The Cagots (pronounced [ka.ɡo]) were a persecuted minority found in the west of France and northern Spain: the Navarrese Pyrenees, Basque provinces, Béarn, Aragón, Gascony and Brittany. Evidence of the group exists back as far as 1000s.

What did Cagots look like?

Contemporary sources describe them as being short, dark and stocky. Confusingly, some others saw them as blonde and blue eyed. Francisque Michel's Histoire des races maudites (History of the cursed races, 1847), was one of the first studies. He found Cagots had "frizzy brown hair".

What is the meaning of Cagot?

cagot in British English

(ˈkɑːɡəʊ, French kɑɡo) noun. a member of a class of French outcasts who lived in the West Pyrenees, Béarn, Brittany, and Gascony, considered to be lepers and heretics.