[1] This English form of the name, adopted in the 10th ed. of the
_Ency. Brit._, from the German, appears preferable both to the
un-English Kamerun and to the older and clumsy "the Cameroons."
[2] On the 26th of July a French gunboat also entered the estuary on
a belated annexation mission.
CAMILING, a town of the province of Tarlac, Luzon, Philippine Islands,
on the Camiling river, about 80 m. N.N.W. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 25,243.
In 1903 after the census had been taken, the adjacent towns of Santa
Ignacia (pop. 1911) and San Clemente (pop. 1822) were annexed to
Camiling. Its products are rice, Indian corn and sugar. Fine timber
grows in the vicinity. The principal language is Ilocano; Pangasinan,
too, is spoken. Being in an isolated position, very difficult of access
during the rainy season, Camiling has always been infested with thieves
and bands of outlaws, who come here for concealment.
CAMILLUS, MARCUS FURIUS, Roman soldier and statesman, of patrician
descent, censor in 403 B.C. He triumphed four times, was five times
dictator, and was honoured with the title of Second Founder of Rome.
When accused of having unfairly distributed the spoil taken at Veii,
which was captured by him after a ten years' siege, he went into
voluntary exile at Ardea. The real cause of complaint against him was no
doubt his patrician haughtiness and his triumphal entry into Rome in a
chariot drawn by white horses. Subsequently the Romans, when besieged in
the Capitol by the Gauls, created him dictator; he completely defeated
the enemy (but see BRENNUS and ROME: _History_, ii., "The Republic") and
drove them from Roman territory. He dissuaded the Romans, disheartened
by the devastation wrought by the Gauls, from migrating to Veii, and
induced them to rebuild the city. He afterwards fought successfully
against the Aequi, Volsci and Etruscans, and repelled a fresh invasion
of the Gauls in 367. Though patrician in sympathy, he saw the necessity
of making concessions to the plebeians and was instrumental in passing
the Licinian laws. He died of the plague in the eighty-first year of his
age (365). The story of Camillus is no doubt largely traditional. To
this element probably belongs the story of the schoolmaster who, when
Camillas was attacking Falerii (q.v.), attempted to betray the town by
bringing into his camp the sons of some of the principal inhabitants of
the place. Camillus, it is said, had him whipped back into the town by
his pupils, and the Faliscans were so affected by this generosity that
they at once surrendered.
See Livy v. 10, vi. 4; Plutarch, _Camillus_. For the Gallic retreat,
see Polybius ii. 18; T. Mommsen, _Romische Forschungen_, ii. pp.
113-152 (1879).
CAMILLUS and CAMILLA, in Roman antiquity, originally terms used for
freeborn children. Later, they were used to denote the attendants on
certain priests and priestesses, especially the flamen dialis and
flaminica and the curiones. It was necessary that they should be
freeborn and the children of parents still alive (Dion. Halic. ii. 21).
The name Camillus has been connected with the Cadmilus or Casmilus of
the Samothracian mysteries, identified with Hermes (see CABEIRI).
CAMISARDS (from _camisade_, obsolete Fr. for "a night attack," from the
Ital. _camiciata_, formed from _camicia_--Fr. _chemise_--a shirt, from
the fact of a shirt being worn over the armour in order to distinguish
friends from foes), the name given to the peasantry of the Cevennes who,
from 1702 to 1705 and for some years afterwards, carried on an organized
military resistance to the _dragonnades_, or conversion by torture,
death and confiscation of property, by which, in the Huguenot districts
of France, the revocation of the edict of Nantes was attempted to be
enforced. The Camisards were also called Barbets ("water-dogs," a term
also applied to the Waldenses), Vagabonds, Assemblers (_assemblee_ was
the name given to the meeting or conventicle of Huguenots), Fanatics and
the Children of God. They belonged to that romance-speaking people of
Gothic descent whose mystic imagination and independent character made
the south of France the most fertile nursing-ground of medieval heresy
(see CATHARS and ALBIGENSES). At the time of the Reformation the same
causes produced like results. Calvin was warmly welcomed when he
preached at Nimes; Montpellier became the chief centre for the
instruction of the Huguenot youth. It was, however, in the great
triangular plateau of mountain called the Cevennes that, among the small
farmers, the cloth and silk weavers and vine dressers, Protestantism was
most intense and universal. These people were (and still are) very poor,
but intelligent and pious, and of a character at once grave and fervent.
