Marie Durand, was a French Protestant. She was famously imprisoned in the Tour de Constance from 25 August 1730 for attending a Huguenot assembly with her mother, or perhaps because her brother, Pierre Durand, was a well-known preacher, or perhaps because of her marriage.
Early life
Marie was born to Etienne and Claudine Durand from the hamlet of Le Bouchet near Privas in France. Her older brother Pierre became well known as a Huguenot preacher and pastor. Her father Etienne who was consular registrar of the parish was arrested in February, 1729. He was jailed in Brescou at the fort where he was interned for fourteen years. Marie married a much older man who was at least in his forties, Mathieu Serres, later that same year. Her father Etienne was finally released as ninety-two year old although he only had a further two years to conclude his ruined life. Her brother was caught on the road to Vermoux in 1732 and was hung at Montpellier in that same year.
Imprisonment
The formal reason for her arrest is unclear. E Audra writes: Marie was not released until 1768, 36 years later after serving 38 years in the tower. Like Margaret Wilson simple abjuration was all she needed for release but this offer she refused. The word "RESISTER" scratched by her, or by one or others of her cell mates with a knitting needle into the stonework serves as an expression of her Protestant faith. She did not convert to Roman Catholicism. It has been argued that the authorities didn't attempt to convert her once she was imprisoned as she was allowed to correspond with her pastor. It is also recorded that she was asked every day whether she would abjure but daily refused.
Letters
About fifty letters by Marie Durand have been published. These include letters to her niece, Anne in Geneva who, "who, in the end, recanted in order to marry a rich catholic many years her senior." She also wrote, in 1740, on behalf of other prisoners like the nine women from Vivarais complaining that ‘ During the ten years we have been here, nothing has ever been sent to us from Vivarais.’ She added: ‘Charity is the true principle of our religion, and they ’ — meaning the people in Vivarais — ‘ do not profess it.’ She also wrote to Paul Rabaut, a Huguenot pastor in Nîmes who looked after the prisoners. Jean Louis Bridel quotes some sections of her letters to her pastor for example:
Release, death and legacy
Marie Durand was released on 14 April 1768; she returned to her childhood home. Charles Tyler relates:
