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CAVALIER, JEAN (1681-1740)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 562 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAVALIER, See also:JEAN (1681-1740) , the famous See also:chief of the See also:Camisards (q.v.), was See also:born at Mas Roux, a small See also:hamlet in the See also:commune of Ribaute near Anduze (See also:Gard), on the 28th of See also:November 1681. His See also:father, an illiterate See also:peasant, had been compelled by persecution to become a See also:Roman See also:Catholic along with his See also:family, but his See also:mother brought him up secretly in the See also:Protestant faith. In his boyhood he became a shepherd, and about his twentieth See also:year the was apprenticed to a See also:baker. Threatened with See also:prosecution for his religious opinions he went to See also:Geneva, where he passed the year 1701; he returned to the See also:Cevennes on the See also:eve of the See also:rebellion of the Camisards, who by the See also:murder of the See also:Abbe du Chayla at See also:Pont-de-Monvert on the See also:night of the 24th of See also:July 1702 raised the See also:standard of revolt. Some months later he became their See also:leader. He showed himself possessed of an extraordinary See also:genius for See also:war, and See also:Marshal See also:Villars paid him the high compliment of saying that he was as courageous in attack as he was prudent in See also:retreat, and that by his extraordinary knowledge of the See also:country he displayed in the management of his troops a skill as See also:great as that of the ablest See also:officers. Within a See also:period of two years he was to hold in check See also:Count See also:Victor See also:Maurice de See also:Broglie and Marshal Montrevel, generals of See also:Louis XIV., and to carry on one of the most terrible See also:partisan See also:wars in See also:French See also:history. He organized the Camisard forces and maintained the most severe discipline. As an orator he derived his See also:inspiration from the prophets of See also:Israel, and raised the See also:enthusiasm of his See also:rude mountaineers to a See also:pitch so high that they were ready to See also:die with their See also:young leader for the See also:sake of See also:liberty of See also:conscience. Each See also:battle increased the terror of his name. On See also:Christmas See also:day 1702 he dared to hold a religious See also:assembly at the very See also:gates of See also:Alais, and put to See also:flight the See also:local See also:militia which came forth to attack him. At Vagnas, on the loth of See also:February 1703, he routed the royal troops, but, defeated in his turn, he was compelled to find safety in flight.

But he reappeared, was again defeated at Tour de See also:

Bellot (See also:April 30), and again recovered himself, recruits flocking to him to fill up the places of the slain. By a See also:long See also:series of successes he raised his reputation to the highest pitch, and gained the full confidence of the See also:people. It was in vain that more rigorous See also:measures were adopted against the Camisards. Cavalier boldly carried the war into the See also:plain, made terrible See also:reprisals, and threatened even See also:Nimes itself. On the 16th of April 1704 he encountered Marshal Montrevel himself at the See also:bridge of Nages, with See also:i000 men against 5000, and, though defeated after a desperate conflict, he made a successful retreat with two-thirds of his men. It was at this moment that Marshal Villars, wishing to put an end to the terrible struggle, opened negotiations, and Cavalier was induced to attend a See also:conference at Pont d'Avene near Alais on the I1th of May 1704, and on the 16th of May he made submission at Nimes. These negotiations, with the proudest monarch in See also:Europe, he carried on, not as a See also:rebel, but as the leader of an See also:army which had waged an See also:honourable war. Louis XIV. gave him a See also:commission as See also:colonel, which Villars presented to him personally, and a See also:pension of 1200 livres. At the same See also:time he authorized the formation of a Camisard See also:regiment for service in See also:Spain under his command. Before leaving the Cevennes for the last time he went to Alais and to Ribaute, followed by an immense concourse of people. But Cavalier had not been able to obtain liberty of conscience, and his Camisards almost to a See also:man See also:broke forth in wrath against him, reproaching him for what they described as his treacherous See also:desertion. On the 21St of See also:June 1704, with a See also:hundred Camisards who were still faithful to him, he departed from Nimes and came to Neu-Brisach (See also:Alsace), where he was to be quartered.

