I had cross-checked some of what Bruno had written about these people, and it seemed they were real. They had different names, Cagot or Caqueaux or Gahet, Gotz or Quagotz or Bisigotz, Astragotz, or Gahetz. In most versions of the story, it was believed they were afflicted with an “internal leprosy,” an invisible taint, in addition to “maladies of brain,” deliriums precipitated by full moons and other celestial turns. What Bruno had described regarding the lenient conditions of their worship in Vantôme, groovy priests who offered Communion to the wretched through a little door, was reiterated
...more
