English version of the Cagots

[walmart]

The Cagots (pronounced [ka.ɡo]) were a persecuted minority found in the west of France and northern Spain: Evidence of the group exists back as far as AD 1000.

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 mills.[2]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.[3][4]

The Cagots were not an ethnic 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 long identified as Cagots. Few consistent reasons were given as to why they were 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.[5] The repression lasted through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Industrial Revolution, with the prejudice fading only in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Anyway you could get an English version of the
Cagots

what would be the impact of this

What would be the impact on the Colonies

 

[walmart]

Would such discrimination spread to the settler colonies as well

 

[Aghasverov]

Would such discrimination spread to the settler colonies as well

I had read somewhere that a fair number of the French who settled in New France, who went on to become the trappers, mountain men, Acadians/Cajuns, were Cagot... the stigma attached to their family names in the southwest of France (which was never clearly defined otherwise - there wasn't any ethnic or religious distinctiveness about them that anyone can remember) was largely forgotten about once in North America...

 

[Gloss]

I had read somewhere that a fair number of the French who settled in New France, who went on to become the trappers, mountain men, Acadians/Cajuns, were Cagot... the stigma attached to their family names in the southwest of France (which was never clearly defined otherwise - there wasn't any ethnic or religious distinctiveness about them that anyone can remember) was largely forgotten about once in North America...

This is likely not true, for some reason people like to overemphasize the amount of certain minorities in oversea colonies(from Moriscos, to Hugenots to others) but in fact evidence suggests that in this case most settlers to the Americas were townfolks from Central and Northern France, not from Southern France around the Pyrenees where Cagots actually lived.

 

[Aghasverov]

This is likely not true, for some reason people like to overemphasize the amount of certain minorities in oversea colonies(from Moriscos, to Hugenots to others) but in fact evidence suggests that in this case most settlers to the Americas were townfolks from Central and Northern France, not from Southern France around the Pyrenees where Cagots actually lived.

Well, I did say "a fair number", not a majority (which would be impossible as the Cagots were a small percentage of the population in one corner of the most populous nation in Europe)
But hey, if you are a Cagot and most of your new neighbors are from the Champagne, Orleans, Normandy and know little about societal customs in Gascony and Bearn, then all the better...

 

[Aghasverov]

Would "Tinkers" or Travellers count? They were regarded rather poorly, though perhaps not quite as badly as the Cagot were regarded by their neighbors...
As with the Cagot, they have their own customs, married amongst themselves (and still do - large settled community not far from me), and there are certain family names associated with them. Read once that there's an old saying that if the first person you meet when you leave your house in the AM is a MacPhee, that you'll have bad luck for the rest of the day...

 

[walmart]

Would "Tinkers" or Travellers count? They were regarded rather poorly, though perhaps not quite as badly as the Cagot were regarded by their neighbors...

I was looking for something settled.

 

[Analytical Engine]

A population of ex-thralls (or whatever the Anglo-Saxon equivalent would be)?

 

[Dan1988]

not from Southern France around the Pyrenees where Cagots actually lived.

OTOH Acadians do originate from southwest France, historically (primarily Aquitaine, Poitou, Maine, and to a lesser degree Saintonge), based on linguisitic analysis, so there may be some truth to that. It's hard to tell, though, because there was a considerable amount of intermixing with the local Aboriginal people, and the homogenizing influence cancels out some distinct regional features from those places.

 

[Ramontxo]

One of my classmates (one thousand years ago) had Agote as surname that made me interested in them. They were a minority in the Kingdom of Navafarroa. I hace seen a lot of hypothesis but the only thing clear is that they were seen as foreigners even if Basque speakers and having generations after generations born in the Village.

 

[Gloss]

OTOH Acadians do originate from southwest France, historically (primarily Aquitaine, Poitou, Maine, and to a lesser degree Saintonge), based on linguisitic analysis, so there may be some truth to that. It's hard to tell, though, because there was a considerable amount of intermixing with the local Aboriginal people, and the homogenizing influence cancels out some distinct regional features from those places.

How are Poitou, Maine and Saintonge southern? They are central at best in the vertical axis and really just Western France.

Also Acadians don't have much native American ancestry, at least Quebecois don't(2-3%)

 

[Dan1988]

How are Poitou, Maine and Saintonge southern? They are central at best in the vertical axis and really just Western France.

Aquitaine, Poitou, and Maine are at least Southwestern, which is different from Southern, I admit (IOW, more Oïl than Oc), but that's the evidence from linguistics. Compared with Laurentian (whose linguistic origins are all over the map, which were ultimately levelled towards something approximating the Standard French of its time with elements of 17th-century Parisian popular speech and traces of pre-levelling regional speech), Acadian is more compact in terms of its origins.

Also Acadians don't have much native American ancestry, at least Quebecois don't(2-3%)

Probably because of singular contact with the Mi'kmaq, who were the only Aboriginal group they were in very close contact with, so trace elements may show up if one knows where to look.

As for an English version of the Cagots - tis' very difficult to pull off, primarily because we do not exactly know what the origins are of the Cagots themselves. Having said that, I don't think it would have much of an effect on its colonies since such identifications tend to wear off over time. The only way I could see it work is if the concept of "white trash" gets ingrained sooner, so that would be your start.