Though Henry IV.. convinced that the French were a Catholic people and would never accept a Protestant sovereign, abjured his faith on politi cal grounds. his reign was one of broad tolera tion, and his great Minister. Sully, was a Huguenot. But when. during the minority of Louis XIII., Maria de' :Medici, the Queen of Henry IV., assumed the reins of government. the many privileges enjoyed by the Huguenots were found to have created a strong party that stood in the way of absolutism. The King took an oath in 1614 to maintain the Edict of Nantes. but the marriage treaties with the Spanish Court excited the apprehensions of the Huguenots to such a degree that, in November, 1615. they made common cause with the Prince of Conde, who had set up the standard of rebellion. This was contrary to the advice of the most sagacious of their own party. Although by the Treaty of Loudun, May 4. 1616, they obtained a new con firmation of their freedom of worship. the Court now only waited for an opportunity of breaking at least their political power. In June. 1617, a royal edict commanded the entire suppression at once of the Protestant Church and of political privileges, in the Province of Warn: but the Provincial Court at Pau refused to register the edict, and the matter lay over until 1620. when, urged by his adviser that the time was oppor tune to strike decisively, the King carried the edict into full effect by force of arms. The Prot estants throughout all France took alarm, and hostilities again broke out in May 1621. At the head of the Protestants were the two brothers, the Duke of Hoban and the Prince of Soulike. Their cane. howyler, was feebly maintained; al most all the Protestant towns tell into the hands f the King, force, stratagem. and bribery living equally employed. By the Treat) of Montpellier. October 19. 1622. the Huguenots lost a number of their strongholds and the right of assembly without permission of the King. The Court. however. paid little attention to the stipulations of the treaty. and when the I;overnment was in volved in difficulties in Italy. the Protestants took the opportunity again to rise in arms (111251. Saltlike. with a fleet furnished by the town of La Rochelle, more than once defeated the weak royal n Ivy. Cardinal Richelieu, who hail assumed control of the affairs of State in 11124. was a believer in absolutism. lie sought to overthrow the Huguenots as a political flow, aml pursued this end relentlessly. Ile took charge himself of the siege of La Rochelle, the Huguenot stronghold. which was taken alter an heroic re sistance, October lti2s. The tall of La Ro chelle was speedily followed by that of Nimes, Montauban. and all the other Protestant strong holds. The Peace of Alais, dune 27. 1629, put an end once for all to the Huguenots as a politi cal party. Richelieu was a great statesman and politician. and when the political power of the Huguenots was broken, lie endeavored by con ciliation to attach to the State these people, of whom sour wile the best and useful in Franco. This policy was not ("hanged under Maza•in, and Colbert during his years of power restrained Louis XIV. front persecution. .:1fter Colbert's death. the King entered upon a rigor ous policy of repression, under the influence of religious conviction. Political motives. however, may have served to determine the policy of Louis XIV.; for the presence of a powerful ele ment in the country differing in belief and to some extent in political theory from the generally accepted doetrims. must have clashed with the (:rand Monarch's ideal of a nation dwelling in peaceful uniformity under the wing of a benevo lent autocracy. The were deprived of civil rights. and in the southern provinces, where Protestantism was strong. recourse was had to severer measures. To force them into the bosom of the Church. the people were handed over to the mercies of a licentious soldiery. of troops were quartered on the inhabitants, while bodies of cavalry patrolled the eountry, demol ishing the place- of worship. and in some cases putting the Huguenot preachers to death. (See DRACoNa.nE.) Hundreds of thousands of Prot estants tied to Switzerland, the Netherlands. Eng land. tIermany, and the We-t ladies, as well as to South Carolina. New York, Massaehusetts, and other North American Colonies. The climax of this perseeution was the revocation. October 22. 11;8:i. of the Edict of Nantes, which deprived the Huguenots of their last defense. and gave a new impulse to the emigration which took the best blood of France to stren!uhen her rivals. Thousands betook themselves to the mountains of the C;;vennes. and continued the excreise of
their religion in secret. Among these and the mountaineers of the a remarkable fanatical enthusiasm displayed itself, and tinder the name of (q.v.) they maintained for a number of years a wonderfully suecessful opposition to the forces of the great monarchy. The War of the C,•vennes. or Camisard War. 11e gan in 1702 and was not terminated until 1705, sporadic outburst, continuing until 17119 or 1710.
