RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nimbus Nimes
Bibiiography: L. Stephani, in M&moires de Vacadimie des sciences de St. Petersbourg, 6th ser., ix. 361-500, 1859; F. C. C. Munter, Sinnbilder und Kunstvorstellungen der alten Christen, ii. 20 sqq., Altona, 1825; C. C. F. Siegel, Christlich-kirchlicht Alterthiimer, i. 436-437, iii. 301 sqq., 4 vols., Leipsic, 1836-38; A. N. Didron, Iconographie chrUienne, pp. 4 sqq., Paris, 1843, Eng. transl., i. 22 sqq., London, 1849; J. A. Martigny, Dictionnaire des antiquites chretiennes, pp. 435-J37, Paris, 1865; F. X. Kraus, Real- Encyklopadie der christlichen Alterthumer, ii. 496 sqq., Freiburg, 1886; Mrs. A. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary AH, i. 27-28, Boston, 1893; DCA, ii. 1398-1402; KL, v. 1628-31.
n!mes, edict of.
Events Leading to the Edict (§ 1). Religious Policy Underlying the Edict (§ 2). Anti-Protestant Campaign, 1661-79 (§ 3). Increasing Harshness, 1679-84 (§ 4). The Dragonnades (§5). Results to Protestantism and France (§ 6).
The Edict of Nantes (q.v.) was a compromise made by Henry IV of France between the established Roman Catholic religion and the confession of the Protestant minority of his subjects, protecting the latter, as the weaker body, by i. Events guaranties. Their most valuable pro- Leading tection, however, lay in their loyalty to the Edict, to the crown, and in its impartial attitude toward the conflicting parties. If the sovereign once took a decided stand on the Roman Catholic side, or if the Protestants assumed a hostile position toward it, the maintenance of the compromise and the continued existence of Protestantism would be at once imperiled. As long as Henry IV. lived, there was little danger of either. He continued in the path of reconciliation, and renewed the sanction of " cities of safety " to the Reformed for another four years from Aug. 1, 1605. But his death in 1610 completely altered the situation. From this moment deliberate attempts were made to undermine the edict, to limit its operation or effect its revocation. Above or below the surface, this conflict went on for seventy-five years. Immediately after Henry's death all the differences which had been latent in the relation of the two parties to each other and of the Protestants to the government became visible. The Protestants justly distrusted the bigoted queen-regent and her likeminded son Louis XIII.; and although the Edict of Nantes was solemnly confirmed on May 22, 1610, open violations of its provisions soon occurred. It was not until in 1620, when Beam was incorporated with the kingdom and Roman Catholicism was forced on the people of the little mountain state, that they took up arms (1621). The conflict then begun was of a different character from the earlier wars of religion. By no means the whole of French Protestantism took part in it; there was no commanding personality like that of Coligny or Henry of Navarre, and discord prevailed among the nobles of the party. German Protestantism, fighting for its own existence, could send no help, and that which came from England was badly planned and ineffective. The unhappy decisions of the assembly of La Rochelle, organizing the Protestant party on the model of the States-General of the Netherlands (May 10, 1621), gave the government an excuse for treating the Reformed as flagrant rebels. The war, carried on with great severity, was partially favora- VIII.— 12
ble to the Huguenots in 1621 and 1622, thanks to the heroic defense of Montauban and Montpellier, but the rising of 1625 and the campaigns between that date and 1628 ended unfavorably with the surrender of La Rochelle. The peace of Alais (June 28, 1629), followed by the Edict of Nimes (July, 1629), was at once the termination of overt hostilities and the beginning of a new epoch in the history of French Protestantism.
The Edict of Nimes guaranteed to the vanquished a full pardon for their rebellion, and confirmed that of Nantes in all that concerned freedom of conscience, free exercise of religion, personal security,
and civil rights; but it abolished the
2. Religious material guaranties for the preserva-
Policy tion of these rights. By its terms the
Underlying Huguenots ceased to be a political
the Edict, party in the state, and were reduced to
a position of dependence on the king's grace. The payments made by Henry IV and for a time by Louis XIII. to the Protestant ministers were stopped; and the edict emphasized the definite expectation entertained of the reunion of the seceders with the Roman Catholic Church. This continued to be the goal of French ecclesiastical policy, and all means were tried in the effort to attain it. Richelieu was too clear-sighted, at a time when France was just setting out on her career as a world power, to comply with the demand of Rome that he should suppress heresy by force through the simple revocation of the Edict of Nantes, thus rendering desperate a numerous, intelligent, and well-to-do section of the population. He preferred a gradual policy. From the time (Mar. 6, 1631) when the exercise of the Reformed religion was prohibited in Rioux (Saintonge), scarcely a year passed without some locality being deprived of Evangelical worship. In 1633 half the Protestant colleges were transferred to the Roman Catholics; in Metz the Protestants were forbidden (1635) to erect one; in Dijon they were commanded to decorate their houses for the feasts of the Church; the parliament of Bordeaux forbade Reformed parents to compel the attendance of their children at their own worship (1636). After the death of Richelieu and during the rest of the minority of Louis XIV. the same policy was continued, though to a less marked extent, the government fearing that the Huguenots might take the side of the Fronde. But they remained so loyal that Louis XIV. himself was compelled to acknowledge the fact in a decree of May 21, 1652, which granted them some alleviations. The period from 1649 to 1656 was the happiest that they enjoyed. In the latter year persecution began again. In 1659 the holding of a national synod was permitted, with the express declaration that it was to be the last. This ordinance, depriving the Protestants as it did of their supreme court in both doctrine and discipline, was the beginning of the systematic policy of repression of Louis XIV From the outset of his reign he had the firm intent of annihilating Protestantism in his kingdom; all assurances respecting the validity and maintenance of the Edict of Nantes were mere formalities. He felt that he was on this point in sympathy with the majority of his Roman Catholic subjects; he was
Ntmes Nimrod