HISTORY OF 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 eidgenot becomes Huguenot, with the intention of associating the Protestant cause with some very unpopular politics. O.I.A. Roche, in his book The Days of the Upright, a History of the Huguenots, writes that "Huguenot" is "a combination of a Flemish and a German word. In the Flemish corner of France, Bible students who gathered in each other's houses to study secretly were called Huisgenooten, or "house fellows," while on the Swiss and German borders they were termed Eidgenossen, or "oath fellows," that is, persons bound to each other by an oath. Gallicized into "Huguenot," often used deprecatingly, the word became, during two and a half centuries of terror and triumph, a badge of enduring honor and courage." As nickname and even abusive name it's use was banned in the regulations of the Edict of Nantes which Henry IV (Henry of Navarre, who himself earlier was a Huguenot) issued in 1598. The French Protestants themselves preferred to refer to themselves as "réformees" (reformers) rather than "Huguenots". It was much later that the name "Huguenot" became an honorary one of which their descendants are proud

A general edict which encouraged the extermination of the Huguenots was issued on January 29th, 1536 in France. On March 1st, 1562 some 1200 Huguenots were slain at Vassy, France. This ignited the the Wars of Religion which would rip apart, devastate, and bankrupt France for the next three decades.

During the infamous St Bartholomew Massacre of the night of 23/24 August, 1572 more than 8 000 Huguenots, including Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, Governor of Picardy and leader and spokesman of the Huguenots, were murdered in Paris. It happened during the wedding of Henry of Navarre, a Huguenot, to Marguerite de Valois (daughter of Catherine de Medici), when thousands of Huguenots converged on Paris for the wedding celebrations. Catherine de Medici It was Catherine de Medici who persuaded her weakling son Charles IX to order the mass murder, which lasted three days and spread to the countryside. On Sunday morning August 24th, 1572 she personally walked through the streets of Paris to inspect the carnage. Henry of Navarre's life was spared when he pretended to support the Roman Catholic faith. In 1593 he made his "perilous leap"and abjured his faith in July 1593, and 5 years later he was the undisputed monarch as King Henry IV (le bon Henri, the good Henry) of France. When the first rumours of the massacre reached the Vatican in Rome on 2 September 1572, pope Gregory XIII was jubilant and wanted bonfires to be lit in Rome. He was persuaded to wait for the official communication. The very morning of the day that he received the confirmed news, the pope held a consistory and announced that "God had been pleased to be merciful". Then with all the cardinals he repaired to the Church of St. Mark for the Te Deum, and prayed and ordered prayers that the Most Christian King might rid and purge his entire kingdom (of France) of the Huguenot plague. Pope Gregory XIII

On 8 September 1572 a procession of thanksgiving took place in Rome, and the pope, in a prayer after mass, thanked God for having "granted the Catholic people a glorious triumph over a perfidious race" (gloriosam de perfidis gentibus populo catholico loetitiam tribuisti).

Gregory XIII engaged Vasari to paint scenes in one of the Vatican apartments of the triumph of the Most Christian King over the Huguenots. He had a medal struck representing an exterminating angel smiting the Huguenots with his sword, the inscription reading: Hugonottorium strages (Huguenot conspirators). In France itself, the French magistracy ordered the admiral to be burned in effigy and prayers and processions of thanksgiving on each recurring 24th August, out of gratitude to God for the victory over the Huguenots.

Henry IV, himself a former Huguenot (as Henry of Navarre) The Edict of Nantes was signed by Henry IV on April 13th, 1598, which brought an end to the Wars of Religion. The Huguenots were allowed to practice their faith in 20 specified French "free" cities. France became united and a decade of peace followed. After Henry IV was murdered in 1610, however, the persecution of the "dissenters" resumed in all earnestness under the guidance of Cardinal Richelieu, whose favourite project was the extermination of the Huguenots.

Richelieu, who relentlessly persecuted the Huguenots. Henry IV's weakling sun, Louis the Thirteenth, refused them the privileges which had been granted to them by the Edict of Nantes; and, when reminded of the claims they had, if the promises of Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth were to be regarded, he answered that "the first-named monarch feared them, and the latter loved them; but I neither fear nor love them." The Huguenot free cities were lost one after the other after they were conquered by the forces of Cardinal Richelieu, and the last and most important stronghold, La Rochelle, fell in 1629 after a siege lasting a month.

