Saint André de Lancize

History

History of the commune is mainly marked by the Camisards revolt, which started on July 22, 1702, in Vieljouves, a hamlet located above the village of Le Rouve. On the same evening, upon invitation by Salomon and David Couderc, two brothers living in Le Rouve, a group gathered around the woolcomber Abraham Mazel, a "prophet", who received a "divine" inspiration giving him the instruction to deliver huguenots made prisoners and tortured by François Langlade, the abbé of Chayla at Pont-de-Montvert. The following Sunday was devoted to mobilize people who were volunteers to release prisoners. On July 24, fifty men, armed with some guns, axes and scythes, gathered on top of Bougès mountain, at a site named "Les treis Faus" or "Les trois fayards" (meaning "Three beeches" in Occitan and French language, respectively). On the same evening, around 10 AM, they entered Pont-de-Montvert while singing a psalm. They asked, as their only claim, to liberate prisoners. Upon refusal, they liberated them by force, in the course of a violent fight where François Langlade died. So went the Camisards war, also called war of the Cévennes, which later on extended to the whole Cévennes area, and lasted two years.