Huguenots
Huguenots are an ethnoreligious group of French Protestants. Huguenots were French Protestants who held to the Reformed tradition of Protestantism. The term has its origin in early-16th-century France. It was frequently used in reference to those of the Reformed Church of France from the time of the Protestant Reformation. By contrast, the Protestant populations of eastern France, in Alsace, Mo…
Calvinism
Calvinism (also called the Reformed tradition, Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism or the Reformed faith) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians.
Why did the Huguenots leave their home country?
§Catholic country §Arrival of a new version of Christianity –Protestantism §The Huguenots were Protestants §They were bullied, persecuted and discriminated against §They were forbidden to leave France The Huguenots
What did Louis XIV want to do with the Huguenots?
The Treaty of Montpellier was signed later that year, which allowed the Huguenots to keep their fortresses at Montauban and La Rochelle, but ordered the one at Montpellier and the royal stronghold of Fort Louis, just outside La Rochelle, to be dismantled. Louis did not uphold the treaty, though, creating further resentment among the Huguenots.
What gave the Huguenots the freedom to worship?
What gave freedom of worship to the French Huguenots? T hen, on April 13, 1598, as the newly crowned Henry IV, he issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted to the Huguenots toleration and liberty to worship in their own way. Huguenots were ordered to renounce their faith and join the Catholic Church.
Why were the Huguenots persecuted in France?
Why were the Huguenots persecuted in France? The Huguenots of religion were influenced by John Calvin’s works and established Calvinist synods. They were determined to end religious oppression. The Huguenots of the state opposed the monopoly of power the Guise family had and wanted to attack the authority of the crown.
Who were the Huguenots who did they fight against and why?
They were persecuted by Catholic France, and about 300,000 Huguenots fled France for England, Holland, Switzerland, Prussia, and the Dutch and English colonies in the Americas. The battle between Huguenots and Catholics in France also reflected fights between noble houses.
What gave Huguenots religious freedom?
Edict of Nantes, French Édit de Nantes, law promulgated at Nantes in Brittany on April 13, 1598, by Henry IV of France, which granted a large measure of religious liberty to his Protestant subjects, the Huguenots.
Why did the Huguenots and Catholics fight?
The spread of French Calvinism persuaded the French ruler Catherine de Médicis to show more tolerance for the Huguenots, which angered the powerful Roman Catholic Guise family. Its partisans massacred a Huguenot congregation at Vassy (1562), causing an uprising in the provinces.
What was the influence of the French Huguenots?
Huguenots were particularly experienced in viticulture and oenology (the growing of grapes and making of wine, brandy and vinegar). The Huguenots quickly proved their conscientious and industrious nature, and their efforts led to a marked increase in the improvement of the quality of Cape wines.
Do Huguenots still exist?
Inhabited by Camisards, it continues to be the backbone of French Protestantism. Historians estimate that roughly 80% of all Huguenots lived in the western and southern areas of France. Today, there are some Reformed communities around the world that still retain their Huguenot identity.
What is a Huguenot name?
Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a Huguenot surname, although the term tends to be used as shorthand for the names of people who have been shown by the historical records to have been Huguenots.
How were the Huguenots treated in France?
In January 1562, the Edict of St. Germain recognized the right of Huguenots to practice their religion, though with limits. Huguenots were not permitted to practice within towns or at night, and in an effort to sate fears of rebellion, they were not allowed to be armed.
What are Huguenot surnames?
As a result, many common English surnames have Huguenot roots (e.g. Andrieu/Andrews, Boulanger/Baker, Barbier/Barber, Delacroix/Cross, Reynard/ Fox, Le Cerf/Hart, LeBlancs/White).
What is Huguenot ancestry?
The National Huguenot Society is one of our most esteemed lineage organizations. Its members, of course, are the descendants of the French Protestants who fled their homeland during the religious wars of the 17th century and, especially, following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685.
Did the Huguenots have slaves?
When the Huguenots arrived in the Hudson River Valley in the 1660s, they entered a slave-owning society. The Huguenots did not enslave people in France or Germany, but they soon took up the practice in their new homeland.
