The longing, so characteristic of the North of Europe, to see the world
and meet with adventures, was in Provence and Italy less pronounced.
These favoured climes possessed so many of the things dreamed of and
desired by other countries. Events, strange as fiction, actually
occurred. Count Raimond of Roussillon, for instance, imprisoned his wife
in a tower because the troubadour, Guillem of Cabestann, was in love
with and beloved by her. He waylaid the lover, killed him, cut his heart
out of his breast and sent it, roasted, to his countess. When she had
partaken of it, he showed her Guillem's head and asked her how she had
enjoyed the dish. "So much that no other food shall ever pass my lips,"
she replied, casting herself out of the window. When the story spread
abroad, the great nobles rose up in arms against Raimond, and even the
King of Aragon made war on him. He was caught and imprisoned for life,
and his estates were confiscated. Guillem and the countess were buried
in the church, and for a long time after men and women travelled long
distances to kneel at their grave.
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