Huguenots driven out of France: - decline of the French economy

Huguenot Exile: Protestants driven out of France

 France declined from being the most powerful and rich nation in Europe late in the 17th century, to a country pressed to hold its own against powerful opponents and rivals. It is evident, that one event above all explains this decline. King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes on October 18, 1685. In doing so, he drove hundreds of thousands of his best citizens abroad..

Huguenots Exil : protestants chassés de France

 France a refusé d'être la nation la plus puissante et riche en Europe vers la fin du 17ème siècle , dans un pays pressé de tenir sa propre contre des adversaires et des rivaux puissants . Il est évident , qu'un événement avant tout explique cette baisse . Le roi Louis XIV révoqua l' édit de Nantes le 18 Octobre , 1685. Ce faisant , il a conduit des centaines de milliers de ses meilleurs citoyens étranger !. .

 

France declined from being the most powerful and rich nation in Europe late in the 17th century, to a country pressed to hold its own against powerful opponents and rivals. It is evident, that one event above all explains this decline. King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes on October 18, 1685. In doing so, he drove hundreds of thousands of his best citizens

The despot, tyrant king Louis XIV.

abroad!.

One must not forget, that the Wars of Religion and the preceding times of the Revocation, had been horrible for the protestant part of the nation due to the intolerance and persecutions from the part of the tyran king and his right-hand aid cardinal Richelieu.
The Edict of Nantes was a promise of religious toleration. It was granted in 1598 to the French Protestants known as Huguenots by the King Henri IV of France, also know as Henri of Navarre, after long years of civil wars. The Calvinist Huguenots came into being around 1550 when preachers brought Bibles to France from Switzerland. The growth of this reform movement in Gallic lands was astonishingly rapid.
Within five years the new Reformed Church of France held its first synod. Within a century it boasted a million and a half adherents.

Huguenot prince, King Henry IV of France

Conflict seemed inevitable from the start. The Roman Catholic church was concerned at its loss of control over souls; the King feared Protestant demands for local rule. The most powerful nobles were soon choosing their sides, either to Condé-led Protestants or the powerful Guise family led catholic party. So the religious struggle became a political one also.

War began in 1562 when a number of Huguenots were massacred by the Guises in a church at Vassy. The Huguenots were forced to take arms and the Huguenot Wars began. The Huguenots were only a twentieth of the total French population, yet fought so fiercely they were able to win concessions from the Roman Catholic majority. In 1572 a first peace was arranged. 

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (The worst Massacre in the History of France):
This was shattered when Catherine de Medici, the power behind the French throne, ordered the

Massacre in Paris

assassination of the brilliant Huguenot Admiral Coligny. The attempt left him wounded but not dead. Catherine panicked and ordered the massacre of all Huguenots, including Coligny. The slaughter began in Paris on the evening of St. Bartholomew's Day and spread to the countryside on the following days. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Huguenots were butchered in cold blood in Paris and in the rest of the country.

Leader of Huguenots; Admiral de Goligny

Surviving Huguenots fled to their fortresses. A weary round of wars followed until the Huguenot prince, Henry of Navarre, became heir-elect to the throne of France. In order to gain the throne, Henry found he must convert  to Catholicism.This he did. Soon  King Henry issued the Edict of Nantes for  protecting Huguenot rights.The Huguenots continued to defend themselves with arms when necessary. When the rebellion called "the Fronde" erupted, large part of the Huguenots refused to join their natural allies but instead supported the young Louis XIV. He in turn gravely acknowledged their loyalty and confirmed the Edict of Nantes.
King Louis XIV did not want France divided in faith. Bit by bit he gave ground to churchmen who called for him to strip Huguenot privileges. The most known of them was the catholic cardinal Richelieu, who carried out the most severe persecutions against the Huguenots. The Kings army with its catholic commanders and the Intendants of the provinces carried out the orders of the Cardinal. The Protestant army was led by the Duke of Rohan.
 Laws were passed making it hard for Protestants to enter the guilds, etc. If a child of fourteen converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, the child could leave its Huguenot parents who nonetheless must support it. Huguenots were taxed heavily. Huguenots were forbidden to establish new colleges. For a Huguenot to attempt to leave France was made punishable by condemnation to death or to the galleys. On the other hand, any Huguenot who converted to Catholicism was paid an endowment.
In 1682 Louis XIV threatened the Huguenots with terrible evils if they did not convert. His religious training, harsh upbringing, and cruel advisers, led him to believe he could not be saved unless he wiped out heresy. He destroyed 570 of the Protestants' 815 churches. Huguenots who met secretly were subject to savage reprisals and immediate death.
One of the king's officials protested. Finance minister Colbert warned Louis that he was destroying the economy by these measures which disrupted trade.

