Adaryn
The Living Force
First, here are 2 articles taken from the official sources (all emphases mine) :
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Cagots
CAGOTS, a people found in the Basque provinces, Bearn, Gascony and Brittany. The earliest mention of them is in 1288, when they appear to have been called Christiens or Christianos. In the [1]6th century they had many names, Cagots, Gahets, Gafets in France; Agotes, Gafos in Spain; and Cacons, Cahets, Caqueux and Caquins in Brittany. During the middle ages they were popularly looked upon as cretins, lepers, heretics and even as cannibals. They were shunned and hated; were allotted separate quarters in towns, called cagoteries, and lived in wretched huts in the country distinct from the villages. Excluded from all political and social rights, they were only allowed to enter a church by a special door, and during the service a rail separated them from the other worshippers. Either they were altogether forbidden to partake of the sacrament, or the holy wafer was handed to them on the end of a stick, while a receptacle for holy water was reserved for their exclusive use. They were compelled to wear a distinctive dress, to which, in some places, was attached the foot of a goose or duck (whence they were sometimes called Canards). And so pestilential was their touch considered that it was a crime for them to walk the common road barefooted. The only trades allowed them were those of butcher and carpenter, and their ordinary occupation was wood-cutting. Their language is merely a corrupt form of that spoken around them; but a Teutonic origin seems to be indicated by their fair complexions and blue eyes. Their crania have a normal development; their cheek-bones are high; their noses prominent, with large nostrils; their lips straight; and they are marked by the absence of the auricular lobules.
The origin of the Cagots is undecided. Littre defines them as "a people of the Pyrenees affected with a kind of cretinism." It has been suggested that they were descendants of the Visigoths, and Michael derives the name from caws (dog) and Goth. But opposed to this etymology is the fact that the word cagot is first found in the for of Bearn not earlier than 1551. Marca, in his Histoire de Bearn, holds that the word signifies "hunters of the Goths," and that the Cagots are descendants of the Saracens. Others made them descendants of the Albigenses. The old MSS. call them Chretiens or Chrestiaas,and from this it has been argued that they were Visigoths who originally lived as Christians among the Gascon pagans. A far more probable explanation of their name "Chretiens" is to be found in the fact that in medieval times all lepers were known as pauperes Christi, and that, Goths or not, these Cagots were affected in the middle ages with a particular form of leprosy or a condition resembling it. Thus would arise the confusion between Christians and Cretins. To-day their descendants are not more subject to goitre and cretinism than those dwelling around them, and are recognized by tradition and not by features or physical degeneracy. It was not until the French Revolution that any steps were taken to ameliorate their lot, but to-day they no longer form a class, but have been practically lost sight of in the general peasantry.
See Francisque Michel, Histoire des races maudites de France et d'Espagne (Paris, 1846); Abbe Venuti, Recherches sur les Cahets de Bordeaux (1754); Bulletins de la societe anthropologique (1861, 1867, 1868, 1871); Annales medico-psychologiques (Jan. 1867); Lagneau, Questionnaire sur l'ethnologie de la France; Paul Raymond, Mceurs bearnaises (Pau, 1872); V. de Rochas, Les Parias de France et d'Espagne (Cagots et Bohemiens) (Paris, 1877); J. Hack Tuke, Jour. Anthropological Institute (vol. ix., 1880).
Extracts translated from : _http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagots
Living like outlaws and virtually stricken with taboo, a considerable number of interdictions dictated by superstition weighed on them : certain professions were forbidden to them, generally having to do with certain elements susceptible to transmit leper, like earth, fire and water (which they had to take from fountains which were kept specially for them). Thus, they never were farmers. Professions having to do with food were also forbidden to them. They were forbidden to carry any sharp object, such as weapons or knives, but curiously, we find them practising professions such as surgeon, and they were believed to have a gift for healing ; women were often midwives ; till the XVth Century, the Cagot women even had the total exclusivity in this activity. On the other hand, they were allowed to touch wood, thus they often were carpenters, masons, wood cutters or coopers. Whenever the torture instruments were wooden-made, which was frequent in small towns and villages, they sometimes were hangmen or joiners, coffins builders and gravediggers, all functions which didn't improve their image, and thus their condition, among the local population. Professions they most often practised were basket makers, rope-makers and weavers . Payed in cash, they didn't receive salaries, and thus were a cheap workforce. However, they were exempt from paying taxes, until the reign of Louis XIV, where 2500 Chrestians were numbered in Béarn. Then, they bought back -- for a fee compensating for the taxes they were exempt from -- their "emancipation" by royal decree.
