Histoire des Camisards

Author:Jean-Paul Rabaut.
A 1744 London-printed edition of Histoire des Camisards, produced outside France to evade royal censorship. Written anonymously, the work bears witness to the persecution of Protestant communities following the revocation of their faith under Louis XIV. Neither propaganda nor hindsight, it is a near-contemporary testimony to repression, resistance, and moral reckoning. Preserved against risk and silence, this volume endures as a powerful record of truth safeguarded by courage.
A book that should never have existed.
In 1744, this history could not be printed in France.
It tells the story of the Camisards—Protestant men and women who rose in quiet defiance after Louis XIV outlawed their faith. Their churches were destroyed. Their pastors exiled. Their children taken. And yet, in the mountains of southern France, resistance survived.
This book was written to explain why.
Printed in London, far from royal censors, Histoire des Camisards accuses politics and religion of pushing France to the brink of moral ruin. It is not propaganda. It is testimony—written close enough to the events that many readers would have known the victims by name.
The author remained anonymous. Owning the book was risky. Reading it was an act of memory.
Nearly 300 years later, this surviving volume still carries the weight of that moment: a quiet reminder that history is often preserved not by power, but by courage.
Some books are collected for their beauty.
Others are kept because they tell the truth.