In 1596 it was ordained that, "conformable to preceding decrees, the _Cagots_ AND _gahets_ residing in the parishes and places circumjacent, shall in future wear upon their vestments and on their breasts a red mark, _in the form of a goose's or duck's foot_, in order to be separated from the rest of the people; they are prohibited from touching the viands which are sold in the markets, under the pain of _being whipped_, except those which the sellers have delivered to them; otherwise, they will be banished from the parish they inhabit: also, it is forbidden to the said _cagots_ to touch the holy water in the churches, which the other inhabitants take." The same decree was issued to put in force ancient ordinances concerning them, in Soule, in the year 1604.
Still further animosity was shown to these miserable people in 1606.

The three states of the said country of Soule, in a general assembly, passed an order by which it was forbidden "to the Cagots, under pain of whipping, to exercise the trade of a miller, or to touch the flour of the common people; and not to mingle in the dances of the rest of the people, under pain of corporal punishment." Severe as these laws were, those against _lepers_ were still more cautious: for whereas Cagots were allowed to enter the churches by a private way, the lepers were not permitted to attend divine worship at all; and had churches appropriated to them alone, which was never the case with the Cagots, who were merely placed apart in the lowest seats.
Much the same arrangements were made respecting the _Cacous_ of Brittany, who were allowed to occupy a distant part of the churches, but not to approach the altar, or touch any of the vestments or vases, under a fine of a hundred sous; but chapels, or _freries_, were permitted them at the gates of several towns--an indulgence apparently never permitted to the _Cagots_.
Lobineau derives their name from Latin and Greek words signifying "_malady_," a denomination which strengthens the opinion of those who imagine the crusaders brought the leprosy back from Palestine on their return from their pilgrimage.
That the Cagots were exempt from leprosy, appears from a circumstance which took place in 1460, when "the States of Bearn demanded of Gaston de Bearn, Prince of Navarre, that he would command the rule to be enforced that the Cagots should not walk bare-footed in the streets, for fear of communicating the leprosy, and that it should be permitted, in case of their refusing to comply with the enactment, that their feet should be pierced with a hot iron, and also that they should be obliged, in order to distinguish them, to wear on their clothes the ancient mark of a goose's foot, which they had long abandoned: _which proposition was not attended to_, thereby proving that the council of the Prince did not approve of the animosity of the States, and did not consider the Cagots infected with leprosy." The law was more severe in Brittany, about the same period; for, in 1477, the Duke Francois II., in order to prevent the _cacous_, _caqueux_, _or caquins_, from being under the necessity of begging, and mingling with persons in health, granted them permission to use, as farmers, the produce of the land near their dwellings, under certain restrictions; and at the same time insisted on their renewing the red mark which they were condemned to wear.

He also ordered that all commerce should be interdicted to them except that of _hemp_, from whence it comes that the trade of a cordwainer is considered vile in some cantons of Bretagne, as those of swineherd and boatman were in Egypt.
In some places in Brittany, the trade of cooper was looked upon with contempt, and the opprobrious name of _caqueux_ was given to them because they were thought to belong to a _race of Jews_ dispersed after the ruin of Jerusalem, and who were considered _leprous from father to son_.
It was _only as late as_ 1723, that the parliament of Bordeaux--which had long shown such tyranny towards this unhappy class--issued an order that opprobrious names should no longer be applied to them, and that they should be admitted into the general and private assemblies of communities, allowed to hold municipal charges, and be granted the honours of the church.

They were to be permitted in future to enter the galleries of churches like any other person; their children received in schools and colleges in all towns and villages, and christian instruction withheld from them no more than from another.

Yet, in spite of this ordinance, hatred and prejudice followed this people still; though, protected by the laws, they fell on them less heavily.
At Auch, a quarter was set apart for the _Cagots_, or _capots_, and _another_ for _the lepers_.