View source for Cagot

{{Short description|Historically persecuted people}}
{{distinguish|Kago}}
{{redirect|Agote|the Argentine physician|Luis Agote}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Cagots 
| native_name      = {{lang|fr|Cagots}}/{{lang|es|Agotes}}
| image            = Agotes Navarre espagnole.jpg
| image_caption    = A collage of photos taken of Agotes in {{ill|Bozate|es}} at the beginning of the 20th Century
| total            = Unknown
| regions          = [[Spain]] ([[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]] and [[Navarre]]) and [[France]] ([[Nouvelle-Aquitaine]] and [[Occitania (administrative region)|Occitania]])
| region1          = 
| pop1             = 
| ref1             = 
| languages        = [[French language|French]], [[Occitan language|Occitan]], [[Spanish (language)|Spanish]], [[Basque language|Basque]]
| religions        = Predominately [[Roman Catholicism]], with a minority [[Calvinism]] 
| related_groups   = [[Caquins of Brittany|Caquins]], [[Cascarots]], [[Occitans]], [[Castilians]]
}}
The '''''Cagots''''' ({{IPA|fr|ka.ɡo|pron}}) were a persecuted minority who lived in the west of France and northern Spain: the [[Navarre]]se [[Pyrenees]], [[Basque Country (historical territory)|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.{{efn|See [[Cagot#Variations|Name Variations]]}}

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 of God, or the descendants of [[Leprosy#Middle Ages|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 [[Geographical segregation#Social segregation and gentrification|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 [[Cultural assimilation|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 {{lang|fr|Cagots}} (and {{lang|es|Agotes}}, {{lang|oc|Capots}}, {{lang|fr|Caqueux}}, etc.) and the Cagots themselves are uncertain.
It has been suggested that they were descendants of the [[Visigoths]]{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}}<ref name="Viterbo, 1856">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_l9LAAAAcAAJ |title=Elucidário das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antigamente se usaram e que hoje regularmente se ignoram |language=pt |trans-title=Elucidation of the words, terms and phrases that were used in Portugal in the past and that today are regularly ignored |volume=1 |last=Viterbo |first=Joaquim de Santa Rosa de |author-link=:pt:Joaquim de Santa Rosa de Viterbo |publisher=A. J. Fernandes Lopes |date=1856 |location=Lisbon |page=64 |quote=Certas Famílias em os Reinos de Aragão, e Navarra, e Principado de Bearne, descendentes dos Godos, que sem mais culpa, que tyrannizarem os seus Maiores antigamente aquellas Provincias, são tratados com o maior desprezo, e abatimento, assim nas materias civís, como de Religião: e até dizem delles, que nascem com rabo. |trans-quote=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. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
defeated by [[Clovis I]] at the [[Battle of Vouillé]],{{r|Garat}}<ref name="von Zach - Frage 4">{{harvp|von Zach|1798|pp=522–523|ps=: "{{lang|de|4) Welches wäre nun dasjenige Volk, welches nach seiner Unterjochung nur in diesen Elenden vorhande wäre? In keinem stücke sind die Meinungen der Schriftsteller so-sehr getheilt.
Einige halten sie für die Abkömmlinge der von den Römern und späterhin von den Franken unterjochen ersten Bewohner - der Gallier.
Court de Gebelin in seinem Monde primitif wählt die Alanen und führt die Schlacht vom Jahr 463 an, in welcher diese mit den Visigothen überwunden wurden.
Marca betrachtet sie als Überreste der von Carl Martel unter Anführung des Abdalrahman besiegten Sarazanen.
Ramond in seiner Reise nach den Pyrenäen leitet sie von den Arianisch gesinnten Völkern ab, welcher unter dem Clodoveus im Jahr 507 bey Vouglé (in Campo oder Campania Vocladensi) unter der Anführung Alarichs zehn Meilen von Poitiers geschlagen, zerstreut, misshandelt, und von den Bewohnern der Loire und der Sévre mit gleicher Erbitterung und Verachtung gegen die Mündungen dieser beyden Flüsse getrieben wurden.
Wer hier Recht hat, muss erst in der Folge entschieden, und ehe diess geschehen kann, die Sache noch genauer untersucht werden.}}"
["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''.
''[[Antoine Court de Gébelin|Court de Gebelin]]'' in his {{lang|fr|Monde primitif}} chooses the ''[[Alans]]'' and cites the [[Battle of Orleans (463)|battle of 463]], in which they were defeated with the Visigoths.
''[[Pierre de Marca|Marca]]'' regards them as the remains of the ''[[Saracens|Sarazans]]'' defeated by ''[[Charles Martel|Carl Martel]]'' led by the ''[[Abd al-Rahman I|Abdalrahman]]''.
''[[Louis Ramond de Carbonnières|Ramond]]'' in his ''Journey to the Pyrenees'' derives them from the Arian-minded peoples who, under the ''[[Clovis I|Clodoveus]]'' in the year 507 at ''[[Vouillé, Vienne|Vouglé]]'' (''in Campo'' or ''Campania Vocladensi'') under the leadership of ''[[Alaric II|Alaric]]'', beaten, scattered, abused ten miles from ''[[Poitiers]]'', and treated with equal bitterness and contempt by the inhabitants of the ''[[Loire]]'' and the ''[[Sèvre Niortaise|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."]}}</ref>
and that the name {{lang|fr|Cagot}} derives from {{lang|pro|caas}} ("dog") and the [[Old Occitan]] for [[Goths|Goth]] {{lang|pro|gòt}} around the [[6th century]].<ref>{{harvp|Michel|1847|pp=21–22, 284}}; {{harvp|Álvarez|2019}}; {{harvp|Erroll|1899}}; {{harvp|Delacampagne|1983|p=125–127}}; {{harvp|Donkin|Diez|1864|p=107|ps=: "called {{lang|la|canes Gothi}}, ''cagots'' (Pr. {{lang|oc|câ}} a dog, and {{lang|oc|Got}} = Goth)."}}; {{harvp|von Zach|1798|p=520|ps=: "{{lang|de|Die erste und natürlichste Frage entsteht über den Namen.
Woher die sonderbare Benennung Cagot?
Scaliger's Meinung, welcher sie von Caas Goth, Canis Gothus ableitet, scheint ihren Gothischen Ursprung, welcher doch erst bewiesen werden sollte, als ausgemacht voraus zu setzen, auch scheint diese Ableitung zu künstlich und erzwungen zu seyn.}}"
["The first and most natural question arises about the name.
''Where did the strange name Cagot come from?''
[[Joseph Justus Scaliger|Scaliger's]] opinion, deriving it from {{lang|pro|Caas}} ''Goth'', {{lang|la|Canis Gothus}}, seems to take for granted its Gothic origin, which has yet to be proved, and this derivation seems too artificial and forced."]}}</ref>
Yet in opposition to this etymology is the fact that the word {{lang|fr|cagot}} is first found in this form in 1542 in the works of [[François Rabelais]].{{sfnp|Demonet|2021|pp=403–413}}
Seventeenth century French historian [[Pierre de Marca]], in his {{lang|fr|Histoire de Béarn}}, propounds the reverse – that the word signifies "hunters of the Goths", and that the Cagots were descendants of the [[Saracen]]s{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=947}}{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}} and [[Moors]]{{r|Fayanás Escuer, 2018}} of [[Al-Andalus]] (or even [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|Jews]]){{sfnp|British Medical Journal|1912}}{{sfnp|Heng|2022|p=31–32}} after their defeat by [[Charles Martel]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Claude |last=Larronde |author-link=:es:Jean-Claude Larronde |title=Vic-Bigorre et son patrimoine |language=fr |trans-title=Vic-Bigorre and its heritage |date=1998 |publisher=Société académique des Hautes-Pyrénées |quote=Il s'agit de descendants de Sarrasins qui restèrent en Gascogne après que Charles Martel eut défait Abdel-Rahman. Ils se convertirent et devinrent chrétiens. |trans-quote=They are descendants of Saracens who remained in Gascony after Charles Martel had defeated Abdel-Rahman. They converted and became Christians.}}</ref>{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}}{{r|von Zach - Frage 4}}
although this proposal was comprehensively refuted by the [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]] of [[Livorno]], Abbot {{ill|Filippo Venuti|it|Filippo Venuti (archeologo)}} as early as 1754.{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=37}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Dissertations sur les anciens monumens de la ville de Bordeaux, sur les Gahets, les antiquités, et les ducs d'Aquitaine avec un traité historique sur les monoyes que les anglais ont frappées dans cette province, etc. |language=fr |trans-title=Dissertations on the ancient monuments of the city of Bordeaux, on the Gahets (Cagots), antiquities, and the Dukes of Aquitaine with a historical treatise on the monoyes that the English struck in this province, etc. |first=Filippo |last=Venuti |author-link=:it:Filippo Venuti (archeologo) |date=1754 |location=Bordeaux |url=https://arachne.uni-koeln.de/Tei-Viewer/cgi-bin/teiviewer.php?manifest=BOOK-ZID1360881 |via=[[University of Cologne]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129213401/https://arachne.uni-koeln.de/Tei-Viewer/cgi-bin/teiviewer.php?manifest=BOOK-ZID1360881 |archive-date=29 January 2023}}</ref>
[[Antoine Court de Gébelin]] derives the term cagot from the Latin {{lang|la|caco-deus}}, {{lang|la|caco}} meaning "false, bad, deceitful", and {{lang|la|deus}} meaning "god", due to a belief that Cagots were descended from the [[Alans]] and followed [[Arianism]].{{sfnp|Gébelin|1842|pp=1182–1183}}{{r|von Zach - Frage 4}}

=== Variations ===

[[File:Names for Cagots around France.svg|thumb|upright=1.75|Names for Cagots around France]]

Their name differed by province and the [[Languages of France|local language]]:

