Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-08T00:39:05.510Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Persecution of the Huguenots in the 18th Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Shelby T. McCloy
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky

Extract

In 1685 the government of Louis XIV revoked the vestiges of the Edict of Nantes, after having made various encroachments on it since the 1630's when Richelieu nullified the military provisions. And thus France, which under Henry IV in the late sixteenth century had gone farther toward legal toleration than the other states of Europe, lapsed into the ranks of those intolerant. The Edict had never been popular with a large element of the French people, notably the group which had fought under the Guises in the Wars of Religion. The clergy in particular urged its repeal. Louis XIII and Louis XIV under the influence of his Jesuit advisors, Pères Le Tellier and La Chaise, and of his second wife, Madame de Maintenon, a zealous ex-Protestant, revoked the Edict completely.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1951

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2 Lehr, Henri, Les Protestants d' autrefois: sur mer et outre mer (Paris, 1907), pp. 219–20.Google Scholar

3 Berbinau, P. Forbrune, “Fugatifs du Périgord arrêtés en Belgique en 1701,”Google ScholarBulletin of the Société de l' Histoire du Protestantisme Francais, L I (1902), 546–47. This journal is hereinafter referred to as Bulletin SHPF.

4 Ibid. See also Mazauric, P., “Le parlement de Metz et les Protestants après la Révoeation,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXXIV (1935), 386–87.Google Scholar

5 Beuzart, P., “Les fugatifs Protestant devant le parlement de Flandre depuis la Révocation jusqu'` la mort de Louis XIV,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXIII (1924), 179Google Scholar. On p. 180 is a chart of Protestant convictions on various grounds by the court year by year for the period 1686–1704.

6 Ibid., p. 177.

7 Lehr, op. cit., pp. 227–28.Google Scholar

8 François Reverdin, Prosélytes et réfugiés,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXVI (1927), 51–9, 236–54.Google Scholar

9 Reverdin, F., “Pros´lytes et réfugi´s à Gen´ve de 1714 ` 1717,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXIX (1930), 482.Google Scholar

10 Charnisay, Baronne de, “Les chiffres de M. l'Abbé Rouquette; étude sur les fugatifs du Languedoc (Uzès)”, Bulletin SHPF, LXXI (1922), 103–12.Google Scholar

11 Bourilly, V. L., “Les Protestants de Provence et d'Orange sous Louis XIV,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXVI (1927), 196–97.Google Scholar

12 Freminville, , Dictionnaire ou traité de la police (Paris, 1771), pp. 107–09.Google Scholar

13 Atger, Albert, “Gaspard de Calvière. Sa famille. Sa mort (1702),” Bulletin SHPF, LXXXVI (1937), 330.Google Scholar

14 “Arrest de la Cour de Parlement, etc.”, Bulletin SHPF, LI (1902), 422–23Google Scholar. Among others hung and strangled were Pierre Durand (1732) and François Rochette (1762). See Bulletin SHPF, LXXI (1932), 6Google Scholar, and the Histoire g´n´rale de Languedoc, edited by Devic and Vaissete, XIV, 2250–51.

15 Léonard, Emile G., “La vie des Protestants au XVIIIe siécle dans le marquisat d'Aubais (Sénéchaussée de Nimes),” Bulletin, SHPF, LXXI (1922), 213.Google Scholar

16 Ibid., LXXII, 14.

17 Léonard, Emile G., “Les Assemblées de D´sert: caract`res, adversaires et conséquences,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXXVII (1938), 482.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., pp. 482–83.

19 “Paris en 1773 d'après une descendant de hugenots réfugiés à Cassel,” Bulletin SHPF, LI (1902), 555Google Scholar. Cf. “Une dénonciation contre Marc Guitton, chapelain de l'ambassade de Hollande (1725),” Bulletin SHPF, LXV (1916), 305–12.Google Scholar

20 Fabre, Andr´, “Une Assemblée du Désert surprisé en 1755 à Dions,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXXVII (1938), 136–38.Google Scholar

21 “Relation sur la prise du ministre Deshubas (11–12 décembre 1745),” Bulletin SHPF, LXXI (1922), 244–46.Google Scholar

22 Lods, Armand, “Paul Rabaut et le Due de Mirepoix: à propos de la condemnation aux galères de Jean Fabre et d'Honoré Turge, d'apr`s un document inédit.” Bulletin SHPF, LXXIII (1924), 210–14Google Scholar. According to the manuscript cited by Lode, Rabaut left France and the two convicted men were released, but Rabaut's continued presence in France renders this incredible. See the account by Baird, H. M., The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (New York, 1895, 2v,) II, 494–95.Google Scholar

23 Léonard, “La vie des Protestants,” etc. Bulletin SHPF, LXXI, 216–17.Google Scholar

24 Histoire générale de Languedoc, avec des notes et pièces justicatwies par Dom Cl. Devic & Dom J. Vaissete [… continuée jusques en 1790 par Ernest Roschach], Toulouse, 1872–92 [93], XIII, 1073.

