French Huguenots and Walloons

Human atrocities throughout history have more frequently been the rule than the exception. Burning at the stake, impalement on sharp stakes, disemboweling, beheading, and "quartering" were common during much of European history. Royalty killed Royalty and commoners killed commoners. No one was safe.

Violence and warfare in some of its most atrocious forms was frequently associated with religious movements. The distinction between state, religion, and society during the 1500's and thereafter was not made in people's minds and experiences. Prior to that, for approximately a 1000 years religion had formed the basis for a social consciousness that pervaded the thinking of royalty and commoners.

France in particular had tied itself closely to the Catholic Church. The Church sanctified the monarchy's right to rule in return for military and civil protection. "One faith" was considered essential to maintain societal stability and innovations was frowned upon and not generally acceptable. Even the Renaissance period had to be justified as a return to a simple, purer time rather than as change.

After the Protestant Reformation that had been started by Martin Luther about 1517 in Germany took hold, it spread rapidly in France. The French Protestants gradually left the Lutheran teachings and adapted the teaching of the Reformed Church, established in 1550 by John Calvin.

This reformed religion was practiced by both members of the French nobility and the social middle class who were for the most part artisans, craftsmen, and professional people. Their belief in salvation through an individual faith that did not rely on the intercession of the church hierarchy, and an individual's right to personally interpret scriptures put them in direct conflict with the Catholic church and the King of France.

On January 19, 1536 a general edict was issued in France which encouraged the extermination of the French Protestants. These Protestants called themselves "reformees" (reformers). By 1550, when the first church based on John Calvin's teachings was established in a home in Paris, they were being called Huguenots, a name which has continued to be used to describe them until this day.

General persecution continued after the edict of 1536 but the movement prospered and by 1561 there were 2,000 Calvinist Churches in France and the Huguenots had become a political faction that seemed to threaten the state. The antipathy toward the Huguenots created an atmosphere of hate that led to the Massacre at Vassy, France on March 1, 1562 of 1,200 Huguenots. This triggered the Wars of Religion which lasted from 1562 to 1598.

Persecution of the Huguenots continued and in August, 1572, 8,000 Huguenots were killed in one night at the St. Batholomew Massacre.

This occurred in Paris at the wedding of Henry of Navarre (later to rule as Henry IV) where thousands of Huguenots had come to celebrate his wedding.. Catherine de Medici, who violently hated the Huguenots, had persuaded her son Charles IX to order the mass murder.

She personally inspected the carnage on Sunday, the 24th of August in 1572. Pope Gregory XIII ordered bonfires and celebrations in Rome, when news of the massacre reached him on the 2nd of September, 1572.

When Henry IV became ruler, he signed the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598, ending the Wars of Religion and establishing 20 specified French "free" cities where the Huguenots were allowed to practice their faith.

This official support soon ended upon the murder in 1610 of Henry IV. Cardinal Richelieu began a siege of the Huguenot free cities which resulted in their last stronghold of La Rochelle falling to Richelieu in 1629.

Widespread persecution of the Huguenots again began in earnest and under Louis XIV (1643-1715) the Edict of Nantes was finally revoked on the 22nd of October, 1685. Louis XIV stated a policy of "one faith, one law, and one king" and the end result was the destruction and burning of Protestant churches and homes, and many Huguenots being burned at the stake.

In spite of emigration being declared illegal, 200,000 or more French Huguenots fled the country, going to Switzerland, Germany, England, America, and South Africa. Between 5,000 and 7,000 Huguenots and Walloons(French speaking protestants from Wallonia, in the South part of Belgium) came to America between 1618 and 1725. Many of these became the ancestors of you and me.