tiny. To a mediaeval Viscount, it was naturally inconceivable as a
place of amusement, and as naturally, he saw in its walls a stronghold
where he could live as securely as ever lord in castle. As a fortress
which successfully defied Charles Martel, it was a place of no mean
strength, and in 1100 it had become "a veritable hornets' nest, buzzing
with warriors."

A few years before, Pope Urban II had landed at Maguelonne and ridden to
Clermont to preach the First Crusade. On his return he stopped at Nimes
and held a Council for the same holy purpose. Raymond de Saint-Gilles,
Count of Toulouse and overlord of Nimes, travelled there to meet the
Sovereign Pontiff, and amid the wonderful ferment of enthusiasm which
the "Holy War" had aroused, the South was pledged anew to this romantic
and war-like phase of the cause of Christ. Trencavel, Viscount of Nimes,
loyal to God and his Suzerain, followed Raymond to Palestine. Its
natural protectors gone, the city formed a defensive association called
the "Chevaliers of the Arena." As its name implies, this curious
fraternity was composed of the soldiers of the ancient amphitheatre.
Like many others of the time it was semi-military, semi-religious, its
members bound by many solemn oaths and ceremonies, and thus, by the
eccentricity of fate, this old pagan playground became a fortress
consecrated to Christian defence, the scene of many a solemn Mass.

The divisions in the Christian faith, which followed so closely the
fervours of the Crusades, were most disastrous to Nimes. From the XIII
until the XVII centuries, wars of religion were interrupted by
suspicious and unheeded truces, and these in turn were broken by fresh
outbursts of embittered contest. An ally of the new "Crusaders" in Simon
de Montfort's day, Nimes became largely Protestant in the XVI century;
and in 1567, as if to avenge the injuries their ancestors had formerly
inflicted on the Albigenses, the Nimois sacked their Bishop's Palace and
threw all the Catholics they could find down the wells of the town. This
celebration of Saint Michael's Day was repaid at the Massacre of Saint
Bartholomew. The wise Edict of Nantes brought a truce to these
hostilities,--its revocation, new persecutions and flights. A hundred
years later the Huguenots were again in force, and, aided by the unrest
of the Revolution, successfully massacred the Catholics of the city; and
during the "White Terror" of 1815 the Catholics arose and avenged
the