What Rights Did the Eddict of Nantes Extend to the Huguenots?

Learning Objective

• Clarify Louis Fourteen's persecution of the Huguenots and the consequences that had for France

Cardinal Points

• The Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598 past Henry Four of France. It granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a predominately Catholic nation. The Edict gained a new significance when Louis 14 broke the mail-Nantes tradition of relative religious tolerance in France and, in his efforts to fully centralize the royal ability, began to persecute the Protestants.
• Louis initially supported traditional Gallicanism, which express papal say-so in France. However, his conflict with the pope did not prevent him from making Catholicism the only legally tolerated religion in France.
• Louis saw the persistence of Protestantism as a disgraceful reminder of regal powerlessness. Responding to petitions, he initially excluded Protestants from office, constrained the meeting of synods, closed churches outside Edict-stipulated areas, banned Protestant outdoor preachers, and prohibited domestic Protestant migration.
• In 1681, Louis dramatically increased the persecution of Protestants. He banned emigration and effectively insisted that all Protestants must exist converted. He also began quartering dragoons in Protestant homes.
• In 1685, Louis issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, which cited the redundancy of privileges for Protestants given their scarcity afterward the all-encompassing conversions. The Edict of Fontainebleau revoked the Edict of Nantes.
• The revocation acquired France to endure a kind of early brain drain, as information technology lost a large number of skilled craftsmen. Protestants across Europe were horrified at the treatment of their fellow believers, and Louis'southward public image in most of Europe, especially in Protestant regions, suffered profoundly.

Terms

Declaration of the Clergy of French republic

A four-article document of the 1681 Assembly of the French clergy promulgated in 1682, which codified the principles of Gallicanism into a system for the first time in an official and definitive formula.

Edict of Fontainebleau

A 1685 edict, too known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, issued past Louis XIV of France. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the land.

cuius regio, eius religio

A Latin phrase that literally means "Whose realm, his religion," meaning that the religion of the ruler was to dictate the religion of those ruled. At the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, which ended a catamenia of armed conflict between Roman Cosmic and Protestant forces inside the Holy Roman Empire, the rulers of the High german-speaking states and Emperor Charles Five agreed to take this principle.

Gallicanism

The belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarchs' authority or the State's say-so—over the Catholic Church is comparable to the authority of the pope.

Edict of Nantes

An edict signed in 1598 past King Henry Iv of France that granted the Calvinist Protestants of France (too known every bit Huguenots) substantial rights in the nation, which was, at the time, notwithstanding considered essentially Cosmic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity. The document separated civil from religious unity, treated some Protestants for the first fourth dimension as more than mere schismatics and heretics, and opened a path for secularism and tolerance.

Background: Edict of Nantes

The Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598 by Henry IV of France. It granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, known as Huguenots, substantial rights in a predominately Catholic nation. Through the Edict, Henry aimed to promote civil unity. The Edict treated some, although not all, Protestants with tolerance and opened a path for secularism. It offered full general liberty of conscience to individuals and many specific concessions to the Protestants, such as amnesty and the reinstatement of their civil rights, including the right to piece of work in whatsoever field or for the land and to bring grievances directly to the king. It marked the end of the religious wars that had afflicted French republic during the second one-half of the 16th century. The Edict gained a new significance when Louis XIV, known as the Dominicus Male monarch, broke the postal service-Nantes tradition of relative religious tolerance in France and, in his efforts to fully centralize the majestic power, began to persecute the Protestants.

Louis Xiv past Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701). Louis XIV (1638–1715), known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the Firm of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of seventy-two years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a major state in European history. In this age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV'due south France was a leader in the growing centralization of power.

