In the 19th century, "cagots" were called "colliberts" in Maine,
Poitou, Anjou; "caqueux, cacous", caquins, cahets" in Brittany;
"hautponnais, lyaetars" in Flanders; "marrons" in Auvergne; "capots,
cre'tins" near the Pyrenees; "vaqueros" in Asturia; "chuctas" on Majorca.
One version has it that they were part of a Spanish emigration to France,
fleeing from the Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula. The majority
were dark-skinned, with prominent cheekbones. They were marginalised and
wrongly accused of both leprosy and Catharism during the Aligensian terror.
Obliged to wear a red jacket or coat with a goose- or duck-foot "imprinted"
on it. Hounded into ghettos, far from town centres, called "cagoteries",
deprived of both civic and religious rights, they were allowed to enter
churches for Mass through a special door and kept in a special corner. They
could take holy water only with a stick. Sometimes deprived of proper
burial, they were only allowed to ply the trade of carpenter or
wood-gatherer. Not allowed to speak to other men or women, nor to go
barefoot lest they suly the ground. In the Bearn, the evidence of seven
"cagots" was needed to counterbalance that of a normal individual. It was
the French Revolution that allowed them to be members of the Church and to
enjoy civil rights.
This is taken from my *Dictionnaire general de biographie et
d'histoire, de geographie ancienne et moderne comparee, etc.*, Paris:
Librairie Ch. Delagrave, 1876, Vol.1, p. 420. At the end of the article,
the reader is referred to: Francisque Michel, *Histoire des races maudites*.
Hope this is of interest!
John Scott
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