Sainte-Croix-de-Caderle (Gard)

An early roman chapel that became a priory in 1420 was used for Protestant worship in the 16th century.

A troubled history

  • Temple in Sainte-Croix-de-Caderle (Gard) © O. d'Haussonville

The hardships due to the wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries meant looting, demolishing and rebuilding. At the Revocation, it was given back to the Catholics. In 1702, it was burned down by the Camisards.

In 1704, the garrison of the king’s dragoons invaded the village, terrorising the Huguenots into conversion. The dragoons stayed until 1711.

The church was spared, but a storehouse was built over the front portal, the steeple dismantled and the chapels raised.

At the Revolution, the edifice was dedicated to the worship of Reason.

In 1802, the chapel was handed back to the Protestants.

Sainte-Croix-de-Caderle (Gard)

Sainte-Croix-de-Caderle

Itinerary to this location

Bibliography

  • Books
    • DUBIEF Henri et POUJOL Jacques, La France protestante, Histoire et Lieux de mémoire, Max Chaleil éditeur, Montpellier, 1992, rééd. 2006, p. 450
    • LAURENT René, Promenade à travers les temples de France, Les Presses du Languedoc, Millau, 1996, p. 520
    • REYMOND Bernard, L’architecture religieuse des protestants, Labor et Fides, Genève, 1996

Associated tours

  • Surviving Temples built before the Revolution
    Some regions escaped destruction due to the late incorporation into France as was the case for Alsace because the Westphalia treaties specifically mentioned that the Edict of Fontainebleau should not...

Associated notes

  • The "Dragonnades" (1681-1685)
    A “Dragonnade” was the forced lodging of dragoons, the king’s soldiers, in Huguenot homes. The latter were looted and mistreated until they renounced their faith.

  • The war of the Camisards (1702-1710)
    The « Cévennes war » was the name given in the 18th century to the guerrilla warfare that devastated the Cévennes in the early years of the century and tried to re-establish...

  • Anduze (Gard)
    As from 1560, the Reformation was fully established in Anduze, also named Little Geneva.

  • Alès (Gard)
    Alès, in the southern part of the Massif Central, occupies an outstanding geographical position, at the crossroads of the Cévennes, the Rhone Valley and the South of France. The history...

  • The Désert museum
    The “Désert” period in French Protestantism lasted from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIIV (1685) to the Edict of Tolerance (1787), when Louis XVI restored civil...