From the lists of Huguenots sent from Languedoc to the galleys (1684 to
1762), we gather that the common type of _physique_ is "belle taille,
cheveux bruns, visage ovale." The chief theatre of the revolt comprised
that region of the Cevennes bounded by the towns of Florac,
Pont-de-Montvert, Alais and Lasalle, thus embracing the southern portion
of the department of Lozere (the Bas-Gevaudan) and the neighbouring
district in the east of the department of Gard.
In order to understand the War of the Cevennes it is necessary to recall
the persecutions which preceded and followed the revocation of the edict
of Nantes. It is also necessary to remember the extraordinary religious
movement which had for a great number of years agitated the Protestants
of France. Faced by the violation of that most solemn of treaties, a
treaty which had been declared perpetual and irrevocable by Henry IV.,
Louis XIII. and even Louis XIV. himself, they could not, in the
enthusiasm of their faith, believe that such a crime would be left
unpunished. But being convinced that no human power could give them
liberty of conscience, they went to the Bible to find when their
deliverance would come. As far back as 1686 Pierre Jurieu published his
work _L'Accomplissement des propheties_, in which, speaking of the
Apocalypse, he predicted the end of the persecution and the fall of
Babylon--that is to say of Roman Catholicism--for 1689. The Revolution
in England seemed to provide a striking corroboration of his prophecies,
and the apocalyptic enthusiasm took so strong a hold on people's minds
that Bossuet felt compelled to refute Jurieu's arguments in his
_Apocalypse expliquee_, published in 1689. The _Lettres pastorales_ of
Jurieu (Rotterdam, 1686-1687), a series of brief tracts which were
secretly circulated in France, continued to narrate events and
prodigies in which the author saw the intervention of God, and thus
strengthened the courage of his adherents. This religious enthusiasm,
under the influence of Du Serre, was manifested for the first time in
the Dauphine. Du Serre, who was a pupil of Jurieu, communicated his
mystic faith to young children who were called the "petits prophetes,"
the most famous of whom was a girl named "La belle Isabeau." Brought up
on the study of the prophets and the Apocalypse, these children went
from village to village quoting and requoting the most obscure and
terrible passages from these ancient prophecies (see ANTICHRIST). It is
necessary to remember that at this time the Protestants were without
ministers, all being in exile, and were thus deprived of all real
religious instruction. They listened with enthusiasm to this strange
preaching, and thousands of those who were called New Catholics were
seen to be giving up attendance at Mass. The movement advanced in
Languedoc with such rapidity that at one time there were more than three
hundred children shut up in the prisons of Uzes on the charge of
prophesying, and the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier, which was
entrusted with their examination, went so far in their ignorance as to
pronounce these irresponsible infants guilty of fanaticism. After the
peace of Ryswick, 1697, the fierceness of the persecution was redoubled
in the South. "I will show no mercy to the preachers," wrote the
terrible Baville, the so-called "king of Languedoc," and he kept his
word. The people of the Cevennes were in despair, for their loyalty to
the king had been remarkable. In 1683 on the 6th of September an
assembly composed of fifty pastors, sixty-four noblemen and thirty-four
notables, held at Colognac, had drawn up a statement of its unalterable
loyalty to Louis XIV. It is important to notice that the revolt of the
Cevennes was essentially a popular movement. Among its leaders there was
not a single nobleman, but only men of the people, a baker, a
blacksmith, some ex-soldiers; but by far the most extraordinary
characterisic is the presence, no longer of children, but of men and
women who declared themselves inspired, who fell into religious
ecstasies and roused in their comrades the most heroic bravery in battle
and at the stake.