Unrestrained Savagery
The religious wars of France, once fought on battlefields, now moved into homes. The government sent dragoons, selected from the basest elements of the army, into Protestant areas with orders not to be gentle to the Huguenots with whom they were quartered. Being soldiers and also bullies, they were only too glad for a little "fun." They bounced old Huguenots in blankets, made the Protestants dance until they collapsed from exhaustion, beat their feet with rods and poured scalding water down their throats and murdered them. They robbed Huguenots and raped their women. Huguenots had no redress from the law, for they were not permitted to bring cases into court.

Protestants burned alive

The violence continued as some the facts were hidden from the king. He was told that all Protestants had either converted or fled. Convinced by the lies of his courtiers, he revoked the Edict of Nantes. Catholic church and state had conspired to evade its provisions.
After the Revocation the Huguenots were forced to flee their homeland or to be killed. Conditions at home were so intolerable and unhumain. Some five hundred thousand escaped. Remaining Huguenots were forced to take mass. Any who spat out the wafer were burned alive.

KEY EVENTS IN HUGUENOT HISTORY

1533 John Calvin flees Paris, becomes pastor in Geneva in 1536 and maintains strong ties
and influence with French reform movement until his death in 1564

Jean Calvin

1550’s Calvinism comes to France, wins thousands of converts
1559 First Huguenot synod held, in Paris
1559 Attempt to replace the Catholic Guises with the Huguenot Condé as regent
1560 Huguenots petition the king and threaten revolt if persecution persists
1562 Massacre at Vassy begins the French religious wars
1562 Huguenots sign a manifesto saying they were forced to take arms 

1572 Catherine de Medici orders an attempt to assassinate Huguenot leader Coligny
1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre kills as many as 100,000 Huguenots
1585 Huguenots and other Protestants are ordered expelled from France

1593 Huguenot Henry IV converts to Catholicism to gain the throne
1598 Edict of Nantes promises protection to Huguenots
1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes leaves Huguenots defenseless; 500,000 flee

FRENCH WARS OF RELIGION also known as THE HUGUENOT WARS
                                                                                                              
           First War  (1562-1563)
           Second War (1567-1568)
           Third War (1568-1570)
           Fourth War (1572-1573), St. Bartholomew´s Day Massacre
           Fifth War (1574-1576), The Catholic League
           Sixth War (1577-1577)
           Seventh War (1579-1580)
           Eight War (1585-1598), Edict of Nantes; King Henry IV
           The Wars continue:
- Assasination of King Henry IV in 1604
- New King Louis XIII "reintroduces" catholism to Protestant areas such as south-eastern and south-
  western France and wants to end the power of the Nobility - Protestants are forced to defend.
- Louis XIII and cardinal Richelieu attack the South of France and conquers Privas (1619), La Rochelle (1627-28), Privas (1629), Orange (several times), etc.
- Louis XIV continues the wars and persecutions, orders the capture and demolition of Orange; the
  Protestant stronghold of the Dutch princes and House of Nassau.

William of Orange-Nassau

- Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV, some 500.000 huguenots exile.
- Louis XIV orders the Dragonnades (army) to destroy the remaining Protestants in the south of the
  country (see Cevennes)
- The Camisards (Cevennes) continued the resistance in the early 18th century. 

The flight of Huguenots was a double blow to France. The hardworking Huguenots; craftsmen, merchants, nobles, bankers, etc., were among the most prosperous citizens of France. Their work ethic had made them masters of the crafts in which France excelled. When they fled, they left behind most of their         possessions but carried with them their skills. France's enemies were taught techniques of weaving, lace-making, silk-work, and hattery, once the exclusive possession of the French. Many Huguenots enlisted in the English, Dutch and German armies and fought France.                                                                                                 

The routes of Exile

Sadly, those people who might have put up the greatest resistance to the atheistic elements within the Enlightenment were expelled. The French Revolution was perhaps now almost inevitable. According to some historians, its cruelties were not nearly so terrible as what the Huguenots had suffered. The Huguenot refugee-families found their new homes in Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, England, North-America, South-Africa, etc.

Article: Huguenot International/Editor M. Odde de Bonniot
Contact: moddebonniot@hotmail.com

 

 

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