The
Huguenots were members of the
ProtestantProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
Reformed ChurchThe Reformed Church of France is a denomination in France . It is the original, and largest, Protestant denomination in France....
of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
(or French
CalvinistsCalvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
) from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Since the eighteenth century, Huguenots have been commonly designated "French Protestants", the title being suggested by their German co-religionists or "Calvinists". Protestants in France were inspired by the writings of
John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
in the 1530s and the name Huguenots was already in use by the 1560s. Many Huguenots emigrated from France in the late 17th century.
Etymology
Used originally as a term of derision, the derivation of the name
Huguenot remains uncertain. Various theories have been promoted. The nickname may have been a French corruption of the German word
Eidgenosse, meaning
a Confederate, perhaps in combination with a reference to the religious leader and politician Besançon Hugues (d 1532). Geneva was
John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
's adopted home and the center of the Calvinist movement. In
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
, Hugues was the leader of the "Confederate Party", so called because it favored an alliance between the city-state of Geneva and the Swiss Confederation. This theory of origin has support from the alleged fact that the label
Huguenot was first applied in France to those conspirators (all of them aristocratic members of the Reformed Church) involved in the Amboise plot of 1560: a foiled attempt to transfer
powerPower is a measure of an entity's ability to control the environment around itself, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power, perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as...
in France from the influential
House of GuiseThe House of Guise was a French ducal family, partly responsible for the French Wars of Religion.The Guises were Catholic, and Henry Guise wanted to end growing Calvinist influence...
. The move would have had the side effect of fostering relations with the Swiss. Thus,
Hugues plus
Eidgenosse became
Huguenot, a nickname associating the Protestant cause with some unpopular politics.
Like the first hypothesis, several others account for the name as being derived from German as well as French. O.I.A. Roche writes in his book
The Days of the Upright, A History of the Huguenots that "Huguenot" is
Some discredit dual linguistic origins, arguing that for the word to have spread into common use in France, it must have originated in the French language. The "Hugues hypothesis" argues that the name can be accounted for by connection with Hugues Capet king of France, who reigned long before the Reform times. He was regarded by the Gallicans and Protestants as a noble man who respected people's dignity and lives. Frank Puaux suggests, with similar connotations, a clever pun on the old French word for a
covenanter (a signatory to a contract). Janet Gray and other supporters of the theory suggest that the name
huguenote would be roughly equivalent to
little Hugos, or
those who want Hugo.
In this last connection, the name could suggest the derogatory inference of superstitious worship; popular fancy held that Huguon, the gate of King Hugo, was haunted by the ghost of
Le roi Huguet (regarded by Roman Catholics as an infamous scoundrel) and other spirits, who instead of being in purgatory came back to harm the living at night. It was in this place in
ToursTours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
that the
prétendus réformés ("these supposedly 'reformed'") habitually gathered at night, both for political purposes, and for prayer and singing the
psalmsPsalms is a book of the Hebrew Bible , included in the collected works known as the "Writings" or Ketuvim.-Etymology:...
. With similar scorn, some suggested the name was derived from
les guenon de Hus (the monkeys or apes of
Jan HusJan Hus aka Jan Huss, John Hus, John Huss , often referred to in English as John Huss or variations thereof, was a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague.He is famed for having been burned at the stake for what the Roman Catholic Church considered...
). While this and the many other theories offer their own measure of plausibility, attesting at least to the wit of later partisans and historians, if not of the French people at the time of this term's origin, "no one of the several theories advanced has afforded satisfaction."
Reguier de la Plancha in
De l'Estat de France (d 1560) offers the following explanation as to the origin:
Since the eighteenth century, Huguenots have been commonly designated "French Protestants", the title being suggested by their German co-religionists or "Calvinists".
Early history and beliefs
The availability of the Bible in local (
vernacularVernacular is the native language of a country or a locality. In general linguistics, it is used to describe local languages as opposed to lingua francas, official standards or global languages. It is sometimes applied to nonstandard dialects of a global language...
