RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Huguenots
kino- now brought into Paris 4,000 Swiss as an additional body-guard. Paris, under the influence of the League, rose in revolt (" the day of Barricades," May 18, 1588), and the king was obliged to yield to the demands of Henry of Guise in order to be permitted to flee from the city. The meeting of the States General at Blois (Oct., 1588) further demonstrated that Guise was in control. The Estates gave to Guise full control of the army. The Spanish Armada had just been destroyed, and the king hoped, by tolerating the Huguenots, to secure the aid of England against the League. He had the duke and the cardinal of Guise put to death and the leading members of the League imprisoned. Revolution followed. Catherine de' Medici died Jan. 5, 1589. The king felt compelled to call to his aid Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots. After a number of victories Henry of Navarre and the king had invested Paris and were preparing for an assault, when the king was assassinated Aug. 1, 1589.
Henry of Navarre was now the legitimate heir to
the throne; but he was deserted by the royalist
troops, and the Leaguers declared
9. Henry Cardinal de Bourbon king as Charles X.
IV., Edict Catholic opponents of the League urged
of Nantes, Henry to become a Catholic, promising 1589-1624. him their support on that condition. He refused, but promised that Catholicism should remain the religion of the state. During the ensuing year, with greatly inferior numbers and resources, he more than held his own. When Charles X. died (May 10, 1590), some of the leading Leaguers were in favor of offering the sovereignty of France to the king of Spain. Finding his party in a small minority, and his opponents resolved never to submit to a Huguenot king, Henry made up his mind that " Paris is worth a mass," and resolved, as the only way to give peace to the country and security to his kingship, to conform to the Roman Catholic Church. It must be borne in mind that Henry was a soldier and politician rather than a moral or religious hero, and that the throne of France had for years been the object of his aspirations. The League at once withdrew its opposition; Paris received him with acclamations of joy; the Spanish troops were dismissed; and universal amnesty was proclaimed. War with Spain delayed the formulation of Henry's promised provision for the security of the Huguenots. In their General Assembly (1593-94) they pledged themselves to continue in the faith, discussed fully the politico-ecclesiastical situation, and appointed four delegates to confer with the king. By the Edict of Nantes of May 2, 1598 (see Nantes, Edict of), all public institutions and offices were thrown open to the Huguenots, and 200 towns, several of them strongly fortified, to be garrisoned by state-paid Huguenot troops, were left in their hands. The assassination of Henry IV. (May 14, 1610) put the Huguenots in a distinctly less favorable position. Though the Edict of Nantes was again and again confirmed by Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., its provisions were frequently violated. The Huguenots were naturally jealous of such liberties as they enjoyed, and resented even the slightest infringement. They constituted a state within a state. After ten years of irritation, for
which both sides were to some extent responsible, war broke out early in 1621 and raged till Oct. 19, 1622. The Edict of Nantes was confirmed, but all recent Huguenot fortifications were to be demolished and political assemblies were strictly prohibited. Nearly one-half of their cities of refuge were left them, but their tenure was made dependent on the king's pleasure.
After a brief period a second war (Jan., 1625- Feb., 1626) followed, resulting in severe loss of military power and further narrowing 10. Riche- of privileges. The third war, in which lieu and the Huguenots were incited, aided and Mazarin, abetted by the English, and of which 1624-61. the siege, the heroic defense, and the fall of La Rochelle are the most striking features (1626-29), resulted disastrously to the Huguenots. The terms of pacification were more favorable than might have been expected. The Edict of Nantes was reaffirmed; but all fortifications had to be given up, and freedom to raise and maintain armies was at an end (see Nimes, Edict of). Richelieu (q.v.), now the director of the government, assumed a conciliatory attitude, promised to make loyalty the only ground of discrimination among the king's subjects, and gained the confidence of the Huguenots to a remarkable degree. From 1629 to 1659, under the government of Richelieu and Mazarin (Louis XIII. and minority of Louis XIV.), the conditions of the Edict of Nantes were well observed on both sides. The government was too much occupied with international affairs to be willing to enter again upon civil strife, and the Huguenots were measurably contented with the privileges they enjoyed. This was for the latter a period of remarkable prosperity. " Rich as a Huguenot " became a proverbial expression. Manufacturing, commercial, and banking enterprises, with control of the merchant marine, were largely in their hands. The learned professions were filled with their members. Their educational institutions, liberally supported, became famous throughout the learned world. In their great churches the most eloquent preachers of the age preached to thousands of eager hearers. Among the most eminent preachers were Du Moulin, Le Faucheur, Mestrezat, Daille, Amyraut, Gaches, Claude, Du Bosc, De Superville, and Saurin. The school at Nimes came to represent an irenic tendency which led many to accept the Roman Catholic faith. Among its great teachers and alumni may be mentioned Viret, Ferrier, Petit, Turretin, Claude, De Serres, Baduel, Brousson, and Martin. Saumur became noted for its development of a liberal type of doctrine. Its great representatives were Michel, Beraud, Boyd, Cameron, Amyraut, Placeus, and Pajon. Sedan and Montauban stood for the defense of rigorous Calvinism. Among the representatives of the former may be mentioned Du Moulin, Des Marests, Jurieu, and of the latter Chamier, Pierre Beraud, Garissolles, Abbadie, Bayle, Benoist, Rapin Thoyras, and Pelisson. Toward the close of Mazarines ministry severe restrictive measures against the Huguenots, in response to urgent petitions of the prelates, were put in force. In 1656 Louis XIV promulgated a law to the effect that Huguenots were to be restricted to the privileges
Huguenots