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. |
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 |
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 |
Leader of Huguenots; Admiral de Goligny |
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 |
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
1550’s Calvinism comes to France, wins thousands of converts
Jean Calvin
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 throneFRENCH WARS OF RELIGION also known as THE HUGUENOT WARS
1598 Edict of Nantes promises protection to Huguenots
1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes leaves Huguenots defenseless; 500,000 flee
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 |
- 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 |
Article: Huguenot International/Editor M. Odde de Bonniot
Contact: moddebonniot@hotmail.com