Where did French Huguenots settle in America?
About 2,000 Huguenots settled in New York, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in the mid-1680s and in 1700 in Virginia.
Who was the French Huguenots and why did they come to the Cape?
WHO WERE THE HUGUENOTS? The Huguenots were devout Protestants from France and Southern Netherlands, who followed the teaching of the theologian, John Calvin. Many of them fled their country to escape persecution during the 17th century so they could be free to practise their religion.
Why did the French take only the Roman Catholic religion to New France?
Catholicism was henceforth to be recognised only as 'the religion of the vast majority of French citizens', a description that denied the Church any privileged place within the state, and the Church was to give up all claims to property lost during the Revolution.
How did the Edict of Nantes affect Huguenots?
Some historians regard the Edict of Nantes as an equally cynical strategem to draw the Huguenot sting, as in fact it did. Protestantism weakened in France after 1598 until eventually Louis XIV's revocation of the edict in 1685 led to mass emigration of Huguenots to England and other countries.
What specific rights did this Edict allow the Huguenots?
A 1685 edict, also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, issued by Louis XIV of France. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the state.
Why did the French Huguenots immigrate to America?
Huguenots were French Protestants who were active in the 16th and 17th centuries. Forced to flee France due to religious and political persecution by the Catholic Church and the Crown, many settled in what is now the United States of America.
Why were the Huguenots persecuted?
The Huguenots were persecuted by the French Catholic Church because of these beliefs. In fact, the persecutions of the Catholic Church often led to violence against French Huguenots. One event – the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre – led to thousands of Huguenot deaths in Paris and throughout the country.
Why did the Huguenots flee?
As a religious minority persecuted by the Catholic Church, many of the Huguenots were forced to flee France in order to establish a new settlement where they could practice their faith. More than 50 years before the English Puritans landed at Plymouth, ...
What was the Huguenot diaspora?
The Huguenot diaspora was now in full swing. The Huguenots had been bled white. Some 200,000 became refugees forced to flee their homeland for good. They now saw Catholicism as a bloody and treacherous religion, with no hope of reform. Some managed to escape to Lutheran Germany.
How many Huguenots were killed in 1562?
They were attacked by troops under the command of Francis, Duke of Guise. More than 60 Huguenots parishioners were killed and over 100 wounded.
What was the motto of the French Protestants?
The motto of the French Protestants called Huguenots was “After The Darkness, The Light!” (Tenebras Lux). To them it was, “In God’s light we see light,” (Psalms 36:9). They believed they had all the spiritual light they needed in Christ alone and in the Scriptures alone.
What was the impact of the Huguenot exodus on France?
Their exodus would prove a financial disaster for France, as the Huguenots made up half of its working class. Many were well-educated and skillful tradesmen whose skills improved the economies of every city where they fled.
How many people died in the Huguenots?
More than 60 Huguenots parishioners were killed and over 100 wounded. Like a lion smelling blood, it was only the beginning of an unholy crusade against all religious protesters (Protestants) A peace treaty followed, but the fragile peace could not hold.
What is the Huguenot cross?
The Huguenot cross is the distinctive emblem of the Huguenots ( croix huguenote ). It is now an official symbol of the Église des Protestants réformés (French Protestant church). Huguenot descendants sometimes display this symbol as a sign of reconnaissance (recognition) between them.
What did Louis XIV do to the Huguenots?
Louis XIV inherited the throne in 1643 and acted increasingly aggressively to force the Huguenots to convert. At first he sent missionaries, backed by a fund to financially reward converts to Roman Catholicism. Then he imposed penalties, closed Huguenot schools and excluded them from favoured professions. Escalating, he instituted dragonnades, which included the occupation and looting of Huguenot homes by military troops, in an effort to forcibly convert them. In 1685, he issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes and declaring Protestantism illegal.
How many Huguenots were there in 1562?
By 1562, the estimated number of Huguenots peaked at approximately two million, concentrated mainly in the western, southern, and some central parts of France, compared to approximately sixteen million Catholics during the same period. Persecution diminished the number of Huguenots who remained in France.
