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CAMISARDS (from camisade, obsolete Fr...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 115 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMISARDS (from camisade, obsolete Fr. for " a See also:night attack," from the Ital. camiciata, formed from camicia—Fr. chemise—a See also:shirt, from the fact of a shirt being worn over the See also:armour in See also:order to distinguish See also:friends from foes) , the name given to the peasantry of the See also:Cevennes who, from 1702 to 1705 and for some years afterwards, carried on an organized military resistance to the dragonnades, or See also:conversion by See also:torture, See also:death and See also:confiscation of See also:property, by which, in the Huguenot districts of See also:France, the revocation of the See also:edict of See also:Nantes was attempted to be enforced. The Camisards were also called Barbets (" See also:water-See also:dogs," a See also:term also applied to the Waldenses), Vagabonds, Assemblers (assemblee was the name given to the See also:meeting or conventicle of See also:Huguenots), Fanatics and the See also:Children of See also:God. They belonged to that See also:romance-speaking See also:people of See also:Gothic descent whose mystic See also:imagination and See also:independent See also:character made the See also:south of France the most fertile See also:nursing-ground of See also:medieval See also:heresy (see See also:CATHARS and ALBIGENSES). At the See also:time of the See also:Reformation the same causes produced like results. See also:Calvin was warmly welcomed when he preached at See also:Nimes; See also:Montpellier became the See also:chief centre for the instruction of the Huguenot youth. It was, however, in the See also:great triangular See also:plateau of See also:mountain called the Cevennes that, among the small farmers, the See also:cloth and See also:silk weavers and See also:vine dressers, Protestantism was most intense and universal. These people were (and still are) very poor, but intelligent and pious, and of a character at once See also:grave and fervent. From the lists of Huguenots sent from See also:Languedoc to the galleys (1684 to 1762), we gather that the .See also:common type of physique is " belle See also:taille, cheveux bruns, visage ovale." The chief See also:theatre of the revolt comprised that region of the Cevennes bounded by the towns of Florae, See also:Pont-de-Montvert, See also:Alais and See also:Lasalle, thus embracing the See also:southern portion of the See also:department of See also:Lozere (the Bas-Gevaudan) and the neighbouring See also:district in the See also:east of the department of See also:Gard. In order to understand the See also:War of the Cevennes it is necessary to recall the persecutions which preceded and followed the revocation of the edict of Nantes. It is also necessary to re-member the extraordinary religious See also:movement which had for a great number of years agitated the Protestants of France. Faced by the violation of that most See also:solemn of See also:treaties, a treaty which had been declared perpetual and irrevocable by See also:Henry IV., See also:Louis XIII. and even Louis XIV. himself, they could not, in the See also:enthusiasm of their faith, believe that such a See also:crime would be See also:left unpunished. But being convinced that no human See also:power could give them See also:liberty of See also:conscience, they went to the See also:Bible to find when their deliverance would come.

As far back as 1686 See also:

Pierre See also:Jurieu published his See also:work L'Accomplissemenl See also:des propheties, in which, speaking of the See also:Apocalypse, he predicted the end of the persecution and the fall of Babylon—that is to say of See also:Roman Catholicism—for 1689. The Revolution in See also:England seemed to provide a striking corroboration of his prophecies, and the apocalyptic enthusiasm took so strong a hold on people's minds that See also:Bossuet See also:felt compelled to refute Jurieu's arguments in his Apocalypse expliquee, published in 1689. The Lettres pastorales of Jurieu (See also:Rotterdam, 1686-1687), a See also:series of brief tracts which were secretly circulated in France, continued to narrate events and prodigies in which the author saw the intervention of God, and thus strengthened the courage of his adherents. This religious enthusiasm, under the See also:influence of Du Serre, was manifested for the first time in the See also:Dauphine. Du Serre, who was a See also:pupil of Jurieu, communicated his mystic faith to See also:young children who were called the "petits prophetes," the most famous of whom was a girl named " La belle Isabeau." Brought up on the study of the prophets and the Apocalypse, these children went from See also:village to village quoting and requoting the most obscure and terrible passages from these See also:ancient prophecies (see See also:ANTICHRIST). It is necessary to remember that at this time the Protestants were without ministers, all being in See also:exile, and were thus deprived of all real religious instruction. They listened with enthusiasm to this See also:strange See also:preaching, and thousands of those who were called New Catholics were seen to be giving up attendance at See also:Mass. The movement advanced in Languedoc with such rapidity that at one time there were more than three See also:hundred children shut up in the prisons of See also:Uzes on the See also:charge of prophesying, and the See also:Faculty of See also:Medicine of Montpellier, which was entrusted with their examination, went so far in their See also:ignorance as to pronounce these irresponsible infants guilty of fanaticism. After the See also:peace of See also:Ryswick, 1697, the fierceness of the persecution was redoubled in the South. "I will show no See also:mercy to the preachers," wrote the terrible Baville, the so-called "See also:king of Languedoc," and he kept his word. The people of the Cevennes were in despair, for their See also:loyalty to the king had been remarkable. In 1683 on the 6th of See also:September an See also:assembly composed of fifty pastors, sixty-four noblemen and See also:thirty-four notables, held at Colognac, had See also:drawn up a statement of its unalterable loyalty to Louis XIV.

