pposed, a Rapin by birth. The fief of Chaudane en Valloires was
the patrimony of the Rapins, which they long continued to hold. In
1692 the descendants of the family endeavoured to prove, from the
numerous titles which they possessed, that they had been nobles for
eight or nine hundred years.

The home of the Rapins was situated in the country of the Vaudois. In
1375 the Vaudois descended from their mountains and preached the
gospel in the valleys of Savoy. The Pope appealed to the King of
France, who sent an army into the district. The Vaudois were crushed.
Those who remained fled back to the mountains. Nevertheless the
Reformed religion spread in the district. An Italian priest, Raphael
Bordeille, even preached the gospel in the cathedral of Saint-Jean de
Maurienne. But he was suddenly arrested. He was seized, tried for the
crime of heresy, and burnt in front of the cathedral on Holy Thursday,
in Passion Week, 1550.

Though the Rapin family held many high offices in Church and State,
several of them attached themselves to the Reformed religion. Three
brothers at length left their home in Savoy, and established
themselves in France during the reign of Francis I. Without entering
into their history during the long-continued religious wars which
devastated the south of France, it may be sufficient to state that two
of the brothers took an active part under Conde. Antoine de Rapin held
important commands at Toulouse, at Montauban, at Castres and
Montpellier. Philibert de Rapin, his younger brother, was one of the
most valiant and trusted officers of the Reformed party. He was
selected by the Prince of Conde to carry into Languedoc the treaty of
peace signed at Longjumeaux on the 20th March, 1568.

Feeling safe under the royal commission, he presented to the
Parliament at Toulouse the edict with which he was intrusted. He then
retired to his country house at Grenade, on the outskirts of Toulouse.
He was there seized like a criminal, brought before the judges, and
sentenced to be beheaded in three days. The treaty was thus annulled.
War went on as before. Two years after, the army of Coligny appeared
before Toulouse. The houses and chateaux of the councillors of
Parliament were burnt, and on their smoking ruins were affixed the
significant words, "_Vengeance de Rapin_."

Philibert de Rapin's son Pierre embraced the career of arms almost
from his boyhood. He served under the Prince of Navarre. He was almost
as poor as t