This is a relatively short draft essay I have put together to explain the context of the Huguenots in Europe and why they are found leaving France and Holland during the 16th and 17th centuries in such large numbers. I am a rank amateur when it comes to European history and it has taken me some time to research the subject. Many sources of the information are at odds with other sources with regard to the detail and some accounts are more than a little tainted by religious bias. When I have more information I will revise the essay. However, if you notice inaccuracies please email me and let me know - Malcolm Vango.

So .... Who were the Huguenots?

The Huguenots (pronounced hyoo-geh-noze) were French Protestants, followers of John Calvin. But let's (briefly) start at the beginnings of Protestantism.

Martin Luther
From the mid 4th to the early 16th Centuries there was really only one brand of Christianity - Catholicism, with it's head in Rome. However, a catholic priest in Wittenburg, Germany was so appalled by what he saw as gross corruption by the church while in Rome in 1510/11 that, in 1517, he made a decisive action to declare his disagreement. His name was Martin Luther (1483-1546) and he nailed a document criticising the Church of Rome (known as The 95 Theses) to the door of the church at Wittenburg. Criticism of Rome was seen (by Rome at least) as blasphemy. The thrust of Luther's argument was against the "sale" of indulgences by Rome. As I understand it, this meant that Rome said to rich sinners "OK, you've sinned and in the ordinary course of things we'd expect you to do good works as a penitence for those sins. However, if you give us money that will do very nicely instead and we can get your passport to heaven restamped." Luther said that this was fundamentally wrong and that it was the faith that was in a person's heart that opened the gates of Heaven. (I'm open to correction on this point.)

Luther wrote to the Archbishop of Mainz in 1517, saying:

" ... the unhappy souls believe that if they have purchased letters of indulgence they are sure of their salvation; again, that so soon as they cast their contributions into the money-box, souls fly out of purgatory; furthermore, that these graces [i.e., the graces conferred in the indulgences] are so great that there is no sin too great to be absolved, even, as they say -- though the thing is impossible -- if one had violated the Mother of God; again, that a man is free, through these indulgences, from all penalty and guilt. "

and later in the letter, he writes:

" Finally, works of piety and love are infinitely better than indulgences, and yet these are not preached with such ceremony or such zeal; nay, for the sake of preaching the indulgences they are kept quiet, though it is the first and the sole duty of all bishops that the people should learn the Gospel and the love of Christ, for Christ never taught that indulgences should be preached. "

As a result, Luther was excommunicated in 1521. Luther went on to openly call for military intervention and for the clergy to force Rome to debate the subject. You can get a sense of how Luther felt about The Church of Rome from this extract from a letter dated 1535:

" The chief cause that I fell out with the pope was this: the pope boasted that he was the head of the Church, and condemned all that would not be under his power and authority; for he said, although Christ be the head of the Church, yet, notwithstanding, there must be a corporal head of the Church upon earth. With this I could have been content, had he but taught the gospel pure and clear, and not introduced human inventions and lies in its stead. Further, he took upon him power, rule, and authority over the Christian Church, and over the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God; no man must presume to expound the Scriptures, but only he, and according to his ridiculous conceits; so that he made himself lord over the Church, proclaiming her at the same time a powerful mother, and empress over the Scriptures, to which we must yield and be obedient; this was not to be endured. They who, against God's Word, boast of the Church's authority, are mere idiots. The pope attributes more power to the Church, which is begotten and born, than to the Word, which has begotten, conceived, and born the Church. "

Thus began The Protestant Reformation. It is unlikely that Luther's original intention was to start a new religious movement by this act, but the Reformed Church or Protestant movement was now alive. Luther's ideas spilled over into Switzerland, where they became known by the German word Eidgenossen, or "confederates bound together by oath", from which the word Huguenot is probably derived.

Calvinism
John Calvin (1509-1564), a French theologian and lawyer (actually named Jean Cauvin), read of Martin Luther's ideas and experienced a "sudden conversion" to Protestantism around 1533.

