In common with most of Europe, both Catholic and Protestant, in France there was very little support for religious toleration at the start of the eighteenth century. France was unique amongst the major Catholic powers in having a sizeable Calvinist minority which had developed without the protection of a civil power. This meant that the question of toleration could not be ignored as it was in those countries where religious uniformity prevailed. In some ways France appeared to take a step backward in this respect, in that a measure of official toleration had existed in the shape of the Edict of Nantes of 1598 which was then revoked in 1685. But the Edict was never intended as an endorsement of the principle of toleration. On the contrary, it was a pragmatic measure to end the religious wars of the sixteenth century and a recognition of the military force of the Huguenots, rather than a positive statement of toleration. Nevertheless, the Revocation of the Edict meant that the situation for France's Calvinist minority at the start of the eighteenth century was in many ways worse than it had been for much of the seventeenth. In terms of ideas, France is often seen as being at the forefront of the debate on religious toleration during the eighteenth century, as the French philosophes such as Voltaire formulated arguments which were to influence much of Europe towards a new recognition of rights of private conscience. But as we shall see, the French monarchy, like other Catholic leaders, tended to be hostile to such ideas.