Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe | Page 2

Africa has been known since the time of Pliny.
But it has hardly been realised to what an extent similar cliff dwellings have existed and do still exist in Europe.
In 1894, in my book, "The Deserts of Southern France," I drew attention to rock habitations in Dordogne and Lot, but I had to crush all my information on this subject into a single chapter. The subject, however, is too interesting and too greatly ramified to be thus compressed. It is one, moreover, that throws sidelights on manners and modes of life in the past that cannot fail to be of interest. The description given above of cliff dwellings in Oregon might be employed, without changing a word, for those in Europe.
To the best of my knowledge, the theme of European Troglodytes has remained hitherto undealt with, though occasional mention has been made of those on the Loire. It has been taken for granted that cave-dwellers belonged to a remote past in civilised Europe; but they are only now being expelled in Nottinghamshire and Shropshire, by the interference of sanitary officers.
Elsewhere, the race is by no means extinct. In France more people live underground than most suppose. And they show no inclination to leave their dwellings. Just one month ago from the date of writing this page, I sketched the new front that a man had erected to his paternal cave at Villiers in Loir et Cher. The habitation was wholly subterranean, but then it consisted of one room alone. The freshly completed face was cut in freestone, with door and window, and above were sculptured the aces of hearts, spades, and diamonds, an anchor, a cogwheel and a fish. Separated from this mansion was a second, divided from it by a buttress of untrimmed rock, and this other also was newly fronted, occupied by a neat and pleasant-spoken woman who was vastly proud of her cavern residence. "Mais c'est tout ce qu'on peut désirer. Enfin on s'y trouve très bien."

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PREHISTORIC CAVE-DWELLERS
Formation of chalk--Of dolomitic limestone--Where did the first men live--Their Eden in the chalk lands--Migration elsewhere--Pit dwellings--Civilisation stationary--Troglodytes--Antiquity of man--Les Eyzies--H?tel du Paradis--The first colonists of the Vézère Valley-- Their artistic accomplishments--Painting and sculpture--Rock dwellings in Champagne--Of a later period--Civilisation does not progress uniformly--The earth--Book of the Revelation of the past--La Laugerie Basse--Blandas--Conduché--Grotte de Han--The race of Troglodytes not extinct

CHAPTER II
MODERN TROGLODYTES
Troglodytes of the Etang de Berre--The underground town of Og, King of Bashan--Tr?o--Sanitation--Ancient mode of disposing of refuse--The talking well--Les Roches--Chateau de Bandan--Chapel of S. Gervais--La Grotte des Vierges--Rochambeau--Le Roi des Halles--La Roche Corbon-- Human refuse at Ezy--Saumur--Are there still pagans among them?-- Bourré--Courtineau--The basket-makers of Villaines--Grioteaux--Sauliac --Cuzorn--Brant?me--La Roche Beaucourt--The Swabian Alb--Sibyllen loch-- Vrena Beutlers H?hle--Schillingsloch--Schl?ssberg H?hle--Rock village in Sicily--In the Crimea--In Egypt--In volcanic breccia--Balmes de Montbrun--Grottoes de Boissière--Grottoes de Jonas--The rock Ceyssac-- The sandstone cave-dwellings of Corrèze--Their internal arrangement-- Cluseaux--Cave-dwellings in England--In Nottinghamshire--In Staffordshire--In Cornwall--In Scotland--The savage in man--Reversion to savagery--The Gubbins--A stone-cutter--Daniel Gumb--A gentleman of Sens--Toller of Clun Downs

CHAPTER III
SOUTERRAINS
Prussian invasion of Bohemia--Adersbach and Wickelsdorf labyrinths-- Refuges of the Israelites--Gauls suffocated in caves by C?sar-- Armenians by Corbulo--Story of Julius Sabinus--Saracen invasion--The devastation of Aquitaine by Pepin--Rock refuges in Quercy--The Northmen--Persecution of the Albigenses--The cave of Lombrive--The English domination of Guyenne--Two kinds of refuges--Saint Macaire-- Alban--Refuge of Chateau Robin--Exploration--Methods of defence-- Souterrain of Fayrolle--Of Saint Gauderic--Of Fauroux--Of Olmie-- Aubeterre--Refuges under castles--Enormous number of souterrains in France--Victor Hugo's account of those in Brittany--Refuges resorted to in the time of the European War--Those in Picardy--Gapennes--Some comparatively modern--Condition of the peasantry during the Hundred Years' War--Tyranny of the nobles--Their barbarities--Refuges in Ireland--In England--The Dene Holes--at Chislehurst--At Tilbury--Their origin--Fogous in Cornwall--Refuges in Haddingtonshire--In Egg-- Slaughter of the Macdonalds--Refuges in the Isle of Rathlin--Massacre by John Norris--Refuges in Crete--Christians suffocated in one by the Turks--Lamorciere in Algeria. . . . . .

CHAPTER IV
CLIFF REFUGES
Distinction between souterrain and cliff refuges--How these latter were reached--Gazelles--Peuch Saint Sour--Story of S. Sour--The Roc d'Aucor --Exploration--How formerly reached--Boundoulaou--Riou Ferrand--Cliff refuge near Brengues--Les Mées--Fadarelles--Puy Labrousse--Soulier-de- Chasteaux--Refuges in Auvergne--Meschers--In Ariège--The Albigenses-- Caves in Derbyshire--Reynard's cave--Cotton's cave--John Cann's cave-- Elford's cave on Sheep's Tor.... 103-116

CHAPTER V
CLIFF CASTLES. THE ROUTIERS
The seigneural castle--Protection sought against the foes without and against the peasant in revolt--Instance of the Chateau Les Eyzies-- Independence of the petty nobles--Condition of the country in France-- In Germany--Weakness of the Emperor--The Raubritter--Italy--The nobles brought into the towns--Their towers--Division of the subject-- Difference between the English manor-house and the foreign feudal castle--The English in France--The Hundred Years' War--Hopeless condition of the people--The Free Companies--How recruited--Crusade against the Albigenses--Barons no better than Routiers--Death of chivalry--Routiers were rarely Englishmen--Had no scruples as to whom they served--Disregarded treaties--The captains were Gascons or French --The nobles of the south on the English side--Nests in the rock-- Depopulation and devastation--Insolence of the Companies--Bigaroque-- Roc de Tayac--Corn--Roquefort--Brengues--The Bishop of Cahors dies there--Chateau du Diable at Cabrerets--Défilé