Louis XIV Louis XIV (the Sun King, 1643-1715) began to apply his motto l'état c'est moi ("I am the state") and introduced the infamous Dragonnades - the billeting of dragoons in Huguenot households. He began with a policy of une foi, un loi, un roi (one faith, one law, one king) and revoked the Edict of Nantes on 22 October 1685. The large scale persecution of the Huguenots resumed. Protestant churches and the houses of "obstinates" were burned and destroyed, and their bibles and hymn books burned. Emigration was declared illegal. Many Huguenots were burned at the stake. Many Huguenots who did not find their death in local prisons or execution on the wheel of torture, were shipped to sea to serve their sentences as galley slaves, either on French galley ships, or sold to Turkey as galley slaves. A vivid account of the life of galley-slaves in France is given in Jean Marteilhes's Memoirs of a Protestant, translated by Oliver Goldsmith, which describes the experiences of one of the Huguenots who suffered after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Every Huguenot place of worship was to be destroyed; every minister who refused to conform was to be sent to the Hôpitaux de Forçats at Marseilles and at Valance. If he had been noted for his zeal he was to be considered "obstinate," and sent to slavery for life in such of the West-Indian islands as belonged to the French. The children of Huguenot parents were to be taken from them by force, and educated by the Roman Catholic monks or nuns.

Scenes like these were common during the persecution of the Huguenots in France during the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Click on picture above for enlargement. At least 250 000 French Huguenots fled to countries such as Switzerland, Germany, England, America, the Netherlands, Poland and South Africa, where they could enjoy religious freedom. As many were killed in France itself. Between 1618 and 1725 between 5 000 and 7 000 Huguenots reached the shores of America. Those who came from the French speaking south of Belgium, an area known as Wallonia, are generally known as Walloons (as opposed to Huguenots) in the United States.

The organised large scale emigration of Hugenots to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa occurred during 1688 - 1689. However, even before this large sscale emigration individual Huguenots such as François Villion (1671) and the brothers François and Guillaume du Toit (1686) fled to the Cape of Good Hope. In 1692 a total of 201 French Huguenots had settled at the Cape of Good Hope. Most of them settled in an area now known as Franschhoek ("French Corner"), some 70 km outside Cape Town, where many farms still bear their original French names.

A century later the promulgation of the Edict of Toleration on 28 November 1787 partially restored the civil and religious rights of the Huguenots in France.

You wrote:

“Ever heard of martin luther?”

Sure have. Went through ALL of his books too - all 50 some odd volumes in translation, and guess what?

The Church STILL never sold indulgences. If you look at the instruction letter to Luther’s opponent, Johann Tetzel, you’ll see that people were expected to go through the usual process of completing the indulgence. At the end they would DONATE according to their station in life for the certificate. It was clearly stipulated that those with no money to donate were to be given the certificate anyway. Thus, nothing that could be called a “sale” was to take place. That was all in accordance with Church law and practice. What Tetzel did was not.

I believe you're right ~ on the other hand he became a Cardinal, so it hardly matters.

Richelieu was the Catholic counterpart of the sort of non-royal, lower-noble leadership that'd risen up during the Religious Wars (which were not all that much "war" and had little to do with "religion").

He went into the clergy simply because the family needed control of the bishoporic they'd been looting for generations, and that way they wouldn't have to explain to religious why there was no money left for ecclesiastical purposes.

Thinks of them as "early TV preacher" types.

I suppose Richelieu was promoted most often because so many powerful figures around him thought of him as a useful idiot, an empty suit ~ and he turned into what can only be described as the world's first modern Prime Minister.

One article says he granted the Jesuits a monopoly on the fur trade ~ which suggests he either hated the Recollects, but hated the Jesuits more (getting them cooked on tribal campfires throughout the Ohio Country), or he wanted to get them out of the country. He also supposedly gave the Jesuits a monopoly on French missionary work ~ which, of course, got Jesuit priests cooked on yet other fires in even more primitive countries.

After Richilieu it was amazing that the Jesuits still existed.

You wrote:

“I believe you’re right ~ on the other hand he became a Cardinal, so it hardly matters.”

The truth always matters.

“I suppose Richelieu was promoted most often because so many powerful figures around him thought of him as a useful idiot, an empty suit ~ and he turned into what can only be described as the world’s first modern Prime Minister.”

Uh, no. Richelieu gained his position in France because he was brilliant at what he did. I don’t like the man, but I acknowledge the fact that he had incredible talent. I think you would be hard pressed to find too many reputable historians who thought of him as an “empty suit”.

“One article says he granted the Jesuits a monopoly on the fur trade ~ which suggests he either hated the Recollects, but hated the Jesuits more (getting them cooked on tribal campfires throughout the Ohio Country), or he wanted to get them out of the country.”

The monopoly went to the trade company that was colonizing Canada. Richelieu allowed the Jesuits to serve as interpreters and negotiators so that they could serve the Indians and encourage conversions. What he - obviously - wanted to do was to help Jesuit missionaries. He didn’t want the Jesuits out of France as is seen by the fact that he made a Jesuit the king’s confessor. And he still didn’t have the best relationship with Jesuits.