* In [[Gascony]] they were called {{lang|oc|Cagots}},{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=2}} {{lang|fr|Cagous}}<ref name="Lascorz, Bizén, 1992">{{cite journal |title=Los agotes de Gestavi (bal de Gistau) |language=es |trans-title=The Agotes of Gestavi (Gistau Valley) |first1=N. Lucía Dueso |last1=Lascorz |author1-link=:es:Nieus Luzía Dueso Lascorz |first2=Bizén |last2=d'o Río Martínez |journal=Argensola: Revista de Ciencias Sociales del Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses |volume=106 |pages=151–172 |date=1992 |publisher=Huesca: Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses |url=http://revistas.iea.es/index.php/ARG/article/view/1419 |issn=0518-4088 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524080849/https://revistas.iea.es/index.php/ARG/article/view/1419 |archive-date=24 May 2022}}</ref> and {{lang|oc|Gafets}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376, 382}}<ref name="Louis-Lande, 429">{{harvp|Louis-Lande|1878|p=429|ps=: "{{lang|fr|Les gafets ou gahets de Guyenne font leur apparition dans l'histoire vers la fin du XIIIe siècle, en même temps que les cagots. Eux aussi étaient tenus pour ladres; ils avaient à l'église une porte, une place et un bénitier réservés, et ils étaient enterrés séparément. La coutume du Mas-d'Agenais, rédigée en 1388, défend à quiconque « d'acheter, pour les vendre, bétail ou volaille de gafet ou de gafete, ni de louer gafet ou gafete pour vendanger. » La coutume de Marmande défend aux gafets d'aller pieds nus par les rues et sans un « signal » de drap rouge appliqué sur le côté, gauche de la robe, d'acheter ni de séjourner dans la ville un autre jour que le lundi; elle leur enjoint, s'ils rencontrent homme ou femme, de se mettre à l'écart autant que possible jusqu'à ce que le passant se soit éloigné.}}" ["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 [[Le Mas-d'Agenais|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."]}}</ref>
* In [[Bordeaux]] they were called {{lang|oc|Ladres}},{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=2}} {{lang|oc|Cahets}}<ref name="von Zach - names">{{harvp|von Zach|1798|pp=516–517|ps=: "{{lang|de|Man kennt sie in Bretagne unter der Benennung von Cacous oder Caqueux. Man findet sie in Aunis, vorzüglich auf der Insel Maillezais, so wie auch in La Rochelle, wo sie Coliberts gennent werden. In Guyenne und Gascogne in der Nähe von Bordeaux erscheinen sie unter dem Namen der Cahets, und halten sich in den unbewohnbarsten Morästen, Sümpfen und Heiden auf. In den beyden Navarren heissen sie Caffos, Cagotes, Agotes.}}" ["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."]}}</ref> or {{lang|oc|Gahetz}}{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}}<ref>{{harvp|Hawkins|2014|p=2}}; {{harvp|Hansson|1996}}; {{harvp|Tuke|1880|p=376}}</ref>{{r|Louis-Lande, 429}}
* In the [[Southern Basque Country|Spanish Basque country]] they were called {{lang|es|Agotes}},{{r|von Zach - names}}<ref>{{harvp|Loubès|1995}}; {{harvp|Hansson|1996}}; {{harvp|Antolini|1995}}; {{harvp|Hawkins|2014|p=2}}</ref> {{lang|eu|Agotak}}{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}}{{r|Supplement 2010}}{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} and {{lang|es|Gafos}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376}}
* In the [[French Basque Country]] the forms {{lang|fr|Agotac}} and {{lang|fr|Agoth}} were also used.<ref name="Lagneau">{{cite book |title=Cagots |language=fr |first=Gustave Simon |last=Lagneau |author-link=:fr:Gustave Lagneau |location=Paris |publisher=[[Masson (publisher)|Victor Masson et Fils]] |date=1870 |url=https://www.omnia.ie/index.php?navigation_function=2&navigation_item=%2F307%2F10357_7066_aggregation&repid=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109134710/https://www.omnia.ie/index.php?navigation_function=2&navigation_item=/307/10357_7066_aggregation&repid=1 |archive-date=9 November 2021}}</ref>{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|pp=376, 379–380}}
* In [[County of Anjou|Anjou]], [[Languedoc]], and [[Armagnac (province)|Armagnac]] they were called {{lang|oc|Capots}},{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=2}}{{sfnp|Michel|1847|pp=56–58}}{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} and {{lang|fr|Gens des Marais}} (''marsh people'')
* In [[Brittany]] they were called {{lang|fr|Cacons}}, {{lang|fr|Cacous}} (possibly from the [[Breton language|Breton]] word {{lang|br|Cacodd}} meaning leprous),{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376, 382}}{{r|von Zach - names}} {{lang|fr|Caquots}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=381}} and {{lang|fr|Cahets}}. They were also sometimes referred to as {{lang|br|Kakouz}},{{sfnp|Rogozinski|2024|pp=205–206}} {{lang|fr|Caqueux}},{{r|von Zach - names}} {{lang|fr|Caquets}},<ref name="von Zach - Frage 2">{{harvp|von Zach|1798|pp=521|ps=: "{{lang|de|Es fragt sich 2) gehören die Caquets oder Caqueux in Bretagne und die Cagots in Bearn, so wie Cassos in Navarra zu einem und demselben Geschlechte? Wir glauben die Frage mit Ramond bejahen zu können. Die grosse Verwandtschaft der Namen, die Ähnlichkeit ihres Zustandes, die aller Orten gleiche Verachtung, und derselbe Geist, der aus allen Verordnungen in Betreff ihrer herverleuchtet scheinen diess zu beweisen.}}" ["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 ''[[Louis Ramond de Carbonnières|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."]}}</ref> {{lang|fr|Caquins}}, and {{lang|fr|Caquous}},{{r|von Zach - names}} names of the local [[Caquins of Brittany]] due to similar low stature and discrimination in society.{{r|von Zach - Frage 2}}
* In [[County of Bigorre|Bigorre]] they were also called {{lang|oc|Graouès}} and {{lang|oc|[[Cascarots]]}}{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=87}}
* In [[Aunis]], [[Poitou]], and [[County of Saintonge|Saintonge]] they were also called {{lang|fr|Colliberts}},{{r|von Zach - names}}{{sfnp|Rogozinski|2024|pp=205–206}} a name taken from the former class of {{lang|fr|colliberts}}.{{efn|The colliberts were not restricted to the western coast of France, and were also found through the Alps and into Italy. In France records also use the names: {{lang|la|colliberti}}, {{lang|pro|culvert}}, {{lang|pro|cuvert}}, {{lang|fr|cuilvert}}, {{lang|fr|culvert}}.}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Bloch |first=Marc |author-link=Marc Bloch |date=1975 |chapter=The "Colliberti." A Study on the Formation of the Servile Class |title=Slavery and Serfdom in the Middle Ages |translator-last=Beer |translator-first=WilliamR. |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0520017672 |pages=93–150}}</ref>
* {{lang|oc|Gésitains}}, or {{lang|oc|Gésites}} referencing [[Gehazi]] the servant of [[Elisha]] who was cursed with leprosy due to his greed.<ref name="Garcia Piñuela">{{cite magazine |title=Etnia marginada, Los Agotes |language=es |trans-title=Marginalized ethnic group, the Agotes |first=M. |last=Garcia Piñuela |magazine=Mitologia |date=2012 |url=https://es.slideshare.net/sonseharay/agotes-mitologia |pages=12–13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004215415/https://es.slideshare.net/sonseharay/agotes-mitologia |archive-date=4 October 2023}}</ref>{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} With the {{ill|Parlement of Bordeaux|fr|Parlement de Bordeaux}} recording {{lang|fr|descendants de la race de Giezy}} as an insult regularly used against Cagots.{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=2}} {{lang|oc|Giézitains}} is seen in the writings of [[Dominique Joseph Garat]].<ref name="Garat">{{cite book |title=Origines Des Basques De France Et D'espagne |language=fr |trans-title=Origins of the Basques of France and Spain |first=Dominique Joseph |last=Garat |author-link=Dominique Joseph Garat |date=1869}}</ref><ref name="Supplement 2010">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement |date=2010 |volume=1 |title=Cagots |pages=185–186 |editor1-first=Robert L. |editor1-last=Fastiggi |editor2-first=Joseph W. |editor2-last=Koterski |editor2-link=Joseph Koterski |editor3-first=Frank J. |editor3-last=Coppa |editor3-link=Frank J. Coppa |publisher=[[Cengage Gale]] |isbn=978-1414475882}}</ref> [[Elizabeth Gaskell]] records the anglicised ''Gehazites'' in her work ''An Accursed Race''.{{sfnp|Gaskell|1855}}
* Other recorded names include {{lang|es|Caffos}},{{r|von Zach - names}} {{lang|fr|Essaurillés}},{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} {{lang|fr|Gaffots}},{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} {{lang|fr|Trangots}},{{sfnp|Michel|1847|pp=76–77}} {{lang|fr|Caffets}},{{sfnp|Erroll|1899}} {{lang|es|Cailluands}}{{sfnp|Hors|1951|p=308}}{{sfnp|Garate|1958|p=521}} and {{lang|fr|Mézegs}} (most likely from the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|mézeau}} meaning leper).{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=382}}

Previously some of these names had been viewed as being similar yet separate groups from the Cagots.{{sfnp|Michel|1847|pp=166–170}}{{r|von Zach - Frage 2}}<!-- though this changed in some cases in later research.{{cn|date=May 2024}} -->

== Origin ==

[[File:Chateau de montségur.jpg|thumb|[[Château de Montségur]] near the [[Pyrenees]], which was [[Siege of Montségur|besieged]] as part of the [[Albigensian Crusade]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Sumption |author-link=Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption |title=The Albigensian Crusade |url=https://archive.org/details/albigensiancrusa00jona|url-access=registration |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |year=1978 |page=[https://archive.org/details/albigensiancrusa00jona/page/237 237] |isbn=0-571-20002-8}}</ref>]]

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.<ref name="Scheutz, 2018">{{cite magazine |last=Scheutz |first=Staffan |date=December 2018 |title=Beyond thought - the Cagots of France |url=https://www.picciolettabarca.com/posts/beyond-thought-the-cagots-of-france |magazine=La Piccioletta Barca |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123161818/https://www.picciolettabarca.com/posts/beyond-thought-the-cagots-of-france |archive-date=23 November 2020}}</ref> 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.{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=377}} Their only distinguishing feature was their descent from families long identified as Cagots.{{sfnp|Michel|1847|p=5}}

=== 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,<ref name="Carrasco, 1979">{{cite news |last=Carrasco |first=Bel |date=27 April 1979 |url=https://elpais.com/diario/1979/04/28/cultura/294098406_850215.html |title=Los agotes, minoría, étnica española: Mesa redonda de la Asociación Madrileña de Antropología |language=es |trans-title=The agotes, Spanish ethnic minority: Round table of the Madrid Anthropology Association |access-date=8 October 2021 |work=[[El País]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008134858/https://elpais.com/diario/1979/04/28/cultura/294098406_850215.html |archive-date=8 October 2021}}</ref> or being descendants of the bricklayers who built [[Solomon's Temple]] after being expelled from [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel]] by [[Yahweh|God]] due to poor craftsmanship.{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}} 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.{{r|Lascorz, Bizén, 1992}}

=== Religious origin ===

Another theory is that the Cagots were descendants of the [[Cathar]]s,{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}}{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}} who had been persecuted for [[heresy]] in the [[Albigensian Crusade]].{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=947}} With some comparisons including the use of the term {{lang|fr|crestians}}<ref name="Roberts, 1993">{{cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Susanne F. |date=October 1993 |title=Des Lépreux aux Cagots: Recherches sur les Sociétés Marginales en Aquitaine Médiévale. by Françoise Bériac |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |volume=68 |number=4 |pages=1063–1065 |issn=0038-7134 |doi=10.2307/2865504 |jstor=2865504}}</ref> to refer to Cagots, which evokes the name that the Cathars gave to themselves, {{lang|fr|bons crestians}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lafont |first1=R. |last2=Duvernoy |first2=J. |author2-link=Jean Duvernoy |last3=Roquebert |first3=M. |author3-link=Michel Roquebert |last4=Labal |first4=P. |year=1982 |title=Les Cathares en Occitanie |language=fr |trans-title=The Cathars in Occitania |editor=Fayard |pages=7}}</ref> A delegation by Cagots to [[Pope Leo X]] in 1514 made this claim,{{r|Supplement 2010}} though the Cagots predate the Cathar heresy{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=45}} and the Cathar heresy was not present in Gascony and other regions where Cagots were present.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hudry-Menos |first=Grégoire |author-link=:fr:Grégoire Hudry-Menos |year=1868 |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Revue_des_Deux_Mondes_-_1868_-_tome_74.djvu/595 |title=L'Israël des Alpes ou les Vaudois du Piémont. — II. — La Croisade albigeoise et la dispersion |language=fr |trans-title=The Israel of the Alps or the Vaudois of Piedmont. - II. - The Albigensian Crusade and the dispersion |volume=74 |access-date=13 October 2016 |page=588 |magazine=[[Revue des Deux Mondes]]}}</ref> The historian Daniel Hawkins suggests that perhaps this was a strategic move, as in the {{lang|es|[[limpieza de sangre]]}} 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.{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=36}} Others have suggested an origin as Arian Christians.{{sfnp|Gébelin|1842|pp=1182–1183}}{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=85}}

One of the earliest recorded mentions of Cagotes is in the charters of Navarre, developed around 1070.{{sfnp|Hors|1951|p=316}} Another early mention of the Cagots is from 1288, when they appear to have been called {{lang|fr|Chretiens}} or {{lang|la|Christianos}}.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=947}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=377}} Other terms seen in use prior to the [[16th century]] include {{lang|la|Crestias}}, {{lang|la|Chrestia}}, {{lang|fr|Crestiaa}}{{sfnp|Erroll|1899}} and {{lang|la|Christianus}},{{r|Supplement 2010}} which in medieval texts became inseparable from the term {{lang|la|leprosus}}, and so in [[Béarn]] became synonymous with the word [[leper]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/cagot |title=Cagot: Etymologie de Cagot |website=[[Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales]] |language=fr |trans-title=Cagot: Etymology of Cagot |access-date=13 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617071330/https://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/cagot |archive-date=17 June 2016}}</ref> 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.{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=45}}

=== Medical origin ===

Another possible explanation of their name {{lang|fr|Chretiens}} or {{lang|la|Christianos}} is to be found in the fact that in medieval times all lepers were known as {{lang|la|pauperes Christi}}, 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,{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=947}} and explain the similar restrictions placed on lepers and Cagots.{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=381}} [[Guy de Chauliac]] wrote in the 14th century,<ref>{{harvp|Louis-Lande|1878|p=448|ps=: "{{lang|fr|La leucé attaque moins profondément l'organisme, et c'est elle que les médecins du moyen âge attribuent particulièrement aux caquots, capots et cagots, qu'ils appellent de son nom ladres blancs. Les caractères principaux en sont, suivant Guy de Chauliac, vieil auteur du XIVe siècle: « une certaine couleur vilaine qui saute aux yeux, la morphée ou teinte blafarde de la peau, etc. »}}" ["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"."]}}</ref> and [[Ambroise Paré]] wrote in 1561 of the Cagots being lepers{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=85}} with "beautiful faces" and skin with no signs of leprosy, describing them as "white lepers" (people afflicted with "white leprosy").{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=381}}{{r|Roberts, 1993}}{{r|Barzilay, 2022}} Later dermatologists believe that Paré was describing [[leucoderma]].{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=382}} Early edicts apparently refer to lepers and Cagots as different categories of undesirables,{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=45}} With this distinction being explicit by 1593. The Parlement of Bordeaux and the [[Estates of Navarre|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 {{lang|fr|clicquettes}} (rattles).{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=12}}{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} One belief in Navarre were that the {{lang|es|Agotes}} were descendants of French immigrant lepers to the region.{{r|Carrasco, 1979}} 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.{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=384}}

