Abdias Maurel (before 170222 April 1705),

Camisard Camisards were Huguenots (French Protestants) of the rugged and isolated Cévennes region and the neighbouring Vaunage in southern France. In the early 1700s, they raised a resistance against the persecutions which followed Louis XIV's Revocation ...

leader, who became a cavalry officer in the French army and gained distinction in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Biography

In Italy he served under Marshal Catinat, and on this account he himself is sometimes known as ''Catinat''. In 1702, when the revolt in the

Cévennes , etymology= , photo=Point Sublime-Gorges du Tarn-Frankreich.jpg , photo_caption=The Gorges du Tarn , country= France , subdivision2= , subdivision2_type=Départements , parent= Massif Central , area_km2= , length_km= , length_orient ...

broke out, he became one of the Camisard leaders, and in this capacity his name was soon known and feared. He refused to accept the peace made by

Jean Cavalier Jean Cavalier (28 November 1681 – 17 May 1740), was the Huguenot chief of the Camisards. He was born at Mas Roux, a small hamlet in the commune of Ribaute near Anduze, southern France. Early life His father, an illiterate peasant, had been ...

in 1704, and after passing a few weeks in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

he returned to France and became one of the chiefs of those Camisards who were still in arms. He was deeply involved in a plot to capture some French towns, a scheme which, it was hoped, would be helped by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

. But it failed; Maurel was betrayed, and with three other leaders of the movement was burned to death at Nîmes on 22 April 1705.

Assessment

According to the

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

, " was a man of great physical strength; but he was very cruel, and boasted he had killed 200 Roman Catholics with his own hands."

References

1705 deaths Year of birth uncertain French revolutionaries People executed by France by burning {{France-hist-stub