The Cagot: France's Forgotten Outcast People

For centuries, a mysterious group known as the Cagots lived on the fringes of French society, forced to wear distinctive badges, enter churches through separate doors, and practice only certain trades. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the origins, daily life, and eventual emancipation of a people who were reviled for reasons no one could explain. From the Pyrenean valleys of the Béarn and the Basque Country to the coastal villages of Brittany, the Cagots endured a peculiar form of persecution that scholars still struggle to understand. Was it rooted in Cathar heresy, leprosy, Visigothic ancestry, or a simple case of inherited stigma? Lucas traces their first appearance in medieval records, the laws that codified their segregation, and the surprising moment in the French Revolution when everything changed. He also recounts the efforts of 19th-century reformers like Dr. Jean-Louis-Marie du Bourg, who tried to dismantle the prejudice, and the last vestiges of discrimination that lingered well into the 1800s. Finally, they reflect on what the Cagot story tells us about the mechanics of social exclusion and identity in French history. #Cagots #FrenchHistory #SocialExclusion #Pyrenees #Béarn #BasqueCountry #HistoryOfPrejudice #Cathars #Leprosy #MedievalFrance #AncienRégime #FrenchRevolution #Emancipation #EthnicStigma #Inquisition #Cagoterie #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo