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The "Cagots"!! The Despised Pariah's decendants of Moorish Invaders..
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Just call me Jari: [QB] More on the Cagots... [b]The contradictory descriptions could also mean that they descend from an admixture of Visigoths and Saracens, maybe after both groups were ostracised from the mainstream population. This is all the more likely that the locals were so homogeneous, so that any distant foreigner like a blond Goth or an olive-skinned Saracen would stand out like a black sheep in the herd.[/b] [b]Their provenance is opaque. That is partly because the Cagots themselves have disappeared from view. During the French Revolution, the laws against Cagots were formally abandoned – indeed many Cagots pillaged local archives and erased any record of their ancestry. After 1789, the Cagots slowly assimilated into the general populace; many may have even emigrated. Nonetheless, there are historical accounts that afford an intriguing glimpse. [b]Contemporary sources describe them as being short, dark and stocky.[/b] Confusingly, some others saw them as blonde and blue eyed. Francisque Michel’s Histoire des races maudites [b](History of the cursed races, 1847), was one of the first studies. He found Cagots had “frizzy brown hair”.[/b] :D :D He also found at least 10,000 Cagots still scattered across Gascony and Navarre, still suffering repression – nearly 70 years after the Cagot caste was “abolished”.[/i] If my ancestor himself was descended from Cagots, I would lean to a Moorish origin. What the lady(Marie Pierre) in the article said, certainly struck a few chords with my own research and I would tend to concur with her comments. As for this area of France mentioned in the article-Bearn and the Hautes [b]Pyrenees; there are many many traces of Moorish occupation and settlement. There are 2 chruches, one being in Oloron (Ste. Croix) with 8 sided ribbed cupola's, a distinctly Muslim architectural style which were built in the 12th century. There are also many references to Moorish place names (Fontaine des Maures, Moumour etc.). There are well documented migrations of Moors to Bearn in the 8th century as well as in the 17th century coming from Aragon.[/b] The book mentioned in the article, Francisque Michel's Histoire des races maudites, tells us that Moorish Blood runs in the veins of most Bearnaise people. (His choice of words) So, I do think her theory of Moorish origins is probably on the mark to one degree or another.[/i] [i]Both sides of the Pyrenees were home to a despised minority, the Agotes (also cagots). They were not a people apart, but lived as untouchables in Basque villages and were allowed to marry only among themselves. Their origin is hidden by legends and superstitions. In the modern society, they have mostly assimilated into the general society. [b]In the Middle Ages, many so-called Franks of Occitan language settled along the Way of Saint James in Navarre but were eventually asimilated. Navarre also held Jewish and Muslim minorities but these were expelled or forced to assimilate after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.[/b] One of the most outstanding members of such minorities was Benjamin of Tudela.[/i] [IMG]http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Alexander+Siddig+2010+Doha+Tribeca+Film+Festival+k5u2uvFdnYml.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/10/article-1285450-09C92CF1000005DC-864_233x423.jpg[/IMG] [b]But Marie-Pierre Manet-Beauzac, "the last Cagot in the world", has no doubts where she comes from: "I believe the Cagots are descendants of Moorish soldiers left over from the 8th century Muslim invasion of Spain and France. That's why some people called them 'Saracens'. I am quite dark, and my daughter Sylvia is the darkest in her class."[/b] [/QB][/QUOTE]
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