The persecution of Huguenots under Louis XV refers to hostile activities against French Protestants between 1715 and 1774 during the reign of
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
.
Under previous kings
The members of the Protestant religion in France, the
Huguenots
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
, had been granted substantial religious, political and military freedom by
Henry IV in his
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...
. Later, following renewed warfare, they were stripped of their political and military privileges by
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
, but retained their religious freedoms. This situation persisted until the personal rule of
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
. Initially he sought to convert Protestants to Catholicism through peaceful means, including financial incentives, but gradually he adopted harsher measures, culminating in the use of
dragonnades, soldiers stationed in the homes of Protestants to force them to convert. In 1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes altogether, abolishing all rights of Protestants in the kingdom.
Under this duress, many Protestants converted to Catholicism; others fled the country. Those who converted, however, usually did so only outwardly as
crypto-Protestants, also called
Nicodemites. As soon as the vigilance of the government was relaxed they neglected the service of the Catholic Church, and, when they dared, they met in their houses or in the open for the worship of their own faith.
[Perkins, p. 65.] In truth, the number of Protestants who truly became Catholics and passed on their faith to their children was insignificant.
The penalties for preaching or attending a Protestant assembly were severe: life terms in the
galleys for men, imprisonment for women, and confiscation of all property were common.
Beginning in 1702, a group of Protestants in the region of the
Cévennes
The Cévennes ( , ; oc, Cevenas) is a cultural region and range of mountains in south-central France, on the south-east edge of the Massif Central. It covers parts of the ''départements'' of Ardèche, Gard, Hérault and Lozère. Rich in geogra ...
mountains, known as
Camisards
Camisards were Huguenots (French Protestants) of the rugged and isolated Cévennes region and the neighbouring Vaunage in southern France. In the early 1700s, they raised a resistance against the persecutions which followed Louis XIV's Revocation ...
, revolted against the government. Fighting largely ceased after 1704, only to resume in 1710 and continue sporadically for the next five years. Protestantism continued to be suppressed in France until the death of Louis XIV in 1715.
Under Louis XV
As
Louis XV was only five years old when he became king, France came under the rule of a regent,
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as ''le Régent''. ...
(in office: 1715-1723). The Regent had little interest in continuing the persecution of Protestants. While the kingdom's laws did not change, their application diminished. Protestants began once more to celebrate their religion, especially in regions such as
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...
, the
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois.
In the 12th centu ...
,
Guyenne
Guyenne or Guienne (, ; oc, Guiana ) was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of '' Aquitania Secunda'' and the archdiocese of Bordeaux.
The name "Guyenne" comes from ''Aguyenne'', a popular transformation o ...
, and
Poitou
Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
.
[Lavisse p. 84.] Nevertheless, there remained those who advocated rigor in the treatment of the Protestants. Prominent among these, the
Archbishop of Rouen
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Rothomagensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Rouen'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the Arch ...
,
Louis III de La Vergne de Tressan, became the
grand almoner
An almoner (} ' (alms), via the popular Latin '.
History
Christians have historically been encouraged to donate one-tenth of their income as a tithe to their church and additional offerings as needed for the poor. The first deacons, mentioned ...
to the Regent. He argued with both the Regent and the most influential minister,
Cardinal Dubois, in favour of severe measures against the Protestants. They rejected his ideas.
After
Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon became premier in 1723, however, the bishop found in him a more receptive audience, and he was given permission to draw up a general law against "''l'hérésie''". The King promulgated a law on 14 May 1724:
Of all the grand designs of our most honoured lord and great-grandfather, there is none that we have more at heart to carry out than that which he conceived, of entirely extinguishing heresy in his kingdom. Arrived at majority, our first care has been to have before us the edicts whereof execution has been delayed, especially in the provinces afflicted with the contagion. We have observed that the chief abuses which demand a speedy remedy relate to illicit assemblies, the education of children, the obligation of public functionaries to profess the Catholic religion, the penalties against the relapsed, and the celebration of marriage, regarding which here are our intentions: Shall be condemned: preachers to the penalty of death, their accomplices to the galleys for life, and women to be shaved and imprisoned for life. Confiscation of property: parents who shall not have baptism administered to their children within twenty-four hours, and see that they attend regularly the catechism and the schools, to fines and such sums as they may amount to together; even to greater penalties. Midwives, physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, domestics, relatives, who shall not notify the parish priests of births or illnesses, to fines. Persons who shall exhort the sick, to the galleys or imprisonment for life, according to sex; confiscation of property. The sick who shall refuse the sacraments, if they recover, to banishment for life; if they die, to be dragged on a hurdle. Desert-marriages are illegal; the children born of them are incompetent to inherit. Minors whose parents are expatriated may marry without their authority; but parents whose children are on foreign soil shall not consent to their marriage, on pain of the galleys for the men and banishment for the women. Finally, of all fines and confiscations, half shall be employed in providing subsistence for the new converts.[In Guizot, p. 54.]