The assassination of the abbe du Chayla marks the beginning of the war
of the Cevennes. The abbe, a veteran Catholic missionary from Siam, had
been appointed inspector of missions in the Cevennes. There he
introduced the "squeezers" (which resembled the Scottish "boot"), and
his systematic and refined cruelty at last broke the patience of his
victims. His murder, on the 23rd of July 1702, at Pont de Monvert, was
the first blow in the war. It was planned by Esprit Seguier, who at once
began to carry out his idea of a general massacre of the Catholic
priests. He soon fell, and was succeeded by Laporte, an old soldier,
who, as his troop increased, assumed the title of "the Colonel of the
Children of God," and named his camp the "Camp of the Eternal." He used
to lead his followers to the fight, singing Clement Marot's grand
version of the 68th Psalm, "Que Dieu se montre seulement," to the music
of Goudimel. Besides Laporte, the forest-ranger Castanet, the
wool-carders Conderc and Mazel, the soldiers Catinat, Joany and Ravenel
were selected as captains--all men whom the _theomanie_ or prophetic
malady had visited. But the most important figures are those of Roland,
who afterwards issued the following extraordinary despatch to the
inhabitants of St Andre:--"Nous, comte et seigneur Roland, generalissime
des Protestants de France, nous ordonnons que vous ayez a congedier dans
trois jours tous les pretres et missionnaires qui sont chez vous, sous
peine d'etre brules tout vifs, vous et eux" (Court, i.p. 219); and Jean
Cavalier, the baker's boy, who, at the age of seventeen, commanded the
southern army of the Camisards, and who, after defeating successively
the comte de Broglie and three French marshals, Montrevel, Berwick and
Villars, made an honourable peace. (See CAVALIER, JEAN.)
Cavalier for nearly two years continued to direct the war. Regular taxes
were raised, arsenals were formed in the great limestone caves of the
district, the Catholic churches and their decorations were burned and
the clergy driven away. Occasionally routed in regular engagements, the
Camisards, through their desperate valour and the rapidity of their
movements, were constantly successful in skirmishes, night attacks and
ambuscades. A force of 60,000 was now in the field against them; among
others, the Irish Brigade which had just returned from the persecutions
of the Waldenses. The rising was far from being general, and never
extended to more than three or four thousand men, but it was rendered
dangerous by the secret and even in many places the open support of the
people in general. On the other hand their knowledge of a mountainous
country clothed in forests and without roads, gave the insurgents an
enormous advantage over the royal troops. The rebellion was not finally
suppressed until Baville had constructed roads throughout this almost
savage country.
Montrevel adopted a policy of extermination, and 466 villages were
burned in the Upper Cevennes alone, the population being for the most
part put to the sword. Pope Clement XI. assisted in this work by issuing
a bull against the "execrable race of the ancient Albigenses," and
promising remission of sins to the holy militia which was now formed
among the Catholic population, and was called the Florentines, Cadets of
the Cross or White Camisards. Villars, the victor of Hochstadt and
Friedlingen, saw that conciliation was necessary; he took advantage of
the feeling of horror with which the quiet Protestants of Nimes and
other towns now regarded the war, and published an amnesty. In May 1704
a formal meeting between Cavalier and Villars took place at Nimes. The
result of the interview was that a document entitled _Tres humble
requete des reformes du Languedoc au Roi_ was despatched to the court.
The three leading requests for liberty of conscience and the right of
assembly outside walled towns, for the liberation of those sentenced to
prison or the galleys under the revocation, and for the restitution to
the emigrants of their property and civil rights, were all granted,--the
first on condition of no churches being built, and the third on
condition of an oath of allegiance being taken. The greater part of the
Camisard army under Roland, Ravenel and Joany would not accept the terms
which Cavalier had arranged. They insisted that the edict of Nantes must
be restored,--"_point de paix, que nous n'ayons nos temples_." They
continued the war till January 1705, by which time all their leaders
were either killed or dispersed.
