TIL about The Cagots

Humans are so tribal – even in the strangest, most lasting ways.

Consider the Cagots, a minority in France whose persecution began in the eleventh century and continued well into the last one. Cagots were required to live outside villages, dress distinctively, sit separately in church, and do menial jobs.

Yet they didn’t differ in appearance, religion, accent, or names, and no one knows why they were pariahs. They may have descended from Moorish soldiers in the Islamic invasion of Spain and thus were discriminated against by Christians. Or they might have been early Christians, and discrimination against them was started by non-Christians.

No one knew the sins of ancestral Cagots or how to recognize Cagots beyond community knowledge. During the French Revolution, Cagots burned birth certificates in government offices to destroy proof of their status.

p. 401 Behave by Robert Sapolsky (emphasis mine)

This is such a bizarre, fascinating tale. Apparently, prejudice and discrimination lasted into the 20th century. And the prejudice never went away. Instead –

The Cagots no longer form a separate social class and were largely assimilated into the general population. Very little of Cagot culture still exists, as most descendants of Cagots have preferred not to be known as such… read more on Wikipedia…