The Cagots () were a persecuted minority who lived in the west of France and northern Spain: the Navarrese Pyrenees, Basque provinces, Béarn, Aragón, Gascony and Brittany. Evidence of the group exists as far back as 1000 CE. The name they were known by varied across the regions where they lived.
The origins of the Cagots remain uncertain, with various hypotheses proposed throughout history. Some theories suggest they were descendants of biblical or legendary figures cursed by God, or the descendants of medieval lepers, while others propose they were related to the Cathars or even a fallen guild of carpenters. Some suggest descent from a variety of other marginalized racial or religious groups. Despite the varied and often mythical explanations for their origins, the only consistent aspect of the Cagots was their societal exclusion and the lack of any distinct physical or cultural traits differentiating them from the general population.
The discriminatory treatment they faced included social segregation and restrictions on marriage and occupation. Despite laws and edicts from higher levels of government and religious authorities, this discrimination persisted into the 20th century.
The Cagots no longer form a separate social class and were largely assimilated into the general population. Very little of Cagot culture still exists, as most descendants of Cagots have preferred not to be known as such.
Name
Etymology The origins of both the term (and , , , etc.) and the Cagots themselves are uncertain. It has been suggested that they were descendants of the Visigoths: [Certain Families in the Kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre, and the Principality of Bearne, descendants of the Goths, who without more guilt than their leaders formerly tyrannizing those Provinces, are treated with the greatest contempt and abasement, in civil matters as well as in Religion: and they even say that they are born with tails.] defeated by Clovis I at the Battle of Vouillé,: "" ["4) What would that people be, which after its subjugation would be present only in these miserable ones? In no way are the opinions of the writers so divided. Some consider them to be the descendants of the first inhabitants conquered by the Romans and later by the Franks - the Gauls. Court de Gebelin in his chooses the Alans and cites the battle of 463, in which they were defeated with the Visigoths. Marca regards them as the remains of the Sarazans defeated by Carl Martel led by the Abdalrahman. Ramond in his Journey to the Pyrenees derives them from the Arian-minded peoples who, under the Clodoveus in the year 507 at Vouglé (in Campo or Campania Vocladensi) under the leadership of Alaric, beaten, scattered, abused ten miles from Poitiers, and treated with equal bitterness and contempt by the inhabitants of the Loire and the Sévre the mouths of these two rivers were driven. Who is right here must first be decided later, and before this can happen, the matter must be examined more closely."] and that the name derives from ("dog") and the Old Occitan for Goth around the 6th century.; ; ; ; : "called , cagots (Pr. a dog, and = Goth)."; : "" ["The first and most natural question arises about the name. Where did the strange name Cagot come from? Scaliger's opinion, deriving it from Goth, , seems to take for granted its Gothic origin, which has yet to be proved, and this derivation seems too artificial and forced."] Yet in opposition to this etymology is the fact that the word is first found in this form in 1542 in the works of François Rabelais. Seventeenth century French historian Pierre de Marca, in his , propounds the reverse – that the word signifies "hunters of the Goths", and that the Cagots were descendants of the Saracens; ; and Moors of Al-Andalus (or even Jews) after their defeat by Charles Martel,: [They are descendants of Saracens who remained in Gascony after Charles Martel had defeated Abdel-Rahman. They converted and became Christians.] although this proposal was comprehensively refuted by the Prior of Livorno, Abbot as early as 1754. Antoine Court de Gébelin derives the term cagot from the Latin , meaning "false, bad, deceitful", and meaning "god", due to a belief that Cagots were descended from the Alans and followed Arianism.
Variations
Their name differed by province and the local language: In Gascony they were called , and : "" ["The gafets or gahets of Guyenne make their appearance in history towards the end of the 13th century, at the same time as the Cagots. They, too, were considered wretches; they had in the church a door, a place and a stoup reserved, and they were buried separately. The custom of Mas-d'Agenais, written in 1388, forbids anyone "to buy, to sell, cattle or poultry from gafet or gafete, or to rent gafet or gafete for harvesting." The custom of Marmande forbids gafets to go barefoot through the streets and without a "signal" of red cloth applied to the left side of the dress, to buy or to stay in the city on a day other than Monday; she enjoins them, if they meet man or woman, to stand apart as much as possible until the passer-by has moved away."] In Bordeaux they were called , : "" ["They are known in Brittany under the name of Cacous or Caqueux. They can be found in Aunis, especially on the island of Maillezais, as well as in La Rochelle, where they are called Coliberts. In Guyenne and Gascogne, near Bordeaux, they appear under the name of the Cahets, and can be found in the most uninhabitable swamps, swamps and heaths. In the two Navarres they are called Caffos, Cagotes, Agotes."] or ; ; In the Spanish Basque country they were called ,; ; ; and In the French Basque Country the forms and were also used. In Anjou, Languedoc, and Armagnac they were called , and (marsh people) In Brittany they were called , (possibly from the Breton word meaning leprous), and . They were also sometimes referred to as , , ,: "" ["The question arises 2) Do the caquets or caqueux in Brittany and the cagots in Bearn, like the cassos in Navarre, belong to one and the same family? We think we can answer the question with Ramond in the affirmative. The close affinity of names, the similarity of their condition, the same contempt in all places, and the same spirit emanating from all the ordinances concerning them, seem to prove this."] , and , names of the local Caquins of Brittany due to similar low stature and discrimination in society. In Bigorre they were also called and In Aunis, Poitou, and Saintonge they were also called , a name taken from the former class of . or , alongside the French spellings and , are also found in records, referencing Gehazi the servant of Elisha who was cursed with leprosy due to his greed.; ; ; With the recording as an insult regularly used against Cagots. is seen in the writings of Dominique Joseph Garat. Elizabeth Gaskell records the anglicised Gehazites in her work An Accursed Race. Other recorded names include , , , , , and (most likely from the Old French meaning leper).