What was the Huguenots' influence on Scotland?
Although they did not settle in Scotland in such significant numbers, as in other regions of Britain and Ireland, Huguenots have been romanticised, and are generally considered to have contributed greatly to Scottish culture . John Arnold Fleming wrote extensively of the French Protestant group's impact on the nation in his 1953 Huguenot Influence in Scotland, while sociologist Abraham Lavender, who has explored how the ethnic group transformed over generations "from Mediterranean Catholics to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants", has analyzed how Huguenot adherence to Calvinist customs helped facilitate compatibility with the Scottish people.
What was the first Huguenot to leave France?
Etching of Fort Caroline . The first Huguenots to leave France sought freedom from persecution in Switzerland and the Netherlands. A group of Huguenots was part of the French colonisers who arrived in Brazil in 1555 to found France Antarctique.
What are some examples of Huguenot refugees?
One notable example was Marthe de Roucoulle, governess of Prussian kings Frederick William I and Frederick the Great .
Where did the Huguenots fight?
Some Huguenots fought in the Low Countries alongside the Dutch against Spain during the first years of the Dutch Revolt (1568–1609). The Dutch Republic rapidly became a destination for Huguenot exiles. Early ties were already visible in the Apologie of William the Silent, condemning the Spanish Inquisition, which was written by his court minister, the Huguenot Pierre L'Oyseleur, lord of Villiers. Louise de Coligny, daughter of the murdered Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny, married William the Silent, leader of the Dutch (Calvinist) revolt against Spanish (Catholic) rule. As both spoke French in daily life, their court church in the Prinsenhof in Delft held services in French. The practice has continued to the present day. The Prinsenhof is one of the 14 active Walloon churches of the Dutch Reformed Church (now of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands ). The ties between Huguenots and the Dutch Republic's military and political leadership, the House of Orange-Nassau, which existed since the early days of the Dutch Revolt, helped support the many early settlements of Huguenots in the Dutch Republic's colonies. They settled at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and New Netherland in North America.
Standing Against Corruption
Have you ever been at a job where nothing feels right? Maybe the boss doesn't show up on time, paychecks are late, the pay is inconsistent, or employees don't get promoted according to how they work? But you don't want to say anything because you're afraid you'll lose your job.
The Catholic Church
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the only religion in Western Europe. Roman Catholics had dominated the population and had served as the kings and nobles in every kingdom.
John Calvin
John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the first people to agree with Martin Luther and decided to found his own religion. He went to the University of Paris, where an instructor named Jacques LeFevre was busy translating the Bible into French as he spoke out against the pope's power over France.
What Made the Huguenots Different?
One of John Calvin's biggest complaints was that the church seemed to be preoccupied with death and the dead when they practiced the sacrament. He also believed that the rituals, images, saints, pilgrimages, prayers, and even the hierarchy of the church didn't help Christians find their way to heaven.
A Brief History
In its early years, the Huguenot movement had a champion in Francis I, the King of France. But in 1534, during the Affair of the Placards, someone posted an anti-papal poster on Francis's bedroom door. This action disturbed the king, and he soon lost patience with the Huguenots.
Where did the Huguenots establish their colony?
Many Huguenots fled France during this time, with one group establishing a colony in modern-day Jacksonville, Florida, in 1564.
Who led the Huguenots?
This act of defiance was led by Henri Duc de Rohan, who had become the leader of the Huguenots. It was a decision that would lead to three rebellions over the next decade and ultimately see Protestantism almost completely eradicated in France.
What was the first act of tolerance in France?
A small act of tolerance towards Protestantism in France came in January 1562 with the Edict of St Germain – delivered by Catherine de Medici, France’s regent and mother of Charles IX, who was then 11 years old. The edict was a decree of tolerance that recognised the rights of Huguenots to worship, providing that they did so in private, not within towns, and not at night. But less than two months later, on 1 March, Francis, Duke of Guise, sent his troops to the town of Vassy, where a group of Huguenots were worshipping in a barn.
What was the name of the edict that guaranteed the Huguenots their religious privileges?