) languages was important to the spread of the Protestant movement and the development of the Reformed church in France, and the country had a long history of struggles with the papacy by the time the Protestant Reformation finally arrived. Around 1294, a French version of the Scriptures was prepared by the Roman Catholic priest, Guyard de Moulin. The first known translation of the Bible into a French "dialect",
Arpitan or Franco-ProvençalFranco-Provençal or Arpitan or Romand is a Romance language with several distinct dialects that form a linguistic sub-group separate from Langue d'Oïl and Langue d'Oc. The name Franco-Provençal was given to the language by G.I...
, had been prepared by the 12th century pre-reformer,
Peter WaldoPeter Waldo, Valdo, or Waldes , also Pierre Vaudès or de Vaux, was the founder of the Waldensians, a Christian spiritual movement of the Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions...
(Pierre de Vaux). Long after the sect was suppressed by the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, the remaining
WaldensiansWaldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian spiritual movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions. Over time, the denomination joined the Genevan or Reformed branch of Protestantism. About the earlier history of the Waldenses considerable...
, now mostly in the Luberon region of France, sought to join
William FarelWilliam Farel , né Gillaume Farel, was a French evangelist, and a founder of the Reformed Church in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Berne, Geneva, and Vaud in Switzerland. He is most often remembered for having persuaded John Calvin to remain in Geneva in 1536, and for persuading him to return there in...
,
John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
and the Protestant Reformation, and
OlivetanPierre Robert Olivétan was the first to translate the Bible into the French language starting from the Hebrew and Greek texts. He was a cousin of John Calvin, who wrote a Latin preface for the translation, often called the Olivetan Bible....
published a French Bible for them. A two-volume folio version of this translation appeared in Paris, in 1488. Many of those who emerged from secrecy at this time were slaughtered by
Francis IFrancis I , was king of France from 1515 until his death.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances...
in 1545.
Other predecessors of the Reformed church included the pro-reform and
GallicanGallicanism is the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarchs' authority or the State's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope's...
Roman Catholics, like Jacques Lefevre (c. 1455 – 1536). The Gallicans briefly achieved independence for the French church, on the principle that the religion of France could not be controlled by the Bishop of Rome, a foreign power. In the time of the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
, Lefevre, a professor at the
University of ParisThe historic University of Paris was founded in the mid 12th century, likely between 1160 and 1170 , In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous universities...
, prepared the way for the rapid dissemination of
Lutheran ideasLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
in France with the publication of his French translation of the New Testament in 1523, followed by the whole Bible in the French language, in 1528.
William FarelWilliam Farel , né Gillaume Farel, was a French evangelist, and a founder of the Reformed Church in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Berne, Geneva, and Vaud in Switzerland. He is most often remembered for having persuaded John Calvin to remain in Geneva in 1536, and for persuading him to return there in...
was a student of Lefevre who went on to become a leader of the Swiss Reformation, establishing a Protestant government in Geneva. Jean Cauvin (John Calvin), another student at the University of Paris, also converted to Protestantism. The French Confession of 1559 shows a decidedly
Calvinistic influenceCalvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
. Sometime between 1550 and 1580, members of the Reformed church in France came to be commonly known as
Huguenots.
Criticisms of Roman Catholic Church
Above all, Huguenots became known for their criticisms of worship as performed in the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the focus on ritual and what they viewed as an obsession with death and the dead. They believed the
ritualA ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers, or dictated purely by logic, chance, necessity, etc..A ritual may be...
, images,
saintSaints, individuals of exceptional holiness, are significant in many religions, particularly Christianity.-General characteristics :Though the term is mostly used for Christians considered holy or virtuous, many religions use similar concepts to elevate people worthy of respect, e.g. see Hindu...
s,
pilgrimageIn religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of many major religions participate in pilgrimages...
s,
prayerPrayer is the act of addressing a god or spirit for the purpose of worship or petition. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting guidance or assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one's thoughts and emotions...
s, and
hierarchyA hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another and with only one "neighbor" above and below each level. These classifications are made with regard to rank, importance, seniority, power status or authority...
of the Catholic Church did not help anyone toward redemption. They saw Christian life as something to be expressed as a life of simple faith in God, relying upon God for salvation, and not upon rituals, while obeying Biblical law.