Previously some of these names had been viewed as being similar yet separate groups from the Cagots.
Origin
The origin of the Cagots is not known for certain, though through history many legends and hypotheses have been recorded providing potential origins and reasons for their ostracisation. The Cagots were not a distinct ethnic or religious group, but a racialised caste. They spoke the same language as the people in an area and generally kept the same religion as well, with later researchers remarking that there was no evidence to mark the Cagots as distinct from their neighbours. Their only distinguishing feature was their descent from families long identified as Cagots. Records of Cagots go as far back as the year 1000 CE, with the charter of the under the name and the ancient charter of Navarre that referred to them as .; ; ;
Biblical legends Various legends placed the Cagots as originating from biblical events, including being descendants of the carpenters who made the cross that Jesus was crucified on, or being descendants of the bricklayers who built Solomon's Temple after being expelled from ancient Israel by God due to poor craftsmanship. Similarly a more detailed legend places the origins of the Cagots in Spain as being descendants of a Pyrenean master carver named Jacques, who traveled to ancient Israel via Tartessos, to cast Boaz and Jachin for Solomon's Temple. While in Israel he was distracted during the casting of Jachin by a woman, and due to the imperfection this caused in the column his descendants were cursed to suffer leprosy.
Religious origin Another theory is that the Cagots were descendants of the Cathars, who had been persecuted for heresy in the Albigensian Crusade. Some comparisons include the use of the term to refer to Cagots, which evokes the name that the Cathars gave to themselves, . A delegation by Cagots to Pope Leo X in 1514 made this claim, though the Cagots predate the Cathar heresy and the Cathar heresy was not present in Gascony and other regions where Cagots were present. The historian Daniel Hawkins suggests that perhaps this was a strategic move, as in the statutes such discrimination and persecution for those convicted of heresy expired after four generations and if this was the cause of their marginalisation, it also gave grounds for their emancipation. Others have suggested an origin as Arian Christians.
The earliest recorded mention of the Cagots is in the charter of the under the name . Another early mention of the Cagots is from 1288, when they appear to have been called or . Other terms seen in use prior to the 16th century include , , and , which in medieval texts became inseparable from the term , and so in Béarn became synonymous with the word leper. Thus, another theory is that the Cagots were early converts to Christianity, and that the hatred of their pagan neighbors continued after they also converted, merely for different reasons.
Medical origin Another possible explanation of their name or is to be found in the fact that in medieval times all lepers were known as , and that, whether Visigoths or not, these Cagots were affected in the Middle Ages with a particular form of leprosy or a condition resembling it, such as psoriasis. Thus would arise the confusion between Christians and Cretins, and explain the similar restrictions placed on lepers and Cagots. Guy de Chauliac wrote in the 14th century,: "" ["Leuce attacks the body less deeply, and it is this that doctors of the Middle Ages particularly attribute to Caquots, Capots and Cagots, which they call by their name white ladres. The main characters are, according to Guy de Chauliac, an old author of the fourteenth century: "a certain ugly color that jumps out at the eyes, the morphea or pale tint of the skin, etc"."] and Ambroise Paré wrote in 1561 of the Cagots being lepers with "beautiful faces" and skin with no signs of leprosy, describing them as "white lepers" (people afflicted with "white leprosy"). Later dermatologists believe that Paré was describing leucoderma. Early edicts apparently refer to lepers and Cagots as different categories of undesirables, With this distinction being explicit by 1593. The Parlement of Bordeaux and the Estates of Lower Navarre repeated customary prohibitions against them, with Bordeaux adding that when they were also lepers, if there still are any, they must carry (rattles). One belief in Navarre were that the were descendants of French immigrant lepers to the region. Later English commentators supported the idea of an origin among a community of lepers due to the similarities in the treatment of Cagots in churches and the measures taken to allow lepers in England and Scotland to attend churches.
Other origins