Cévennes Mountains (France); France -- Description and travel
Séguier and his companions employed the remainder of the night in
prayer, kneeling around the corpses. They had murdered all found in the
house, except the prisoners whom they had released, one soldier and a
servant. When dawn broke they retired in good order, still singing, and
ascended the Tarn to Frugères. When the last notes of their psalmody
died away, two Capuchins who had managed to conceal themselves in a
cellar of one of the houses in the town, crept from their retreat
and carried off the body of Du Chayla to the church of S. Germain de
Colberte, for burial.
But during the funeral a cry was heard outside, "The insurgents are
coming! Frugères, S. Maurice, S. André de Lancize, have been given up
to fire and massacre!" At once all the assembled clergy fled for their
lives, and some did not stay their feet till they had found refuge
behind the walls of Alais.
However, the storm that threatened to break over S. Germain rolled away
to the west.
Séguier, whose name in the patois signifies The Mower, had assumed the
appellation of Esprit, as he deemed himself a channel through whom the
Holy Spirit spoke. He was subject to frequent ecstasies, and he had no
doubt but that it was due to direct inspiration that he was prompted
to the deeds of blood of which he was guilty. It is deserving of note
that when he or any of the prophets and prophetesses gave forth their
oracles it was never in their own names. They always spoke as if the
Holy Spirit were uttering commands through their mouths, as, "I, the
Spirit of God, command."
Whilst the funeral of Du Chayla was in progress, actually Séguier,
followed by a band of thirty men singing psalms, had entered Frugères
and shot the parish priest. They went on to S. Marcel, but thence the
vicaire had escaped. At S. André the curé, hearing of the approach of
the band, rang the alarm bell. Séguier's men pursued him, flung him out
of a belfry window, and then hacked him to death. The school-master
was also murdered and his body mutilated. Wherever he went Séguier
destroyed the crosses and every emblem of Catholicism. On the night
of the 29th July the band surrounded the Castle of Ladevèse, where was
a store of arms taken from the Protestants. When summoned to deliver
them up, the seigneur replied by a volley which killed two men. The
insurgents, furious at their loss, broke in and massacred all the
inhabitants of the château, not sparing even a mother aged eighty, or a
young girl who on her knees prayed for her life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account