Free Republic

This horror supplies to historical periodization the opening date of the Wars of Religion that would ravage France for the balance of the century. After the shock jousting death of Henri II, sectarian tensions spun out of control under the unsteady succession of sons still in their minority — and the power behind the oft-transferred throne, Catherine de’ Medici. But Catherine was a foreigner and the royal authority rested uncertainly on her children’s wee heads. Tense as matters already stood between Catholics and Huguenots, the realm’s shaky sovereignty disinhibited both confessions when it came to ever more irksome provocations. Seeking...

On this date in 1594, Catholic militant Jean Châtel was dismembered for the near-assassination of King Henri IV. Just two days before his public butchery, the 19-year-old clothier’s son (English Wikipedia entry | French) had milled about in a crowd awaiting the Huguenot* king’s return from Picardy. As Henri entered the Hotel de Bouchage and bent over to accept the obeisance of two courtiers, Châtel sprang out of the crowd and daggered him. The blade cut Henri’s lip — a glancing blow just a few degrees distant from a history-altering one. Châtel would cite Jesuitical inspiration, and when his instructors’...

Treasure hunters have apparently found the 500-year-old remains of a naval expedition led by a colonizer who could have changed Florida's history, making it French-speaking at least for a while. The big question is if the shipwreck is that of "La Trinite," the 32-gun flagship of a fleet led by Jean Ribault, a French navigator who tried to establish a Protestant colony in the southeast US under orders from King Charles IX. They probably are, say authorities in Florida, the French government and independent archeologists. And if they in fact are, this is an unparalleled find, said John de Bry,...

If you’ve been getting your kicks in three-minute doses on YouTube, you might want to take one evening this summer to dress up and unplug. “I think opera can be quite therapeutic for the ADD generation,” says American designer-director Thaddeus Strassberger who will be directing Giacomo Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots,” one of the grandest of the grand French operas, for Bard’s SummerScape July 31 through August 7, a show that will give opera diehards as well as novices a chance to steep themselves in a particularly rare treat. Full of big emotions and clear drama, the producer promises it will be...

Who were the Huguenots? John Calvin (1509 - 1564), religious reformer. The Huguenots were French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church which was established in 1550 by John Calvin. The origin of the name Huguenot is uncertain, but dates from approximately 1550 when it was used in court cases against "heretics" (dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church). There is a theory that it is derived from the personal name of Besançon Hugues, the leader of the "Confederate Party" in Geneva, in combination with a Frankish corruption of the German word for conspirator or confederate: eidgenosse. Thus, Hugues plus...

The Huguenots were French Protestants who, if one counts their forerunners the Waldensians, were persecuted with varying intensity for five or 6 centuries right up to the coming of Napoleon. Their forerunners, the Waldensians, arose in the 12th century and were led by Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons who, at a time when the Holy Scriptures were a closed book, declared the Bible to be the only rule of faith and life, and used lay preachers to proclaim the Gospel. The Waldensians did not believe in the doctrine of purgatory, and they rejected prayers and masses for the...

French attitudes over the Middle East conflict have swung dramatically over the past four years, with the public equally dividing its sympathies between the Palestinians and Israel, a turnaround from four years ago, according to a Pew research survey released Tuesday. France has long been widely perceived as a special ally in the West to the Arab world, the fruit of its historical roots in the region. A survey four years ago appeared to bear up that assumption, denied by French officialdom. At the time, French respondents to the survey sympathized with the Palestinians over Israel at a roughly two-to-one...

Fred Gion: A French cowboy? Oui! I dream of life in Red State America Since the re-election of President Bush, I've been reading on American blogs and newspaper Web sites that lots of you, particularly in the Blue States, are talking about leaving your country for more culturally hospitable nations, like Canada, or even my native France. Well, I can be of assistance. I can even help one of you would-be expatriates relocate here to Paris. My apartment is on the market, because I don't like it here anymore! I want to immigrate to Red State America. I mean it....

"It is necessary to salvation that every man submit to the Pope." (Boniface VII Unum Sanctum, 1303)