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 ate in the 17th century, France declined
from being the most powerful and rich nation in Europe to a country pressed
to hold its own against powerful foes. Possibly, just possibly, one event
above all helps explains this decline. On October 18, 1685, King Louis
XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. In doing so, he drove hundreds of thousands
of his best citizens abroad.
The Edict of Nantes was a promise of religious toleration. It was granted
in 1598 to the French Protestants known as Huguenots after 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 church
held its first synod. Within a century it boasted a million and a half
adherents.
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Conflict seemed inevitable from the start. The Roman Catholic church
was concerned at its loss of control over souls; the government feared
Protestant demands for local rule. The government's concerns certainly
appeared justified when powerful nobles such as the Condés attempted
to employ Protestant strength for their own political advancement against
the powerful Guise family.
War began in 1562 when a number of Huguenots were massacred by the Guises
in a church at Vassy. 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 peace was arranged.
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
This was shattered when Catherine de Medici, the power behind the French
throne, ordered the 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.
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. The Huguenots saw this as a betrayal. To
quiet their fears, Henry issued the Edict of Nantes, protecting Huguenot
rights.
The Huguenots continued to defend themselves with arms when necessary,
but eventually they came to distrust the use of weapons. Their leaders
decided that it is better to suffer than to fight for rights. Thus, when
the rebellion called "the Fronde" erupted, 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.
All the same, he did not want France divided in faith. Bit by bit he
gave ground to churchmen who called for him to strip Huguenot privileges.
Laws were passed making it hard for Protestants to enter the guilds. If
a child of fourteen converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, the child
could leave its Huguenot parents who nonetheless must support it. Huguenots
were forbidden to establish new colleges. For a Huguenot to attempt to
leave France was made punishable by condemnation 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
in the woods 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. They robbed Huguenots and raped their women. Huguenots
had no redress from the law, for they were not permitted to bring cases
into court.
To Louis' credit, when he heard what was being done, he ordered it stopped.
The violence continued but 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. It had become little
more than a scrap of paper anyhow, for church and state had conspired
to evade its provisions.
With even the illusion of protection gone, many Huguenots felt they must
flee their homeland. Conditions at home were so intolerable that the risk
seemed worthwhile. Four 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
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
1565 Huguenot colony massacred at St. John, Florida by Pedro Mendendez
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
(most stay)
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; 400,000
flee
THEIR LIVES a POWERFUL TESTIMONY
[Sheldon's Church History provides a description of the Huguenots
from Florimond de Raemond, a Roman Catholic historian in the late 16th
century. He observed the life and behavior of the Huguenots and summarized
his impressions.]
They comported themselves as the pronounced enemies of luxury, of public
festivities, and of the follies of the world, which were all too prevalent
among the Catholics. In their societies and at their banquets, one found
neither music nor dancing, but discourses from the Bible, which lay upon
the table, and spiritual songs, especially the Psalms as soon as they
were brought into rhyme. The women, with their modest apparel and bearing,
seemed like sorrowing Eves or penitent Magdalens, repeating in their lives
the description which Tertullian gave of the (Christian) women of his
age. The men appeared dead to the world, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Each was a John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness. The outward demeanor
expressed only humility and obedience. They sought to gain a place for
themselves, not by cruelty but by patience, not by killing but by dying,
so that in them Christianity in its primitive innocence seemed to be restored.
Mysterious Name
The origin of the name Huguenot is not known. It may be a French adaptation
of the German word Eidgenossen, which means Confederates. Others speculate
that it was derived from "a legendary King Hugon whose spirit was
thought to haunt a part of Tours where Protestants met secretly in the
early years of the movement," according to R. D. Linder in Inter
Varsity Press' Dictionary of Christianity.
Double Blow to France (Editor's Notebook)
The flight of Huguenots was a double blow to France. The hardworking Huguenots
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.
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.
A church near the White House in Washington, DC has a memorial that claims
21 US presidents are of Huguenot descent. The National Huguenot Society,
more modest, maintains that eight can definitely be traced as Huguenot
descendants. They are:
- George Washington
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Theodore Roosevelt
- William Howard Taft
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Harry S. Truman
- Gerald Ford
- Lyndon B. Johnson
The National Huguenot Society is willing to send you a reading list related
to their history and answer questions about the Huguenots. Write to:
National Huguenot Society
9033 Lyndale Ave. South
Suite 108
Bloomington, MN 55420-3535
-- Ken Curtis |
