at are the subject of the succeeding
narrative--_The Carlovingian Coins; or, The Daughters of Charlemagne_.

DANIEL DE LEON.

New York, 1904.

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER I.

NARBONNE.

Cruel intestine wars between the descendants of the Frankish conquerors
were devastating Gaul when the Arab invasion took place in 719. The
invaders poured down from the Pyrenees and drove back or subjugated the
Visigoths. The exchange of masters was almost a gain to the inhabitants
of the region. The conquerors from the south were more civilized than
those from the north. Many of the Gauls,--either freemen, or colonists
or slaves--took so strongly to the southern invader that they even
embraced his religion, the religion of Mahomet, allured thereto by the
promises of a paradise peopled with houris. "The virtuous believer,"
declared the Koran, "will be taken to the delicious home of Eden,
enchanted gardens, through which well-shaded rivers flow. There,
ornamented with bracelets of gold, clad in green clothes of woven silk
and resplendent with glory, the faithful will recline upon nuptial beds,
the happy prize in the dwelling of delights." Preferring, accordingly,
the white houris promised by the Koran to the winged seraphs of the
Christian paradise, many Gauls embraced Mohamedanism with ardor. Mosques
rose in Languedoc beside Christian churches. More tolerant than the
bishops, the Arabs allowed the Christians to follow their own religion.
Moreover, Mohamedanism, founded by Mahomet during the previous century,
608, acknowledged the divinity of the Scriptures and recognized Moses
and the Jewish prophets as beings chosen by God, only it did not
recognize the godship of Jesus. "Oh, ye, who have received the
Scriptures, keep within the bounds of the faith. Speak only the truth
about God. Jesus is the son of Mary, and he was sent by the All-High,
but is not his son. Say not that God is a trinity. God is one. Jesus
will not blush at being the servant of God. The angels that surround the
throne of God obey God!"--thus spoke the Koran.

The town of Narbonne, capital of Languedoc under the dominion of the
Arabs, had in 737 quite an Oriental aspect, due as much to the clearness
of the sky as to the dress and customs of a large number of its
inhabitants. The laurel shrubs, the green oaks and palm trees recalled
the vegetation of Africa. Saracen women were seen going to or coming
from the fountains with earthen vessels nicely balanced on