On 1st November 1533 an inaugural speech was delivered by Calvin's good friend and newly elected rector of the University of Paris, Nicholas Cop. The speech was a plea for the reformation of the Church and had been written for Cop by Calvin. However, the Sorbonne and the Parlément of Paris (supported by the French king, Francis I) saw the speech as an inflammatory and dangerous heretical attack on the Catholic Church and ordered the arrest of Cop, who fled to Basel. When the authorship of the oration was discovered Calvin was ordered to be arrested, but he also fled Paris for the safety of Basel. Over the next year or so no less than two dozen French Protestants were burned alive and many more were arrested and fined or imprisoned and even tortured. (Note - this was at a time when accused witches could expect the same fate.)

Eventually, Calvin found his way to french-speaking Geneva (while on his way to Strasbourg) and was persuaded to stay to build a new reformed church in 1536 and the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion was published in Basle, which clearly set out his religious beliefs. In that same year Geneva adopted the reformed church and a General Edict was issued in France calling for extermination of the Protestant Reformers, which it referred to as heretics.

Over the next two years it became obvious that there was disagreement within Geneva of how far to take this reformation and Calvin fled Geneva in 1538 and went to Strasbourg. He was invited back in 1541 when pro-protestants took control of the city and there he stayed for the rest of his life.

In 1547 Henry II of France (son of Francis I) set up a body, known as the Chambre Ardente, to investigate the activities of heretics in his country. This, however, was disbanded three years later, apparently because it was ineffective.

The first Calvinist minister/missionaries arrived in France from Geneva around 1553. In France they were known as Huguenots (see above). The new church spread at a surprising rate and within eight years a tenth of the population (one million people) had converted to the Huguenot faith and there were no less than 2150 churches across the country. It attracted many of the French nobility, educated people and merchants and was concentrated in the west and south of the country.

The 1550's also saw the Calvinist ministers moving into the Netherlands. The King of the Netherlands, Charles V, had already been struggling to stamp out the Reforming Lutherans by instigating his own inquisition (1524) and edicts ordering the death of anyone found to be Lutheran or even aiding the Lutheran cause (1529 and 1531).

The Massacre at Vassey
In January 1661 Catherine de Medici, mother of the reigning monarch, Charles IX (king of France: 1560-1574), called on the Royal Council and Parlément to produce a religious settlement, the edict of Saint Germain, which gave the following allowances: 

• the Huguenots were guaranteed freedom of conscience and private worship
• public worship in town centres was forbidden (as it could cause public disorder) but allowed in the suburbs.
• the Huguenots were given permission to create synods and consistories.
• the Edict formally recognised the existence of the Huguenots.

However, the edict angered the Catholics, as it appeared to allow heresy, while the Huguenots were unhappy that it did not go a great deal further.

1 March 1562 at Vassey, in the Champagne region of France, fighting broke out between the men of the the Catholic Duc de Guise and some of the Huguenots there. Guise was one of many who had refused to recognise the edict of Saint Germain. 1200 Huguenots were subsequently slain. This was the spark which ignited the Wars of Religion which would tear apart and bankrupt France for the next three and a half decades.

The First War of Religion (April 1562 - March 1563)
The Reformed church synod met in Paris, where it appealed to the Prince de Condé to become the "Protector of the Churches." Condé's forces moved quickly to capture many of the strategic towns of France. The French Royal forces responded too slowly and a long and costly siege began to get the Protestants out. In March 1563 the edict of Amboise issued, which allowed worship outside the walls of only one town per bailliage (judicial district), although it granted the nobility the freedom to do as they liked on their own estates.