25 Fabre, , op. cit., LXXXVII, 140–42.Google Scholar

26 Atger, , op cit., LXXXVI, 330.Google Scholar

27 Léonard, , “La vie des Protestants,” etc., Bulletin SHPF, LXXII, 15–8Google Scholar, 116 n. 2; Greib, L., “Etat civil protestant: Rapports des Réformés du Pays Messin et de la Champagne, avec paroisses de Diedendorf et de Rauweiler (1698–1776)”, Bulletin SHPF, LXXXI (1932), 170–74.Google Scholar

28 Bulletin SHPF, LI, 423.Google Scholar

29 “Le service militaire imposé aux Huguenots comme un châtiment (1767–1768)”, Bulletin SHPF, L (1901), 251–56.Google Scholar

30 Grieg, , op. cit..Google Scholar

31 By the royal declaration of May 14, 1724. Freminville, , op. cit., p. 312.Google Scholar

32 Léonard, , “La vie des Protestants,” etc., Bulletin SHPF, LXXII, 86.Google Scholar

33 Albert, Jean, “Un project d'Edit de Tolérance (1776),” Bulletin SHPF, LXXXVI (1937), 630.Google Scholar

34 “Révocation de consentement donné au mariage d'Alexandre Maze avec Susanne Pusaux, 1714,” Bulletin SHPF, LXIX (Paris, 1920), 25–7.Google Scholar

35 Reuss, Rod., “Un chapitre de l'histoire des persécutions religieuses: le clergé catholique et les enfants illégitimes protestants et Israélites en Alsace, au XVIIIe siècle et au débût de la Révolution,” Bulletin SHPF, LII (1903), 26Google Scholar n. 1; Archives parlementaires, sér. 1, XXI, 461.Google Scholar

36 Freminville, , op. cit., pp. 305–07.Google Scholar

37 Ibid., p. 305.

38 On this point let it be said that many Scotch Catholic youth were treated in the same fashion in the seventeenth century. See Bellesheim, Alphons, History of the Catholic Church of Scotland (Edinburgh and London, 1890) IV, 16–7, 34–5, 144–45.Google Scholar

39 See my Government Assistance in Eighteenth-Century France (Durham, 1946), pp. 325–28Google Scholar. The Inventaire-sommaire des archives départmentales antérieures ` 1790Google Scholar, Calvados, série C, contains under “lettres de cachet” descriptions of scores of such cases in the vicinity of Caen alone. The departmental archives at Bordeaux contain a similar amount of material on the matter.

40 See again my Government Assistance, pp. 325–28Google Scholar. Cf. Dubois, G., “Les enl`vements d'enfants protestants et la communauté des Nouvelles Catholiques de Rouen au XVIIIe siècle,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXXV (1936), 280327.Google Scholar

41 As an illustration, see Duval, L., “Hébert chez lui,” La Révolution française, XII (1887), 976–77.Google Scholar

42 Ibid., 977, 979–80.

43 Maillard, Th., “Les sépultures huguenotes en plain champ,” Bulletin SHPF, LXXI (1922), 59Google Scholar; Léonard, , “La vie des Protestants,” etc., Bulletin SHPF, LXXII, 22–4Google Scholar; Freminville, , op. cit., pp. 116–17.Google Scholar

44 Tourneur, Gaston, “Une grave émeute ` Lavaur (à l'occasion de l'inhumation d'un Protestant, 1749), Bulletin SHPF, LXXV (1926), 4859.Google Scholar

45 Puaux, Frank, “Les Camisards à Macon,” Bulletin SHPF, LX (1911), 438–39.Google Scholar

46 Histoire générale de Languedoc, XIV, 1567–74.Google Scholar

47 Ibid., XIV, 1581, 1583; Puaux, Frank, “Le dépeuplement et incendie des Hautes – Cevennes (octobre – décembre 1703),” Bulletin SHPF, LXIV (1915), 64–7Google Scholar, 60405. Bost, Charles, “Les pasteurs Astruc. Le père de Jean Astruc,” Bulletin SHPF, LXVI (1917), 64–7.Google Scholar

48 Puaux, Frank, “Les mémoires de Cavalier sur la guerre des Cevennes,” Bulletin SHPF, LXVII (1918), 11.Google Scholar

49 Ibid., p. 13.

50 Puaux, , “Le dépeuplement”, etc., Bulletin, LXIV, 596–97, 601–05.Google Scholar

51 Ibid., LXIV, 594.

52 Ibid., pp. 594–95.

53 Hist. gén. de Languedoc, XIV, 19841985, 1989, 19901997Google Scholar. Cavalier received a pension of 2000 livres and agreed to “advise” the French government on the Protestant Question from Geneva. He was regarded as bribed, both by Villars (Ibid., 1999) and by many of the Protestants. Afterwards he wrote his Mémoires, relating details of the Camisard War. He lived to a considerable age, and in general was highly respected by the Protestants.