Now, other extracts, translated from a conspiracy/paranormal/"alternative" site : _http://secretebase.free.fr/civilisations/autrespeuples/chrestians/chrestians.htm
Many historians who looked into the history of this strange and disseminated people, found, everywhere in Europe, the same description of these beings as the description which was made in France. The Chrestians have strange physical characteristics : they're bald, they have no visible ear pavilion (instead, two holes can be seen, as in the saurians), they have webbed feet and hands, and they have a definitely abnormal corporal heat. These peculiarities, registered many times, caused them, for a long time, to be relegated and gathered in tribes, at the outskirt of cities, where they lived in kind of autonomous suburbs. As they were considered to have a repulsive aspect, they were forced to wear ample clothes, and shoes. But as if it wasn't enough, the Chrestians had to wear a dried goose foot painted red, which was sown on their clothes. This signal reminded the population that these beings had webbed feet and hands !
One could see in these descriptions the product of a collection of legends and false information spread by rumour, if, in the XVIth Century, Ambroise Paré (1506-1590), the father of modern surgery, called to the service of King Henry II, hadn't scientifically looked into this strange race, damned for 3 centuries already.. At the time, the Chrestians, who lived isolated, hadn't lost any of their physical and physiological characteristics registered under the Carolingians. Ambroise Paré spent several weeks studying them, doing his best not to let himself influence. He proceeded to collect genuine medical observations and carefully write them down. He notably reports their prodigious capacity to practice "mummification through magnetism". This exercice, reported here in the old original French, is supposed to reveal the power of personal magnetism : " l'un d'iceux tenant en sa main une pomme fraîche, icelle après apparaisoit aussi aride et ridée que si elle eut restée l'espace de huit jours au soleil "
[Translation : "One of them holding a fresh apple in his hand, this one soon appeared as dry and wrinkled as if it had stayed 8 days in the sun".] Ambroise Paré explains this reaction by the abnormally high heat released by their body. It is told that during a bloodlettting, a nearly boiling liquid of a bluish/greenish colour flowed from his [the Cagot] veins. These characteristics caused a specific set of laws to be set up in order to ban them from society and prevent them from mixing with other humans.
[…]They were forbidden to get married, and even to mate with other human beings. This idea was even the subject of humour, because it seems nothing was known about their mode of reproduction. The popular rumour said they were bisexuals, so much that they were never mentionned using a gender ! Discrimination was at its peak during trials : the accounts of 7 Chrestians were needed to compete with a single human account. Things remained this way during the whole Middle Ages, but, progressively, the Chrestians mixed with the population, and it is perhaps the sign of their integration. By the XVIIIth C., only popular folklore talked about beings with such strange characteristics. History [the French revolution] accelerated the disparition of this banned people.
[…]
Very few modern scientists looked into this historical phenomenon. Theses or essays about Chrestians are really rare. At the faculty of History, a course is devoted to the Chrestians mystery, but their origin still remains unknown. Certain XIXth C. authors proposed the hypothesis that these strange individuals suffered from leprosy. This thesis doesn't hold water, because the way they were treated doesnt look like the specific treatment and distinctive signs which were imposed on the lepers in the Middle Ages. Besides, Chrestian cemeteries from the XIIth and XIIIth C. which were recently dug up show perfectly sane skeletons, without the terrible bone lesions that can be observed on the lepers remains. Other researchers proposed the hypothesis that Chrestians were descendants of Saracens who stayed in our climate after the invasion. However, chronicles from the Middle Ages assure that the long hair of the rare Chrestians who were not bald were invariably "blonds comme les blés" (golden blonde). It was also proposed that they descended from the Vikings, but the Vikings had already been integrated for a long time in the European society.
The purely scientifical circles, apart from Ambroise Paré, were never concerned to know who really were the Chrestians, contenting themselves to declare that "bisexual beings without ear and with webbed fingers and a hot and green blood didn't exist".
----
I tried to search for the extract taken from Ambroise Paré, but the only way to find it would be to browse the whole works of Ambroise Paré in the French National Library… that's a lot to read and I don't know where to start :
_http://gallica.bnf.fr/
Another interesting page on the Chrestians : _http://www.france-secret.com/excalibur_art2.htm
Most information about them is unfortunately in French.
