Al Jones

Altar of Saint Sernin, Toulouse, used by Pope Urban II around the time he preached the First Crusade, 1095. Based on the movement it began, Urban's speech in Clermont, France must be the most successful hortatory sermon in the entire history of Christianity.

North Tower of the Abbey Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Caunes-Minervois, France. Crypt dates from the ninth century, apse and nave from the eleventh and twelfth. Inspiration for the Abbey of Montjoix where Julian, an ironworker from Blagnac, meets Sister Barbara, the former Monica from Ronzières, before they embark on the First Crusade in 1095.

Castle of Foix, France. Julian and Monica's daughter Esquiva returns from the Holy Land to marry the Count early in the twelfth century. Guilhelms Faure is their descendant, born a century later.

Tour Regine (closest), Surdespine (left) and Quertinheux castles, Lastours, France, taken from Cabaret Castle. Quertinheux Castle is similar in style to the Castle of Fonta near Brassat on the Bariéja, home of the blacksmith Guilhelms Faure and his family in the 1220s.

The Pyrenees near St.-Bertrand-de-Comminges, France. The high peak is the inspiration for the "Grandautar" (high altar) above the Compostela Road through the Sárdalo Pass. Hugh of Alberensa and then his sister Agnes reign here in the 1220s, at the peak of the Albigensian Crusade. Like Guilhelms Faure, they are descendants of Julian and Monica.

Church of St.-Just in Valcabrère, France, along one of the Compostela routes. Romanesque style from the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Similar to the pilgrimage church on the Alberensa River. Replaced by Angibert of Alberensa, "The Builder," with the Romanesque Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pryenees.