54 Charnisay, Baronne de, “Un héros de vingt-quatre ans: les dernières semaines et la mort de Rolland (juin-août 1704),” Bulletin SHPF, LXXVII (1927), 226–31.Google Scholar

55 Histoire générale de Languedoc, XIV, 2008Google Scholar. Salles, like Cavalier, was bribed with the small pension of 200 livres a year to use his influence to aid the government in the Protestant Question, from Geneva, where he was permitted to emigrate.

56 The charge is repeatedly made in the correspondence of these men in vol. XIV of the Histoire générale de Languedoc.

57 Ibid., XIV, 2008; Puaux, Frank, “An eamp des Camisards,” Bulletin SHPF, LIX (1910), 425–36.Google Scholar

58 See book review by Bost, Ch., Bulletin SHPF, LXXIV (1925), 104–05.Google Scholar

59 Histoire générale de Languedoc, 2006–07, 2017, 2020.Google Scholar

60 Ibid., pp. 98–9, 103ff.

61 Ibid., p. 113.

62 Ibid., p. 113.

63 Ibid., p. 117.

64 See Bulletin SHPF, 104–05.Google Scholar

65 Puaux, , “Au camp des Camisards,” Bulletin, LIX, 427.Google Scholar

66 Puaux, , “Le dépeuplement,” etc., Bulletin, LXIV, 594–95.Google Scholar

67 Puanx, , “Au camp des Camisards,” Bulletin, 425–27, 432.Google Scholar

68 Bulletin SHPF, LXXVI (1927), 196.Google Scholar

69 Bulletin, LXXII, 2930.Google Scholar

70 Bost, review of book by Dedieu, , Bulletin SHPF, LXXIV (1925), 106 n. 1.Google Scholar

71 Léonard, , “La vie des Protestants,” etc., Bulletin, LXII, 13–4Google Scholar. According to Bost (Bulletin, LXXIV, 108, n. 1Google Scholar), the Protestants held open assemblies widely in 1744 while the soldiers were at the front. Their audacity led to the persecution of 1746.

72 See his Catholics and Unbelievers in Eighteenth-Century France (Princeton, 1939), pp. 15–6Google Scholar. He believes that Calas killed his son accidentally.

73 Jean Calas, roué vif et innocent.

74 The book is reviewed in the Bulletin SHPF, LXXXIII (1934), 714–18Google Scholar, where it is pronounced the ablest study that has appeared on the subject.

75 Freminville, , op. cit., p. 310.Google Scholar

76 Histoire générale de Languedoc, XIV, 2234–35.Google Scholar

77 Ibid., XIV, 2236.

78 L'eau de la revue d'Hongrie.

79 Details given in a letter by the Widow Calas, June 15, 1762, and in statements by the sons Donat and Pierre Calas, dated July 22–3, 1762, reprinted in Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, nouv. éd. (Paris, 1877–85, 52v), XXII, 365–69, 388–89; also in official documents reprinted in Histoire générale de Languedoc, XIV, 2237.Google Scholar

80 Oeuvres de Voltaire, XXIV, 368, 372, 389.Google Scholar

81 Hist. gén. de Languedoc.

82 Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, XXII. 389.Google Scholar

83 Histoire générale de Languedoc, XIV, 2238–39Google Scholar

84 Ibid., XIV, 2239–41.

85 Ibid., XIV, 2241–47. Pierre Calas in his statement of 1762 refers to these two confessors as Jacobins, and asserts that they were convinced of his father's innocence, Oeuvres de Voltaire, xxiv, 396Google Scholar. Donat Calas, however, in his statement calls them Dominicans. Ibid., xxiv, 390.

86 Ibid., XIV, 2249.

87 See Oeuvres de Voltaire, XXIV, 365 n. 1, XXV, 13–118.Google Scholar

88 Schelle, Gustave, ed., Oeuvres de Turgot, II (Paris, 1914), 434–35Google Scholar. According to Du Pont de Nemours, Turgot took an active part in the retrial proceedings.

89 “Le Roi, de son côté, donne 36,000 livres, dont 18,000 à la veuve, sçavoir, 6000 per forme de gratification, 6000 pour les dépenses du voyage, 6000 pour les frais du procès. De 18,000 restant il y a 6000 pour chacun des 2 filles, 3000 pour le fila [les fils?], & 3000 pour le servante.” Mercure historique et politique for 05 1765, CLVIII, 550–51.Google Scholar

90 By the authors Marie Joseph Chénier, Lemière d'Argy, and J. L. Laya respectively. All three plays were published as well as presented on the stage. In 1791 a fourth play, by Pujoulx, entitled La veuve Colas à Paris, was also performed in Paris and published. Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, nouv. ed., XXII, 367 n.; Lods, Armand, “Les dernières victims d' intolérance,” Bulletin SHPP, LI (1902), 514.Google Scholar