In the 1940s to 1950s blood type analysis was performed on the Cagots of {{ill|Bozate|es}} in Navarre. The blood type distribution showed more similarity with those observed in France among the French than those observed among the Basque. Pilar Hors uses this as support for the theory that the Cagots in Spain are descendants of French migrants, most likely from leper colonies.{{sfnp|Hors|1951|pp=335–336}}

=== Other origins ===

[[File:Stjacquescompostelle1.png|thumb|right|275px|The [[Way of St. James]]; the anti-Cagot prejudice existed in northern Spain, Western France, and Southern France, roughly coinciding with the main routes]]

{{ill|Victor de Rochas|fr}} wrote that the Cagots were likely descendants of [[Erromintxela language|Spanish Roma from the Basque country]].<ref>{{cite book |last=de Rochas |first=Victor |author-link=:fr:Victor de Rochas |date=1876 |title=Les Parias de France et d'Espagne (cagots et bohémiens) |language=fr |trans-title=The Parias of France and Spain (cagots and bohemians) |location=Paris}}</ref>

In Bordeaux, where they were numerous, they were called {{lang|oc|ladres}}. This name has the same form as the [[Old French]] word {{lang|fro|[[wikt:ladre#Old French|ladre]]}}, meaning leper (ultimately derived from Latin {{lang|la|[[wikt:Lazarus#Latin|Lazarus]]}}). It also has the same form as the [[Gascon language|Gascon]] word for thief (ultimately derived from Latin {{lang|la|[[wikt:latro#Latin|latrō]]}}, and cognate to the Catalan {{lang|ca|lladres}} and the Spanish {{lang|es|ladrón}} meaning robber or looter), which is similar in meaning to the older, probably [[Celtic languages|Celtic]]-origin Latin term {{lang|la|[[bagaudae]]}}{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}} (or bagad), a possible origin of {{lang|es|agote}}.

The alleged physical appearance and ethnicity of the Cagots varied wildly between legends and stories; some local legends (especially those that held to the leper theory) indicated that Cagots had blonde hair and blue eyes,{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=377}} while those favouring the Arab descent story said that Cagots were considerably darker.{{sfnp|da Silva|2006}} In [[Pío Baroja]]'s work {{lang|es|Las horas solitarias}}, he comments that Cagot residents of {{ill|Bozate|es}} had both individuals with "Germanic" features as well as individuals with "Romani" features,<ref>{{cite book |last=Baroja |first=Pío |author-link=Pío Baroja |date=1982 |title=Las horas solitarias |language=es |trans-title=The lonely hours |publisher=Caro Raggio Editor S.L. |isbn=9788470350665 |quote=Cara ancha y juanetuda, esqueleto fuerte, pómulos salientes, distancia bicigomática fuerte, grandes ojos azules o verdes claros, algo oblicuos. Cráneo braquicéfalo, tez blanca, pálida y pelo castaño o rubio; no se parece en nada al vasco clásico. Es un tipo centro europeo o del norte. Hay viejos en Bozate que parecen retratos de Durero, de aire germánico. También hay otros de cara más alargada y morena que recuerdan al gitano. |trans-quote=Wide, bunion face, strong skeleton, prominent cheekbones, strong bizygomatic distance, large blue or light green eyes, somewhat oblique. Brachycephalic skull, white, pale complexion and brown or blonde hair; It doesn't look anything like classic Basque. It is a central European or northern type. There are old men in Bozate who look like portraits of [[Albrecht Dürer|Dürer]], with a Germanic air. There are also others with a longer and darker face that are reminiscent of the gypsy.}}</ref> this is also supported by others who investigated the Cagots in the Basque Country,<ref>{{harvp|Huici|1984|p=19}}: "{{lang|es|Webster rechaza la idea de que los agotes fueran un pueblo distinto del vasco, por razones lingüísticas. Según el sabio Inglés un pueblo, extranjero, que vive aislado de la sociedad que le rodea y con barreras severísimas, no ha podido olvidar totalmente su lengua ancestral. Los agotes, sin embargo, hablan el vascuence exactamente Igual que los vascos que les rodean.}}" ["[[Wentworth Webster|Webster]] rejects the idea that the agotes were a people distinct from the Basque, for linguistic reasons. According to the wise Englishman, a people, foreigners, who live isolated from the society that surrounds them and with very severe barriers, have not been able to completely forget their ancestral language. The agotes, however, speak Basque exactly like the Basques around them."]</ref> such as {{ill|Philippe Veyrin|fr}} who stated the "ethnic type" and names of Cagots were the same as the Basque within Navarre.{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=85}} Though people who set out to research the Cagots found them to be a diverse class of people in physical appearance, as diverse as the non-Cagot communities around them.<ref>{{harvp|Roussel|1893|p=149|ps=: "{{lang|fr|M. Roussel persiste à voir des descendants blonds des Goths dans les Cagots des Pyrénées. Mais ils sont en réalité très diversifiés plus souvent bruns que blonds, brachy et dolichocéphales, semblables au fond de la population où ils vivent; ls parlent la langue ou le patois du pays.}}" ["M. Roussel persists in seeing blond descendants of the Goths in the Cagots of the Pyrenees. But they are in reality very diverse, more often brown than blond, brachy and dolichocephalic, similar to the background of the population where they live; They speak the language or patois of the country."]}}</ref> One common trend was to claim that Cagots had no ears{{r|Supplement 2010}} or no [[earlobe]]s,{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=379}} or that one ear was longer than the other,{{sfnp|da Silva|2006}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Fabre |first=Michel |date=1987 |title=Le Mystère des Cagots, race maudite des Pyrénées |language=fr |trans-title=The Mystery of the Cagots, cursed race of the Pyrenees |publisher=MCT |isbn=2905521619}}</ref> with other supposed identifiers including webbed hands and/or feet, or the presence of [[goitre]]s.{{sfnp|Cabarrouy|1995}}{{sfnp|Michel|1847|pp=50–51}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376}}

[[Graham Robb]] finds most of the above theories unlikely:

{{blockquote|Nearly all the old and modern theories are unsatisfactory ... the real "mystery of the cagots" was the fact that they had no distinguishing features at all. They spoke whatever dialect was spoken in the region and their family names were not peculiar to the cagots ... The only real difference was that, after eight centuries of persecution, they tended to be more skillful and resourceful than the surrounding populations, and more likely to emigrate to America. They were feared because they were persecuted and might therefore seek revenge.{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=45}}}}

A modern hypothesis of interest is that the Cagots are the descendants of a fallen medieval [[guild]] of carpenters.{{sfnp|Thomas|2008}} This hypothesis would explain the most salient thing Cagots throughout France and Spain have in common: that is, being restricted in their choice of trade. The red webbed-foot symbol Cagots were sometimes forced to wear might have been the guild's original emblem, according to the hypothesis. There was a brief construction boom on the [[Way of St. James]] pilgrimage route in the 9th and 10th centuries; this could have brought the guild both power and suspicion. The collapse of their business would have left a scattered, yet cohesive group in the areas where Cagots are known.{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=46}}

Robb's guild hypothesis, alongside much of the work in his ''[[The Discovery of France]]'', has been heavily criticised for "[failing] to understand most of the secondary works in his own bibliography" and being a "recycling of nineteenth-century myths".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Bell |first=David A. |author-link=David Bell (historian) |date=13 February 2008 |title=Bicycle History |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/61993/bicycle-history |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020235639/https://newrepublic.com/article/61993/bicycle-history |archive-date=20 October 2020}}</ref>

For similar reasons due to their restricted trades, Delacampagne suggests a possible origin as a culturally distinct community of woodsmen who were [[Christianization#Europe and Asia of the High and Late Middle Ages (800 to 1500)|Christianised relatively late]].{{sfnp|Delacampagne|1983|p=137–138}}

== Geography ==

=== Distribution ===

[[File:(65) Bagnères de Bigorre - l'adour et le quartier des cagots.jpg|thumb|A postcard of the subprefecture of [[Bagnères-de-Bigorre]], showing the neighborhood of the Cagots and the river [[Adour]] which separates it from the main town]]

The cagots were present in France in [[Gascony]] to the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]], but also in the north of Spain (in [[Aragon]], south and north [[Navarre]], and [[Asturias]]).{{sfnp|Antolini|1995}}

Cagots were typically required to live in separate quarters,{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}}<ref name="Jolly, 200a">{{harvp|Jolly|2000|p=200|ps=: "{{lang|fr|Dans toutes les localités où les cagots étaient présents, un quartier d'habitation, dont le nom diffère pour chaque village, leur était réservé. Ce quartier est généralement situé aux marges de l'habitat et n'est pas en continuité directe avec le reste du village Quand les cagots accédaient au foncier, c'était d'abord sur les marges du terroir cultivé, à la limite du communal, sur les terrains les moins propices à l'agriculture.}} ["In all the localities where the cagots were present, a residential area, whose name differs for each village, was reserved for them. This district is generally located on the margins of the habitat and is not in direct continuity with the rest of the village When the cagots accessed land, it was first on the margins of the cultivated land, at the limit of the communal on land less suitable for agriculture."]}}</ref>{{sfnp|Cabarrouy|1995}} these hamlets were called {{lang|fr|crestianies}} then from the 16th century {{lang|fr|cagoteries}},{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376}}{{sfnp|Michel|1847|p=96}} which were often on the far outskirts of the villages. On the scale of [[Béarn]], for example, the distribution of Cagots, often carpenters, was similar to that of other craftsmen, who were numerous mainly in the piedmont. Far from congregating in only a few places, the Cagots were scattered in over 137 villages and towns. Outside the mountains, 35 to 40% of communities had Cagots, especially the largest ones, excluding very small villages.{{sfnp|Bériac|1987}} The buildings making up the {{lang|fr|cagoteries}} are still present in many villages.{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|pp=85–86}}

=== Toponomy ===

[[File:Rue du village de Campan (Hautes-Pyrénées) 3.jpg|thumb|A sign for {{lang|fr|Rue du Pont des Cagots}} in [[Campan]].{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=378}}<ref>{{cite web |title= Les cagots à Campan |language=fr |trans-title=The Cagots in Campan |website=Lieux et légendes dans les Hautes-Pyrénées |url=http://lieux.loucrup65.fr/cagotscampan.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418083831/http://lieux.loucrup65.fr/cagotscampan.htm |archive-date=18 April 2024}}</ref>]]

Toponymy and topography indicate that the places where the cagots were found have constant characteristics; these are gaps, generally across rivers or outside [[Defensive wall|town walls]],{{r|Jolly, 200a}} called "{{lang|fr|crestian}}" (and derivatives) or "{{lang|fr|place}}" (Laplace names are frequent) next to water points, places allocated to live and above all to practice their trades.{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|pp=377–378}}

Toponymy also provides evidence of areas where Cagots had lived in the past. Various Street names are still in use such as {{lang|fr|Rue des cagots}} in the municipalities of [[Montgaillard, Hautes-Pyrénées|Montgaillard]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Les cagots à Montgaillard: et dans les Hautes-Pyrénées |language=fr |trans-title=The Cagots in Montgaillard: and in the Hautes-Pyrénées |website=Lieux et légendes dans les Hautes-Pyrénées |url=http://lieux.loucrup65.fr/cagots.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418083107/http://lieux.loucrup65.fr/cagots.htm |archive-date=18 April 2024}}</ref> and [[Lourdes]],<ref name="Lieux-Lourdes">{{cite web |title=Les cagots à Lourdes |language=fr |trans-title=The Cagots in Lourdes |website=Lieux et légendes dans les Hautes-Pyrénées |url=http://lieux.loucrup65.fr/cagotslourdes.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418082611/http://lieux.loucrup65.fr/cagotslourdes.htm |archive-date=18 April 2024}}</ref> {{lang|fr|Impasse des cagots}} in [[Laurède]], {{lang|fr|Place des cagots}} in [[Roquefort]], {{lang|fr|Place des capots}} in [[Saint-Girons, Ariège|Saint-Girons]], and {{lang|fr|Rue des Capots}} in the municipalities of [[Mézin]], [[Sos, Lot-et-Garonne|Sos]], [[Vic-Fezensac]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Vic-Fezensac. La visite du quartier des Capots attise la curiosité des Vicois |language=fr |trans-title=Vic-Fezensac. A visit to the Capots district arouses the curiosity of the people of Vicois |date=25 February 2009 |url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2009/02/25/563944-vic-fezensac-visite-quartier-capots-attise-curiosite-vicois.html |work=[[La Dépêche du Midi|La Depeche]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418091626/https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2009/02/25/563944-vic-fezensac-visite-quartier-capots-attise-curiosite-vicois.html |archive-date=18 April 2024}}</ref> [[Aire-sur-l'Adour]], [[Eauze]], and [[Gondrin]].

