ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the events which culminated in the first act of war – the killing of the abbot du Chaila at Pont-de-Montvert following the arrest of young emigrants attempting to flee to Geneva. To reconstruct these events, the chapter draws primarily upon the deposition of Abraham Mazel and his memoirs in which he provided a detailed narrative of the call to arms in the desert. It also reveals that the intention of those who embarked on the mission to Pont-de-Montvert was not to assassinate du Chaila as was claimed in Catholic reports, but to 'set at Liberty' the 'poor unfortunate People' held captive in his castle after they were caught attempting to flee the country. Analysis of church registers in which the names of the nouveaux convertis were recorded, affirmed that the majority of those professing the Reformed religion had, at least nominally, embraced Roman Catholicism.