Religious Persecution

Louis initially supported traditional Gallicanism, which limited papal authority in French republic, and convened an Assembly of the French clergy in November 1681. Earlier its dissolution viii months after, the assembly had accepted the Announcement of the Clergy of French republic, which increased regal authorization at the expense of papal power. Without royal approval, bishops could not leave France and appeals could not be fabricated to the pope. Additionally, regime officials could non be excommunicated for acts committed in pursuance of their duties. Although the king could not brand ecclesiastical police, all papal regulations without royal assent were invalid in France. Unsurprisingly, the pope repudiated the declaration.

Louis saw the persistence of Protestantism as a disgraceful reminder of royal powerlessness. After all, the Edict of Nantes was the businesslike concession of his grandfather Henry IV to terminate the longstanding French Wars of Religion. An additional factor in Louis's thinking was the prevailing gimmicky European principle to assure socio-political stability, cuius regio, eius religio ("whose realm, his religion"), the idea that the religion of the ruler should be the faith of the realm (the principle originally confirmed in central Europe in the Peace of Augsburg of 1555).

Responding to petitions, Louis initially excluded Protestants from function, constrained the meeting of synods, closed churches outside Edict-stipulated areas, banned Protestant outdoor preachers, and prohibited domestic Protestant migration. He likewise disallowed Protestant-Catholic intermarriages where 3rd parties objected, encouraged missions to the Protestants, and rewarded converts to Catholicism. An enforced yet steady conversion of Protestants followed, especially amid the noble elites.

In 1681, Louis dramatically increased the persecution of Protestants. The principle of cuius regio, eius religio had usually meant that subjects who refused to convert could emigrate, but Louis banned emigration and finer insisted that all Protestants must be converted. Secondly, following the proposal of René de Marillac and the Marquis of Louvois, he began quartering dragoons (mounted infantry) in Protestant homes. Although this was within his legal rights, the policy (known as dragonnades) inflicted severe financial strain and atrocious abuse on Protestants. Betwixt 300,000 and 400,000 Huguenots converted, as this entailed financial rewards and exemption from the dragonnades.

Edict of Fontainebleau

In 1685, Louis issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, which cited the back-up of privileges for Protestants given their scarcity after the extensive conversions. The Edict of Fontainebleau revoked the Edict of Nantes, and repealed all the privileges that arose therefrom. By this edict, Louis no longer tolerated Protestant groups, pastors, or churches to exist in France. No farther Protestant churches were to be constructed, and those already existing were to be demolished. Pastors could choose either exile or a secular life. Those Protestants who had resisted conversion were to be baptized forcibly into the established church.

The Edict of Fontainebleau is compared past historians with the 1492 Alhambra Decree, ordering the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and with Expulsion of the Moriscos during 1609–1614. The three are similar both every bit outbursts of religious intolerance ending periods of relative tolerance and in their social and economic furnishings. In practice, the revocation caused France to suffer a kind of early brain drain, as it lost a big number of skilled craftsmen. Some rulers, such equally Frederick Wilhelm, Knuckles of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg, encouraged the Protestants to seek refuge in their nations. Historians cite the emigration of about 200,000 Huguenots (roughly one-fourth of the Protestant population, or 1% of the French population) who defied majestic decrees. However, others view this as an exaggeration. They argue that near of France's preeminent Protestant businessmen and industrialists converted to Catholicism and remained. Protestants across Europe were horrified at the treatment of their fellow believers,  and Louis's public image in well-nigh of Europe, especially in Protestant regions, suffered greatly. Almost Catholics in French republic, yet, applauded the move.

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes created a state of affairs in French republic similar to that of almost every other European country of the flow (with the brief exception of Britain and possibly the Smooth-Lithuanian Commonwealth), where only the bulk state faith was legally tolerated. The experiment of religious toleration in Europe was effectively concluded for the time being. However, French guild would sufficiently change by the fourth dimension of Louis's descendant Louis XVI to welcome toleration in the form of the 1787 Edict of Versailles, likewise known as the Edict of Tolerance. This restored to not-Catholics their ceremonious rights and the freedom to worship openly.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/louis-xiv-and-the-huguenots/

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