Massacres of the South (1551-1815): Celebrated CrimesDumas, Alexandre
History
Massacres of the South (1551-1815): Celebrated Crimes
Dumas, Alexandre
Crime
Meanwhile the Vicomte de Joyeuse, who had just been appointed governor
of Languedoc in the place of M. de Villars, grew uneasy at the rapid
progress made by the Protestants, who so far from trying to conceal it
boasted of it; so he summoned the consuls before him, admonished them
sharply in the king’s name, and threatened to quarter a garrison in the
town which would soon put an end to these disorders. The consuls
promised to stop the evil without the aid of outside help, and to carry
out their promise doubled the patrol and appointed a captain of the town
whose sole duty was to keep order in the streets. Now this captain whose
office had been created solely for the repression of heresy, happened to
be Captain Bouillargues, the most inveterate Huguenot who ever existed.
The result of this discriminating choice was that Guillaume Moget began
to preach, and once when a great crowd had gathered in a garden to hear
him hold forth, heavy rain came on, and it became necessary for the
people either to disperse or to seek shelter under a roof. As the
preacher had just reached the most interesting part of his sermon, the
congregation did not hesitate an instant to take the latter alternative.
The Church of St. Etienne du Capitole was quite near: someone present
suggested that this building, if not the most suitable, as at least the
most spacious for such a gathering.
The idea was received with acclamation: the rain grew heavier, the crowd
invaded the church, drove out the priests, trampled the Holy Sacrament
under foot, and broke the sacred images. This being accomplished,
Guillaume Moget entered the pulpit, and resumed his sermon with such
eloquence that his hearers’ excitement redoubled, and not satisfied with
what had already been done, rushed off to seize on the Franciscan
monastery, where they forthwith installed Moget and the two women, who,
according to Menard the historian of Languedoc, never left him day or
night; all which proceedings were regarded by Captain Bouillargues with
magnificent calm.
The consuls being once more summoned before M. de Villars, who had again
become governor, would gladly have denied the existence of disorder; but
finding this impossible, they threw themselves on his mercy. He being
unable to repose confidence in them any longer, sent a garrison to the
citadel of Nimes, which the municipality was obliged to support,
appointed a governor of the city with four district captains under him,
and formed a body of military police which quite superseded the
municipal constabulary. Moget was expelled from Nimes, and Captain
Bouillargues deprived of office.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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