1098-1229 CE
From 1098 to 1229 CE, the Occitans created Europe's most sophisticated courtly culture in the sunlit lands between the Pyrenees and the Alps — troubadours singing of fin'amor in castle halls, merchants growing rich on Mediterranean trade, and Cathar preachers offering salvation without Rome. Then the crusaders came from the north, and Béziers burned, and the langue d'oc fell silent in the halls of power.