BoAr: FNQ: C17
Religion
http://boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQ915.htm
Latest edit 1 Jun 2008.
Interactive
version ©2006 R.J.PENHEY
The Bourne Archive
FNQ
Fenland Notes and Queries. Edited by Rev. W.D. Sweeting, Rector of Maxey.
Part 52. January 1902.
This quarterly periodical took the
form of a forum in which people sent in questions about the history, ecology
and so on of the
This document was a contribution
to FNQ, by L. G., who was probably L. Gaches, who had contributed articles such
as FNQ 834 and FNQ 860.
Reformation
Religion
915. – Raimond Gaches, a Huguenot. –
That was “the Cause” of
the Huguenot – a cry of the people from the vineyard, the plough and the loom.*1
3
The Minister was teacher
and leader, gathering alms and giving orders till the Reformers grew into a
powerful party, able to defend themselves, and gain for leaders Princes of the
Crown. Funds were collected in the
It was a State within a State.
No King could abide it. It was this which led Henri Quatre to
authorise the demolition of the bulwarks of the fortified towns, the
strongholds of the Huguenot. Times change and the party might
organize against the Crown again. The Edict of Nantes had not
given contentment to all (A.D. 1598).
Raimond, son of Jaques
Gaches, of Alby, a judge of the
Court of the Edict in
From Alby Raimond Gaches
passed to Castres,†2 where his eloquence
and devotion attracted the attention of the Provincial Synod, and led to his promotion
to officiate in the
He had in 1660 written to
Richard Baxter, D.D.,
who was chief of the Presbyterians in
It was important for the
Royalists to conciliate the Presbyterians, who were a powerful party, and might
have delayed the Restoration. The King had determined to take possession of his
own again without the semblance of a menace of force. A few sailors rowed him
from the ship “Royal
Charles,” and in humble fashion, accompanied by the French Minister, he
stept on the beach at
The French Reformers
grieved that their old ally, the Queen of Islands, 10
should seem tossed upon the waves, and that the odium of inconstancy should be
cast upon the King.:
“We are not of the ‘No Bishop, No
King’ party. God bless your Church and all your
The “Revocation” had
been long foreseen in
To our Trusty and welbeloved John
Fells, Dor of Div.
and Dean of Christ’s Church in our
Trusty and Welbeloved, Having
received good testimony of the hopefull parts and good proficiency of John
Gaches and being gratiously inclined by all due encouragement to ripen him in ve
virtuous course of study We find him so early bent upon. We have thought good
by these our letters, to recomend him to yor favor willing yow
forthwith upon receipt hereof to admit him into such students place of this our
colledge as is now void or wch shall become next vacant after the arrivall of
these our lettrs.*5
Whereof we will not that you fail.
The preaching in the
Reformed Church seems cold and wearisome, as if the Ministers had not learnt
the art of leaving off.†5 May be that circumstances restricted vigorous diction. Spies
were taking notes. Bossuet and Bordaloue thunder from
Nôtre Dame, and the
Court went on in its wickedness! but the devotion of the
Ministers touched the heart of man. The Gaches sermons have a plenitude of
illustrtion, and grasp some urgent want of the time. Now and again words apt to
spur on to the battle fly from the lip of the preacher. He comforts the
recruits who had “chosen the good part”; “if ye fall ye gain a crown of glory
and lose but the poor gratifications of this earth.” Freedom of mind had
brought with it a liberty, which is not welcome to the Church. “The fool who
said in his heart there is no God” was lurking in the congregation. “Away. I
know ye well.” Each one declares “I am my reason.” “Is all then false? This
world and its covetousness will pass away and ye who are of it be forgotten! but grace will endure. All that man is or ever can be comes
of the heart.” ‡3
In 1665 the death of the
Minister’s son, Raimond, who had joined in his father’s work, happened. It was
a wound that never healed. In 1668 he solaced his retreat at Castres with
meditations amid the solitudes of Alby. It seemed to him that in the scenes of
his childhood he breathed a purer air, that a fresher verdure clothed the
meadows, and the rills that glittered down those rocky channels more sweetly
murmured. In 1668, at a seance11 of the
Litereary Society of Castres, he contributed an elegy entitled “The affliction
of a father for the death of his son.” It was his last effort. He died in
December, and on 15th January following the Doctor Borel pronounced
his eloge.*6 12
Raimond Gaches was one of
the founders of the Society. They were all Protestants. The names of several
are known in
Louis XIV. had been taunted that he was reduced to live in treaty with
heretics. This provoked that insensate15 act which laid
desolate the provinces of his realm, the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, October 22nd, 1685. The Duke
of Saint Simon, a man of serious mind, bears witness to the disastrous
result: “a fourth of his kingdom depopulated, its commerce ruined, the estates of his subjects delivered up to public pillage,
and thousands hunted to death as if they were wild beasts.” When Louis le Grand was