The law equalled, and even surpassed in some measures, the most severe proclamations of Louis XIV. However, times had changed. Louis XIV's decrees against the Protestants had been greeted by the majority of the country with enthusiasm. But the clergy had not sought the 1724 edict; it was "the work of an ambitious man
ressanbacked up by certain fanatics". The magistrates, too, were not as enthusiastic as the public in their application of the edict.
[Guizot, p. 55.]
Serious
discrimination took place only where the local authorities were strict and loyal to the edict. It mostly occurred in southern France, especially in the dioceses of
Nîmes and
Uzès
Uzès (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2017, it had a population of 8,454. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon and south-east of Alès.
History
Originally ''Uc ...
, and in
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois.
In the 12th centu ...
.
[Lavisse, p. 86.] Protestant preachers and/or leaders active during this period in France included
Antoine Court,
[Guizot, pp. 52–53, 56.][Perkins, pp. 65-7.] Paul Rabaut,
[Guizot, p. 56.] Alexander Ramsey, and Roger.
[Perkins, p. 73.] They often lived as nomads in wilderness areas in order to avoid capture.
Historians estimate that the number of men and women imprisoned or
sent to the galleys for religious offences in the 40 years following the edict of 1724 was almost two thousand.
[Perkins, p. 74.] According to Antoine Court, eight ministers were executed in this period.
[Perkins, p. 72-3. Note 1.- List given by Antoine Court, ''Le patriote français.''] This was a much lower rate than had occurred during the later part of Louis XIV's reign.
[Perkins pp. 73–4; the source for much of his data on numbers of prisoners is Coquerel.]
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
was the centre where most of the men committed to the galleys for religious crimes served their sentences.
[Perkins, p. 74.]
Letters of one of its inmates and the accounts of witnesses such as
Marie Durand tell of the dreary and desolate women's prison, the Tower of Constance at
Aigues Mortes.
[Perkins, pp. 75-8.] Through the efforts of
the Prince of Beauvau, the dozen or so women held there were finally released in 1767.
[Perkins, pp. 75-8. Concerning the Prince de Beauvau's rescue efforts, he quotes a description by the Chevalier of Boufflers in Coquerel. He cites Coquerel, ''Histoire des églises du désert'' in connexion with the Huguenots generally, but it is not entirely clear whether this is the work containing the Boufflers quote.]
In the decades following 1724, enthusiasm for the persecution of Protestants continued to wane; after 1764 they "enjoyed a practical toleration for a quarter of a century before the law secured them a legal toleration"
[Perkins, p. 78.] by the
Edict of Versailles
The Edict of Versailles, also known as the Edict of Tolerance, was an official act that gave non-Catholics in France the access to civil rights formerly denied to them, which included the right to contract marriages without having to convert to th ...
in 1787.
Sources
*Guizot,
History of France'. Transl. from the French by Robert Black. No date, but a publisher's note is dated 1876; New York; Klemscott Society.
vol. 6 p. 110ff.
*Ernest Lavisse, ''Histoire de France'', reprinted from the editions of 1900–1911, Paris. 1969, New York; AMS Press, Inc. Vol. VIII, part 2.
*James Breck Perkins, ''France Under Louis XV'', vol. i. 1897, Boston; Houghton Mifflin Co.
References
External links
{{portalbar, Christianity, France
Huguenot history in France
Persecution of the Huguenots
Louis XV
Religion in the Ancien Régime
18th century in France
18th-century conflicts
18th-century Christianity