Bartholomy I Dupuis, Lord of Cabrielles

The Huguenots are French Calvinists. The word “huguenot” is an adaptation from eigdnossen, a Swiss German term meaning “confederates,” which was applied to the Genevans who rebelled against their lord in the early 16th century. This term is rarely used in contemporary French, the generic word protestant being widely used. Other terms used over the centuries have been “Lutherans” (luthériens) in the 16th century, “members of the self-styled reformed religion” (membres de la religion prétendue réformée) in the 17th century, and “new converts” or “new Catholics” (nouveaux convertis, nouveaux catholiques, or simply NCs) in the 18th. There are five periods in the history of the Huguenots: the Reformation and the French Wars of Religion (c. 1530s–1598; see Reformation in France and the Wars of Religion); the 17th century (1598–1685; see 17th-Century French Protestantism); the refuge or diaspora (c. 1680–1760s; see the Postrevocation Diaspora); the 18th century (1685–1787; see 18th-Century French Protestantism); and the contemporary era (since the Revolution; see Contemporary French Protestantism). The 1550s were the formative years of French Protestantism. Then began a series of eight Wars of Religion (1562–1598) that preserved the throne to a Catholic monarch and condemned French Protestantism to a peripheral role in the history of France. In 1598 Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes at the end of the wars. This highly significant document guaranteed the Huguenots religious, economic, educational, judicial, political, and military rights. In 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes after decades of harassment followed by violent repression. This led to a major exodus—roughly 200,000 individuals—of Huguenots to northern Europe and to a lesser extent to British North America and Dutch South Africa. The period that extends from the revocation to the Edict of Toleration of 1787 is referred to as le désert. Following the dislocation brought about by the exodus and the War of the Cévennes (a localized Huguenot rebellion in a mountainous region of southern France), the 18th century was marked by sporadic and regional persecution interspersed by periods of calm. First the edict then the Revolution and the Napoleonic years opened a permanent era of toleration and acceptance for the Huguenots. In contemporary France, even if at times they could be victims of virulent attacks from Catholic extremist pamphleteers, the Huguenots have enjoyed peace and prosperity—some of them even reaching high positions in the state—and have remained a small religious minority in a country increasingly secular.

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http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/France

Beginning in the reign of Francis I, the Reformation gained many adherents in France (see Huguenots

). In 1560 religious conflict flared up in the first of the ferocious civil wars (see Religion, Wars of

) that tore France asunder during the reigns (1560–89) of the last Valois kings, Charles IX

and Henry III . The Catholics, led by the ambitious Guise

family, eventually formed the Catholic League

and obtained Spanish support against the Protestant Henry of Navarre, the legal heir of Henry III. Navarre was supported by some moderate Catholics as well as by the Protestants. He defeated the League but had to accept Catholicism before being allowed to enter (1594) Paris. Ruling as Henry IV , he became the first Bourbon king of France. With his great minister, Sully , he made France prosperous once again and encouraged French explorers in Canada.

Religious freedom and political security for Protestants were promulgated in the Edict of Nantes (1598; see Nantes, Edict of), but after Henry's assassination (1610) by a Catholic fanatic the rights of the Huguenots were steadily reduced. Under his successor, Louis XIII

(1610–43), and in the minority of Louis XIV, two great statesmen successively shaped the destiny of the kingdom—Cardinal Richelieu

and Cardinal Mazarin . They led France to victory in the Thirty Years War

(1618–48), which France entered openly in 1635, joining the Protestant allies against the Hapsburg powers, Austria and Spain. Austria was defeated in 1648 (see Westphalia, Peace of ), Spain in 1659 (see Pyrenees, Peace of the ). At home, Richelieu destroyed the political power of the Huguenots, and Mazarin overcame the nobles in the wars of the Fronde .
Louis XIV

(1643–1715), aided by the genius of Jean Baptiste Colbert

(d. 1683) and François Louvois , completed Richelieu's and Mazarin's work of centralization. Raising the position of the king to a dignity and prestige hitherto unknown in France, Louis XIV made France the first power in Europe and his court at Versailles

the cynosure of Europe. But his many wars undermined French finances, and his persecution of the Huguenots (the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685) caused serious harm to the economy as thousands of merchants and skilled workers left France. His successes in the War of Devolution

(1667–68) against Spain and the Dutch War (see Dutch Wars ) of 1672–78 inspired all Europe with fear of French hegemony and resulted in the diplomatic isolation of France. The War of the Grand Alliance

(1688–97) against Louis XIV began to turn the tide; the War of the Spanish Succession

(1701–14), although it did not end with a clear victory over France, marked the end of French expansion in Europe. The reign of Louis XIV saw the height of French power in America. France, at the end of Louis's reign, was exhausted from its attempt at primacy; yet its latent strength and wealth were so great that it recovered prosperity within a few years.

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