told of the desolation of the Huguenots he congratulated himself on his power!†6
The sufferings of the
people were nought, but their murmurs were not to be stifled; they grew apace
with their wants, till time bringing round its revenge, there burst out a voice
of the people in 1789 as if the wrath of God was kindled against the hapless
rulers of the land. The Revocation scattered the Ministers over the face of the
earth; their flocks followed them. “La fuite”16
was general; to the Alps and over the Rhine; to
L. G.
L. G’s Footnotes
The original scheme of asterisks
and daggers was designed for notes at the feet of the several pages of the
article. The numbers are introduced here as they are brought together at the
foot of this web page. The asterisks and daggers are retained so as to
distinguish between Gache’s footnotes and mine. RJP
*1.^ This name of the Reform party was primarily a
term of abuse. In
†1. One
of these remarkable documents, bearing the seal of Cardinal Chastillon, is
among our State Papers. Du Voisin, a famous Huguenot soldier, author of an admirable
volume of “Troubles,” was engaged at one time in this piracy, and venturing
into British waters in full chase of “marchandises papistes,” was challenged by
our Admiral and lodged in the dungeons of Sandwich Castle, whence
he writes to Lord Burleigh
resenting that a French gentleman should be fed on raw herrings.
*2. There
is an admirable French portrait of the Minister at the
†2. At
Castres l’Agout he had kinsmen. Pierre Gaches, 1520-1574, founded the
*3. Seize
[16] Sermons, by
R.G.,
†3.^ S.P. and Nicholas Papers, Vol. 3. The
‡1. Bishop
Kennett has a note about this in the Register, and the correspondence with Dr.
John Durel, S.T.P., 25 then Minister at the Savoy, is in his
Book, “Worship in Churches beyond the Seas,” 1662. Dr. Durel was afterwards
Canon of Windsor, where he died in 1683, aged 58 26
: -
June,
1661. R Gaches, Paris. to John Durel,
“Il y a long temps
que je l’ai leue (la Liturgie) et j’en ai été merveilleusement edifié. Et votre tré grand prelat de Duresme peut temoigner que j’ai
assisté plus d’un fois au service qui faisait en Palais Royal et en l’autre
maison qu’on leur avoit donné. Et il n’y a que peu de jours que j’avais encore
assisté dans la maison ou My Ld de St. Alban fait aujourdhi ses
exercises [du culte].” 27
*4. Richard
Baxter, 1615-1691. The Dr. preached before the Parliament on 30th
April, 1660, and the next day they voted the Restoration. The felicitous style
of the “Saints Everlasting Rest” has won for it a permanent place in our
literature. This book of devotion is the subject of Archbishop Trench’s 1st
St. James’ Lecture, “Baxter and the Saints Rest.” 28
†4. There
is a painting of this famous scene by Riviere, R.A.
The French accounts of this event are more ample than our own.
‡2.^ B.A. of the University of Nismes, 29 son of Raimond of Castres, in Languedoc,
Minister; admitted to Christ Church Coll., Oxford, 3 May, 1662, aged 20;
incorporated 2nd Dec., 1662; M.A. 1665. He visited
John Gaches son of John James
Gaches rector of Wakerley was bapt. Feb. 13 1694. The Honble. Mr. John Noël gave him his name and Sir Andrew
Wolferson stood godfather with him and My Lady Mary Noël godmother. John was
born 21st Jan. at 5 of the clock in the morning.
