CAVALCANTI, GUIDO (c. 1250-1300), Italian poet and philosopher, was the
son of a philosopher whom Dante, in the _Inferno_, condemns to torment
among the Epicureans and Atheists; but he himself was a friend of the
great poet. By marriage with Beatrice, daughter of Farinata Uberti, he
became head of the Ghibellines; and when the people, weary of continual
brawls, aroused themselves, and sought peace by banishing the leaders of
the rival parties, he was sent to Sarzana, where he caught a fever, of
which he died. Cavalcanti has left a number of love sonnets and canzoni,
which were honoured by the praise of Dante. Some are simple and
graceful, but many are spoiled by a mixture of metaphysics borrowed from
Plato, Aristotle and the Christian Fathers. They are mostly in honour of
a French lady, whom he calls Mandetta. His _Canzone d'Amore_ was
extremely popular, and was frequently published; and his complete
poetical works are contained in Giunti's collection (Florence, 1527;
Venice, 1531-1532). He also wrote in prose on philosophy and oratory.

See D.G. Rossetti, _Dante and his Circle_ (1874).

CAVALIER, JEAN (1681-1740), the famous chief of the Camisards (q.v.),
was born at Mas Roux, a small hamlet in the commune of Ribaute near
Anduze (Gard), on the 28th of November 1681. His father, an illiterate
peasant, had been compelled by persecution to become a Roman Catholic
along with his family, but his mother brought him up secretly in the
Protestant faith. In his boyhood he became a shepherd, and about his
twentieth year he was apprenticed to a baker. Threatened with
prosecution for his religious opinions he went to Geneva, where he
passed the year 1701; he returned to the Cevennes on the eve of the
rebellion of the Camisards, who by the murder of the Abbe du Chayla at
Pont-de-Monvert on the night of the 24th of July 1702 raised the
standard of revolt. Some months later he became their leader. He showed
himself possessed of an extraordinary genius for war, and Marshal
Villars paid him the high compliment of saying that he was as courageous
in attack as he was prudent in retreat, and that by his extraordinary
knowledge of the country he displayed in the management of his troops a
skill as great as that of the ablest officers. Within a period of two
years he was to hold in check Count Victor Maurice de Broglie and
Marshal Montrevel, generals of Louis XIV., and to carry on one of the
most terrible partisan wars in Fre