Well, there's a 10 page English article on the Cagots (written by D. Hack Tuke, XIXth C. physician and expert on mental illness) on the site of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, but unfortunately, one has to be a member of the Institute to access it :_http://minilien.com/?SuAyUxgLoL
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Cagots
CAGOTS, a people found in the Basque provinces, Bearn, Gascony and Brittany. The earliest mention of them is in 1288, when they appear to have been called Christiens or Christianos. In the [1]6th century they had many names, Cagots, Gahets, Gafets in France; Agotes, Gafos in Spain; and Cacons, Cahets, Caqueux and Caquins in Brittany. During the middle ages they were popularly looked upon as cretins, lepers, heretics and even as cannibals. They were shunned and hated; were allotted separate quarters in towns, called cagoteries, and lived in wretched huts in the country distinct from the villages. Excluded from all political and social rights, they were only allowed to enter a church by a special door, and during the service a rail separated them from the other worshippers. Either they were altogether forbidden to partake of the sacrament, or the holy wafer was handed to them on the end of a stick, while a receptacle for holy water was reserved for their exclusive use. They were compelled to wear a distinctive dress, to which, in some places, was attached the foot of a goose or duck (whence they were sometimes called Canards). And so pestilential was their touch considered that it was a crime for them to walk the common road barefooted. The only trades allowed them were those of butcher and carpenter, and their ordinary occupation was wood-cutting. Their language is merely a corrupt form of that spoken around them; but a Teutonic origin seems to be indicated by their fair complexions and blue eyes. Their crania have a normal development; their cheek-bones are high; their noses prominent, with large nostrils; their lips straight; and they are marked by the absence of the auricular lobules.
The origin of the Cagots is undecided. Littre defines them as "a people of the Pyrenees affected with a kind of cretinism." It has been suggested that they were descendants of the Visigoths, and Michael derives the name from caws (dog) and Goth. But opposed to this etymology is the fact that the word cagot is first found in the for of Bearn not earlier than 1551. Marca, in his Histoire de Bearn, holds that the word signifies "hunters of the Goths," and that the Cagots are descendants of the Saracens. Others made them descendants of the Albigenses. The old MSS. call them Chretiens or Chrestiaas,and from this it has been argued that they were Visigoths who originally lived as Christians among the Gascon pagans. A far more probable explanation of their name "Chretiens" is to be found in the fact that in medieval times all lepers were known as pauperes Christi, and that, Goths or not, these Cagots were affected in the middle ages with a particular form of leprosy or a condition resembling it. Thus would arise the confusion between Christians and Cretins. To-day their descendants are not more subject to goitre and cretinism than those dwelling around them, and are recognized by tradition and not by features or physical degeneracy. It was not until the French Revolution that any steps were taken to ameliorate their lot, but to-day they no longer form a class, but have been practically lost sight of in the general peasantry.
See Francisque Michel, Histoire des races maudites de France et d'Espagne (Paris, 1846); Abbe Venuti, Recherches sur les Cahets de Bordeaux (1754); Bulletins de la societe anthropologique (1861, 1867, 1868, 1871); Annales medico-psychologiques (Jan. 1867); Lagneau, Questionnaire sur l'ethnologie de la France; Paul Raymond, Mceurs bearnaises (Pau, 1872); V. de Rochas, Les Parias de France et d'Espagne (Cagots et Bohemiens) (Paris, 1877); J. Hack Tuke, Jour. Anthropological Institute (vol. ix., 1880).
Extracts translated from : _http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagots
Living like outlaws and virtually stricken with taboo, a considerable number of interdictions dictated by superstition weighed on them : certain professions were forbidden to them, generally having to do with certain elements susceptible to transmit leper, like earth, fire and water (which they had to take from fountains which were kept specially for them). Thus, they never were farmers. Professions having to do with food were also forbidden to them. They were forbidden to carry any sharp object, such as weapons or knives, but curiously, we find them practising professions such as surgeon, and they were believed to have a gift for healing ; women were often midwives ; till the XVth Century, the Cagot women even had the total exclusivity in this activity. On the other hand, they were allowed to touch wood, thus they often were carpenters, masons, wood cutters or coopers. Whenever the torture instruments were wooden-made, which was frequent in small towns and villages, they sometimes were hangmen or joiners, coffins builders and gravediggers, all functions which didn't improve their image, and thus their condition, among the local population. Professions they most often practised were basket makers, rope-makers and weavers . Payed in cash, they didn't receive salaries, and thus were a cheap workforce. However, they were exempt from paying taxes, until the reign of Louis XIV, where 2500 Chrestians were numbered in Béarn. Then, they bought back -- for a fee compensating for the taxes they were exempt from -- their "emancipation" by royal decree.