In [[Aubiet]], there is a locality called "{{lang|fr|les Mèstres}}". It was in this hamlet, that the cagots ({{lang|fr|Mèstres}}) of Aubiet lived, on the left bank of the [[Arrats]], separated from the village by the river. The discovery of the name of the place allowed teachers to discover the local history of the Cagots and to start educational work.<ref>{{cite web |language=fr |title=Les cagots d'Aubiet et ceux du Gers |trans-title=The Cagots of Aubiet and those of the Gers |url=http://www.occe32.net/fichespatrim/docs/F27cagots.html |website=OCCE |date= |access-date=13 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328225806/http://www.occe32.net/fichespatrim/docs/F27cagots.html |archive-date=28 March 2022}}</ref> Until the beginning of the 20th century, several districts of Cagots still bore the name of {{lang|fr|Charpentier}} ("Carpenter").{{r|Lieux-Lourdes}}

== Treatment ==

[[File:Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption à Bidarray 08 - Porte des cagots.jpg|thumb|150px|Former door for Cagots in the Church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption in [[Bidarray]]]]

Cagots were shunned and hated; while restrictions varied by time and place, with many discriminatory actions being codified into law in France in 1460,{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376}}<ref>{{harvp|von Zach|1798|pp=519–520|ps=: "{{lang|de|dass sie im J. 1460 der Gegenstand einer Beschwerde der [[Landstände|Bearner Landstände]] waren, welche verlangten, dass man ihnen wegen zu besorgender Ansteckung verbiete, mit blossen Füssen zu gehen, unter Bedrohung der Strafe, dass ihnen im Betretungsfalle die Füsse mit einem Eisen sollten durchschlagen werden. Auch drangen die Stände darauf, dass sie auf ihren Kleidern ihr ehemahliges unterscheidendes Merkmahl, den Gänse - oder Aenten - Fuss fernerhin tragen sollten.}}" ["that in 1460 they were the subject of a complaint by the [[Landstände|''Bearnese'' estates]], which demanded that they should be forbidden to walk with bare feet because of contagion, under threat of the punishment that their feet should be struck with an iron in the event of trespass. The standing orders also insisted that they should continue to wear their former distinctive mark, the ''goose'' - or ''duck'' - ''foot'' on their clothes."]}}</ref> they were typically required to live in separate quarters.{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}} Cagots were excluded from various political and social rights.<ref>{{harvp|Loubès|1995}}; {{harvp|Álvarez|2019}}; {{harvp|Kessel|2019}}; {{harvp|Guerreau|Guy|1988}}; {{harvp|Guy|1983}}</ref>

=== Religious treatment ===

[[File:Agote ur pila oloreneko katedralean.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Holy water]] font for Cagots in the cathedral of [[Oloron-Sainte-Marie|Oloron]], [[Béarn]] ]]

While Cagots followed the same religion as the non-Cagots who lived around them,{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=379}} they were subject to variety of discriminatory practices in religious rites and buildings, this included being forced to use a side entrance to churches, often an intentionally low one to force Cagots to bow{{r|Supplement 2010}} and remind them of their subservient status.{{sfnp|da Silva|2006}}<ref name="Euskomedia">{{cite web |url=http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/10045/114617 |title=Agote: etnología e historia |language=es |trans-title=Agote: ethnology and history |website=Euskomedia: Auñamendi Entziklopedia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505013703/http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/10045/114617 |archive-date=5 May 2011}}</ref> This practice, done for cultural rather than religious reasons, did not change even between [[Catholic]] and [[Huguenot]] areas, as shown by historian Raymond A. Mentzer, who records how even when Cagots converted from Catholicism to Calvinism they were still subject to the same discriminatory practices, including in religious rites and rituals.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mentzer |first=Raymond A. |date=1996 |title=The Persistence of "Superstition and Idolatry" among Rural French Calvinists |journal=Church History |volume=65 |number=2 |doi=10.2307/3170289 |pages=220–233 [230–231] |jstor=3170289}}</ref> Cagots were expected to slip into churches quietly and congregate in the worst seats. They had their own [[holy water]] fonts set aside for Cagots, and touching the normal font was strictly forbidden.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Leclercq |first=H. |author-link=Henri Leclercq |date=1910 |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07433a.htm |encyclopedia=The [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |chapter=Holy Water Fonts |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Holy Water Fonts |location=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120050732/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07433a.htm |archive-date=20 November 2023}}</ref>{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}} These restrictions were taken seriously; with one story collected by Elizabeth Gaskell explaining the origin of the skeleton of a hand nailed to the church door in [[Quimperlé]], Brittany, where in the 18th century, a wealthy Cagot had his hand cut off and nailed to the church door for daring to touch the font reserved for "clean" citizens.{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=44}}{{sfnp|Gaskell|1855}}

=== Treatment by governments ===

Cagots were not allowed to marry non-Cagots<ref name="marriage">{{harvp|Loubès|1995}}; {{harvp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}}; {{harvp|Álvarez|2019}}; {{harvp|Kessel|2019}}; {{harvp|Rogozinski|2024|pp=205–206}}</ref> leading to forced [[endogamy]],<ref>{{harvp|Jolly|2000|p=205}}: "{{lang|fr|L'étendue des aires matrimoniales et la distribution des patronymes constituent les principaux indices de la mobilité des cagots. F. Bériac relie l'extension des aires matrimoniales des cagots des différentes localités étudiées (de 20 à plus de 35 km) à l'importance et la densité relative des groupes de cagots, corrélant la recherche de conjoints lointains à l'épuisement des possibilités locales. A. Guerreau et Y. Guy, en utilisant la documentation gersoise exploitée par G. Loubès et les documents publiés par Fay pour le Béarn et la Chalosse (XVe–XVIIe s.) concluent que l'endogamie des cagots semble s'opérer au sein de trois sous-ensembles qui correspondent à ceux que distingue la terminologie à partir du XVIe siècle: agotes, cagots, capots. Au sein de chacun d'eux, les distances moyennes d'intermariage sont relativement importantes: entre 12 et 15 km en Béarn et Chalosse, plus de 30 km dans le Gers, dans une société où plus de la moitié des mariages se faisaient à l'intérieur d'un même village.}}" ["The extent of marital areas and the distribution of surnames are the main indices of cagot mobility. F. Bériac links the extension of the matrimonial areas of the Cagots of the different localities studied (from 20 to more than 35 km) to the importance and the relative density of the groups of cagots, correlating the search for distant spouses with the exhaustion of possibilities local. {{ill|Alain Guerreau|fr}} and Y. Guy, using the [[Gers]] documentation exploited by G. Loubès and the documents published by Fay for Béarn and [[Chalosse]] (15th–17th century) conclude that the endogamy of Cagots seems to operate within three subsets that correspond to those distinguished by terminology from the 16th century: agotes, cagots, capots. Within each of them, the average intermarriage distances are relatively long: between 12 and 15 km in Béarn and Chalosse, more than 30 km in the Gers, in a society where more than half of marriages took place at home, inside the same village."]</ref> though in some areas in the later centuries (such as [[Béarn]]) they were able to marry non-Cagots though the non-Cagot would then be classed as a Cagot.{{sfnp|British Medical Journal|1912}} They were not allowed to enter taverns or use public fountains.{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}} The marginalization of the Cagots began at baptism where chimes were not rung in celebration as was the case for non-Cagots and that the baptisms were held at nightfall.{{sfnp|Guerreau|Guy|1988}}{{sfnp|Kessel|2019}} Within parish registries the term {{lang|fr|cagot}}, or its scholarly synonym {{lang|fr|gezitan}}, was entered.{{sfnp|Bériac|1987}} Cagots were buried in cemeteries separate from non-Cagots<ref>{{harvp|Guy|1983}}; {{harvp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}}; {{harvp|Tuke|1880|p=376}}; {{harvp|Heng|2022|p=31–32}}</ref> with reports of riots occurring if bishops tried to have the bodies moved to non-Cagot cemeteries.{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}} Commonly Cagots were not given a standard last name in registries and records but were only listed by their first name, followed by the mention "{{lang|fr|crestians}}" or "{{lang|fr|cagot}}",{{r|Supplement 2010}} such as on their baptismal certificate,{{sfnp|Louis-Lande|1878|p=430}}<ref name="Duffy, 2019">{{cite web |last=Duffy |first=Diane |date=7 August 2019 |title=This Month in Writing: 'An Accursed Race' |url=https://gaskellsociety.co.uk/an-accursed-race/ |access-date=9 October 2021 |website=The Gaskell Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023060422/https://gaskellsociety.co.uk/an-accursed-race/ |archive-date=23 October 2021}}</ref> They were allowed to enter a church only by a special door{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}}<ref name="von Zach - church">{{harvp|von Zach|1798|p=519|ps=: "{{lang|de|dass sie in die Kirchen nicht anders, als durch abgesonderte Thüren hineintreten durften, und in diesen ihre eigenen Weihbecken und Stühle für sich und ihre Familie hatten.}}" ["that they were not allowed to enter the churches other than through separate doors, and in these had their own stoups and chairs for themselves and their families."]}}</ref> and, during the service, a rail separated them from the other worshippers.{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}}{{r|von Zach - church}} They were forbidden from joining the [[priesthood]].{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}} Either they were altogether forbidden to partake of the sacrament, or the [[Eucharist]] was given to them on the end of a wooden spoon,{{sfnp|del Carmen Aguirre Delclaux|2008}}{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}}{{r|Supplement 2010}} while a [[holy water stoup]] was reserved for their exclusive use.{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=377}} They were compelled to wear a distinctive dress to which, in some places, was attached the foot of a goose{{r|Lascorz, Bizén, 1992}} or duck{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=381}} (whence they were sometimes called {{lang|fr|Canards}}),{{r|Supplement 2010}} and latterly to have a red representation of a goose's foot in fabric sewn onto their clothes.<ref>{{harvp|Ulysse|1891}}; {{harvp|Álvarez|2019}}; {{harvp|del Carmen Aguirre Delclaux|2008}}; {{harvp|Louis-Lande|1878|p=426|ps=: "{{lang|fr|Aussi les tenait-on prudemment à l'écart: ceux des villes étaient relégués dans un faubourg spécial où les personnes saines se lussent bien gardées de mettre les pieds et d'où ils ne pouvaient sortir eux-mêmes sans porter sur leur vêtement et bien en évidence un morceau de drap rouge taillé en patte d'oie ou de canard}}" ["So they were kept prudently apart: those from the cities were relegated to a special suburb where healthy people were careful not to set foot and where they could not get out themselves without wearing on their clothes and well in evidence a piece of red cloth cut in crow's or duck's feet"]}}</ref> Whilst in Navarre a court ruling in 1623 required all Cagots to wear cloaks with a yellow trim to identify them as Cagots.{{sfnp|Kessel|2019}}

In Spanish territories Cagots were subject to the {{lang|es|limpieza de sangre}} statutes (cleanliness of blood).{{sfnp|Hors|1951|p=311}} These statutes established the legal discrimination, restriction of rights, and restriction of privileges of the descendants of Muslims, Jews, [[Gitanos|Romani]], and Cagots.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Llinares |first=Lidia Montesinos |date=2013 |title=IRALIKU'K: La confrontación de los comunales: Etnografía e historia de las relaciones de propiedad en Goizueta |language=es |trans-title=IRALIKU'K: The confrontation of the communal: Ethnography and history of property relations in Goizueta |type=MA |page=81}}</ref>

=== Work ===

[[File:Bozate.JPG|400px|thumb|right|The neighborhood of Bozate in the town of [[Arizkun]] is a former ghetto of Navarrese Agotes, and is home to the {{lang|es|Museo Etnográfico de los Agotes}} (Ethnographic Museum of the Agotes).<ref name="Los agotes en Navarra">{{cite news |url=https://www.diariodenavarra.es/noticias/cultura-ocio/cultura/2020/04/22/los-agotes-navarra-pueblo-maldito-amante-artesania-688017-1034.html |title=Los agotes en Navarra, el pueblo maldito amante de la artesanía |language=es |trans-title=The Agotes in Navarra, the cursed town that loves crafts |date=22 April 2020 |access-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008140250/https://www.diariodenavarra.es/noticias/cultura-ocio/cultura/2020/04/22/los-agotes-navarra-pueblo-maldito-amante-artesania-688017-1034.html |archive-date=8 October 2021}}</ref>]]

