Camisards

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VirginiaHuguenot

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Camisards were essentially French Huguenots of the post-Revocation of the Edict of Nantes era. They were persecuted by the French government which had proclaimed to the world in 1685 that there was no longer sufficient justification to allow Protestants the liberty to worship in France. Geographically, the heart of Camisard country was the Cevennes mountains. The War of the Camisards (between Camisards and the French government bent on their extermination) took place from 1702 to 1704. The war continued sporadically for some years after that. The leaders of the Camisards were Jean Cavalier and Rolland. It was a losing cause, much like that of the Scottish Covenanters, but their "lost cause" heritage lingers in the Cevennes region to this day. One particular testimony of faithfulness involved a woman, Marie Durand, who was imprisoned in the Tower of Constance from 1730 to 1768 (38 years) for refusing to recant her Protestant faith. She carved the word "register" (resist) in the wall where it may be seen to this day. The French Protestant church in this era was known as the "Church of the Desert (Wildnerness)."

Robert Louis Stevenson travelled the area in the 19th century resulting in his work entitled Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes which honored the Camisard legacy.

The tercentennial celebration of the Camisards is coming to a close this year, but their faithful witness to the cause of Christ lives on.

More info:

Camisards: http://www.camisards.net/ (French site with English translation)

Tower of Constance: http://www.ot-aiguesmortes.fr/GB20resister.htm

Museum of the Desert: http://museedudesert.com/Musee.htm (French site with English translation)
 
I remember when I first read the story of Marie Durand; I got emotional. I am reminded of how little I know of church history. But in this case, it is a spur to study harder. I am about to pick up D'aubigne's Histories. While I plan to get all of them eventually, which ones are particularly good? Does he deal with the Huguenots? I figure he would because of his French background.
 
Originally posted by Draught Horse
I remember when I first read the story of Marie Durand; I got emotional. I am reminded of how little I know of church history. But in this case, it is a spur to study harder. I am about to pick up D'aubigne's Histories. While I plan to get all of them eventually, which ones are particularly good? Does he deal with the Huguenots? I figure he would because of his French background.
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Yes, his History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century speaks of the French and Swiss Reformations and those of the Reformed sect known as Huguenots. It is dense reading but well worth the effort.

J.H.M. D'Aubigne was himself born in Geneva, the child of French Protestant parents, and pastored a French Reformed Church in Hamburg, Germany. His ancestor Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigne was a famous Huguenot historian in the sixteenth century. Robert Dabney, the famous Southern Presbyterian, is a descendant of this family too. The Lord certainly blessed this family line to the edification of the church.
 
Two leading lights in the Church of the Desert:

Antoine Court (1696-1760), Camisard minister, "Restorer of French Protestantism, died in Lausanne, Switzerland, having founded a theological school there, wrote a History of the Disorders of the Cevennes, which has never been published in English, to my knowledge.

Paul Rabaut (1718-1794), Camisard minister
 
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I don't think there is ever a time I like the French Government. Not under the Bourbons. Not under Napoleon.

Were they considered French under Charlemange? Maybe an exception.
 
The Huguenot Grotto is a nickname for the famous Cave of Trabuc, near Pont d'Arc in the Cévennes region of France. It is so known because Camisards held secret worship services there during the Church of the Desert period (1685-1789). (Compare with the Preacher's Cave in Eleuthera.)

Above all, it has been a preaching place from 1685 to 1787-89, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, for prosecuted protestants. That's why it has been called Huguenots Grotto after 1890 (drawing of an assembly, 1890). We don't have any document proving that these assemblies took place here because the Huguenots don't make precise reports or leave any archives, of course. Nevertheless, all the protestant historians are convinced that many assemblies took place here, and the tradition of Vallon indicates the hole of the watchman and the baptistery. You must know that the Tunnel Road only exists since 1890 and the place was therefore very rude, remote and difficult to reach in XVIIIth century.
A document evokes the presence in the grotto of Abraham Mazel, one of the Camisard's chief. The region has been little involved in Camisard war, but a fight has taken place in Vagnas, where a small Camisard army, under commandment of Jean Cavalier has been defeated.

Source
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Is anyone familiar with this book?

The Cave of the Huguenots: A Tale of the XVIIth Century and Other Poems. NINETEENTH CENTURY PUBLISHER'S BINDING. Satge St. Jean, Caroline, Viscomtesse de. 1852.
 
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