It is important to See also:

notice that the revolt of the Cevennes was essentially a popular movement. Among its leaders there was not a single nobleman, but only men of the people, a See also:baker, a blacksmith, some ex-soldiers; but by far the most extraordinary characterisic is the presence, no longer of children, but of men and See also:women who declared themselves inspired, who See also:fell into religious ecstasies and roused in their comrades the most heroic bravery in See also:battle and at the stake. The assassination of the See also:abbe du Chayla marks the beginning of the war of the Cevennes. The abbe, a See also:veteran See also:Catholic missionary from See also:Siam, had been appointed inspector of See also:missions in the Cevennes. There he introduced the " squeezers " (which resembled the Scottish "See also:boot "), and his systematic and refined See also:cruelty at last See also:broke the See also:patience of his victims. His See also:murder, on the 23rd of See also:July 1702, at Pont de Monvert, was the first See also:blow in the war. It was planned by Esprit Seguier, who at once began to carry out his See also:idea of a See also:general See also:massacre of the Catholic priests. He soon fell, and was succeeded by See also:Laporte, an old soldier, who, as his See also:troop increased, assumed the See also:title of " the See also:Colonel of the Children of God," and named his See also:camp the " Camp of the Eternal." He used to See also:lead his followers to the fight, singing See also:Clement See also:Marot's See also:grand version of the 68th See also:Psalm, " Que Dieu se montre seulement," to the See also:music of See also:Goudimel. Besides Laporte, the See also:forest-See also:ranger Castanet, the See also:wool-carders Conderc and Mazel, the soldiers See also:Catinat, Joany and Ravenel were selected as captains —all men whom the theomanie or prophetic malady had visited. But the most important figures are those of See also:Roland, who after-wards issued the following extraordinary despatch to the inhabit-ants of St See also:Andre:—" Nous, See also:comte et seigneur Roland, generalissime des Protestants de France, nous ordonnons que See also:vous ayez a congedier clans trois jours tous See also:les pretres et missionnaires qui sont chez vous, sous See also:peine d'etre brines tout vifs, vous et eux " (See also:Court, i. p. 219); and See also:Jean See also:Cavalier, the baker's boy, who, at the See also:age of seventeen, commanded the southern See also:army of the Camisards, and who, after defeating successively the comte de See also:Broglie and three See also:French marshals, Montrevel, See also:Berwick and See also:Villars, made an See also:honourable peace. (See CAVALIER, JEAN.) Cavalier for nearly two years continued to See also:direct the war.

See also:

Regular taxes were raised, arsenals were formed in the great See also:limestone caves of the district, the Catholic churches and their decorations were burned and the See also:clergy driven away. Occasion-ally routed in regular engagements, the Camisards, through their desperate valour and the rapidity of their movements, wereconstantly successful in skirmishes, night attacks and ambuscades. A force of 6o,000 was now in the See also:field against them; among others, the Irish See also:Brigade which had just returned from the persecutions of the Waldenses. The rising was far from being general, and never extended to more than three or four thousand men, but it was rendered dangerous by the See also:secret and even in many places the open support of the people in general. On the other See also:hand their knowledge of a mountainous See also:country clothed in forests and without roads, gave the insurgents an enormous See also:advantage over the royal troops. The See also:rebellion was not finally suppressed until Baville had constructed roads throughout this almost See also:savage country. Montrevel adopted a policy of extermination, and 466 villages were burned in the Upper Cevennes alone, the See also:population being for the most See also:part put to the See also:sword. See also:Pope Clement XI. assisted in this work by issuing a See also:bull against the " execrable See also:race of the ancient Albigenses," and promising remission of sins to the See also:holy See also:militia which was now formed among the Catholic population, and was called the Florentines, Cadets of the See also:Cross or See also:White Camisards. Villars, the See also:victor of See also:Hochstadt and Friedlingen, saw that conciliation was necessary; he took advantage of the feeling of horror with which the quiet Protestants of Nimes and other towns now- regarded the war, and published an See also:amnesty. In May 1704 a formal meeting between Cavalier and Villars took See also:place at Nimes. The result of the interview was that a document entitled Tres humble requete des reformes du Languedoc an Roi was despatched to the court. The three leading See also:requests for liberty of conscience and the right of assembly outside walled towns, for the liberation of those sentenced to See also:prison or the galleys under the revocation, and for the restitution to the emigrants of their property and See also:civil rights, were all granted,—the first on See also:condition of no churches being built, and the third on condition of an See also:oath of See also:allegiance being taken.

The greater part of the Camisard army under Roland, Ravenel and Joany would not accept the terms which Cavalier had arranged. They insisted that the edict of Nantes must be restored,—" point de paix, que nous n'ayons nos temples." They continued the war till See also:

January 1705, by which time all their leaders were either killed or dispersed. In 1709 Mazel and Claris, with the aid of two preaching women, See also:Marie Desubas and See also:Elizabeth Catalon, made a serious effort to rekindle revolt in the Vivarais. In 1711 all opposition and all signs of the reformed See also:religion had disappeared. On the 8th of See also:March 1715, by medals and a See also:proclamation, Louis XIV. announced the entire extinction of heresy. What we know of the spiritual manifestations in the Cevennes (which much resembled those of the See also:Swedish Raestars of Smaland in 1844) is chiefly derived from Le Theatre sacre des Cevennes, See also:London, 1707, reprinted at See also:Paris in 1847; A Cry From the See also:Desert, &c., by See also:John See also:Lacy, London, 1707; La Clef des propheties de M. See also:Marion, London, 1707; Avertissements prophetiques d'See also:Elie Marian, &c., London, 1707. About tht date of these publications the three prophets of the Cevennes, Marion, See also:Durand-Fage and Cavalier (a See also:cousin of the famous Jean Cavalier) were in London and were See also:objects of lively curiosity. The See also:consistory of the French See also:church in the See also:Savoy sent a protest to the See also:lord See also:mayor against "See also:cette secte impie et extravagante" and the See also:matter was tried at the See also:Guildhall. Misson, author of the Theatre sacre, declared in See also:defence of the accused, that the same spirit which had caused See also:Balaam's See also:ass to speak could speak through the mouths of these prophets from the Cevennes. Marion and his two friends Fatio, a member of the Royal Society of London, and Daude, a leading savant, who acted as his secretaries, were condemned to the See also:pillory and to the See also:stocks. See also:Voltaire relates (Siecle de Louis XIV. c.

36) that Marion wished to prove his See also:

inspiration by attempting to raise a dead See also:body (See also:Thomas Emes) from St See also:Paul's See also:churchyard. He was at last compelled to leave England.' The inspiration (of which there were four degrees, avertissement, 1 This curious affair provoked a lengthy controversy, which is described in " La Relation historique de ce qui s'est passe a Londres au sujet des prophetes camisards " (Republique des Lettres, 1708), in the study of M. Vesson, Les Prophetes camisards ¢ Londres (1893), and also in the See also:book Les Prophetes cevenols, ch. iii. (1861) by See also:Alfred See also:Dubois. souffle, prophetie, dons) was sometimes communicated by a See also:kiss at the assembly. The patient, who had gone through several fasts three days in length, became See also:pale and fell insensible to the ground. Then came violent agitations of the limbs and See also:head, as Voltaire remarks, " quite according to the ancient See also:custom of all nations, and the rules of madness transmitted from age to age." Finally the patient (who might be a little See also:child, a woman, a See also:half-witted See also:person) began to speak in the See also:good French of the Huguenot Bible words such as these: " See also:Mes freres, amendez-vous, faites penitence, la fin du monde approche; le jugement general sera clans trois mois; repentez-vous du grand peche que vous avez commis d'aller a la messe; c'est le See also:Saint-Esprit qui parle See also:par ma bouche (Brueys, Histoire du fanatisme de noire temps, See also:Utrecht, 1737, vol. i. p. 153). The discourse might go on for two See also:hours; after which the patient could only See also:express himself in his native See also:patois,—a Romance See also:idiom,—and had no recollection of his " See also:ecstasy." All kinds of miracles attended on the Camisards. See also:Lights in the See also:sky guided them to places of safety, voices sang encouragement to them, shots and wounds were often harmless. Those entranced fell from trees without hurting themselves; they See also:shed tears of See also:blood; and they subsisted without See also:food or speech for nine days. The supernatural was part of their See also:life.

Much literature has been devoted to the discussion of these marvels. The Catholics Flechier (in his Lettres choisies) and Brueys consider them the product of See also:

fasting and vanity, nourished on apocalyptic literature. The doctors See also:Bertrand (Du magnetisme See also:animal, Paris, 1826) and Calmeil (De la folie, Paris, 1845) speak of See also:magnetism, See also:hysteria and See also:epilepsy, a prophetic monomania based on belief in divine See also:possession. The Protestants especially emphasized the spirituality of the inspiration of the Camisards; Peyral, Histoire des pasteurs du desert, ii. 28o, wrote: " I1 fallait a cet effort gigantesque un ressort prodigieux, l'enthousiasme ordinaire n'y elit pas suffi." Dubois, who has made a careful study of the problem, says: " L'inspiration cevenole nous apparait comme un phenomene purement spirituel." Conservative Catholics, such as Hippolyte See also:Blanc in his book on L'Inspiration des Camisards (1859), regard the whole thing as the work of the See also:devil. The publication of J. F. K. See also:Hecker's work, See also:Die Volkskrankheiten des Mittelalters, made it possible to consider the subject in its true relation. This was translated into See also:English in 1844 by B. G. See also:Babington as The Epidemics of the See also:Middle Ages.

Although the Camisards were guilty of great cruelties in the See also:

prosecution of the war, there does not seem to be sufficient ground for the charge made by See also:Marshal de Villars: " Le plupart de leurs chefs ont leurs demoiselles " (See also:letter of 9th See also:August 1704, in the War Archives, vol. 1797). Court replied to these unjust charges: "Their enemies have accused them of leading a life of See also:licence because there were women in their camps. These were their wives, their daughters, their mothers, who were there to prepare their food and to See also:nurse the wounded" (Histoire, vol. i.p. 71). I I 5 lement of See also:Toulouse to be torn up and burnt in 1759; See also:Antoine Court, Histoire des troubles des Cevennes (3 vols., 1760), the best work of this See also:period, compiled from numerous See also:manuscript references. The war of the Cevennes has been treated in several English See also:works, e.g. A See also:Corn pleat See also:History of the Cevennes; giving a Particular See also:Account of the Situation, dec., by a See also:doctor of civil See also:law (London, 1703). This work includes a See also:dedication to the See also:queen, an See also:historical account of the people of the Cevennes, the bull of Pope Clement against the Camisards, and the See also:bishop of Nimes's See also:mandate See also:publishing the bull, and a discourse on the obligations of the English to help the Camisards, and a See also:form of See also:prayer used in the Camisard assembly, printed in London in 1703 under the title Formulaire de prieres des Cevennols dans leurs assemblies. The History of the Rise and Downfal of the Camisards, &'c. (London, 1709), dealt with the prophets of the Cevennes in London, and is only an'abridged See also:translation of Pere Louvreleuil's work. Among See also:modern works are, Ernest Moret, Quinze ens du regne de Louis XIV (3 vols., 1859), a work which gives a remarkable history of the war of the Cevennes; Les Insurges Protestants sous Louis XIV, studies and unedited documents published by G.

Frosterus (1868); Memoires de Bonbonnoux, chief Camisard and pastor of the desert, published by Vielles (1883); Bonnemere, Histoire de la guerre des Camisards (1859). Two popular works are—F. Puaux, Histoire populaire de la guerre des Camisards (1875); See also:

Anna E. See also:Bray, The Revolt of the Protestants of the Cevennes with some Account of the Huguenots of the Seventeenth See also:Century (London, 187o). (F.

End of Article: CAMISARDS (from camisade, obsolete Fr. for " a night attack," from the Ital. camiciata, formed from camicia—Fr. chemise—a shirt, from the fact of a shirt being worn over the armour in order to distinguish friends from foes)

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