Now, other extracts, translated from a conspiracy/paranormal/"alternative" site : _http://secretebase.free.fr/civilisations/autrespeuples/chrestians/chrestians.htm
Many historians who looked into the history of this strange and disseminated people, found, everywhere in Europe, the same description of these beings as the description which was made in France. The Chrestians have strange physical characteristics : they're bald, they have no visible ear pavilion (instead, two holes can be seen, as in the saurians), they have webbed feet and hands, and they have a definitely abnormal corporal heat. These peculiarities, registered many times, caused them, for a long time, to be relegated and gathered in tribes, at the outskirt of cities, where they lived in kind of autonomous suburbs. As they were considered to have a repulsive aspect, they were forced to wear ample clothes, and shoes. But as if it wasn't enough, the Chrestians had to wear a dried goose foot painted red, which was sown on their clothes. This signal reminded the population that these beings had webbed feet and hands !
One could see in these descriptions the product of a collection of legends and false information spread by rumour, if, in the XVIth Century, Ambroise Paré (1506-1590), the father of modern surgery, called to the service of King Henry II, hadn't scientifically looked into this strange race, damned for 3 centuries already.. At the time, the Chrestians, who lived isolated, hadn't lost any of their physical and physiological characteristics registered under the Carolingians. Ambroise Paré spent several weeks studying them, doing his best not to let himself influence. He proceeded to collect genuine medical observations and carefully write them down. He notably reports their prodigious capacity to practice "mummification through magnetism". This exercice, reported here in the old original French, is supposed to reveal the power of personal magnetism : " l'un d'iceux tenant en sa main une pomme fraîche, icelle après apparaisoit aussi aride et ridée que si elle eut restée l'espace de huit jours au soleil "
[Translation : "One of them holding a fresh apple in his hand, this one soon appeared as dry and wrinkled as if it had stayed 8 days in the sun".] Ambroise Paré explains this reaction by the abnormally high heat released by their body. It is told that during a bloodlettting, a nearly boiling liquid of a bluish/greenish colour flowed from his [the Cagot] veins. These characteristics caused a specific set of laws to be set up in order to ban them from society and prevent them from mixing with other humans.
[…]They were forbidden to get married, and even to mate with other human beings. This idea was even the subject of humour, because it seems nothing was known about their mode of reproduction. The popular rumour said they were bisexuals, so much that they were never mentionned using a gender ! Discrimination was at its peak during trials : the accounts of 7 Chrestians were needed to compete with a single human account. Things remained this way during the whole Middle Ages, but, progressively, the Chrestians mixed with the population, and it is perhaps the sign of their integration. By the XVIIIth C., only popular folklore talked about beings with such strange characteristics. History [the French revolution] accelerated the disparition of this banned people.
[…]
Very few modern scientists looked into this historical phenomenon. Theses or essays about Chrestians are really rare. At the faculty of History, a course is devoted to the Chrestians mystery, but their origin still remains unknown. Certain XIXth C. authors proposed the hypothesis that these strange individuals suffered from leprosy. This thesis doesn't hold water, because the way they were treated doesnt look like the specific treatment and distinctive signs which were imposed on the lepers in the Middle Ages. Besides, Chrestian cemeteries from the XIIth and XIIIth C. which were recently dug up show perfectly sane skeletons, without the terrible bone lesions that can be observed on the lepers remains. Other researchers proposed the hypothesis that Chrestians were descendants of Saracens who stayed in our climate after the invasion. However, chronicles from the Middle Ages assure that the long hair of the rare Chrestians who were not bald were invariably "blonds comme les blés" (golden blonde). It was also proposed that they descended from the Vikings, but the Vikings had already been integrated for a long time in the European society.
The purely scientifical circles, apart from Ambroise Paré, were never concerned to know who really were the Chrestians, contenting themselves to declare that "bisexual beings without ear and with webbed fingers and a hot and green blood didn't exist".
----
I tried to search for the extract taken from Ambroise Paré, but the only way to find it would be to browse the whole works of Ambroise Paré in the French National Library… that's a lot to read and I don't know where to start :
_http://gallica.bnf.fr/
Another interesting page on the Chrestians : _http://www.france-secret.com/excalibur_art2.htm
Most information about them is unfortunately in French.
Well, there's a 10 page English article on the Cagots (written by D. Hack Tuke, XIXth C. physician and expert on mental illness) on the site of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, but unfortunately, one has to be a member of the Institute to access it :_http://minilien.com/?SuAyUxgLoL
