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The Cagots () were a persecuted and despised minority found in the west of France and northern Spain: the Navarrese Pyrenees, Basque provinces, Béarn, Aragón, Gascony and Brittany. Their name has differed by province and the local language: Cagots, Gézitains, Gahets, and Gafets in Gascony; Agotes, Agotak, and Gafos in Basque country; Capots in Anjou and Languedoc; and Cacons, Cahets, Caqueux, and Caquins in Brittany. Evidence of the group exists back as far as AD 1000.〔Robb, p. 43.〕 Cagots were shunned and hated. While restrictions varied by time and place, they were typically required to live in separate quarters in towns, called ''cagoteries'', which were often on the far outskirts of the villages. Cagots were excluded from all political and social rights. They were not allowed to marry non-Cagots, enter taverns, hold cabarets, use public fountains, sell food or wine, touch food in the market, work with livestock, or enter the mill. They were allowed to enter a church only by a special door, and during the service, a rail separated them from the other worshippers. Either they were altogether forbidden to partake of the sacrament, or the Eucharist was given to them on the end of a wooden spoon, while a holy water stoup was reserved for their exclusive use. They were compelled to wear a distinctive dress, to which, in some places, was attached the foot of a goose or duck (whence they were sometimes called "Canards"). So pestilential was their touch considered that it was a crime for them to walk the common road barefooted or to drink from the same cup as non-Cagots. The Cagots were often restricted to the trades of carpenter, butcher, and rope-maker.〔〔(Sean Thomas, "The Last Untouchable in Europe," The Independent, London, 28 July 2008, p. 20 )〕 The Cagots were not an ethnic group, nor a religious group. They spoke the same language as the people in an area and generally kept the same religion as well. Their only distinguishing feature was their descent from families identified as Cagots. Few consistent reasons were given as to why they should be hated; accusations varied from Cagots being cretins, lepers, heretics, cannibals, to simply being intrinsically evil. 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.〔 Their cruel treatment lasted through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Industrial Revolution, with the prejudice fading only in the 19th and 20th centuries. ==Origin and etymology== The origins of both the term ''"Cagots"'' (and ''"Agotes"'', ''"Capots"'', ''"Caqueux"'', etc.) and the Cagots themselves are uncertain. It has been suggested that they were descendants of the Visigoths, and the name Cagot derives from ''caas'' (dog) and "Goth". Yet in opposition to this etymology is the fact that the word "cagot" is first found in this form no earlier than the year 1542. 17th-century French historian Pierre de Marca, in his ''Histoire de Béarn'', propounds the reverse – that the word signifies "hunters of the Goths", and that the Cagots were descendants of the Saracens.〔 This theory was comprehensively refuted by the Abbé Venuti as early as 1754.〔Hawkins, p.37.〕 Another theory is that the Cagots were descendents of the Cathars, who had been persecuted for heresy in the Albigensian Crusade.〔 A delegation by cagots to Pope Leo X in 1514 made this claim, though the Cagots predate the Cathar heresy.〔Robb, p. 45.〕 Perhaps this was a strategic move. In limpieza de sangre statutes such stains of heresy expired after four generations and if this was the cause of their marginalisation, it also gave grounds for their emancipation.〔Hawkins, p.36.〕 One early mention of the Cagots is from 1288, when they appear to have been called ''Chretiens'' or ''Christianos''. Thus, another theory is that the Cagots were early converts to Christianity. The hatred of their pagan neighbors continued after they themselves converted, merely for different reasons.〔 Another possible explanation of their name ''Chretiens'' or ''Christianos'' is to be found in the fact that in medieval times all lepers were known as ''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.〔 However, early edicts apparently refer to lepers and cagots as different categories of undesirables.〔 By 1593 the distinction was explicit. The Parlement of Bordeaux repeated customary prohibitions against them but added when they are lepers, if there still are any, they must carry 'clicquettes'.〔Hawkins, p.12.〕 In Bordeaux, where they were numerous, they were called ''ladres'', close to the Spanish ''ladrón'' meaning robber or looter, similar to older, probably Celtic term bagaudae (or bagad), a possible origin of ''agote''. The alleged physical appearance and ethnicity of the Cagots varied wildly from legends and stories; some local legends (especially those that held to the leper theory) indicated cagots had blonde hair and blue eyes, while those favoring the Arab descent story said cagots were considerably darker.〔 One common trend was to claim that cagots had no ear lobes, or that one ear was longer than the other.〔 Graham Robb finds most of the above theories unlikely: A modern theory of interest is that the Cagots are the descendents of a fallen medieval guild of carpenters. This theory 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 could have been the guild's original symbol. 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.〔Robb, p. 46.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cagot」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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