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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 79, Massacre:
September 27, 2004:
One of the most horrible events of the Renaissance was The Massacre of St. Bartholomew Day which began on August 23rd in 1572 and lasted for about two months. This was many orders of magnitude beyond anything the Church had sponsored until then. In sheer monstrousness it is comparable to what Hitler did in Europe in WWII. Estimates vary, but it is generally agreed that some 50,000 men, women, and children were butchered by the agents of the Vatican. The victims of this holocaust were the Huguenots.
Huguenot is the name adopted by the Protestant Christians of the Reformed Church of France. We can recall that Martin Luther instigated the Protestant Reformation in Germany with his Ninety-five Theses which he allegedly posted on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, on Oct. 31, 1517. It seems this reformation was a bit overdue for it spread like wildfire in Germany and in France. It went over very well in places where the oppressed people already had reasons to resent the establishment.
Persecution was not long in coming. The first French Protestant, Jean Vallière, was burned at the stake in 1523. That was just the beginning. In spite of the persecution the ranks of the Reformed Christians continued to grow. We must acknowledged these people did not help their own cause. In Paris they put up posters that criticized the mass and the persecutions became more vigorous.
After that, many of the Protestant Christians fled to Strasbourg which was a so called free city at the time. This is where Calvin organized the French community of exiles. By 1546 a Huguenot community had been organized at Meaux and by 1555 the Huguenots wee bold enough to found a Reform church in Paris. In the face of increasing persecution the reformation continued to gain converts. We can only marvel at this as we recall how the very first Christians grew stronger under the persecution of the Romans. Now the church was the establishment and the reformed Christians were the victims.
With Calvin's influence the French church became a Reformed church as distinct from a Lutheran church. This reformed church was beginning to acquire some clout as it grew from 15 organized churches in 1559 to some 2100 churches in 1561. As always when an organization grows, the temptation to get political grows with it. It was no different with these Huguenots.
A few of them hatched a hair brained plot to kidnap Francis
II who was just a child at the time. All that did was get a bunch
of the Huguenots killed in the attempt. In some ways these reformers
were their own worst enemies. Still, the reformers continued and
so did the persecutions. Attempts at peace failed. There were
more murders of Huguenots and this provoked the signing of a manifesto
by their leaders. They vowed to take up arms against their persecutors.
After that there was an ongoing conflict known as the Wars of
Religion which lasted almost to the turn of the century. The most
infamous event of this war was the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's
Day. This came out of a meeting of the French Catholic royalty
of the day wherein it was agreed that the Huguenots should be
exterminated. The actual murders began in Paris and moved in a
wave throughout France. When it was over, some 50,000 people were
dead, but the Huguenots had not been exterminated. The religious
wars continued.
In 1598 King Henry IV of France proclaimed the Edict of Nantes. This, in theory, guaranteed the political and religious freedom of the Huguenots. That, however, did not end it. The wars picked up again a few years later and the Huguenots were final defeated and stripped of their military and political clout. They became loyal subjects of the King if you want to believe it.
Well, the persecutions continued because the French Catholics could not stand having the Huguenots around. The French Roman Catholic clergy continued working to deprive them of their rights. A lot of rough stuff continued to occur. Then in 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. The Huguenots finally got the message and most of them fled the country. They went everywhere including America where they made useful contributions to the new economy. Those were contributions France could have used in the evolving Industrial Revolution. This is similar in ways to the favor Hitler did for America when he sent Dr. Einstein to us. Einstein was the one person who might have created Hitler's ultimate weapon. Shall we say, what goes around comes around? Tough!
Actually, in spite of all of the monstrous treatment, there
are still Protestants in France. They were not completely eliminated
and the movement never completely died out. In November 1789,
with the birth of the French Revolution, the National Assembly
affirmed the liberty of religion and granted Protestants admission
to all offices and professions. How generous.
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