In 1709 Mazel and Claris, with the aid of two preaching women, Marie
Desubas and Elizabeth Catalon, made a serious effort to rekindle revolt
in the Vivarais. In 1711 all opposition and all signs of the reformed
religion had disappeared. On the 8th of March 1715, by medals and a
proclamation, Louis XIV. announced the entire extinction of heresy.
What we know of the spiritual manifestations in the Cevennes (which much
resembled those of the Swedish Raestars of Smaland in 1844) is chiefly
derived from _Le Theatre sacre des Cevennes_, London, 1707, reprinted at
Paris in 1847; _A Cry From the Desert_, &c., by John Lacy, London, 1707;
_La Clef des propheties de M. Marion_, London, 1707; _Avertissements
prophetiques d'Elie Marion_, &c., London, 1707. About the date of these
publications the three prophets of the Cevennes, Marion, Durand-Fage and
Cavalier (a cousin of the famous Jean Cavalier) were in London and were
objects of lively curiosity. The consistory of the French church in the
Savoy sent a protest to the lord mayor against "cette secte impie et
extravagante" and the matter was tried at the Guildhall. Misson, author
of the _Theatre sacre_, declared in defence of the accused, that the
same spirit which had caused Balaam's ass to speak could speak through
the mouths of these prophets from the Cevennes. Marion and his two
friends Fatio, a member of the Royal Society of London, and Daude, a
leading savant, who acted as his secretaries, were condemned to the
pillory and to the stocks. Voltaire relates (_Siecle de Louis XIV._ c.
36) that Marion wished to prove his inspiration by attempting to raise a
dead body (Thomas Ernes) from St Paul's churchyard. He was at last
compelled to leave England.[1]
The inspiration (of which there were four degrees, _avertissement,
souffle, prophetie, dons_) was sometimes communicated by a kiss at the
assembly. The patient, who had gone through several fasts three days in
length, became pale and fell insensible to the ground. Then came violent
agitations of the limbs and head, as Voltaire remarks, "quite according
to the ancient custom of all nations, and the rules of madness
transmitted from age to age." Finally the patient (who might be a little
child, a woman, a half-witted person) began to speak in the good French
of the Huguenot Bible words such as these: "Mes freres, amendez-vous,
faites penitence, la fin du monde approche; le jugement general sera
dans trois mois; repentez-vous du grand peche que vous avez commis
d'aller a la messe; c'est le Saint-Esprit qui parle par ma bouche"
(Brueys, _Histoire du fanatisme de notre temps_, Utrecht, 1737, vol. i.
p. 153). The discourse might go on for two hours; after which the
patient could only express himself in his native patois,--a Romance
idiom,--and had no recollection of his "ecstasy." All kinds of miracles
attended on the Camisards. Lights in the sky guided them to places of
safety, voices sang encouragement to them, shots and wounds were often
harmless. Those entranced fell from trees without hurting themselves;
they shed tears of blood; and they subsisted without food or speech for
nine days. The supernatural was part of their life. Much literature has
been devoted to the discussion of these marvels. The Catholics Flechier
(in his _Lettres choisies_) and Brueys consider them the product of
fasting and vanity, nourished on apocalyptic literature. The doctors
Bertrand (_Du magnetisme animal_, Paris, 1826) and Calmeil (_De la
folie_, Paris, 1845) speak of magnetism, hysteria and epilepsy, a
prophetic monomania based on belief in divine possession. The
Protestants especially emphasized the spirituality of the inspiration of
the Camisards; Peyral, _Histoire des pasteurs du desert_, ii. 280,
wrote: "Il fallait a cet effort gigantesque un ressort prodigieux,
l'enthousiasme ordinaire n'y eut pas suffi." Dubois, who has made a
careful study of the problem, says: "L'inspiration cevenole nous
apparait comme un phenomene purement spirituel." Conservative Catholics,
such as Hippolyte Blanc in his book on _L'inspiration des Camisards_
(1859), regard the whole thing as the work of the devil. The publication
of J.F.K. Hecker's work, _Die Volkskrankheiten des Mittelalters_, made
it possible to consider the subject in its true relation. This was
translated into English in 1844 by B.G. Babington as _The Epidemics of
the Middle Ages_.