The Second War of Religion (September 1567 - March 1568)
Catherine de Medici and her son, Charles IX, met with the Duke of Alva (minister of Philip II of Spain in the Netherlands from 1567 to 1573) at Bayonne in 1565. The Protestants, fearing that Catherine was plotting their demise with the king of Spain, attempted to take Catherine and Charles at Meaux. The attempt in September 1567 failed, but Catherine who, up until then had been tolerant of the Reformers, became a staunch anti-Protestant as a result. The Huguenots rose up and, under Condé, marched on Paris but were beaten back at Saint Denis in November 1567. March 1568 saw the Treaty of Longjumeau, which echoed the edict of Saint Germain.

I think it worth mentioning at this point that The Duke of Alva  boasted that he had delivered 18,600 heretics to the executioner within the short space of five years. The fate of the Protestants during this period was horrendous: suffering live burnings, strangulation, beheadings and even being buried alive. It has been estimated that fifty thousand or more Protestants were executed during his rule.

The Third War of Religion (August 1568 - August 1570)
A plot hatched to capture Condé and Admiral de Coligny by the Cardinal of Lorraine (part of the Guise faction) failed and the two escaped to La Rochelle, where they raised an army. They fought the royal armies across the southern part of France with some successes and failures, but the Prince of Condé was killed at Jarnac.

By now the Royal funds were in severe difficulty and the king was forced to reach a peace at Saint Germain, which gave the Protestants considerable concessions.

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew
In the late summer of 1572 Huguenots flocked to Paris for the wedding of the Huguenot Henri de Navarre (who would eventually rule France as Henry IV) and Catherine de Medici's daughter, Marguerite de Valois, which took place on 19 August. The celebrations went on for several days, but, on the 22 August there was an assassination attempt on Admiral de Coligny, the military leader of the Protestant. There followed unrest amongst the Huguenots, who began to call for the king, Charles IX (king of France: 1560-1574), to do something about the incident. On the 23 August  Catherine saw her opportunity to rid herself of the Huguenots and ordered a covert attack on the Huguenot leadership in the middle of the night, apparently sanctioned by her son, the King. Admiral de Coligny was dragged from his bed, stabbed to death and thrown from the window to the street below. Violence spread as the militia and ordinary catholic civilian population heard rumours that the king had ordered the annihilation of all of the Huguenots and joined in. Thus, on the night of 23/ 24 August 1572, began the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed and spread right across France in the days that followed. It has been estimated that up to 50,000 were killed in France over those days.

Pope Gregory XIII was so pleased with Catherine's work that he commemorated the massacre of St. Bartholomew with a Te Deum in the churches of Rome a medal which represented "The Slaughter of the Huguenots by an angel of wrath". Tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of Huguenots fled from France to England (many settling in Canterbury), Holland, Germany and America.

The Fourth War of Religion (December 1572 - June 1573)
The city of La Rochelle set about protesting against the massacre by refusing to pay the king's taxes. Charles IX declared war on the city in November 1572, but it was three months later before he had enough of an army to lay siege to the city. Both sides suffered high casualties and again the royal purse began to run low and the siege was abandoned in May.

The Fifth War of Religion (December 1575 - May 1576)
Charles IX died in 1574 and was succeeded by Henry III. Condé, with the support of the princes of Germany and the Governor of Languedoc, Henri de Montmonrency, was raising yet another army.

A huge army assembled within striking distance of Paris, including a mercenary army of some 20,000 led by Jan Casimir and followers of Henry de Navarre. The crown was again forced to negotiate and issue the edict of Beaulieu (also known as the Peace of Monsieur), which gave favourable concessions to the Protestants.

The Sixth War of Religion (March 1577 - December 1577)
Early 1577 saw Henry III putting together another royal army to attempt to regain Protestant territories along the Loire. Although he took La Charité in May of that year he could progress no further and the Peace of Bergerac was signed in July.

The Seventh War of Religion (November 1579 - November 1580)
The seventh war was a small affair in which Henry de Naverre, who took the city of Cahors. Henry and Catherine signed the Treaty of Nerac, followed by the Peace of Fleix.