The of this WA-. at With _real cruelty.
France. atter the •evoeation of the Edict, lost more than D10.11110 of her population, !, them ninny of wealth and position. besides a ntlinla r of the Milidio cogat!oll in meollanio:11 Allits. Till' total einigrat ion is arionsl• estimated !nun two hundred thon-and to a million: while. notwithstanding the many per-cent i011s. about one million Prot e-tants remained.
The partial repo-• milk!' the Protestants en joyed more than ten was attended by revival of their worship. especially in Provence and Dauphini.. In 1721. therefore. Louis N1 ., influenced by political motives, a severe edict against them. The spirit of the age. ho• ever, now began to is' opposed to persecution. 1n edict in 1732 declared tint rriages and baptisms by Huguenot ministers to be null, rind required the repetition of them by the Roman Catholic clergy. But when. upon this, many began again to flee from their country, the disgust of the Roman Catholics themselves was so much excited that the Court recalled the edict. Alontesquiell and Voltaire successfully advocated the cause of toleration.
l'aivrEsT.%xlism IN THE NINE:Fa:NTH Cf::NTEIIY. The first movement toward toleration of Protestantism after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was the edict of Louis XVI.. in 1787. legalizing Protestant By the con cordat concluded between Napoleon and Pius VII.. in 1801, Protestantism (('alvinist and Lutheran) and Judaism became. with Ca tholicism, established religions, with equal pro tection and a proportional measure of State sup port. but subject ?t the same time to the strictest (IovernInent control. By the concordat religion became a part of g,livernment and religious lib erty was No chureli was permitted to make converts from any other. Honig]] this law SOOT] became a dead letter with regard to the Roman Catholie The Protestant Ceneral Synod was put down; particular synods could be con vened only by undue eeelesiastieal power was giVen to (eleiled presby terial committees), tending to the disintegration of the Church and opening the way for later divisions. The parishes were few in number, most of them very extensive. and more than half of them (100 out of 171) without pastors. rtuler these cireninstances religion been to a mere form, or simply the expression of a political idea. The continuation of the young. irrespective of religlous experience. was a 1111•11S1ITO of self-preserva tion. Brilliant exponents of Protestantism at this time were Madame de Staid and Benjamin Constant.
.\ revival of French Protestantism from its depleted condition after the Revolutionary period and the subsequent political turmoil. during whieh it suffered greatly. took place under the Scottish Ilaldanes (see 11.%T.DANE, .TAMES ALEX ANDER. and RORF.RT) and the English 'Methodist Cook (see Cool:. CnArtfxs) in the early twenties. To the revival the formation of the Bible Society in 1819 eontribute41. During this period Samuel Vincent introillieed I;erman Protestant theology into France. and created a liberal movement against the narrow orthodoxy of the revival. Ag gressive working being forbidden by law, there was much suffering for conscience' sake. In 1820 the Catholic Prince de Salm was exiled for hav ing embraced Protestantism. Debarred thus from normal activity, the awakened Church turned to benevolent work, and the second third of the century saw the rise of a great number of strong benevolent and religious societies. The Evangelical Society was founded in 1S33, the Central Society in 1847, for the building of churches. Orphanages. refuges for the blind, the deaf, for neglected, criminal, and crippled chil dren sprang up in great profusion. Educational interests took a prominent place. lu 1829 the Society for the Encouragement of Primary In struction among Protestants was founded. In 1833 the Protestant Guizot secured the passage of the common-s•hool law. In 1840 there were 677 Protestant schools, from primary to normal. There are two theological faculties—at :Madan ban, and, since l'qrassburg was lost, in Paris.