P is for Persecution – Can’t stay, can’t go

A contribution to the #AtoZchallenge 2024

Religious tension in France simmers

In 1589 the Protestant Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre, inherited the French throne as Henry IV, and later converted to Catholicism, less by conviction than as an act of political expediency. But in 1598, Henry issued the Edict of Nantes which gave the Huguenots, his former co-religionists and comrades in arms, considerable privileges, including widespread religious liberty. Over time, the Huguenots became loyal subjects of the French crown.

Le Roi Soleil

The Huguenots’ position became increasingly insecure as King Louis XIV, grandson of Henry IV, listened more and more to those who advised him that the existence of this sizeable religious minority was a threat to the absolute authority of the monarch. Gradually their privileges were eroded. In the 1680s Protestants in certain parts of France were deliberately terrorised by the billeting of unruly troops in their homes [the dragonnades]. Finally, in 1685 Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes, which meant all Protestant pastors were exiled, while the laity were forbidden to leave France.

To the considerable surprise of the government, many did leave, in spite of the prohibition, often at great risk to themselves. They slunk through the mountains to Switzerland or sneaked out in small boats under cover of dark to a waiting ship, which took them to a safe haven, referred to as le refuge.

Men who were caught were either executed or sent as galley slaves to the French fleet in the Mediterranean.

Women were sometimes brutally maltreated or imprisoned, and their children sent to convents to be re-educated in the ‘proper’ religion.

Adapted from Huguenot History
and The Huguenot Refuge

‘Greet Suzon for me’, a book about a Huguenot family’s perilous escape from French persecution, will be published in 2024.

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