THE FRENCH HUGUENOTS
A Brief History
The 16th century in France witnessed the most unspeakable acts of indignity of man against man in the name of religion. It was the century of the Reformation. Notwithstanding the rages and threats of the Catholic Church, the Protestant churches grew as the persecution grew. In 1571, there were 2150 churches with 10,000 members; in 1581 their membership grew to over 200,000.
An edict was passed in 1540, "under pain of high treason it is prohibited to give solace, support, or refuge to the Reformed Religion." Unspeakable atrocities were commited to supress the hated doctrines. Hated, not because they wished to overthrow the throne but because they wished to worship God in the old simple manner, according to the dictates of their conscience.
On August 24, 1572, sunday, St. Bartholomew's Day, a plot to annihilate the movement was executed. Huguenots had been invited to participate in the nupial festivities of Henry IV, Henry of Navarre. The plot was hatched by Charles IX of
Valois, his mother Catherine de Medici, and the Duke of Guise. Such pillage, destruction, fire, murder, and mutilation has never been equaled by Goths, Huns, or vandals. Huguenot victims were stabbed, chopped with
halbards, thrown from windows, and thrown into the Seine, just to mention a few means of dispatching them.
After ascending to the throne of France, Henry, who was reared in a protestant background, granted to the Huguenots the Edict of Nantes on 13 April 1593. The Edict gave "perpetual and irrevocable" liberty of conscience, free exercise of religion, churches of their own, ministers, also their own judges and garrisons, and paid for their own troops. After Henry's death in May 1610 to an assassin's dagger, the social and political equality enjoyed for 22 years by the Huguenots changed to persecution and disintegration.
By the time Louis XIV ascended to the throne, the plight of the Huguenots had worsened. Influenced by Cardinal
Mazarine, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes on October 8, 1685 and vowed to exterminate the Huguenots. The Huguenots were driven into exile and banished from the kingdom.
http://members.aol.com/Darlene261/Hug.htm
Hamilton Filmalter
River of Life Ministries
503-560-7310
hamilton@healingwells.com
Copyright © 2001 River of Life Ministries. All rights reserved.
Revised: July 30, 2002