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El Pont-de-Montvert, etapa del GR®70 Camino Stevenson |
     
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El Pont-de-Montvert, etapa del GR®70 Camino Stevenson |
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Tarde... Sin prisa, después de haber descendido por un valle delicado y cruzado un arroyo burbujeante, llegamos al Pont-de-Montvert, un pueblo casi costero, situado sobre el Tarn. El corazón se desacelera tras el esfuerzo y el sol alegre ahuyenta las nubes. Aquí, en tierra camisarda, el ambiente veraniego derrota el recuerdo de las guerras de religión. Aquí, aquellos a quienes se les llamaba los locos de Dios pusieron fin a la vida y a las acciones del abad de Chayla, un sacerdote católico furioso y cruel. En su casa del puente, el abad encarcelaba a los protestantes rebeldes que se negaban a abjurar. Abraham Mazel, profeta inspirado por la Biblia y la palabra divina, se convirtió en el escriba de la venganza celestial.
Junto a Laporte, Esprit Seguier, Salamon Couderc, Jean Rampon y Nicolas Joini - apodados los jefes del espíritu - se convirtió en el brazo vengador el 24 de julio de 1702. Después de haber exigido al abad la liberación de los hermanos prisioneros, quemaron la casa y capturaron al anciano.
El abad de Chayla se negó a orar por su perdón y murió bajo la espada de Esprit Seguier. Este lo golpeó en la cabeza y Joini lo imitó. Según los inspirados, el Señor lo había exigido.
Detrás del abad, los Camisards luchaban contra Luis XIV y la revocación del Edicto de Nantes, armados solo con espadas, llamas y profecías. Todas sus misiones eran ordenadas por el espíritu divino. Durante cuatro días, la tropa protestante quemó iglesias y castillos, respondiendo diente por diente a las humillaciones, asesinando a su paso a dos eclesiásticos. El vaso estaba lleno. Demasiados templos destruidos, torturas absurdas y creyentes en galeras...
Cuatro días después del asesinato del abad, Esprit Seguier fue arrestado en Plant de Fontmort por los ejércitos del rey, juzgado en Florac y ejecutado al pie de la torre del reloj del Pont-de-Montvert, donde el abad había muerto. Abraham Mazel narra en sus memorias el coraje excepcional de Seguier. Le cortaron la mano, él extendió la otra. Se dice que incluso arrancó con sus dientes los trozos de carne que colgaban de su muñeca. Mientras encendían la hoguera, comenzó a cantar. Nada lo hizo callar, ni las llamas ni el miedo al infierno. En un último suspiro, Esprit Seguier predijo que el lugar donde moría sería llevado por las aguas. Mazel cuenta que poco tiempo después, el Tarn hervía, salió de su lecho y se llevó dicho lugar...
Durante dos años, los camisards se retiraron a la desierta, nombre dado a sus lugares de culto en plena naturaleza. A veces lograban hacer frente a los ejércitos del rey, en una lucha en la que, a la estela de Esprit, Seguier y otros líderes debían destacarse: Roland, Cavalier, guerreros de Dios con un ardor inquebrantable, con una fe ejemplar...
Cuando la torre del reloj y el puente aparecen bajo la luz del verano, se cree ver el puente de Mostar, el Mostar otomano, bombardeado y destruido por los croatas - donde incluso los serbios se habían abstenido.
En noviembre de 1993, el Stari Most, construcción turca del siglo XVII, el viejo, como lo llamaban las poblaciones croatas, musulmanas y serbias que habían resistido a las invasiones, a los terremotos y a los años, dio su último suspiro después de dos días de bombardeos. La guerra partió en dos la ciudad más mixta y tolerante de Herzegovina. Allí se bebía té en los zocos, y se saltaba desde el viejo puente.
Afternoon... Without haste, after having descended a delicate valley and crossed a bubbling stream, we approach the Pont-de-Montvert, an almost seaside village perched above the Tarn. The heart slows after the effort, and the cheerful sun chases away the clouds. Here, in Camisard country, the summery mood overcomes the memory of the religious wars. Here, those called the fools of God put an end to the life and actions of Abbot Chayla, a furious and cruel Catholic priest. In his house by the bridge, the abbot imprisoned the recalcitrant Protestants who refused to abjure. Abraham Mazel, a prophet inspired by the Bible and divine word, became the scribe of heavenly vengeance.
With Laporte, Esprit Seguier, Salamon Couderc, Jean Rampon, and Nicolas Joini—nicknamed the leaders of the spirit—he became the vengeful arm on July 24, 1702. After demanding that the abbot release the imprisoned brothers, they burned the house and captured the old man.
Abbot Chayla refused to pray for his forgiveness and perished under the sword of Esprit Seguier. He struck him on the head, and Joini imitated him. According to the inspired, the Lord had demanded it.
Behind the abbot, the Camisards fought against Louis XIV and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, armed only with swords, flames, and prophecies. All their missions were commanded by the divine spirit. For four days, the Protestant troop burned churches and castles, responding tooth for tooth to the humiliations, and assassinating two clerics along the way. The cup was full. Too many temples destroyed, absurd tortures, and believers in galleys...
Four days after the murder of the abbot, Esprit Seguier was arrested at Plant de Fontmort by the king's armies, judged in Florac, and executed at the foot of the clock tower of the Pont-de-Montvert, where the abbot had perished. Abraham Mazel recounts in his memoirs the exceptional courage of Seguier. They severed his hand, and he extended the other. It is said that he even tore the flesh hanging from his wrist with his teeth. While they lit the pyre, he began to sing. Nothing could silence him, neither the flames nor the fear of hell. In a final breath, Esprit Seguier predicted that the place where he was dying would be swept away by the waters. Mazel recounts that shortly after, the Tarn boiled, overflowed its banks, and took that place away...
