The repression lasted through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Industrial Revolution, with the prejudice fading only in the 19th and 20th centuries. The origins of both the term ""Cagots"" (and ""Agotes"", ""Capots"", ""Caqueux"", etc.) and the Cagots themselves are uncertain. It has been suggested that they were descendants of the Visigoths, and the name Cagot derives from "caas" (dog) and "Goth". Yet in opposition to this etymology is the fact that the word "cagot" is first found in this form no earlier than the year 1542. Seventeenth century French historian Pierre de Marca, in his "Histoire de Béarn", propounds the reverse – that the word signifies "hunters of the Goths", and that the Cagots were descendants of the Saracens, although this theory was comprehensively refuted by the Abbé Venuti as early as 1754. Another theory is that the Cagots were descendants of the Cathars, who had been persecuted for heresy in the Albigensian Crusade. A delegation by Cagots to Pope Leo X in 1514 made this claim, though the Cagots predate the Cathar heresy. Perhaps this was a strategic move. In "limpieza de sangre" statutes such stains of heresy expired after four generations and if this was the cause of their marginalisation, it also gave grounds for their emancipation. One early mention of the Cagots is from 1288, when they appear to have been called "Chretiens" or "Christianos". Thus, another theory is that the Cagots were early converts to Christianity, and that the hatred of their pagan neighbors continued after they also converted, merely for different reasons. Another possible explanation of their name "Chretiens" or "Christianos" is to be found in the fact that in medieval times all lepers were known as "pauperes Christi", and that, whether Visigoths or not, these Cagots were affected in the Middle Ages with a particular form of leprosy or a condition resembling it, such as psoriasis. Thus would arise the confusion between Christians and Cretins. However, early edicts apparently refer to lepers and Cagots as different categories of undesirables. By 1593 the distinction was explicit. The Parlement of Bordeaux repeated customary prohibitions against them but added when they are lepers, if there still are any, they must carry "clicquettes" (rattles).