“He also supposedly gave the Jesuits a monopoly on French missionary work ~ which, of course, got Jesuit priests cooked on yet other fires in even more primitive countries.”

Martyrdom is not a bad thing in the Christian view.

“After Richilieu it was amazing that the Jesuits still existed.”

No, it isn’t. He was in France. The Jesuits were based in Rome.

The pope did not persecute the Templars.

Beg to differ.

The papacy eventually exhonerated the knights when the truth came out.

Did not happen, to this day there has been no exhoneration.

Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Templar Knights, was burned stake on an island in the river Seine in Paris, Ile de la Cité, on 18 March 1314. The supression took place in 1307.

Read Turtledove and make it up on your own.

This Turtledove (fiction?)?

Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.

You wrote:

“No wonder France is such a perennial mess. They killed or drove out all the independent-minded people.”

They did? So the FRench Revolution never happened? After all that would take “independent-minded people.” France is screwed up because serfdom lasted too long, and the French Revolution was so violently WRONG. The culture was wrecked, the people were warped by the revolution and the secularization and France has never recovered.

You wrote:

“Beg to differ.”

Beg all you like. I like history, not begging.

“Did not happen, to this day there has been no exhoneration.”

Again, read Frale’s book.

“Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Templar Knights, was burned stake on an island in the river Seine in Paris, Ile de la Cité, on 18 March 1314. The supression took place in 1307.”

Yes, and the pope did not arrest him. Philip did. The pope was told the Templars committed crimes. He had no reason at that time to doubt Philip.

“This Turtledove (fiction?)?
Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.”

Yep. Great author of alternative fiction. You might as well read him since you’re investing so much time into such.

I have heard that one of mine may have been from the Huguenots, but haven’t been able to link it.

Ditto.....

.....It has been in our family lore. The name was FORCE. Specifically, one name is Solomon Force. They came to the Midwest from NY in the 1830's. Earlier than that I haven't been able to trace with certainty.

I think these FORCE ancestors were Patriots in the American Revolution. A nice book end to my other ancestors who I think were Loyalists who fled to Canada.

Regarding "empty suit" he was selected for his first position solely because HIS FAMILY simply needed someone in a position to control the flow of money from the bishopric into their pockets, and his older brother had turned down the job to join a religious order.

That's a job an "empty suit" could handle. His promotion to bishop was of the same order.

His brilliance became known LATER ON.

Now, regarding missionaries, irrespective of where the Jesuits were headquartered, their access to French lands and concessions required approval by the French government - and if I recall correctly that came about at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War ~ which took papal powers in such matters and assigned them to the secular states. Richilieu appears to be the guy to credit with all the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Westphalia although he died right before the Congress.

Prior to that Treaty some of the more powerful nation states (e.g. France and Spain) regularly told Popes to take a hike and dictated from their own capitals where missionaries of which orders were allowed. England, of course, took an even more devious course, and the Swedes didn't care.

BTW, all the top commanders and principals in the Thirty Years War were fairly close relatives ~ like a small town full of feuding clans.

It sounds like you and I are making the same point.

Likewise in England it was a top down, Henry VIII led, rebellion. In Switzerland the protestant princes tried at one point to starve out the catholics in seige. Zwingli himself was, if I recall correctly, killed in battle. In Lutheran lands the state church was simply replaced with one loyal to princes supporting lutheranism.

In most cases there was an incredible amount of money and lands siezed by the princes supporting the “reformation”. Persecution of Catholics who remained loyal to Rome in protestant lands was real and deadly.

A nice book end to my other ancestors who I think were Loyalists who fled to Canada.
__________________________________

Yeah, i also had both Patriots and Loyalists..

Force is not a Huguenot name...

Who did Solomon Force marry ???

But it could be Anglicized...

Our Sicard became = Sicar, Sicart, Secor, Secord, Secort Secoy plus the original Sicard

Each family can trace its beginnings back to Ambroise Sicard, born in Marmac, La Rochelle, France 1631

And his 3 sons and 2 daughters...

Ambroise Jr, Daniel, Jacques(James) Silvia, Marie

Ambroise had a daughter, Madelaine, born in NYC in 1688, the first baby baptised in the French Huguenot Church there.

My line became Secord’s with Daniel’s son, also named Daniel, born in New Rochelle in 1698..

That Daniel’s son, born and baptised Jacques (James) in New Rochelle in 1732, became a Loyalist with his brothers, John and Peter and their sons, including my Stephen..

The rest of the “Sicards” and many of the De Forests were Patriots...

They also took both sides of the Civil War, make that the War between the States, make that the War of Northern Aggression..

I think we were all on the same side for WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and now...

LOL

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