Cavalier or Cavallier, Jean

Cavalier Or Cavallier, Jean, one of the chief leaders of the Camisards (q.v.), was born in 1679, at Ribaute, near Alaix, in Languedoc. He was a Protcstant, and in the persecution of 1701 he fled to Geneva. When the insurrection in the Cévennes broke out in 1702 he joined the insurgents, and soon rose to command. With incredible skill and success he kept up the warfare until 1704, when he made a treaty with Marshal Villars. He then became a colonel in the king's service, and was even introduced at Versailles. Afterwards feeling himself to be an object of suspicion, he escaped, and subsequently went to Great Britain. Here he published his Mémoires, which were translated into English (Dublin, 1726, 8vo). After having commanded a regiment of Huguenot refugees at the battle of Almanza, he died, governor of Jersey, in 1740. — Smedley, Hist. of the Reform. Rel. in France, vol. 3, chap. 25; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 9:279. SEE CAMISARDS.