ight in his abbey put out in such
wise that therein was no comfort or rest, until that he was gone forth
from thence; and when he was chosen bishop of Toulouse such a fire was
spread throughout the land that never for any water will it be quenched;
for there did he bring destruction of life and body and soul upon more [82]
than fifteen hundred of high and low. By the faith which I owe to you,
by his deeds and his words and his dealings, more like is he to
Anti-Christ than to an envoy of Rome." (_Chanson de la croisade contre
les Albigeois_, v. 3309.)

Folquet died on December 25, 1231, and was buried at the Cistercian
Abbey of Grandselve, some thirty miles north-west of Toulouse. Such
troubadours as Guilhem Figueira and Peire Cardenal, who inveighed
against the action of the Church during the crusade, say nothing of him,
and upon their silence and that of the biography as regards his
ecclesiastical life the argument has been founded that Folquet the
troubadour and Folquet the bishop were two different persons. There is
no evidence to support this theory. Folquet's poems enjoyed a high
reputation. The minnesinger, Rudolf, Count of Neuenberg (end of the
twelfth century) imitated him, as also did the Italians Rinaldo d'Aquino
and Jacopo da Lentino.

The troubadours as a rule stood aloof from the religious quarrels of the
age. But few seem to have joined the crusaders, as Perdigon did. Most of
their patrons were struggling for their existence: when the invaders
succeeded in establishing themselves, they had no desire for court
poetry. The troubadour's occupation was gone, and those who wished for
an audience were obliged to seek beyond the borders of France. Hence it [83]
is somewhat remarkable to find the troubadour Raimon de Miraval, of
Carcassonne, continuing to sing, as though perfect tranquillity
prevailed. His wife, Gaudairenca, was a poetess, and Paul Heyse has made
her the central figure of one of his charming _Troubadour Novellen_.
Raimon's poems betray no forebodings of the coming storm; when it broke,
he lost his estate and fled to Raimon of Toulouse for shelter. The
arrival of Pedro II. of Aragon at Toulouse in 1213 and his alliance with
the Count of Toulouse cheered the troubadour's spirits: he thought there
was a chance that he might recover his estate. He compliments Pedro on
his determination in one poem and in another tells his lady, "the king
has promised me that in a short time, I shall have Miraval