Cagots were prohibited from selling food or wine,{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} touching food in the market, working with livestock,{{sfnp|Pérez|2010}} or entering mills.{{sfnp|Hawkins|2014|p=6}} The Cagots were often restricted to craft trades including those of carpenter,{{sfnp|Loubès|1995}}{{sfnp|Guy|1983}}<ref name="Jolly, 200b">{{harvp|Jolly|2000|p=200|ps=: "{{lang|fr|Lors des entretiens effectués récemment par P. Antolini dans le village d'Arizcun en Navarre, il ressort que les cagots dans cette région avaient des métiers et peu de terres: charpentier, menuisier, forgeron, carrier, meunier, joueur de flûte et de tambour, chasseur, tisserand. Ils travaillaient aussi sur les terres du seigneur Ursua comme métayers, ou comme ouvriers pour les agriculteurs et leveurs du village. Vers 1915-1920, la maison Ursua vendit aux cagots les terres qu'ils travaillaient: ils sont à présent presque tous propriétaires de leurs maisons et de leurs terres, mais la majorité sont encore artisans.}}" ["During interviews carried out recently by P. Antolini in the village of Arizcun in Navarre, it appears that the cagots in this region had trades and little land: carpenter, joiner, blacksmith, quarryman, miller, flute player and drummer, hunter, weaver. They also worked on the lands of Lord Ursua as sharecroppers, or as laborers for the village farmers and herders. Around 1915-1920, the Ursua house sold the land they worked to the cagots: they are now almost all owners of their houses and their land, but the majority are still artisans."]}}</ref> mason, woodcutter,{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=85}} wood carver,<ref name="von Zach - 518">{{harvp|von Zach|1798|pp=516–517|ps=: "{{lang|de|Ausser dem Holzspalten und Zimmern sey ihnen kein anderes Handwerk erlaubt: diese beyden Beschäftigungen seyen aber eben dadurch verächtlich und ehrlos geworden.}}" ["Apart from splitting wood and carving, they are not allowed to do any other craft: these two occupations have become contemptible and dishonorable because of this."]}}</ref> cooper,{{sfnp|Guerreau|Guy|1988}}{{sfnp|Delacampagne|1983|p=114–115, 124}} butcher,<ref>{{cite book |last=Arnold-Baker |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Arnold-Baker |date=2001 |title=The Companion to British History |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-203-93013-4 |pages=219}}</ref> and rope-maker.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=947}}{{sfnp|Thomas|2008}} They were also often employed as musicians in Navarre.{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=85}}<ref name="Jolly, 200b"/> Cagots who were involved in masonry and carpentry were often contracted to construct major public buildings, such as churches, an example being the {{ill|Protestant temple of Pau|fr|Temple protestant de Pau}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fay |first1=Henri-Marcel |date=1910 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57243705.r=cagots+Lourdes.langFR |title=Histoire de la lèpre en France. I. Lépreux et cagots du Sud-Ouest, notes historiques, médicales, philologiques, suivies de documents |language=fr |trans-title=History of leprosy in France. I. lepers and cagots in southwestern, medical and historical, philological, followed by documents |location=Paris |publisher=H. Champion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108071227/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57243705.r=cagots+Lourdes.langFR |archive-date=8 November 2023}}</ref> Due to association with woodworking crafts, Cagots often worked as the operators of instruments of torture and execution, as well as making the instruments themselves.{{sfnp|Delacampagne|1983|p=114–115, 124}}{{sfnp|Guerreau|Guy|1988}}{{r|Supplement 2010}} Such professions may have perpetuated their social ostracisation.{{sfnp|Guerreau|Guy|1988}}

Cagot women were often midwives until the 15th century.{{sfnp|Guerreau|Guy|1988}}{{sfnp|Delacampagne|1983|p=114–115, 124}} Due to [[social exclusion]], in France the Cagots were exempt from taxation until the 18th century.{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}}{{r|Supplement 2010}}{{sfnp|Michel|1847|p=185}} By the 19th century these restrictions seem to have been lifted, but the trades continued to be practiced by Cagots, along with other trades such as [[weaving]] and [[blacksmithing]].{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=378–379}}{{r|Jolly, 200b}} Because the main identifying mark of the Cagots was the restriction of their trades to a few small options, their segregation has been compared to the [[caste system in India]],{{sfnp|da Silva|2006}}<ref name="Von Zach Indischen Parias">{{harvp|von Zach|1798|p=515|ps=: "{{lang|de|An der westlichen Küste dieses Landes, von St. Malo an, bis tief die Pyrenäen hinauf, befindet sich eine Classe von Manschen, welche den Indischen Parias sehr nahe kommt, und mit diesen auf gleicher Stufe der Erniedrigung steht. Sie leben in diesen Gegenden zerstreut, seit undenklichen Zeiten bis auf den heutigen Tag unter fortdauernder Herabwürdigung von Seiten ihrer mehr begünstigten Mitbürger. Sie heissen mit ihrer bekanntesten und allgemeinsten Benennung Cagots, und es bleibt zweifelhaft, ob die Heuchler ihnen, oder sie diesen ihren Namen mitgetheilt haben, obgleich das letzte mir glaublicher scheint.}}" ["On the western coast of this country, from [[Saint-Malo|St. Malo]] to deep up the Pyrenees, there is a class of people who come very close to the Indian pariah, and are on the same level of humiliation with them. They have been scattered in these areas, from time immemorial to the present day, under constant disparagement from their more fortunate fellow citizens. With their best-known and most general designation they are called Cagots, and it remains doubtful whether the hypocrites gave them or they gave them their names, although the last one seems more credible to me."]}}</ref> with the Cagots being compared to the [[Dalits]].{{sfnp|da Silva|2006|pp=21–22}}

=== Accusations and pseudo-medical beliefs ===

Few consistent reasons were given as to why Cagots were hated; accusations varied from them being [[cretinism|cretins]],{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376}} [[Leprosy|lepers]],{{sfnp|British Medical Journal|1912}} [[heresy|heretics]],{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=380}} [[Human cannibalism|cannibals]],{{r|Supplement 2010}} [[Witchcraft|sorcerers]],{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}}{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}} [[Werewolf|werewolves]],{{sfnp|Delacampagne|1983|p=114–115, 121–124}} [[Paraphilia|sexual deviants]], to actions they were accused of such as poisoning wells,<ref name="Barzilay, 2022">{{cite book |last=Barzilay |first=Tzafrir |date=2022 |title=Poisoned Wells: Accusations, Persecution, and Minorities in Medieval Europe, 1321-1422 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |pages=44–45 |isbn=9780812298222 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMdcEAAAQBAJ&dq=cagot&pg=PP1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{r|Supplement 2010}} or for simply being intrinsically evil. They were viewed as [[Untouchability|untouchables]], with {{ill|Christian Delacampagne|fr}} noting how it was believed that they could cause children to fall ill by touching them or even just looking at them,{{sfnp|Delacampagne|1983|p=114–115, 121–124}} being considered so pestilential that it was a crime for them to walk common roads barefooted{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} or to drink from the same cup as non-Cagots. It was also a common belief that the Cagots gave off a foul smell.{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}}{{r|Supplement 2010}} {{ill|Joaquim de Santa Rosa de Viterbo|pt}} recorded that many believed Cagots were born with a tail.{{r|Viterbo, 1856}} Many [[Bretons]] believed that Cagots bled from their [[navel]] on [[Good Friday]].{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=45}}

The French early psychiatrist [[Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol]] wrote in his 1838 works that the Cagots were a subset of "[[Idiot#Disability and early classification and nomenclature|idiot]]", and separate from "cretins".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pigeaud |first=Jackie |author-link=Jackie Pigeaud |date=2000 |title=Le Pongo, l'idiot et le cagot. Quelques remarques sur la définition de l'Autre |language=fr |trans-title=The Pongo, the idiot and the cagot. Some remarks on the definition of the Other |journal={{ill|Études littéraires|fr|Études littéraires (revue)}} |volume=32 |number=1–2 |pages=243–262 |doi=10.7202/501270ar |doi-access=free }}</ref> By the middle of the 19th century,{{sfnp|Hansson|1996}} previous pseudo-medical beliefs and beliefs of them being intellectually inferior{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}} had waned and German doctors, by 1849, regarded them as “not without the ability to become useful members of society.”<ref>{{cite book |title=Rheinische Monatsschrift für Praktische Aerzte |language=de |trans-title=Rheinische monthly publication for practical doctors |volume=3 |date=1849 |pages=288}}</ref> Though various French and British doctors were continuing to label the Cagots as a race inherently afflicted with congenital disabilities to the end of the 19th century.{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=376}} [[Daniel Hack Tuke|Daniel Tuke]] wrote in 1880 after visiting communities where Cagots lived, noted how local people would not subject "cretins" born to non-Cagots to living with Cagots.{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=379}}

The Cagots did have a culture of their own, but very little of it was written down or preserved; as a result, almost everything that is known about them relates to their persecution.{{sfnp|Robb|2007|p=46}} The repression lasted through the [[Middle Ages]], [[Renaissance]], and [[Industrial Revolution]], with the prejudice fading only in the 19th and 20th centuries.{{r|Carrasco, 1979}}{{sfnp|Pérez|2010}}

=== ''Cagot'' as pejorative ===

Philosopher {{ill|Jacob Rogozinski|fr}} highlights how even from as far back as the work of François Rabelais in the 16th century, the term {{lang|fr|cagot}} was used as a synonym for people viewed as deceitful and hypocritical.{{sfnp|Rogozinski|2024|pp=205–206}} In contemporary language the term {{lang|fr|cagot}} has been further separated from it being the name of a distinct caste of people to being a pejorative term for any person who is "lazy" or "shameful".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Simms |first=Norman |date=1993 |title=The Cagots of Southwestern France: A Study in Structural Discrimination |journal=Mentalities |volume=8 |number=1 |doi= |pages=44–}}</ref> Similar transformations have occurred with the Spanish equivalent name {{lang|es|agote}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua Española - Agote |trans-title=Treasure trove of historical dictionaries of the Spanish language - Agote |language=es |url=https://www.rae.es/tdhle/agote |website=[[Real Academia Española]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508123701/https://www.rae.es/tdhle/agote |archive-date=8 May 2024}}</ref>

== Cagot allies ==

[[File: Parliaments and Sovereign Councils of the Kingdom of France in 1789 (fr).png|thumb|200px|Territories assigned to the parlements and sovereign councils of the Kingdom of France in 1789]]

An appeal by the Cagots to Pope Leo X in 1514 was successful, and he published a [[papal bull]] in 1515, instructing that the Cagots be treated "with kindness, in the same way as the other believers." Still, little changed, as most local authorities ignored the bull.<ref>{{harvp|da Silva|2006}}; {{harvp|Loubès|1995}}; {{harvp|Pérez|2010}}; {{harvp|British Medical Journal|1912}}; {{harvp|Jolly|2000|p=202}}; {{harvp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}}</ref>

The nominal though usually ineffective allies of the Cagots were the government, the educated, and the wealthy. This included [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] who officially supported tolerance of and improvements to the lives of Cagots.{{r|Supplement 2010}}{{sfnp|British Medical Journal|1912}} It has been suggested that the odd patchwork of areas which recognized Cagots has more to do with which local governments tolerated the prejudice, and which allowed Cagots to be a normal part of society. In a study in 1683, doctors examined the Cagots and found them no different from normal citizens. Notably, they did not actually suffer from [[leprosy]] or any other disease that could clarify their exclusion from society. The [[parlement]]s of Pau, Toulouse and Bordeaux were informed of the situation, and money was allocated to improve the situation of the Cagots, but the populace and local authorities resisted.{{sfnp|Hors|1951|pp=310–311}}{{sfnp|Michel|1847|pp=189–192}}

Through many of the centuries Cagots in France and Spain came under the protection and jurisdiction of the church.{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=84}} In 1673, the Ursúa lords of the municipality of [[Baztan, Navarre|Baztán]] advocated the recognition of the local Cagots as natural residents of the Baztán.{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}} Also in the 17th century [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] officially freed Cagots in France from their servitude to parish churches and from restrictions placed upon them, though in practicality nothing changed.{{sfnp|Rivière-Chalan|1978|p=7}}

By the 18th century Cagots made up considerable portions of various settlements, such as in [[Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry|Baigorri]] where Cagots made up 10% of the population.{{r|Euskomedia}}

[[File:Procession de cagots.jpg|thumb|300px|A 19th century French postcard titled {{lang|fr|Une procession de cagots arrive sur les bords du Lapaca}} (A procession of cagots arrives on the banks of the Lapaca), showing the feet of either geese or ducks attached to their clothing]]

