RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nana Nantes
NAN AK, na'nflk, SHAH : Indian religious founder. See India, I., 3, § 3; Sikhs, Sikhism.
NANTES, nants or nant, EDICT OF: One to regulate the relations between the Reformed Church in France and the State, issued by Henry IV. in 1598 and revoked by Louis XIV- in 1685. The Reformed Church of France, formed in 1559, found it difficult to maintain its rights against the Roman Catholic majority. At last, in 1589, when Henry of Navarre became king of France, all difficulties seemed to have been overcome. In 1593, however, Henry adopted the Roman Catholic faith, and the existence of the Protestant Church seemed to be again in danger. But Henry's apostasy from the Reformed faith was prompted exclusively by political motives, and the fears of the Huguenots were without basis in fact; the king was still inclined to secure for the Reformed Church a stable existence in his country. The deputies of the Reformed churches met in Sept., 1593, at Nantes and in the next year at Montauban to guard their interests. There also met at Sainte-Foy in 1594 a political convention of members from all provinces, where the Reformed effected an organization to defend their rights. A general council was constituted upon which was conferred all authority in religious matters, and under its jurisdiction all provinces were to be placed. It consisted of ten members, one for each province, four from the nobility, four from the third estate, and two from the clergy. Provincial councilors were also chosen, consisting of five to seven members, of whom at least one was to be a clergyman. This organization rendered great service and showed the power of the Huguenots against their enemies. The next convention took place in 1595 at Saumur. It requested in vain freedom of religious worship in the kingdom. The following year, at the convention of Loudun, the Protestant cause met with greater success. Du Plessis-Mornay (q.v.) rendered great services by his negotiations between the king and the Protestants. The meeting aimed at nothing more than freedom of conscience; it did not represent a party, but a church. Toward the end of 1597 both parties agreed upon the principal articles, and on Apr. 13, 1598, the king signed the Edict of Nantes. On Apr. 30 and then on May 2 he signed secret supplementary articles.
The rights granted to the Reformed by this edict did not differ materially from those of former edicts; the position of the Protestants was still very different from that of the Roman Catholics. The edict did not permit freedom of worship; the Reformed were satisfied with " a certain freedom of religion and some justice in the courts." The freedom of conscience granted was not of great import while the civil and political rights were not the same for all and while there existed no freedom of worship. The Roman Catholic service was reinstituted in the whole kingdom; churches and ecclesiastical possessions were returned to the clergy; the Reformed were obliged to pay tithes to the priests, to observe the feasts and fasts of the Roman Catholic Church and conform to its marriage laws; they were allowed to celebrate divine service only in certain places VIII.— 6
under restrictions. But they gained admission to the universities, schools, and hospitals; and the king made all offices of the State accessible to them. Mixed courts were established for cases in which the litigants were of different denominations. The edict nullified the authority of the provincial and general councilors instituted by the convention of Sainte-Foy. It forbade political meetings without the consent of the king and to take up arms. The children of refugees were acknowledged as Frenchmen. All families were reinstituted in their rights, honors, and possessions. The Reformed had the right to hold consistories, colloquies, provincial and general synods, to open schools in the towns where freedom of worship was granted to them, and to impose taxes for the support of their clergy, the expenses of their synods, and the like.
The ratification of the edict by the parliaments presented many difficulties. The clergy objected to each one of the articles. The parliaments opposed especially the establishment of the mixed courts and the admission to public offices, and they succeeded in making a number of important modifications. The ratification took place only under compulsion by the king. The execution of the edict was even more difficult than its ratification. The Reformed were not satisfied with it in its modified form. They appealed to former promises and concessions of the king, but he paid little heed to the complaints although he made some secret promises in regard to a few articles. In the mean time, the edict had been introduced in some territories by commissaries appointed by the king. The deputies of the Reformed were assembled to watch and hasten the execution of the edict. In order to avoid trouble, the king ordered them to disperse and to call no new conventions. The Reformed resisted as long as possible and succeeded in obtaining permission to reassemble in Sainte-Foy in Oct., 1601, to appoint general deputies who were to reside at the royal court and to hear the grievances of the provinces and present them before the king. (C. ScHMiDTf.)
The Huguenots were not satisfied with the Edict of Nantes because it gave them much less than they thought they were entitled to; while the Roman Catholics were furious because it gave the Huguenots so much. But the Edict is a mile-stone in the pathway to the ideal— a free Church in a free State. The Huguenots got much more than the most liberal Roman Catholic sovereign could or would have given them, and Henry evinced a courage and broad-mindedness which place him among the great rulers of history. For many years the Huguenots had little to complain of respecting the way the Edict was enforced. It threw around them many safeguards and they prospered so greatly, especially in the quiet years between 1629 and 16(x, that to be as rich as a Huguenot became a proverb in France. But such religious liberty and material prosperity were hard for the Roman Catholic clergy to endure and they complained to the king, Louis XIV., who in 1665 assumed an unfriendly attitude toward the Huguenots. He issued then the first of nearly two hundred orders and laws which took away every vestige of protection afforded by the
Nantes Natural Law