The War of the Three Henries (March 1585 - August 1589)
By now, Henry de Navarres was next in line for the French throne. The only drawback was that he was a Protestant. Henry III tried to persuade him to convert to the Catholic church but had no luck. Navarres was excommunicated, along with his cousin Henry (Prince of Condé) by Pope Sixtus V. Over the next few years the Spanish poured large amounts of money into France, principally in the direction of the Guise, who they encouraged to overthrow the monarch. The period saw some of the worse of fighting and the bloodiest of the battles as three armies went to civil war, all three armies led by a Henry.

Eventually Henry III asked for Navarres help against Guise, and the two armies joined together to defeat the Guise League. Unfortunately for Henry III he was assassinated by a monk shortly afterwards, but named Navarres as his successor before he died.

The Wars of the League (August 1589 - May 1598)
Henry de Navarres became Henry IV, but now he had to contend with the League. Over the next few years there were many battles between the two. Finally, in July 1593, Henry converted to Catholicism and in the spring of 1594 he entered Paris without a battle. Now he had to contend with the armies of Spain in the North of France. It was another four years before the Spanish finally retreated and a peace came to France.

The Edict of Nantes
The French Wars of Religion were finally ended by Henry IV (king of France: 1589-1610) with his signing of  Edict of Nantes 13 April 1598 which recognised Protestantism as a religion rather than a heresy and gave France a relative amount of religious tolerance for eighty years. It gave the Huguenots total freedom to worship and the status of a respected minority with rights and privileges. It also gave control of some 200 cities, including the port of La Rochelle, to the Huguenots.

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Throughout the 17th Century the edict of Nantes was progressively eroded. The 1620's were characterised by a series of Huguenot rebellions and the French King, Louis VIII (king: 1610 - 1643) set about a series of military campaigns against the Huguenots from 1620 to 1622.

The infamous Cardinal Richelieu, principal adviser to Louis VIII, set about "liberating" the Huguenot strongholds which had been granted by Henry IV. The last to fall was La Rochelle, starved into capitulation on October 28, 1628, after a siege of some fourteen months, in which almost three quarters of its inhabitants are said to have perished.

28 June 1629 saw the signing of the "Peace of Alais". This effectively modified the edict of Nantes and the Huguenots lost their fortified castles, their armies and all their military and territorial rights but they did retained their religious and civil rights.

It was believed by Louis VIII and Richelieu that the Protestants could be converted back to Catholicism in time.

In an attempt to convert the Huguenots to Catholicism, Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, instigated the "dragonades". This was the vigorous and violent persecution of the Huguenots by billeting soldiers in their houses. The name comes from the fact that the soldiers were mainly the violent dragoons. The soldiers’ misconduct towards their Protestant "hosts" was outrageous and included theft, rape and murder, but was entirely ignored by the authorities. These outrages terrified the Huguenots and had the effect of encouraging them to convert in many cases but it also caused their mass exodus.

Louis XIV finally revoked of the Edict of Nantes on 22 October 1685. He justified this by saying that Protestantism in France was virtually non-existent. He was wrong and there was still between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Huguenots in the country, consisting of skilled artisans and members of the educated bourgeoisie.

By the terms of the Revocation it became unlawful to worship or believe in the Protestant religion. Parents were forbidden to instruct their children in the Protestant faith and were compelled to have them baptized and instructed by the catholic priests and they were forbidden to leave the country (although their clergy were given fourteen days to leave the country). But leave the country they did: approximately 200,000 fled and France's best blood hemorrhaged, leaving it a shadow of it's former self with whole cities and regions depopulated and ruined. They ran to England, to Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and to America.

It is around this point that the Vango's (however the name was spelled then) appear to have left continental Europe and moved to the East End of London and it is there that I am going to leave the history of the Huguenots in continental Europe for now.

© Malcolm Vango (2002)