1696.
The Gaches family about Peterborough are derived
from this John, who matriculated at Hart Hall,
*5.^ S.P. Car. II. 33 Entry Book, 6, p. 17.
†5. Vinet. A.R. Hist: de la Predication pour le Reformés de
France. 1860. 8o. 34
‡3. L’athéism confondu. Others entitled Le Consolateur, Le
Triomphe de l’Evangile (1654) and Jesus dans l’agonie. 35
*6. Pierre Borel (1620-1689),
physician in ordinary to the King. He left several works which are still in
high esteem. The “Tresor des Antiquitées Gauloises.” 36
1655, has been recently reproduced.
Commentary
This FNQ article is
composed in the rather dramatic language which might be associated with
non-conformist zeal. One gets the impression that its writer learned his French
within the family and that his emotional connection with the Languedoc was still quite
strong after the 220 or more years that the family had been living elsewhere.
The 2007/08 edition
of the
RJP’s Footnotes.
1.^ By this, he will
be referring to the
Reformation of religion.
2. This
high-flown language seems intended to reflect the manner of the sixteenth and
seventeenth century preachers, a conclusion emphasized by the exclamation mark,
but much of the article is in the same style; so perhaps it was part of the
writer’s culture. The Ministers are leaders of Protestant congregations,
particularly, in the present context, Calvinist ones but we shall
learn more of this as we read on.
3. The
writer will have chosen the word ‘loom’ because, in French, a loom is ‘un métier’ but métier has come to mean also, a craftsman’s trade, or more
generally still, what one does for a living. Here however, the use of the word
‘loom’ is more directly appropriate, as weaving was one of the trades for which
the Huguenots were noted.
Protestants in
4. As
a French word, ‘temple’ approximates
to the English ‘(non-Conformists’) chapel’, though the differentiation is
between le temple and the (Roman
Catholic) parish church on the one hand and the non-Conformists’ chapel and the
(Anglican) parish church on the other. But this analogy should not be taken too
far; it becomes clear later in the text, that some at least, of the adherents
of le temple, were comfortable in the
Anglican church.
5.^ In other words, not
a tenth of the French population.
6. Good
natured.
7. This
was the period of the
Commonwealth. The Welsh, Irish and Scottish but principally English Protestants
in
8. See
Book of Common
Prayer.
9. References
to the
10.^
11. In
French, un séance is simply a sitting or session of a committee or the
like. In English, though it has the more general French meaning, people tend to
associate the word ‘séance’ with Spiritualism. The writer has the more general meaning in mind.
12. The
writer frequently falls towards a Frenchified English vocabulary. An eloge was
a funeral oration. The word was old-fashioned in English even in 1902, but as
the French word, éloge, it
is much less
obscure. In general, it there means
‘praise’.
13. Interdire means to forbid or
ban. The word interdit (forbidden) is
found on French signs much as verboten
is found on German ones.
14. ‘The Castres Academy possessed a beautiful
library for which the expenditure was voted on 10th June 1653 and a small
museum in which each member had placed his portrait following a debate of the
27th April 1655.’
15.^ Senseless.
16. Flight : fuir or s’enfuir is ‘to
flee’.
17. OED
(Huguenot) and PLI
(Huguenot), are agreed on a likely derivation of the name from the German, Eidgenosse, confederate, but the OED
quotation from 1867 emphasises the large number of the derivations which have
been suggested. Eidgenosse means
‘citizen’ when applied to a Swiss man. The various derivations are not
necessarily mutually exclusive. French speakers, on hearing an unfamiliar,
foreign word are likely to have modified it, under the influence of some word
they knew; the more so if the name was intended to be derogatory. In that case,
an attempt at the introduction of wit, in the form of punning, is to be
expected. A search in French Wikipedia indicates that Hugon was an unusual mediaeval forename and that it and Higon are now unusual surnames. They
seem to mean ‘intelligent
heart’ or ‘mind’
18. Tant
s’en faut is the motto in the arms of Isaac Wanty of Thorney,
printed with FNQ 967
(January 1903). The French Protestant Church of Thorney was established in
1652.