From See also:

Dijon he went on to See also:Paris, where Louis XIV. gave.him See also:audience and heard his explanation of the revolt of the Cevennes. Returning to Dijon, fearing to be imprisoned in the fortress of Neu-Brisach, he escaped with his See also:troop near See also:Montbeliard and took See also:refuge at See also:Lausanne. But he was too much of a soldier to abandon the career of arms. He offered his services to the See also:duke of See also:Savoy, and with his Camisards made war in the Val d'See also:Aosta. After the See also:peace he crossed to See also:England, where he formed a regiment of refugees which took See also:part in the See also:Spanish expedition under the See also:earl of See also:Peterborough and See also:Sir, Cloudesley See also:Shovel in May 1705. At the battle of See also:Almansa the Camisards found themselves opposed to a French regiment, and without firing the two bodies rushed one upon the other. Cavalier wrotelater (July ro, 1707): " The only See also:consolation that remains to me is that the regiment I had the See also:honour to command never looked back, but sold its See also:life dearly on the See also:field of battle. I fought as long as a man stood beside me and until See also:numbers overpowered me, losing also an immense quantity of See also:blood from a dozen wounds which I received." Marshal See also:Berwick never spoke of this tragic event without visible emotion. On his return to England a small pension was given him and he settled at See also:Dublin, where he published See also:Memoirs of the Wars of the Cevennes under See also:Col. Cavalier, written in French and translated into See also:English with a See also:dedication to See also:Lord See also:Carteret (1726). Though Cavalier received, no doubt, assistance in the publication of the Memoirs, it is none the less true that he provided the materials, and that his See also:work is the most valuable source for the history of his life. He was made a See also:general on the 27th of See also:October 1735, and on the 25th of May 1738 was appointed See also:lieutenant-See also:governor of See also:Jersey.

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Writing in the following year (See also:August 26, 1739) he says: " I am overworked and weary; I am going to take the See also:waters in England so as to be in a See also:fit See also:condition for the war against the Spaniards if they reject counsels of prudence." He was promoted to the See also:rank of See also:major-general on the 2nd of July 1739, and died in the following year. In the parochial See also:register of St See also:Luke's, See also:Chelsea, there is an entry: " See also:Burial A.D. 1740, May 18, Brigadier See also:John Cavalier." There is a See also:story which represents him as the fortunate See also:rival of See also:Voltaire for the See also:hand of Olympe, daughter of Madame Dunoyer, author of the Lettres galantes. During his stay in England he married the daughter of See also:Captain de Ponthieu and See also:Marguerite de la Rochefoucauld, refugees living at See also:Portarlington. See also:Malesherbes, the courageous defender of Louis XVI., bears the following eloquent testimony to this young See also:hero of the Cevennes:—" I confess," he says, " that this See also:warrior, who, without ever having served, found himself by the See also:mere See also:gift of nature a great general, —this Camisard who was bold to punish a See also:crime in the presence of a fierce troop which maintained itself by little crimes—this coarse peasant who, when admitted at twenty years of See also:age into the society of cultivated people, caught their See also:manners and won their love and esteem, this man who, though accustomed to a stormy life, and having just cause to be proud of his success, had yet enough See also:philosophy in him by nature to enjoy for See also:thirty-five years a tranquil private life-appears to me to be one of the rarest characters to be found in history." For a more detailed See also:account see F. Puaux, See also:Vie de Jean Cavalier (1868); See also:David C. A. See also:Agnew, Protestant Exiles from See also:France, ii. 54-66 (Loud., 1871) ; Charvey, Jean Cavalier: nouveaux documents inedits (1884). See also:Eugene See also:Sue popularized the name of the Camisard chief in Jean Cavalier ou See also:les fanatiques See also:des Cevennes (1840). (F.

End of Article: CAVALIER, JEAN (1681-1740)

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