In 1709, the influential politician {{ill|Juan de Goyeneche|es}} planned and constructed the manufacturing town of [[Nuevo Baztán]] (after his native [[Baztan (valley)|Baztan]] Valley in Navarre) near Madrid.{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}} He brought many Cagot settlers to Nuevo Baztán, but after some years, many returned to Navarre, unhappy with their work conditions.{{sfnp|Hors|1951|pp=323–324}}{{sfnp|Michel|1847|pp=73–74}}

In 1723 the Parlement of Bordeaux instituted a fine of 500 [[French livre]]s for anyone insulting any individual as "alleged descendants of the Giezy race, and treating them as agots, cagots, gahets or ladres"; ordering that they will be admitted to general and particular assemblies, to municipal offices and honors of the church, they may even be placed in the galleries and other places of the said church where they will be treated and recognized as the other inhabitants of the places, without any distinction; as also that their children will be received in the schools and colleges of the cities, towns and villages, and will be admitted in all the Christian instructions indiscriminately.<ref name="Gironde">{{cite web |url=http://archives.gironde.fr/ead/frame.asp?chemin=/ead/xml/Archives_anciennes&fichier=FRAD033_NUMIR01_C_T2.xml |title=Inventaire des archives de la série C |language=fr |trans-title=Inventory of the C-series archives |website=archives.gironde.fr |editor=Archives départementales de la Gironde |access-date=22 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207031335/http://archives.gironde.fr/ead/frame.asp?chemin=%2Fead%2Fxml%2FArchives_anciennes&fichier=FRAD033_NUMIR01_C_T2.xml |archive-date=7 February 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the [[French Revolution]] substantive steps were taken to end discrimination toward Cagots.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Die Cagots in Frankreich: (Schluß des Artikels in voriger Nummer). |language=de |trans-title=The Cagots in France: (End of article in previous number). |magazine=[[Die Grenzboten]]: Zeitschrift für Politik, Literatur und Kunst |volume=20 |date=1861 |publisher=Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen |url=https://brema.suub.uni-bremen.de/grenzboten/periodical/titleinfo/166493 |pages=423–431 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129091618/https://brema.suub.uni-bremen.de/grenzboten/periodical/titleinfo/166493 |archive-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}}{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=377}} Revolutionary authorities claimed that Cagots were no different from other citizens,{{r|Gironde}} and ''[[de jure]]'' discrimination generally came to an end.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Die Cagots in Frankreich |language=de |trans-title=The Cagots in France |magazine=[[Die Grenzboten]]: Zeitschrift für Politik, Literatur und Kunst |volume=20 |date=1861 |pages=393–398 |publisher=Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen |url=https://brema.suub.uni-bremen.de/grenzboten/periodical/titleinfo/166480 |quote=Obgleich das geseß ihnen gegen ende des vorigen jahrhunderts gleich rechte mit den übrigen bürgern gewährte, ihre sage verbefferte und sie schüßte, ist der fluch, der aus ihnen lastete, doch noch nicht gang gehoben, die berachtung, die sie bedecste, noch nicht gang gewichen und an vielen arten wird ihre unfunft noch als ein schandflect angesehen. |trans-quote=Although, towards the end of the last century, the seat gave them equal rights with the other citizens, enhanced their speech and shot them, the curse that weighed on them has not yet been lifted, the disrespect that held them has not yet disappeared and in many species, their incompetence is still viewed as a shame. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808045420/https://brema.suub.uni-bremen.de/grenzboten/periodical/titleinfo/166480 |archive-date=8 August 2022}}</ref> And while their treatment did improve compared to previous centuries,{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=377}}{{sfnp|Michel|1847|p=101}} local prejudice from the non-Cagot populace persisted,<ref>{{harvp|von Zach|1798|pp=523–524|ps=: "{{lang|de|Die letzten und neuesten Nachrichten schreiben sich vom J. 1787 und sind ebenfalls in Ramond's Reisen enthalten. "Ich habe, schreibt dieser Augenzeuge, einige Familien dieser Unglücklichen gesehen. Sie nähern sich unmerklich den Dörfen aus welchen sie verbannt worden. Die Seiten-Thüren, durch welche sie in die Kirchen gingen, werden unnütz. Es vermischt sich endlich ein wenig Mitleid mit der Verachtung und dem Abscheu, welchen sie einflössen. (524) Doch habe ich auch entlegene Hütten angetrossen wo diese Unglücklichen sich 'noch fürchten, vom Vururtheile misshandelt zu werden, und nur vom Mitleiden Besuche erwarten."}}" ["The latest and most recent news is dated 1787 and is also included in [[Louis Ramond de Carbonnières|Ramond's]] Travels. "I have seen, writes this eyewitness, some families of these unfortunates. They imperceptibly approach the villages from which they were banished. The side doors through which they went into the churches become useless. A little pity finally mixes with them the contempt and loathing they inspired. Yet I have also found remote huts where these unfortunate ones still fear being mistreated by judgment, and expect visits only from pity.""]}}</ref> though the practice began to decline. Also, during the revolution, Cagots stormed record offices and burned birth certificates in an attempt to conceal their heritage.{{sfnp|Michel|1847|p=5}} These measures did not prove effective, as the local populace still remembered. Rhyming songs kept the names of Cagot families known.{{sfnp|Hors|1951|pp=339–341}}

== Modern status ==

[[File:Arreau château des Nestes (1).JPG|thumb|Château des Nestes in [[Arreau]] ]]

[[Kurt Tucholsky]] wrote in his book on the ''Pyrenees'' in 1927: "There were many in the Argelès valley, near Luchon and in the Ariège district. Today they are almost extinct, you have to search hard if you want to see them".<ref>{{cite book |last=Tucholsky |first=Kurt |author-link=Kurt Tucholsky |date=1927 |title=Ein Pyrenäenbuch |language=de |trans-title=A book of the Pyrenees |location=Berlin |pages=97–104 |url=http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/germanica/Chronologie/20Jh/Tucholsky/tuc_py07.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519113028/http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/germanica/Chronologie/20Jh/Tucholsky/tuc_py07.html |archive-date=19 May 2022}}</ref> Examples of prejudice still occurred into the 19th and 20th century,{{sfnp|Tuke|1880|p=377}} including a scandal in the village of [[Lescun]] where in the 1950s a non-Cagot woman married a Cagot man.<ref>{{harvp|Jolly|2000|p=207|ps=: "{{lang|fr|Tout le monde se plaît par contre à citer ce qui est donné pour être la dernière manifestation effective du phénomène de ségrégation: le dernier mariage « qui a fait scandale » à Lescun entre une fille de grande famille et un cagot, dans les années 1950.}}" ["On the other hand, everyone likes to cite what is given to be the last effective manifestation of the phenomenon of segregation: the last marriage "which caused a scandal" in Lescun between a girl from a large family and a cagot, in the 1950s."]}}</ref>

There was a distinct Cagot community in [[Navarre]] until the early 20th century, with the small northern village called [[Arizkun]] in [[Basque language|Basque]] (or Arizcun in Spanish) being the last haven of this segregation,{{r|Carrasco, 1979}} where the community was contained within the neighbourhood of Bozate.{{r|Garcia Piñuela}}{{sfnp|Pérez|2010}} Between 1915 and 1920 the Ursúa noble family sold the land that Cagots had worked for the Ursúa for centuries in the area of [[Baztan, Navarre|Baztan]] to the Cagot families.{{r|Jolly, 200b}} Family names in Spain still associated with having Cagot ancestors include: ''Bidegain, Errotaberea, Zaldua, Maistruarena, Amorena,'' and ''Santxotena''.{{sfnp|Pérez|2010}}

The Cagots no longer form a separate social class and were largely [[Cultural assimilation|assimilated]] into the general population.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=947}}{{sfnp|Thomas|2008}} Very little of Cagot culture still exists, as most descendants of Cagots have preferred not to be known as such.{{sfnp|Thomas|2008}}

There are two museums dedicated to the history of the Cagots, one in the neighborhood of Bozate in the town of [[Arizkun]], Spain, the {{lang|es|Museo Etnográfico de los Agotes}} (Ethnographic Museum of the Agotes), opened by the sculptor and Cagot, {{ill|Xabier Santxotena|eu}} in 2003,{{r|Los agotes en Navarra}}{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}} and a museum in the [[Château des Nestes]]<ref>{{cite web |language=fr |title=Musée des cagots |trans-title=Museum of the Cagots |url=http://www.tourisme-midi-pyrenees.com/musee-des-cagots/arreau/tabid/2271/offreid/b8b91c8c-f001-4259-9109-3bea548672dc/detail.aspx |website=Tourisme Midi Pyrenees |date= |access-date=12 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213025914/http://www.tourisme-midi-pyrenees.com/musee-des-cagots/arreau/tabid/2271/offreid/b8b91c8c-f001-4259-9109-3bea548672dc/detail.aspx |archive-date=13 December 2014}}</ref> in [[Arreau]], France.<ref>{{cite web |language=fr |title=Les cagots à Arreau |url=http://www.loucrup65.fr/pgie2824.htm |website=Les Hautes-Pyrénées et le village de Loucrup |date= |access-date=12 December 2014 |archive-date=29 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529054326/http://www.loucrup65.fr/pgie2824.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

In 2021 and 2022 [[Anti-vaccine activism|anti-vaccination]] and [[Protests against responses to the COVID-19 pandemic#France|anti-vaccine passport protestors]] in France started wearing the red goose's foot symbol that Cagots were forced to wear, and handed out cards explaining the discrimination against the Cagots.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ravier |first=Christine |date=31 August 2021 |title=Manif anti pass sanitaire en Occitanie: qui sont les "cagots"? |language=fr |trans-title=Anti health pass demonstration in Occitania: who are the "cagots"? |url=https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/haute-garonne/toulouse/manif-anti-pass-sanitaire-en-occitanie-qui-sont-les-cagots-2230294.html |access-date=4 June 2022 |work=[[France 3]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604141122/https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/haute-garonne/toulouse/manif-anti-pass-sanitaire-en-occitanie-qui-sont-les-cagots-2230294.html |archive-date=4 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Le Creusot/Autun/Chagny: France Robert (DLF) veut être « la porte-parole des méprisés du Covid » |language=fr |trans-title=Le Creusot / Autun / Chagny: France Robert (DLF) wants to be "the spokesperson for the despised of the Covid" |first=Antoine |last=Cantin-Galland |date=25 May 2022 |url=https://www.lejsl.com/elections/2022/05/25/france-robert-(dlf)-veut-etre-la-porte-parole-des-meprises-du-covid |access-date=4 June 2022 |work=[[Le Journal de Saône-et-Loire]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703200929/https://www.lejsl.com/elections/2022/05/25/france-robert-(dlf)-veut-etre-la-porte-parole-des-meprises-du-covid |archive-date=3 July 2022}}</ref>