For two years, the Camisards withdrew to the desert, the name given to their places of worship in nature. Sometimes they managed to hold the king's armies at bay, in a struggle in which, after Esprit, Seguier, and other leaders were to distinguish themselves: Roland, Cavalier, warriors of God with unwavering zeal and exemplary faith...
When the clock tower and the bridge appear in the summer light, one thinks they see the bridge of Mostar, the Ottoman Mostar, bombed and destroyed by the Croats—where even the Serbs had refrained.
In November 1993, the Stari Most, a Turkish construction from the 17th century, known as "the old one" by the Croatian, Muslim, and Serbian populations who had resisted invasions, earthquakes, and years, breathed its last after two days of bombardments. The war split the most mixed and tolerant city of Herzegovina in two. People drank tea in the souks and jumped from the old bridge.
The house of Abbot Chayla...
It could be any building; moreover, the inhabitants of the bridge enjoy deceiving visitors by showing them a different facade each time. The residents of Montvert improvise as guides and lecturers... Gullible tourists, dressed like Breton sailors, have always loved stones with dates. Here, the house of Chayla is of little importance and can be overlooked. Besides, it no longer exists; history has wiped away the cruelties of the past. The cursed house where two years of massacre began is a bad memory. It encroached upon the sidewalk and hindered automobile traffic, so it was replaced by an anonymous building that knows how to yield to all-terrain vehicles on hunting days and convertibles on tourist days. Only the cellar and the garden remain, where cabbages and large salads thrive. A vegetable garden replaces the original terrace where the horrible priest fell. A pumpkin grows at this spot.
The temple, at nightfall.
Stevenson notices the temple upon his arrival but does not specify whether he visited it. However, it was one of the stated reasons for the trip. He wished to meet the Protestants, whom he compares to the Scottish covenantarians—Presbyterians opposed to Catholic and Anglican obligations.
From the Pont-de-Montvert, Stevenson begins to trace History. He has brought along The Fathers of the Desert by Napoléon Peyrat, books by Michelet, and various stories. Studious, he notes, compiles, revisits the texts, and arranges them in his own way, without hesitation to copy some inaccuracies.
When he arrives in Florac, what he calls the Cévenne of the Cévennes, he forgets the journey and begins to recount the religious wars. In ignorance and doubt, I hardly follow him in this terrain. The history of the Camisards is a matter for scholarly analyses, and anyone wishing to learn more about the inspired or the prophets of the desert can today read the works of Philippe Joutard. As the son of a Scottish Presbyterian, Robert Louis Stevenson is not a historian. He tells in his beautiful, romantic, and flamboyant style. A strange and almost lyrical emotion grips the reader when he recounts the interrogation of Esprit Seguier. The writer addresses his reader:
And perhaps if you could read in myself and if I could read in your conscience, our mutual calmness would be less surprising. Stevenson presents the character of Seguier as in a novel, describing a proud and inspired hero who challenges the Catholic Church, its dogmas, and its violence one last time. He lets us listen to the last words before the death sentence:
- Your name?
- Pierre Seguier.
- Why are you called Esprit?
- Because the Spirit of the Lord dwells in me.
- Your residence?
- Ultimately the desert and, soon, heaven.
- Do you not have remorse for your crimes?
- I have committed none. My soul resembles a garden full of pavilions and fountains.
Seguier, Stevenson clarifies, believed he was at the right hand of God. Unlike the Scottish covenantarians who had dealings with the devil, Stevenson considers the French Protestants as believers with a clear conscience, despite the blood. To support his claims, he notes the testimony of an old camisard... "We ran when we heard the singing of the psalms, we ran as if we had wings. We felt, deep within us, an exhilarating fervor, a desire that lifted us." Words cannot translate our feelings. Stevenson seems to share the faith of the witness. The camisard continues: "It is something that must be felt to be understood. As exhausted as we might have been, we no longer thought of our fatigue and became enthusiastic as soon as the singing of the psalms reached our ears."
In my turn, in the empty, white temple, I hear the psalms. I am alone. In the silence and exemplary sobriety, I see again the Huguenot cross worn by the mother of my children. A Catholic and a Protestant. In waiting for baptism, our children will make their choice. The soul like "a garden filled with pavilions and fountains." I am not a historian, barely a poet. In lieu of being Protestant, I am penitent. "The rock is hard like blood / The believers have the souls of wrestlers."
Later, on the road, Stevenson will confide in his book: I admit to having met these Protestants with pleasure and with the impression of being like family. The silent temple seems to whisper the same words. Anyone can enter, enjoy the refuge, and listen. Bold companions, listen to the songs of yore, sing with all your might, and meditate despite the cold. Pray together. The gods have given you a heart. This is my prayer. Tomorrow, in the heart of the woods, we will be in the desert. The caves, the woods, and the fields, the shores and the beds of the waterways will serve my prayer. Believing in Esprit Seguier and practicing Saint Joseph Delteil, I will address anyone who wishes to hear me. by Eric Poindron. Excerpt from "Beautiful Stars" with Stevenson in the Cévennes, Gulliver collection, directed by Michel Le Bris, Flammarion.
Antiguo hotel de vacaciones con un jardín a orillas del Allier, L'Etoile Casa de Huéspedes se encuentra en La Bastide-Puylaurent entre la Lozère, la Ardèche y las Cevenas en las montañas del sur de Francia. En la intersección de los GR®7, GR®70 Camino Stevenson, GR®72, GR®700 Camino Régordane, GR®470 Fuentes y Gargantas del Allier, GRP® Cévenol, Montaña Ardéchoise, Margeride. Numerosas rutas en bucle para senderismo y excursiones en bicicleta de un día. Ideal para una estancia de relax y senderismo.
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