THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
of the Edict of X antes, which in many cases they had transcended, and that all restrictive measures which had been added from time to time because of their rebellion should be enforced. Commissioners were appointed to see to the rigorous enforcement of repressive measures. Huguenot ministers were not to call themselves pastors, and were to use no other epithet but Catholic in speaking of the national church; were not to call together for consultation the principal members, to take collections, or to sing psalms at the execution of a criminal. In 1659 the last national synod was held. The use of the term " antichrist " in the liturgy, and of the terms " idolatry " and " deceit of Satan " in the confession, in condemnation of the Catholic faith, was prohibited. Huguenots were gradually excluded from public offices. Efforts to enforce the restrictions led to local disturbances, and insubordination was severely punished.
With the death of Mazarin (Mar. 9, 1661) the autocratic reign of Louis XIV began. For twentyfour years systematic persecution was ii. Revoca- carried on, which culminated in the tion of revocation of the Edict of Nantes Edict of Oct. 17, 1685. Public worship was Nantes, prohibited, and ministers were to leave France in fifteen days, or embrace Roman Catholicism. Huguenot schools were to be abolished at once. Refugees who did not return would have their property confiscated. Thousands, some of them educated ministers, were sent to the galleys, where many died of hardship; thousands died in prison; and hundreds, if not thousands, were cruelly executed. The dragonnades were continued with increasing barbarity. Some hundreds of thousands professed conversion, while several hundred thousand left France, despite the fact that emigration was forbidden. It has been estimated that about 100,000 found homes in Holland, 100,000 in England, Ireland, and America, 25,000 in Switzerland, and 75,000 in Germany. Thus France lost a large proportion of its best intellect and manufacturing skill, and the exiled Huguenots, by establishing manufactures abroad, raised up ruinous competition for the French. In many parts of France the persecuted people took all risks and met secretly for worship. They maintained themselves in greatest numbers in the Cevennes mountains. From 1702 to 1710 the Cevennes Huguenots carried on a terrible guerrilla warfare against the Catholics (see Camisards). With the death of Louis XIV (1715) persecution was somewhat relaxed, but it was renewed with fearful vigor in 1724 under Cardinal Fleury (q.v.). From 1715 onward Antoine Court (q.v.) carried on a work of stupendous importance in truly apostolic spirit in reorganizing and planting churches. In 1730 he established at Lausanne a training-school for preachers, from which scores of self-sacrificing young men went forth to minister to the persecuted in France. Equally apostolic and fruitful were the labors of Paul Rabaut (q.v.). At the death of Fleury (1743) persecution almost ceased. As a result of agitation by the clergy, a furious persecution was carried on 1745-52. Skeptical writers like Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and
D'Alembert from the middle of the eighteenth century diffused a spirit of toleration that redounded to the benefit of the Huguenots (see Deism, II.and Encyclopedists). Largely through the efforts of Rabaut St. Etienne and Court de Gebelin, sons of Paul Rabaut and Antoine Court, an edict of toleration was secured in 1787. A large proportion of the Huguenots, as of the Catholics, were swept into infidelity by the French Revolution (q.v.). In 1802 Huguenots were placed by Napoleon side by side with Roman Catholics as a state-controlled and state-supported body. This relationship continued until the separation of Church and State in 1905. See France. A. H. Newman.
II. Huguenot Refugees. — 1. First Period, 1520- 1660: The history of the Huguenot refugees begins with the history of the Reformation in France, though the name " Huguenot " was not used till about 1560. Francois Lambert (q.v.) had to leave France in 1522, and Guillaume Farel (q.v.) in 1524. After the beginning of a general persecution in 153.3 many refugees found a home in Geneva and other Swiss cities. In 1545 about 700 Waldenses sought refuge in Geneva, and under Henry II. (1547-59) 1,400 French families settled there. The churches established by Huguenot refugees were known as " churches of refuge " [for the article here condensed, cf. Hauck-Herzog, RE, s.v. " Refuge, Eglises du "]. On the initiative of John Calvin (q.v.) the first church of refuge was established at Strasburg in 1538. In 1575 the French refugees in this cityalone numbered 15,398, though at the close of the Thirty Years' War there were only thirty-six families left, and the parish did not secure complete freedom of worship till 1788. In 1550 Edward VI. placed the foreign Protestants in England under the care of Johannes a Lasco (q.v.). The French church established in London in 1550 became important as a center of organization for other churches in England and America. Under Queen Mary, Johannes a Lasco, with about 175 refugees, settled at Emden, in East Friesland, though on the accession of Queen Elizabeth most of these refugees returned to England. Altogether about 6,000 Huguenots sought refuge at Emden. Under Francis II. (1559-60) thousands of Huguenots settled in the Netherlands, where, in 1562, there were over 100,000 Protestants. While the southern parts of the Netherlands were made almost entirely Roman Catholic by the Spanish Inquisition, numerous Huguenot settlements in the northern provinces continued to receive reenforcements up to the time of Henry IV. As a result of persecution in the Spanish Netherlands, Huguenot churches were established in various German cities, e.g., Stade, Altona, Frankfort, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Wetzlar, and Otterberg. Under Queen Elizabeth 3,000 or 4,000 French Protestants settled in England within a few years. They established a synod which was later strong enough to protest against the demands of Archbishop Laud. Several Huguenot settlements in America (New Amsterdam [i.e. New York], Boston, etc.) date from the time of the persecutions of Laud. Cromwell was a warm friend of the French refugees.