An uneasy peace was reached in March 1563 with the Edict of Amboise, which guaranteed the Huguenots their religious privileges. Your guide to Martin Luther, the theologian who launched the Reformation.
Why did the Royal Council of the Huguenots kill thousands of Huguenots?
The Royal Council met and hatched a plan to assassinate some of the Huguenot leaders to prevent what they deemed a Protestant takeover – thousands of Huguenots were killed in Paris during what is now known as the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre, with violence spreading across the country over the following weeks.
What was the Protestant Church in France in the 17th century?
These French Protestants were known as Huguenots.
Which treaty allowed the Huguenots to keep their fortresses at Montauban and La Rochell
The Treaty of Montpellier was signed later that year, which allowed the Huguenots to keep their fortresses at Montauban and La Rochelle, but ordered the one at Montpellier and the royal stronghold of Fort Louis, just outside La Rochelle, to be dismantled. Mary Tudor: brutal but brilliant.
What Was a Huguenot?
The Huguenots were French protestants in the wake of the Protestant Reformation who largely clung to the Reformed theology of French protestant John Calvin.
What Were the French Wars of Religion?
Though Catherine de Medici disapproved of the Huguenots, she showed a measure of tolerance, which angered the powerful Roman Catholic Guise family. The Duke of Guise ordered a massacre of Huguenot worshippers in 1562 at the Massacre of Wassy (or Vassy), kicking off an uprising in the provinces and inconclusive skirmishing.
What Happened to the Huguenots?
Though all-out civil war no longer reigned, the Huguenots were regularly persecuted and harassed for decades. In 1685, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. Over four hundred thousand French Protestants fled the country over the next several years, many of them to American colonies where religious freedom was strived for.
Overview
The Huguenots were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bezanson Hugues (1491–1532?), was in common use by the mid-16th century. Huguenot was frequently used in reference to those of the Reformed Church o…
Etymology
A term used originally in derision, Huguenot has unclear origins. Various hypotheses have been promoted. The term may have been a combined reference to the Swiss politician Besançon Hugues (died 1532) and the religiously conflicted nature of Swiss republicanism in his time. It used a derogatory pun on the name Hugues by way of the Dutch word Huisgenoten (literally 'housemates'), referring to the connotations of a somewhat related word in German Eidgenosse ('…
Symbol
The Huguenot cross is the distinctive emblem of the Huguenots (croix huguenote). It is now an official symbol of the Église des Protestants réformés (French Protestant church). Huguenot descendants sometimes display this symbol as a sign of reconnaissance (recognition) between them.
Demographics
The issue of demographic strength and geographical spread of the Reformed tradition in France has been covered in a variety of sources. Most of them agree that the Huguenot population reached as many as 10% of the total population, or roughly 2 million people, on the eve of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572.
Emigration and diaspora
The bulk of Huguenot émigrés moved to Protestant states such as the Dutch Republic, England and Wales, Protestant-controlled Ireland, the Channel Islands, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the Electorate of Brandenburg and Electorate of the Palatinate in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Duchy of Prussia. Some fled as refugees to the Dutch Cape Colony in South Africa, the Dutch East Indies, the Caribbean colonies, and several of the Dutch and English colonies in Nor…
History
The availability of the Bible in vernacular languages was important to the spread of the Protestant movement and development of the Reformed church in France. The country had a long history of struggles with the papacy (see the Avignon Papacy, for example) by the time the Protestant Reformation finally arrived. Around 1294, a French version of the Scriptures was prepared by the R…
Exodus
Most French Huguenots were either unable or unwilling to emigrate to avoid forced conversion to Roman Catholicism. As a result, more than three-quarters of the Protestant population of 2 million converted, 1 million, and 500,000 fled in exodus.
The first Huguenots to leave France sought freedom from persecution in Switz…
1985 apology
In October 1985, to commemorate the tricentenary of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, President François Mitterrand of France announced a formal apology to the descendants of Huguenots around the world. At the same time, the government released a special postage stamp in their honour reading "France is the home of the Huguenots" (Accueil des Huguenots).