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Spread of Protestant ideas
Edict of Nantes 1598
Louis XIV's support for catholic causes
Wars for the glory of France
Revoking the Edict of Nantes 1685
Effects of persecution of Huguenots
The
spread of Protestant ideas
In 1517 a German monk, Martin Luther,
started an explosion of protest against corruption, abuses of power and
teachings of the Roman Catholic church. His followers, “protestants”,
called for people to rely on the Bible rather than on bishops and the
Pope; and to worship in a simpler way.
In England king Henry VIII quarrelled with the Pope over
getting a divorce, and set up his own protestant church, the Church of
England. |
St Bartholemew's Day
massacre of protestants in Paris, 1572. About 20,000 Huguenots were
killed, on the orders of the Queen Mother, a catholic who feared the
influence of protestants over her young son, the king.
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France remained Roman
Catholic
This was an era when every aspect of life was influenced
by religious belief. Royal power and the wealth and privileges of the
nobility were seen to be justified by religion. French Protestant
communities - "Huguenots" - were mainly in the towns of the south and
west.
From 1562 to 1598, France was split by religious wars:
the protestant minorities were cruelly persecuted by powerful catholic
nobles as well as wealthy bishops. News of the St. Bartholemew's Day
Massacre in 1572 shocked Queen Elizabeth's court in protestant England.
Many French fled into exile. Eventually protestant King Henri IV came to
the throne, but had to adopt the catholic faith. Henri's Edict of
Nantes in 1598 ended the wars by offering the protestants a few
towns where they could defend themselves. The great majority of French
people, in the North as elsewhere, remained
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Louis XIV's support of Catholic
causes
The autocratic French king Louis XIV was convinced of the
principle "One faith, one king, one law." He was the most powerful king in
Europe, and a Catholic. Many of his wars had a religious edge to them,
"protestants vs. catholics" - his constant enemies were the protestant
English, Dutch, and some of the German princes. He gave support to English
catholics, and made the secret Treaty of Dover with Charles II in 1670 to
restore Roman Catholicism to England. Later, he supported the cause of
catholic James II, who was deposed in 1688, in the "Glorious Revolution",
and also of Scottish catholic princes.
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17th century wars
His first
love was the "glory of France". Catholic Spain was France's traditional
enemy, but by the 17th century its empire was weak and crumbling. Having
married the daughter of the Spanish king, Louis spent much of his life
fighting over the spoils to be had in dismembering Spain's territories.
His success in conquering much of Spanish Netherlands, brought many more
Protestants from the cloth-working towns of Flanders under his
rule. (see History
of Flanders). It also brought him into conflict with the
strongly protestant northern part of the Netherlands, the Dutch Republic.
(see William
of Orange).
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Louis XIV revokes the Edict of
Nantes 1685
Personally, in middle age Louis XIV became more
religious - though it did not stop him keeping several mistresses.
Encouraged by his catholic clergy, including inflential Archbishop Fenelon
of Cambrai, Louis sent royal troops on raids
to force French protestants - known as 'Huguenots' - into mass conversions
to catholicism. The king ordered "no violence", and it is possible that he
was not aware of the excesses of his over-zealous officers. Finally in
1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes, which by then gave little protection
to French Protestants. He banned practise of any religion except Roman
Catholicism in France. More than half a million Protestants fled the
country after more horrible massacres by royal soldiers.
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Economic disaster
The
persecution of the protestants was popular with the catholic bishops, and
with many French people. But French philosopher Voltaire described it as
"one of the greatest disasters that ever afflicted France". Without the
Huguenots, the army and navy were much weaker, and French industry lost
many of its most highly skilled craftsmen, who set up business in exile,
to the benefit of France's enemies in England, Germany and the
Netherlands.
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Background
information
King Louis XIV - persecuter of the Huguenots
Church & Religion
Retables & the
Counter-Reformation
English Catholic refugees
Hondeschoote - a town of Protestant
cloth-workers
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