The French Huguenots were Calvinists, belonging to the Reformed Church established by John Calvin in 1550. The Reformed Church was a Protestant denomination, known for a strong belief in predestination, a harsh moral code, and an intolerance of other belief systems.
The term was first used in court documents referring to the Huguenots as heretics. In these early years, the term Huguenot was certainly considered derogatory. In an early attempt at tolerance, derogatory terms, including Huguenot and Papist, were forbidden by the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1561.
The French Huguenot movement is most known, sadly, for the Wars of Religion in France, and particularly for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, during which more than 8000 Huguenots were slaughtered. The three Wars of Religion took place between 1557 and 1572, setting the stage for the bloodshed of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in August of 1572.
The attitudes toward the Huguenots became progressively worse during the fifteen years. At first, there were attempts at religious tolerance, but famine, plague, a breakdown in social order, and continued religious conflicts eliminated any attempt at tolerance as relations between the Catholics and Protestants grew progressively worse.
History has clearly shown that attempts at tolerance failed. There were continual conflicts, almost certainly fed by the militancy of the Huguenots, and by the simple nature of two faiths, both of which thought they, and only they, knew the right path to salvation. There were repeated acts of violence both by and against the Huguenots, including several massacres of large numbers of Huguenots, a number of executions, and, of course, the battles that took place during the course of the three Wars of Religion.
The government issued a number of edicts intended to stop the violence; however, none of these were successful. The violence against the Huguenots did not weaken them, and their continued survival provided them with a lesson well suited to their faith. The Calvinists believed in predestination, and their ability to triumph in the face of adversity served to prove, in their eyes, the righteousness of their faith.
The next article in this series will discuss the bloodshed of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.
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