(english translation at the end)

OCCITÀNIA I CATALUNYA, GERMANS DE SANG
Tal dia com avui, 12 de setembre, però de l’any 1213, a la batalla de Muret, va morir Pere el Catòlic en combat desigual a mans d'un exèrcit convocat pel Vaticà i impulsat pel rei de França. Fou Aixa que els catalans vàrem ser expulsats de terres occitanes i que Occitània va passar a mans franceses.
Els comtats occitans gaudien d'una molt notable sobirania respecte als reis de França, d’una esponerosa cultura i d’una certa estabilitat econòmica. En certa mesura, sembla que aquests factors varen ser fonamentals a l’hora d’encetar el cobejament d’aquestes terres per part del monarca francès, però no tan sols hi havia aquestes causes: l’idioma i la religió eren també un escull. El límit lingüístic que imposava l’occità davant l’expansió del francès a Europa esdevenia, també, una frontera política. Enmig d'aquest joc d'identitats, apareix el catarisme, un fort corrent religiós i místic que rebutja l’església vaticana considerant-la basada en mentides. La creixent popularitat del catarisme en terres occitanes i catalanes – els homes perfectes, practicants d’una ètica i una espiritualitat sense taca - amenaçava el monopoli religiós de Roma - i, per tant, també l'extracció de rendes - , i aquest fet va ser aprofitat per la corona francesa per animar el Papat a declarar heretges els càtars i els seus possibles protectors. Quan els comtes catalans i occitans varen intentar protegir les seves terres, la seva gent, els costums i l’espiritualitat es van trobar que la persecució militar francesa estava avalada per l’excomunió papal i per l’excusa de l’heretgia. Imperialisme polític i militar s’ajuntava a l’imperialisme de la fe.
Pere I va haver d’afrontar una situació molt delicada. Ell, que era conegut com Pere el Catòlic, veia com alguns dels seus vassalls eren excomunicats per l’Església de Roma, desposseïts de les seves terres, pertinences i soldats. Pere I va haver d'escollir entre la fidelitat a l'Església de Roma i la lleialtat a la seva gent. Atès que el Papa Innocenci III estava militarment compromès amb França (els mercenaris croats s’ajuntaven a l’exèrcit francès per estendre la fe catòlica on fos), Pere I va considerar que el vicariat de Crist a la Terra l’obligava a ajudar la seva gent, amb la tranquil•litat que desobeir al Papa no implicava cap infidelitat a Déu.
Pere I, no obstant, va confiar massa en les seves pròpies forces, i es va esposar excessivament, llançant-se personalment a la batalla. Però la batalla es va perdre, i Pere I va ser mort. L’aliança franco-papal representava un poder formidable. El fill de Pere I, educat per templers, havia de ser el gran Jaume I, de qui alguns diuen que va ser el famós Rei Artur de la llegenda.
Els catalans i els occitans, mai no ens hem refet de la catàstrofe de Muret.

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OCCITANIA AND CATALONIA, BLOOD BROTHERS.
There’s quite 800 year ago, in a September 12th (as today), but of year 1213, Pere the Ist, the catalan king, fight and died in Muret, an unequal war againts the Catholic Church of Rome allied with the french monarchy. The Catalans were expelled from the Occitan lands and Occitània (today Languedoc – or Langue d’Oc) passed to the french king.
The Occitan counties enjoyed a very remarkable sovereignty with respect to the kings of France and, like Catalonia, had a lush culture and a certain economical stability. In a certain measure, it seems that these factors were fundamental to the french monarch and justified to try to win these lands; but there were more causes: the language and the religion were also an obstacle. The linguistic limit imposed Occitania became, also, a political border that faced the expansion of the french empire in Europe. Moreover, there were the Catharism, a strong religious and mystical current that rejected the vatican church - considering it based on lies –. The increasing popularity of the Catharism in Occitania and Catalonia lands – they were called “the perfect men”, practising a hard ethical and spiritual attitude - loomed the religious monopoly of Rome - and, therefore, also the extraction of rents -, and this fact was used by the French crown for encouraging the Papacy to declaring heretics the Cathars and their possible protectors. When Catalonia and Occitania attempted to protect its lands, people, values, goods and spirituality, found that the French military pursuit was guaranteed by the excommunication from the Vatican Church and persecution by the Inquisition, manifesting that cathares and protectors were sinners of heresy.
This way, political and military imperialism joined to the imperialism of the faith.

Pere I, tha catalan king, had to face a very delicate situation: he was also known as “Pere the Catholic”. Pope and the french monarch allied to persecute heretics in Occitania and north of the Pyrenees, and also to expell people from their villages, excommunicating them, dispossess from goods and lands and prohibiting the language and the spiritual practices. Pere I had to choose among the faithfulness to the Church of Rome and the loyalty to the people. Since Pope Innocenci III was militarily committed with France (the Croatian mercenaries joined to the French army to spread the Catholic faith), Pere I considered that the Word of Christ forced him to helping his people, with the inner understanding that to disobey the Pope of Rome did not imply any infidelity to God.
Pere I, however, trusted too much his own force, throwing himself personally to the battle. The battle got lost, and Pere I was dead. The French-Vatican alliance represented a formidable power.
The son of Pere I, educated by Templars, was the great king Jaume I, that some considere to be the true King Arthur of the legend.

We, the Catalan People and our blood brothers, the Occitan People, have never recovered from the catastrophe of Muret.