19. The NE postal district seems to have been
well out of date when L.G. was writing. Victoria Park now lies in the postal
district, E 9, on the northern edge of Tower Hamlets.
20.^ That part of
grammar which deals with pronunciation – correct or customary pronunciation (OED).
21. L’Agout
is the name of the river on which Castres stands. It is not to be confused with
l’égout, the
sewer, though of course, all rivers in towns served that function and in Google
Earth, the photographs of the riverside houses in Castres clearly show that
each house had its égout.
J.Gaches is quoted as a reference in a French Wikipedia
article on Antoine
Scipion de Joyeuse, an adversary of the Castres Protestants.
In the History paragraph of the French Wikipedia article
on Gaillac, we read,
in translation : During the Wars of Religion, the
people of Gaillac (Gaillacois), having remained Catholic, were chased from the
town by the Protestants. They went to
Castelnau-de Montmiral for refuge. After the St.
Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, (24th August 1572 in
22. Preparation at Holy Communion.
23. Charenton: Google
satellite photograph.
The following is a translation of the French Wikipedia
article on the Reformed Church’s synod. [17 Apr 2008]
National Synod of Charenton (1631)
The National Synod of 1631 is written in the long conflict
between the Roman Catholic and
The decisions of this synod were strongly opposed and
refuted by the Jesuit priest of Charenton, François Véron (1575-1649), in several
papers, conserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), at the diocesan
library in Cologne, in the University of Geneva Library (History of the
Reformation Centre) and at the British Library (London).
24. Supporters of Charles I and Prince Charles
(Charles II).
25.^ S.T.P. stands for the Latin; Sacrae Theologiae Professor (Professor
of Sacred Theology).
26. He
was Dean of Windsor from 1677 to 1683. See List of Deans of Windsor.
27. Raimond Gache’s letter may be translated as:
I read it (the Liturgy) a long time ago and I have been
marvellously edified (enlightened) by it. And your very great prelate, Duresme
can witness that I was present more than once at the service which was offered
at the Palais Royal and
in the other house which they had been given. And it is only a few days ago
that I had once more been present, in the house where My Lord of Saint Albans
today does his [religious] worship.
28. DNB (Jean-Baptiste Stouppe)
and (Richard Baxter) provides a little more background. It is also
remembered in Michigan University.
29. Nowadays, spelled Nîmes. See Université de Nîmes
(in French).
30.^ See the French
Wikipedia article on the Fort de Brescou. The
following paragraph is a translation of its introduction.
The Fort of Brescou is situated on
the only island in the Languedoc-Roussillon Region, in the commune of Agde (Hérault), at about a half nautical
mile from the entrance to port Richelieu and a little less than three from the
mouth of the Hérault. It is of volcanic origin and has an area of 2.72 ha. As well
as the fort, the island has an old beacon, which is still visible, and the
modern lighthouse. The island remained military property until 1889, when the
fort was written off by the army and handed to the Ponts et Chaussées (civil
engineering) service. Today, it belongs to the town of Agde.
The fort was built in 1586, by Guillaume de Joyeuse, to
prevent the island’s use as a base of operations by any Protestant force,
though the present structure seems to date from 1680.
Google Earth has pictures at
coordinates 43° 15’ 48’’ N 3° 30’ 06’’ E.
31. Ryhall
and Essendine are in Rutland but adjoining Stamford, and on
the way to Bourne, both in Lincolnshire. This is the vicinity of Tolethorpe,
the home of the Browne
family. For the connection with Bourne, see the Browne monument.
32. Gentleman, Lord of Prades.
(It is not entirely clear which Prades
this is but the likely one is between Toulouse and Castres. It is a very small
place, at geographical coordinates 43° 36’ 48’’ N 1° 58’ 31’’ E. Google Satellite photograph.)
33. State
Papers of Charles II.
34. Vinet. A.R.
History of Preaching for Followers of the Protestant Reformed Religion of
35.^ Atheism Confounded :
The Comforter : The Triumph of the Gospel : Jesus in the Throes of
Death. The French name for the Gospel is a reminder of the meaning of the
Engish word, evangelism.
36. The Treasury of Gaulish Antiquities.