== In media ==

References to Cagots as well as Cagots as characters have appeared in works throughout the past millennia. One of the earliest examples is the legend of the battle of 1373 that led to [[The Tribute of the Three Cows]], the people of the French {{ill|Valley of Barétous|fr|Vallée de Barétous}} are said to have been led by a Cagot with four ears.<ref>{{cite news |last=Izagirre |first=Ander |author-link=:es:Ander Izagirre |date=12 July 2007 |title=La palabra hecha piedra |language=es |trans-title=The word made stone |url=http://www.diariovasco.com/prensa/20070712/cultura/palabra-hecha-piedra_20070712.html |access-date=8 May 2012 |work=[[El Diario Vasco]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923231654/http://www.diariovasco.com/prensa/20070712/cultura/palabra-hecha-piedra_20070712.html |archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref> References to Cagots occur semi-regularly in French literary works such as in the 1793 French play {{lang|fr|Le jugement dernier des rois}}, by [[Sylvain Maréchal]]. The liberated subjects of the kings of Europe provide critiques of and insult their former rulers, where they say the Spanish king has "stupidity, cagotism and despotism [...] imprinted on his royal face".<ref>{{cite book |last=Anne |first=Coudreuse |author-link=:fr:Anne Coudreuse |date=2016 |chapter=Insultes et théâtre de la Terreur: l'exemple du Jugement dernier des rois (1793) de Pierre-Sylvain Maréchal |language=fr |trans-chapter=Insults and Theater of Terror: the example of the Last Judgment of Kings (1793) by Pierre-Sylvain Maréchal |title=Les insultes: bilan et perspectives, théorie et actions |trans-title=Insults: balance sheet and perspectives, theory and actions |editor-first=Frédéric |editor-last=Turpin |editor-link=:fr:Frédéric Turpin |publisher=[[Savoy Mont Blanc University]] |page=34 |isbn=978-2-919732-38-8 |quote={{lang|fr|La critique du roi d'Espagne permet d'englober tous les Bourbons; la charge est donc très violente: «Il est bien du sang des Bourbons: voyez comme la sottise, la cagoterie et le despotisme sont empreints sur sa face royale.» Signalons qu'il existe un article «Cagot/Cagoterie/Cagotisme» dans le Dictionnaire du Père Duchesne.}} |trans-quote=The criticism of the King of Spain makes it possible to encompass all the Bourbons; the charge is therefore very violent: "He is indeed of the blood of the Bourbons: see how stupidity, cagotism and despotism are imprinted on his royal face." Note that there is an article "Cagot/Cagoterie/Cagotisme" in the Dictionary of Father Duchesne.}}</ref> Multiple references to Cagots have appeared in the poems of the 19th century French poet [[Édouard Pailleron]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pailleron |first=Édouard |author-link=Édouard Pailleron |date=2010 |title=Amours Et Haines |language=fr |trans-title=Loves and Hates |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |orig-date=1889 |isbn=978-1168078957}}</ref>
Multiple travellers to the Pyrenees upon learning about and seeing the Cagots were inspired to write of their conditions both in fictional and non-fictional works. Such travellers included the Irish author and diplomat [[Thomas Colley Grattan]], whose 1823 story ''The Cagot's Hut'' details the ''otherness'' he perceived in the Cagots during his travels in the French Pyrenees, detailing many of the mythical features that became folklore about the Cagots appearance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Novak |first=Daniel A. |date=2012  |chapter="Shapeless Deformity": Monstrosity, Visibility, and Racial Masquerade in Thomas Grattan's CAGOT'S HUT (1823) |title=Speaking of Monsters: A Teratological Anthology |editor1-first=Caroline Joan S. |editor1-last=Picart |editor1-link=Caroline Joan S. Picart |editor2-first=John Edgar |editor2-last=Browning |editor2-link=John Edgar Browning |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137101495_9 |pages=83–96 |doi=10.1057/9781137101495_9 |isbn=978-1-349-29597-5 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137101495}}</ref>{{r|Duffy, 2019}} In July 1841 the German poet [[Heinrich Heine]] visited the town of [[Cauterets]] and learned of the Cagots and their discrimination by others, subsequently becoming the topic of his poem ''Canto XV'' in ''Atta Troll''.{{sfnp|Winkle|1997|pp=39–40}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Heine |first=Heinrich |author-link=Heinrich Heine |date=17 February 2010 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31305/31305-h/31305-h.htm |title=Atta Troll |publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]] |translator-first=Herman |translator-last=Scheffauer |orig-date=1913 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209173451/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31305/31305-h/31305-h.htm |archive-date=9 December 2022}}</ref> After travelling in southern France in 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell published her non-fiction work ''An Accursed Race'', detailing the contemporary condition of the Cagots.{{r|Duffy, 2019}}

More recently, the Basque director {{ill|Iñaki Elizalde|eu}} released a Spanish-language film titled ''Baztan'' in 2012. The film deals with a young man fighting against the discrimination he and his family have suffered for centuries due to being Cagots.<ref name="Fayanás Escuer, 2018">{{cite news |last=Fayanás Escuer |first=Edmundo |date=26 March 2018 |title=Un pueblo maldito: los agotes de Navarra |language=es |trans-title=A cursed town: the agotes of Navarra |work=Neuva Tribuna |url=https://www.nuevatribuna.es/articulo/historia/pueblo-maldito-agotes-navarra/20180326143954150180.html |access-date=8 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008115306/https://www.nuevatribuna.es/articulo/historia/pueblo-maldito-agotes-navarra/20180326143954150180.html |archive-date=8 October 2021}}</ref> There are several references to the history and persecution of the Cagots in [[Rachel Kushner]]’s novel ''Creation Lake.''<ref>New York: Scribner, 2024, 123-29, 141-42, 143, 171-72, 222, 329.</ref>

== Cagotic architecture ==

<gallery mode=nolines>
File:Maison du Cagot à Langogne (48).gif|Protruding badge on the facade indicating the dwelling of a Cagot in [[Langogne]] ([[Lozère]]).
File:Cagot saint girons.jpg|Sculpture of a "Cagot" in the [[Église Saint-Girons]] in [[Monein]], which was built by the local cagot craftsmen in 1464.<ref>{{cite web |language=fr |title=Monein |url=http://www.coeurdebearn.com/article/monein |website=Site officiel de l'Office de tourisme de Lacq, Cœur de Béarn |date= |access-date=9 December 2014 |archive-date=3 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703031921/http://www.coeurdebearn.com/article/monein |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |language=fr |title=Église Saint-Girons de Monein |trans-title=Church of Saint-Girons of Monein |url=http://www.saint-vincent-baises.com/monein.php |website=Paroisse Saint-Vincent des Baïses - Monein |date= |access-date=9 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209154734/http://www.saint-vincent-baises.com/monein.php |archive-date=9 December 2014}}</ref>
File:SAINT-SAVIN (Hautes-Pyrénées) La Maison des CAGOTS.jpg|Cagot houses in the Mailhòc district (wooden mallet), [[Saint-Savin, Hautes-Pyrénées|Saint-Savin]], 1906.
File:Campan - La halle.JPG|{{ill|Halle de Campan|fr}} which was built by the local Cagots.
File:Halle de Campan (Hautes-Pyrénées) 3.jpg|The interior of Halle de Campan.
File:CastethMontaner.jpg|Montaner castle, built by the Cagots, for [[Gaston III, Count of Foix]].<ref>{{cite book |language=fr |first1=Henri Marcel |last1=Fay |title=Histoire de la lèpre en France . I. Lépreux et cagots du Sud-Ouest, notes historiques, médicales, philologiques, suivies de documents |trans-title=History of leprosy in France. I. Lepers and cagots of the South-West, historical, medical, philological notes, followed by documents |editor-first=H. |editor-last=Champion |publisher=Librairie ancienne Honoré Champion |location=Paris |date=1910 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57243705.texteImage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401130704/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57243705.texteImage |archive-date=1 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |language=fr |title=Les cagots: un mystère en Béarn |trans-title=The cagots: a mystery in Béarn |url=https://www.coeurdebearn.com/decouvrir/culture-et-traditions-en-bearn/les-cagots-un-mystere-en-bearn.html |website=Site officiel de l'Office de tourisme de Lacq, Cœur de Béarn |date= |access-date=9 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024225348/https://www.coeurdebearn.com/decouvrir/culture-et-traditions-en-bearn/les-cagots-un-mystere-en-bearn.html |archive-date=24 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |language=fr |title=Sa construction au XIVème |trans-title=Its construction in the 14th century |url=http://www.chateau-montaner.info/?page_id=170 |website=Les amis du château de Montaner |date= |access-date=16 December 2014 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216232003/http://www.chateau-montaner.info/?page_id=170 |archive-date=16 December 2014}}</ref>
File:La rue des capots, et la "porte anglaise" - Mézin (Lot-et-Garonne).jpg|The {{lang|fr|rue des capots}}, and the "{{lang|fr|porte anglaise}}" in [[Mézin]], [[Lot-et-Garonne]]. The {{lang|fr|rue des capots}} was formerly inhabited by the {{lang|fr|Capots}} (Cagots) of the town.
</gallery>

=== Fonts ===

<gallery mode=nolines>
File:Bassoues - église ancien bénitiers des cagots.JPG|Font for Cagots in the church of [[Bassoues]], dating from the 15th century.
File:Monein, Pyrénées atlantiques, église Saint-Girons, bénitier cagots IMGP2491.jpg|Font for Cagots in the Église Saint-Girons in Monein, with a small sculpture of what is presumed to be a Cagot.
File:Saint-Aubin bénitier cagots.JPG|Font for Cagots in the {{ill|Church of Saint-Aubin|fr|Église Saint-Aubin de Saint-Aubin}} in [[Saint-Aubin, Landes]].
</gallery>

=== Doors ===

<gallery mode=nolines>
File:Porte cagots église Sauveterre de Béarn.JPG|Door of the Cagots of the church of [[Sauveterre-de-Béarn]].
File:Bahus-Soubiran église 2.JPG|Former door for Cagots in [[Bahus-Soubiran]] at the Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
File:La Bastide-Clairence - Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption - Porte des cagots, côté extérieur.jpg|Door of the Cagots in [[La Bastide-Clairence]] at the Church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption.
File:Moustey SM porte cagots.jpg|Former door for Cagots in the {{ill|Church of Saint-Martin de Moustey|fr|Église Saint-Martin de Moustey}} in [[Moustey]].
File:Église Saint-Aubin de Saint-Aubin 7.JPG|Door for Cagots in the Church of Saint-Aubin in Saint-Aubin, Landes.
File:Église Saint-Leu de Duhort4.JPG|Door for Cagots in the {{ill|Église Saint-Leu de Duhort|fr}} in [[Duhort-Bachen]].
File:Église Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry - Porte des cagots, coté intérieur.jpg|Door for Cagots in the {{ill|Église Saint-Étienne de Baïgorry|fr}} in [[Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry]].
</gallery>

== See also ==

{{colbegin}}
* [[Caquins of Brittany]], a derogatory term used to describe [[Cooper (profession)|coopers]] and [[rope]]makers.
* {{lang|fr|[[Cascarots]]}}, an ethnic group in the Spanish Basque country and the French Basque coast possibly related to the Cagots.{{sfnp|Veyrin|2011|p=87}}
* {{lang|es|[[Gitanos]]}}, an ethnic minority in Spain and Portugal.
* {{ill|Maragato|es}}, an ethnic group in Spain who were also discriminated against and have unknown origins.{{sfnp|Álvarez|2019}}
* {{lang|es|[[Vaqueiros de alzada]]}}, a discriminated group of cowherders in Northern Spain.
* {{lang|ca|[[Xueta]]}}, a persecuted ethnic minority in [[Mallorca]], often referenced in works discussing the persecution of Cagots in Spain.
* [[Sanka (ethnic group)]], an ethnic minority in Japan
{{colend}}

== Notes ==

{{notelist}}

== References ==

{{reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Álvarez |first=Jorge |url=https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/10/agotes-the-mysterious-cursed-race-of-the-basque-navarrese-pyrenees/ |title=Agotes, the mysterious cursed race of the Basque-Navarrese Pyrenees |magazine=La Brújula Verde |date=31 October 2019 |access-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008151339/https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/10/agotes-the-mysterious-cursed-race-of-the-basque-navarrese-pyrenees/ |archive-date=8 October 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Antolini |first=Paola |title=Los Agotes. Historia de una exclusión |trans-title=The Agotes. History of an exclusion |date=1995 |language=es |isbn=978-8470902079 |publisher=ISTMO, S.A.}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Cagots |volume=4}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bériac |first=Françoise |title=Une minorité marginale du Sud-Ouest: les cagots |language=fr |trans-title=A marginal minority in the South-West: the cagots |date=1987 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/hes_0752-5702_1987_num_6_1_1436 |journal=[[Histoire, Économie et Société]] |volume=6 |number=1 |pages=17–34 |doi=10.3406/hes.1987.1436 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210154757/https://www.persee.fr/doc/hes_0752-5702_1987_num_6_1_1436 |archive-date=10 February 2023}}
* {{cite journal |author=[[British Medical Journal]] |title=Cagots |journal=[[British Medical Journal]] |volume=1 |number=2680 |date=11 May 1912 |pages=1091–1092 |jstor=25297157}}
* {{cite book |last=Cabarrouy |first=Jean-Émile |chapter=Les cagots, une race maudite dans le sud de la Gascogne: peut-on dire encore aujourd'hui que leur origin est une énigme? |trans-chapter=The cagots, a cursed race in the south of Gascony: can we still say today that their origin is an enigma? |language=fr |title=Les Cagots, Exclus et maudits des terres du sud |trans-title=The Cagots, Excluded and cursed from the southern lands |publisher=J. & D. éditions |date=1995 |isbn=2-84127-043-2}}
* {{cite book |last=del Carmen Aguirre Delclaux |first=María |title=Los agotes: El final de una maldición |language=es |trans-title=The Agotes: The End of a Curse |author-link=:es:María del Carmen Aguirre Delclaux |date=2008 |isbn=978-8477374190 |location=Madrid |publisher={{ill|Sílex ediciones|es}} |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book |last=Delacampagne |first=Christian |title=L'invention du racisme: Antiquité et Moyen-Âge |language=fr |trans-title=The invention of racism: Antiquity and the Middle Ages |publisher=[[Fayard]] |series=Hors collection |date=1983 |location=Paris |isbn=9782213011172 |doi=10.3917/fayar.delac.1983.01 |url=https://www.cairn.info/l-invention-du-racisme--9782213011172.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419111416/https://www.cairn.info/l-invention-du-racisme--9782213011172.htm |archive-date=19 April 2023}}
* {{cite book |last1=Demonet |first1=Marie-Luce |date=2021 |chapter=Rabelais and Language |title=A Companion to François Rabelais |editor-last=Renner |editor-first=Bernd |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-46023-2 |issn=2212-3091 |pages=402–428}}
* {{cite book |last1=Donkin |first1=T.C. |title=An Etymological Dictionary of the Romance Languages; chiefly from the German of Friedrich Diez |last2=Diez |first2=Friedrich |author2-link=Friedrich Christian Diez |publisher=[[Williams and Norgate]] |date=1864 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5uTYyRhLl0kC/page/n3/mode/2up}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Erroll |first=Henry |title=Pariahs of Western Europe |magazine=[[The Cornhill Magazine]] |location=London |volume=7 |number=38 |date=August 1899 |pages=243–251 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/a65506321df51553/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=432 |access-date=12 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110005607/https://www.proquest.com/openview/a65506321df51553/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=432 |archive-date=10 November 2021}}
* {{cite journal |last=Garate |first=Justo |date=1958 |title=Los Agotes y La Lepra |language=es |trans-title= The Agotes and Leprosy |journal=Boletín de la Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País |volume=14 |number=4 |pages=517–530}}
* {{cite book |last=Gaskell |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Gaskell |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2531 |title=An Accursed Race |publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]] |date=1855 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805065627/https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2531 |archive-date=5 August 2023}}
* {{cite book |last=Gébelin |first=Antoine Court de |author-link=Antoine Court de Gébelin |title=Dictionnaire Étymologique, Historique et Anecdotique des Proverbes et des Locutions Proverbiales de la Langue Française |language=fr |trans-title=Etymological, Historical and Anecdotal Dictionary of Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases of the French Language |location=Paris |date=1842 |publisher=P. Bertrand, Libraire-éditeur |pages=1182–1183}}
* {{cite book |last1=Guerreau |first1=Alain |author1-link=:fr:Alain Guerreau |first2=Yves |last2=Guy |title=Les cagots du Béarn |language=fr |trans-title=The cagots of Béarn |date=1988 |publisher=Minerve}}
* {{cite journal |last=Guy |first=Yves |title=Sur les origines possibles de la ségrégation des Cagots |trans-title=On the possible origins of the segregation of cagots |language=fr |publisher=Centre d'Hémotypologie du C.N.R.S., C.H.U. Purpan et Institut pyrénéen d'Etudes anthropologique |journal=Société française d'histoire de la médecine |pages=85–93 |date=19 February 1983 |url=https://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/sfhm/hsm/HSMx1983x017x001/HSMx1983x017x001x0085.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824100459/https://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/sfhm/hsm/HSMx1983x017x001/HSMx1983x017x001x0085.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Hansson |first=Anders |title=Chinese Outcasts: Discrimination and Emancipation in Late Imperial China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ibp1RTW0AoC&pg=PA15 |year=1996 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-10596-6 |pages=15–16}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Hawkins |first=Daniel |title='Chimeras that degrade humanity': the cagots and discrimination |type=MA |url=https://www.academia.edu/15057536 |access-date=20 August 2015 |date=September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511123418/https://www.academia.edu/15057536 |archive-date=11 May 2022}}
* {{cite book |last=Heng |first=Geraldine |author-link=Geraldine Heng |date=2022 |chapter=Definitions and Representations of Race |title=A Cultural History of Race in the Renaissance and Early Modern Age |editor1-last=Coles |editor1-first=Kimberley Ann |editor2-last=Kim |editor2-first=Dorothy |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |pages=19–32 |isbn=978-1350067455}}
* {{Catholic|wstitle=Holy Water Fonts}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hors |first=Pilar |date=1951 |title=Seroantropología e historia de los Agotes |language=es |trans-title=Sero-Anthropology and history of the Agotes |journal=Revista Príncipe de Viana |volume=44–45 |pages=307–343}}
* {{cite journal |last=Huici |first=Rosa María Agudo |date=1984 |title=Wentworth Webster: vascófilo, fuerista y etnólogo |journal=Nuevos Extractos de la Rsbap |issue=A |language=es |trans-title=Wentworth Webster: Bascophile, Fuerist and Ethnologist |publisher=Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País |url=https://www.rsbap.org/ojs/index.php/extractos/article/view/4802 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213194629/https://www.rsbap.org/ojs/index.php/extractos/article/view/4802 |archive-date=13 December 2023}}
* {{cite journal |last=Jolly |first=Geneviève |date=2000 |title=Les cagots des Pyrénées: une ségrégation attestée, une mobilité mal connue |language=fr |trans-title=The cagots of the Pyrenees: an attested segregation, a poorly known mobility |journal={{ill|Le Monde alpin et rhodanien|fr}} |volume=28 |number=1–3 |pages=197–222 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/mar_0758-4431_2000_num_28_1_1716 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213120731/https://www.persee.fr/doc/mar_0758-4431_2000_num_28_1_1716 |archive-date=13 February 2023}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Kessel |first=Emma Hall |type=MA |title="Without difference, distinction, or separation": Agotes, discrimination, and belonging in Navarre, 1519–1730 |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |publisher=[[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] |date=2019 |url=https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/8w32r999z |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117085745/https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/8w32r999z |archive-date=17 November 2021}}
* {{cite book |last1=Loubès |first1=Gilbert |date=1995 |language=fr |title=L'énigme des cagots |trans-title=The enigma of the cagots |publisher={{ill|Éditions Sud-Ouest|fr}} |location=Bordeaux |isbn=978-2879016580}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Louis-Lande |first=Lucien |year=1878 |title=Les Cagots et leurs congénères |language=fr |trans-title=Cagots and their congeners |magazine=[[Revue des deux Mondes]] |number=25 |pages=426–450 |issn= |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Les_Cagots_et_leurs_cong%C3%A9n%C3%A8res}}
* {{cite book |last=Michel |first=Francisque Xavier |date=1847 |title=Histoire Des Races Maudites De La France Et De l'Espagne |language=fr |trans-title=History Of The Cursed Races Of France And Spain |volume=1 |author-link=Francisque Xavier Michel |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1092191 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218114023/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1092191 |archive-date=18 February 2022}}
* {{cite web |last=Pérez |first=Iñaki Sanjuán |url=http://www.suite101.net/content/los-agotes-a12932 |title=Los agotes: El pueblo maldito del valle del Baztán |language=es |trans-title=The Cagots: The cursed town of the Baztán valley |date=21 March 2010 |access-date=17 August 2020 |website=Suite101.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819055546/http://www.suite101.net/content/los-agotes-a12932 |archive-date=19 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |last=Rivière-Chalan |first=Vincent Raymond |title=La marque infâme des lépreux et des Christians sous l'ancien régime: Des cours des miracles aux cagoteries |language=fr |trans-title=The infamous mark of lepers and Christians under the old regime: From miracle courts to cagoteries |date=1 January 1978 |asin=B0000E8V67 |publisher=La Pensée Universelle |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3338627b |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213120731/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3338627b |archive-date=13 February 2023}}
* {{cite book |last=Robb |first=Graham |title=[[The Discovery of France]]: a historical geography from the Revolution to the First World War |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |publication-place=New York, London |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-393-05973-1 |oclc=124031929}}
* {{cite book |last=Rogozinski |first=Jacob |author-link=:fr:Jacob Rogozinski |date=2024 |title=The Logic of Hatred: From Witch Hunts to the Terror |publisher=[[Fordham University Press]] |translator-first=Sephr |translator-last=Razavi |orig-date=2015 |isbn=}}
* {{cite journal |last=Roussel |first=Théophile |author-link=:fr:Théophile Roussel |title=Cagots et lépreux |language=fr |trans-title=Cagots and Lepers |journal=Bulletins de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris |series=IVe Série |volume=4 |date=1893 |pages=148–160 |doi=10.3406/bmsap.1893.5421 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/bmsap_0301-8644_1893_num_4_1_5421 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213120727/https://www.persee.fr/doc/bmsap_0301-8644_1893_num_4_1_5421 |archive-date=13 February 2023}}
* {{cite magazine |last=da Silva |first=Gérard |url=http://www.dalits.nl/pdf/InternationalHumanistNews5.pdf |publisher=[[International Humanist and Ethical Union]] |title=The Cagots of Béarn: The Pariahs of France |magazine=International Humanist News |date=3 December 2006 |pages=21–22 |access-date=9 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220917164704/http://www.dalits.nl/pdf/InternationalHumanistNews5.pdf |archive-date=17 September 2022}}
* {{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Sean |date=28 July 2008 |title=The Last Untouchable in Europe |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-last-untouchable-in-europe-878705.html |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |access-date=28 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112024608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/last-untouchable-europe-878705.html |archive-date=12 January 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |last=Tuke |first=D. Hack |author-link=Daniel Hack Tuke |title=The Cagots |journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=9 |date=1880 |pages=376–385 |jstor=2841703 |doi=10.2307/2841703 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2119746 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627154521/https://zenodo.org/record/2119746#.YrnQlnPP1qY |archive-date=27 June 2022}}
* {{cite book |last=Ulysse |first=Robert |title=Les signes d'infamie au moyen âge: Juifs, Sarrasins, hérétiques, lépreux, cagots et filles publiques |language=fr |trans-title=Signs of infamy in the Middle Ages: Jews, Saracens, heretics, lepers, cagots and public girls |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5788890j |access-date=22 January 2018 |date=1891 |publisher=H. Champion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024051407/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5788890j |archive-date=24 October 2023}}
* {{cite book |last=Veyrin |first=Philippe |author-link=:fr:Philippe Veyrin |date=2011 |orig-date=1942 |chapter=Portraits of Basques — The Gipuzkoans — The Navarrese — The Béarnais — The Gascons — Inner Minorities — Basque Expansion |title=The Basques of Lapurdi, Zuberoa, and Lower Navarre Their History and Their Traditions |translator-last=Brown |translator-first=Andrew |publisher=Center for Basque Studies, [[University of Nevada]] |isbn=978-1-877802-99-7 |pages=75–92}}
* {{cite journal |last=von Zach |first=Franz Xaver |author-link=Franz Xaver von Zach |title=Einige Nachrichten von den Cagots in Frankreich |language=de |trans-title=Some news of the Cagots in France |journal=Allgemeine geographische Ephemeriden |volume=1 |number=5 |pages=509–524 |date=March 1798 |url=https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00200951/AGE_1798_Bd01_0509.tif |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008082132/https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00200951/AGE_1798_Bd01_0509.tif |archive-date=8 October 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Winkle |first=Stefan |author-link=:de:Stefan Winkle |title=Kulturgeschichte der Seuchen |language=de |trans-title=Cultural history of epidemics |publisher=Artemis & Winkler |location=[[Düsseldorf]]/[[Zürich]] |date=1997 |isbn=3-933366-54-2 |pages=39–40}}
{{Refend|30em}}

== Further reading ==

{{commons category|Cagots}}

* {{cite journal |last=Cordier |first=E. |title=Les Cagots des Pyrénées |language=fr |trans-title=The Cagots of the Pyrenees |journal=[[Société Ramond|Bulletin de la Société Ramond]] |date=1866 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6535652k/f109.item |pages=107–119 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121142408/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6535652k/f109.item |archive-date=21 November 2022}}
* {{cite book |last=Descazeaux |first=René |title=Les Cagots, histoire d'un secret |language=fr |trans-title=The Cagots, history of a secret |location=Pau |publisher=Princi Néguer |date=2002 |isbn=2846180849}}
* {{cite web |last1=Kerexeta Erro |first1=Xabier |title=Agote: etnología e historia - Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia |trans-title=Agote: ethnology and history - Auñamendi Basque Encyclopedia |url=http://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/agote-etnologia-e-historia/ar-10045/ |publisher=Auñamendi Encyclopedia |access-date=26 January 2020 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520165024/https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/agote-etnologia-e-historia/ar-10045/ |archive-date=20 May 2022}}
* {{cite book |last=Marsan |first=Michel |title=l'Histoire des cagots à Hagetmau |language=fr |trans-title=The history of cagots in Hagetmau}}
* {{cite book |last=Ricau |first=Osmin |title=Histoire des Cagots |language=fr |trans-title=History of the Cagots |location=Pau |publisher=Princi Néguer |date=1999 |isbn=2905007818}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.pyrenees2vallees.com/le-musee-des-cagots Cagot Museum in Arreau with illustrations]

{{Discrimination}}
{{Conformity}}

[[Category:Basque history]]
[[Category:Kingdom of France]]
[[Category:Social history of France]]
[[Category:Discrimination in France]]
[[Category:Discrimination in Spain]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Europe]]