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Protestantism
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| Reform in the church which was brought from Geneva by merchants, closely followed by pastors, was established early on in the Cevennes, and particularly in Anduze where a church was erected in 1560, as a consequence of the conversion of the majority of its inhabitants. After many years of troubles due to the wars of religion, a kind of peace was made possible by the Edict of Nantes put into effect by Henri IV in 1598. But his assassination started the hostilities up again, and gradually the Languedoc became the last enclave of Protestantism, and the Cevennes were finally crushed into defeat. In the year 1620, the Duke of Rohan, general in chief of the Protestants, chose Anduze as his headquarters, transforming this small city into an important military centre, with all the responsibilities and problems that this entails. Strong ramparts were built and then destroyed throughout a series of victories and defeats, sinking its inhabitants into debt for many years. Finally the Protestants were forced to surrender to Louis XIII and Richelieu, signing the "Peace of Alais" in 1629, and thus signaling the end of the political role of the Protestants and marking the beginning of a long period of repression.
The inhabitants of Anduze were ordered to destroy their own ramparts, plague broke out and death and poverty reigned throughout the region | | | | THE REVOCATION |
Gathering of protestants in Nîmes
in the desert (eau-forte - 1786)
| During the absolute reign of Louis XIV religious intolerance was total, and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 involved the inhabitants of the Cevennes being forced into conversion. The population was kept under suppression by the harsh whip of the king's dragoons who carried out terrible "dragonnades" (brutalities, fires, hangings, rapes and imprisonment for the women and men being sent to the galleys). Protestant Temples were destroyed, but the "reformed" however continued to gather together in hidden and isolated places ("in the Desert" like the Hebrews in the Bible who suffered for 40 years in the desert) to practice their worship in secret, in spite of prohibition and danger. | | THE REVOLT OF THE CAMISARDS | As religious persecution increased, one of its principal agents, the Abbot of Chayla, was assassinated in 1702 by a handful of rebels led by Abraham Mazel. The rebellion developed with success and some important victories were gained, but it was finally crushed in 1704, with the defeat of the two principal camisard chiefs (Jean Rider who signed his surrender in May and Pierre Laporte, known as Roland, who was killed in August). The rebellion continued sporadically until 1710.
You can see more on this subject at the Desert Museum in Mialet, which has been set up in the birthplace of Roland and is a splendid tribute to the memory of this painful period which still marks the hearts and souls of the Cevennes people. | The Desert Museum in Mialet | | | AND FINALLY TOLERANCE... Peace finally came with the signature of the Edict of Tolerance (1787), which gave Protestants civil and religious rights, and with the publication of the declaration of Human and Citizen rights (1789). Pasteur Rabaut Saint-Etienne, in the role of Constituent, was the principal author of the article concerning the Freedom of Worship. The "organic articles" joined to the concordat of 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, allowed the Protestant churches to reorganise and build Temples. The temple of Anduze was erected in 1823. |
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