Beginning with England’s own record of persecuting Jews, Catholics, Protestants and witches, Gaskell turns to the Cagots, a people of the Pyrenees and western France who were barred from churches, trades and marriage with their neighbours for centuries. She gathers the legends told about their origin, the laws that restricted them, and the evidence of doctors who found them healthy and long-lived.
A short, humane essay on prejudice by the author of Cranford and North and South. Download the free EPUB.