CAVALIER, Jean (c. 1680-1740), the famous chief of the Camisards, was born at Ribaute, near Anduse, in Lower Languedoc. The date of his birth is variously given between 1679 and 1685. It could hardly be so late as the last-named year, and may probably be assigned to the period between 1679 and 1681. He was the son of a peasant, and in boyhood was employed first in keeping sheep, and afterwards as a baker’s apprentice. A pious mother trained him in the Reformed faith. The persecution of Protestants, which began after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and which was carried on with pitiless cruelty in the Cevennes, drove him from his native land in 1701, and he took refuge at Geneva. By the dragonnades of Louis XIV. the Protestants of the Cevennes were at last driven to revolt; and Cavalier, inspired with the hope of being their deliverer, a hope which was raised to the pitch of enthusiasm, it is said, by certain prophecies, returned to his own country in 1702. The insurrection broke out in July of that year, and Cavalier was one of the chosen leaders. Roland was named generalissimo, but Cavalier soon rose to share the chief command with him. Untrained in arms, he displayed not only a fiery courage, but extraordinary military skill. This must have been owing to some extent to the eager attention which he had paid, while keeping his sheep, to the manoeuvres of the troops which were stationed in his native district. Although the enfants de Dieu, as the insurgents were called, numbered at the most only 3000 men in arms, they coped successfully again and again with the much more numerous forces of the king, and were never entirely conquered. After several affairs Cavalier changed the theatre of war to the Vivarais; and on the 10th of February 1703 be defeated the ...