Vachères-en-Quint, protestant history

At the end of the Edict of Nantes regime, Vachères had a population of around 200, then came the sad period of persecution. Almost every family had a hiding place.
You had to go through a trapdoor, under a cupboard, in a stairwell. Elsewhere, there was a false wall in a stall. Despite these precautions, the number of those captured was considerable, and their fate was merciless: banishment, galleys (5 to 10 years or perpetual) or death. In 1735, Mathieu Allard was caught and sentenced for "illicit assembly" to the galleys in perpetuity. A pastor caught with him was roué in Avignon. Pastor Jacques Roger was also arrested in Vachères on April 29, 1745, taken to Grenoble and executed: in 1745, persecution seems to have redoubled, perhaps following Louis XV's decrees confirming the death penalty for pastors and recommending the abduction of children.