Although the Camisards were guilty of great cruelties in the prosecution
of the war, there does not seem to be sufficient ground for the charge
made by Marshal de Villars: "Le plupart de leurs chefs ont leurs
demoiselles" (letter of 9th August 1704, in the _War Archives_, vol.
1797). Court replied to these unjust charges: "Their enemies have
accused them of leading a life of licence because there were women in
their camps. These were their wives, their daughters, their mothers, who
were there to prepare their food and to nurse the wounded" (_Histoire_,
vol. i. p. 71).
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The works devoted to the history of the Camisards are
very numerous. Nevertheless there exists no work specifically devoted
to this extremely interesting period in French history, for in none of
the published works has proper use been made of the valuable documents
preserved in the archives of the ministry of war. Among the chief
works are:--Pere Louvreleuil (priest, former cure of St. Germain de
Calberte), _Histoire du fanatisme renouvele ou l'on raconte les
sacrileges, les maladies et les meurtres commis dans les Cevennes_
(Toulouse, 1704); M. de Brueys, _Suite de l'histoire du fanatisme de
notre temps ou l'on voit les derniers troubles des Cevennes_ (Paris,
1709); _Lettres choisies de M. Flechier eveque de Nimes avec une
relation des fanatiques du Vivarez_ (Paris, 1715); Madame de Merez de
l'Incarnation, _Memoires et journal tres fidele de ce qui s'est passe
le 11 de may 1703 jusqu'au 1 juin 1705 a Nimes touchant les
phanatiques_, published by E. de Barthelemy (Montpellier, 1874). These
works are written by Catholic writers immediately after the war of the
Cevennes, and, despite their partiality, include some valuable
documents. _Memoires du marquis de Guiscard_ (Delft, 1705); Maximilien
Misson, _Le Theatre sacre des Cevennes ou Recit de diverses merveilles
nouvellement operees dans cette partie de la province de Languedoc_
(London, 1707); Misson, the author of the _Voyages en Italie_, which
met with such a great success, gave prominence to the facts relating
to the inspiration of the Camisards; the _Theatre_ also contains
important extracts from the works of Benoit, Brueys, Guiscard and
Boyer, and several original letters from Camisards; _Histoire des
Camisards, &c._ (London, 1740), the anonymous work of a distinguished
writer, which was eventually condemned by the parlement of Toulouse
to be torn up and burnt in 1759; Antoine Court, _Histoire des troubles
des Cevennes_ (3 vols., 1760), the best work of this period, compiled
from numerous manuscript references. The war of the Cevennes has been
treated in several English works, e.g. _A Compleat History of the
Cevennes, giving a Particular Account of the Situation, &c._, by a
doctor of civil law (London, 1703). This work includes a dedication to
the queen, an historical account of the people of the Cevennes, the
bull of Pope Clement against the Camisards, and the bishop of Nimes's
mandate publishing the bull, and a discourse on the obligations of the
English to help the Camisards, and a form of prayer used in the
Camisard assembly, printed in London in 1703 under the title
_Formulaire de prieres des Cevennois dans leurs assemblees. The
History of the Rise and Downfal of the Camisards, &c._ (London, 1709),
dealt with the prophets of the Cevennes in London, and is only an
abridged translation of Pere Louvreleuil's work. Among modern works
are, Ernest Moret, _Quinze ans du regne de Louis XIV_ (3 vols., 1859),
a work which gives a remarkable history of the war of the Cevennes;
_Les Insurges protestants sous Louis XIV._, studies and unedited
documents published by G. Frosterus (1868); _Memoires de Bonbonnoux_,
chief Camisard and pastor of the desert, published by Vielles (1883);
Bonnemere, _Histoire de la guerre des Camisards_ (1859). Two popular
works are--F. Puaux, _Histoire populaire de la guerre des Camisards_
(1875); Anna E. Bray, _The Revolt of the Protestants of the Cevennes
with some Account of the Huguenots of the Seventeenth Century_
(London, 1870). (F. Px.)