The Fort of St. Hippolyte

JanetJoanouWeiner
Sep 1
5 min read

I got in! And back out again!

The fort of St. Hippolyte opened its forbidding doors to the public this summer. Once for a jazz festival that I missed. Then, for the Caminade, which I was fortunate to attend. Come enjoy a dramatic, comedic presentation of local history inside the fort that gave St. Hippolyte du Fort its current name.

The word caminade comes from the Occitan dialect and means to follow a long path together, or simply, to walk. Every year a local group of writers, actors, and various others craft a wonderful show. They draw from St. Hippolyte's history, from well-known events and figures to little-known anecdotes. The troupe performs at various locations around town, acting, singing, playing instruments, all in period costume.

The Fort's interior courtyard and fountain

This year's Caminade covered life in St. Hippolyte in 1704—which happens to be the time period of my second Huguenot Resistance book: The Light Shines Through. Several of the historical people and a few of the stories came to life before my eyes, albeit incarnated by townspeople. The above fountain was the setting for a significant scene, when my imprisoned protagonist Suzanne and her friend Marguerite have an encounter with the prison director, Monsieur De La Haye, who was an actual person.

Back to the Caminade. To start the evening, several hundred people gathered at a large home on the far side of town. In the past, I've peeked through the gates to catch a glimpse of the estate, which includes an extensive vineyard. For the Caminade, we walked right in and discovered an ancient stone pool, a fountain, and more.

Governor Bâville, Madame Bâville, and their Huguenot servant

Pascal Coularou, beloved retired local bookstore owner, played Gouverneur Bâville, the villain in The Light Shines Through. This historical person ruled the region at the beginning of the 18th century at the behest of King Louis XIV. Autocratic and cruel, he persecuted the Huguenots, ordering executions and jail sentences. Pascal is one of the nicest people I've ever met, so quite the opposite casting here!

The actual Governor Bâville ordered the burning of vast swaths of the Cévennes towards the end of the Huguenots' "Camisard" uprising. He incarcerated hundreds of children after a startling phenomenon occurred—an unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit, mainly on teens and children. No one could find a rational explanation for their ability to preach Biblical scriptures, in perfect French, when they spoke the local Occitan. Bâville labeled them "fanatics" and threw them in the fort's dungeons. Doctors brought in from Montpellier could find nothing wrong with them. Bâville returned them to their parents with strict warnings against future prophesying, including the threat to raze their homes.

These young people were courageous, suffering abuse from authorities and sometimes their terrified parents. Overall, they remained remarkably steadfast and exhorted the adults to do the same.

In the Caminade, a Huguenot woman serving the Bâvilles was charged with washing Madame's underclothes. Her slightly bawdy comments about people being the same underneath it all were pretty funny.

Our next stop was on a small bridge, next to the ancient hospital, over the currently dry river Argentesse.

With the help of a portable amplification system, a "nun" who worked at the hospital detailed caring for wounded Huguenots and Catholics. Behind her, Huguenot townswomen shared gossip as they laundered clothes in a time when the river flowed. A pastor from St. Hippolyte crossed their path as he fled, the last of Bâville's victims. Captured pastors were executed on a torturous instrument called the Wheel or sent to row in the Marseille galley boats until death.

As night fell, we headed around the corner to the fort.

Here's our garden store friend, playing a royal soldier charged with keeping order in St. Hippolyte, speaking to the fictional Madame Carrotte. A running gag was his potbelly and shabby appearance, for which the locals of the day mocked him mercilessly. Stuffing created the rounded belly as our friend is a slender man.

After rendering Protestantism illegal in 1685, Louis XIV ordered the construction of several prison-forts in the Cévennes. Only those in Nîmes, Alès and St. Hippolyte du Fort were finished. Included were rampart walls surrounding the towns, with guarded entry ports. While only remnants of the wall remain today, the forts survive.

Normally, forts and ramparts serve to protect inhabitants. Here, St. Hippolyte's 4000 inhabitants were essentially imprisoned in their own town. There were portes or doors, at which villagers had to endure the questioning and ridicule of dragoon soldiers. Reasons had to be given for exiting or entering. It's hard to imagine living under this type of oppression.

The original fort was much larger than today. An outer wall existed, with guard towers and an extensive moat before the secondary inner wall through which we entered.

I love these Napoleon era watercolor maps of our area...I had to take this photo from a book as locating a digital copy has proven difficult. The light blue area inside the outer wall was the moat.

Again, a photo taken from a book of a model depicting St. Hippolyte and the fort. you. The Château de Planque, where I live, is diagonally across on the upper right.

Back to the present day...

We're now inside the fort with Huguenot servants and Madame Carrotte.

Several scenes played out in the fort's courtyard. My favorite was Antoine Gavadon, the only person to escape from this prison-fort in 1692. I "borrowed" his story and gave it to Jean Massip, the guide from The Light Shines Through. You'll have to read the book for details, but it involves sawing an iron bar out of a window, jumping through it to the moat below, swimming, then climbing up and escaping over the bridge under gunfire. He'd planned to go to a friend's home outside St. Hippolyte to hide out but, through an act of God, found out this person was an informant to the royal authorities. Truth is wilder than fiction!

Finally, the production came to an end, and all were thanked. To cap off the evening, drinks were served. My friends and I savored the moment, wishing however that we could visit the inside of the fort. A large chapel exists, rooms, and of course, the dungeons. Only a few grainy photos exist.