the counts of Toulouse
We're counts of Tripoli in Syria. The
beautiful coins and magnifcen stuffGs of
Asia had done much to reconcile the
crusaders with the Muhammedan world.
The merchants Of Languedoe We're ever
passing over into Asia, cross on shoulder;
but it was to visit the market of Acre,
rather than the holy sepulchre at Jerus-
alem. So fan, even, had religious an
tipatElies given way to mercantile con-
~siderations, that the bishops of Mague-
Tonne and Montpelier and the counts of
Toulouse coined money with Arabic le-
gends, bearing the impress of the cres-
cent and the name of Muhammed.
This rich Southern France with her
genius rather mercantil than chivalrOus,
her MOrescO dances and costumes and
her Moorish physiognomies, displayed
herself to the Northern France under an
aspect at once revolving and inviting.
The very food of the population of Ian
guedOc tended to estrange the two races.
The eaters Of garlic and oil reminded
the people of the North of the habitudes
OF the MOOrs and Jews, and Languedoc
seemed to them another Judea, with the
very important difference, that in the
sterile real Judea there was very little
to get except hard blows, while in the
rich, fOurishing French Judea there was
an unlimited amount Of plumber to be
had. This, more than anything else,
originated the large participation of the
Northern nobility in the crusade against
the AlbigeOis, for, after the first crusade
to the Holy Land, the religious spirit,
Notwithstanding St. Louis genuine zeal,
hadalmost entirely leftthese expeditions
The great of the world and the popes
knew perfectly well what to think of a
crusade. Petrarch relates that it was
once deliberated in Rome who should
be the leader of a neW-an eighth-crus-
ade, and that Don SanchO, a son of Al
phonso X, King Of CASTLE, was chosen
as leader. He came to Rome and was
admitted to the eonsistory, where the
election was to take place. Being mac
quainted with Latin, he took one of his
courtiers with him as interpreter. He
was thenproclaimed Kingof Egypt, and
all present applauded the choice. On
hearing the applause, the prince asked
the interpreter what it was about. "The
pope" replied this, "has gust made yos.
King Of Egypt" eve must not be an
THANKFUL" was Don Sancho's answer,
"get up and proclaim the holy father Ca
| Eph Of BQqdQd.n f. B.