Like other religious reformers of the time, they felt that the Catholic Church needed radical cleansing of its impurities, and that the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
represented a worldly kingdom, which sat in mocking tyranny over the things of God, and was ultimately doomed. Rhetoric like this became fiercer as events unfolded, and eventually stirred up a reaction in the Catholic establishment.
The French Catholic Church fanatically opposed the Huguenots, attacking pastors and congregants as they attempted to meet in secret for worship. The height of this persecution was
St. Bartholomew's Day massacreThe St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
. The Huguenots, retaliating against the French Catholic Church, frequently took up arms, even taking a few Catholic controlled cities. Some Catholic monuments were destroyed in this action.
Reform and growth
Huguenots faced persecution from the outset of the Reformation; but
Francis IFrancis I , was king of France from 1515 until his death.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances...
(reigned 1515–1547) initially protected them from
ParlementThe political institutions of the Parlement in ancien régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and deliberation. In the thirteenth century, judicial functions were added...
ary measures designed for their extermination. The
Affair of the PlacardsThe Affair of the Placards was an incident in which anti-Catholic posters appeared in public places in Paris and in four major provincial cities: Blois, Rouen, Tours and Orléans, overnight during 17 October 1534. One was actually posted on the bedchamber door of King Francis I at Amboise, an...
of 1534 changed the king's posture toward the Huguenots: he stepped away from restraining persecution of the movement.
Huguenot numbers grew rapidly between 1555 and 1561, chiefly amongst nobles and city dwellers. During this time, their opponents first dubbed the Protestants
Huguenots; but they called themselves
reformés, or "Reformed." They organized their first national synod in 1558, in Paris.
By 1562, the estimated number of Huguenots had passed one million, concentrated mainly in the southern and central parts of the country. The Huguenots in France likely peaked in number at approximately two million, compared to approximately sixteen million Catholics during the same period. Persecution diminished the number of Huguenots. Close to 70,000 Huguenots were killed during
St. Bartholomew's Day massacreThe St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
alone, and many times that amount before and after. Many fled from France to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, and England.
Wars of religion
As the Huguenots gained influence and displayed their faith more openly, Roman Catholic hostility to them grew, even though the French crown offered increasingly liberal political concessions and edicts of toleration.
In 1561, the Edict of Orléans declared an end to the persecution, and the
Edict of Saint-GermainThe Edict of Saint-Germain was an edict of toleration promulgated by the Regent, Catherine de' Medici, in January 1562. It provided limited tolerance of Protestantism in her Roman Catholic realms, especially in relation to the French Huguenots....
of January 1562 formally recognized the Huguenots for the first time. However, these measures disguised the growing tensions between Protestants and Catholics.
Civil wars
These tensions spurred eight
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
s, interrupted by periods of relative calm, between 1562 and 1598. With each break in peace, the Huguenots' trust in the Catholic throne diminished, and the violence became more severe, and Protestant demands became grander, until a lasting cessation of open hostility finally occurred in 1598.
The wars gradually took on a dynastic character, developing into an extended feud between the Houses of Bourbon and
GuiseThe House of Guise was a French ducal family, partly responsible for the French Wars of Religion.The Guises were Catholic, and Henry Guise wanted to end growing Calvinist influence...
, both of which — in addition to holding rival religious views — staked a claim to the French throne. The crown, occupied by the House of
ValoisValois is a district, in the city of Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada. It was once a separate village, many years ago, but was then merged with Pointe-Claire....
, generally supported the Catholic side, but on occasion switched over to the Protestant cause when politically expedient.
The
French Wars of ReligionThe French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants...
began with a massacre at
VassyVassy is a commune and the seat of a canton of the département of Calvados in the Basse-Normandie region of France. It is also a seat of the canton of the same name. Its postal code is 14410...
on March 1, 1562, when dozens (some sources say hundreds) of Huguenots were killed, and about 200 were wounded.
The Huguenots transformed themselves into a definitive political movement thereafter. Protestant preachers rallied a considerable army and a formidable cavalry, which came under the leadership of Admiral
Gaspard de ColignyLord Gaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon held the office of Admiral of France and is best remembered as an austerely disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...
. Henry of Navarre and the House of Bourbon allied themselves to the Huguenots, adding wealth and holdings to the Protestant strength, which at its height grew to sixty fortified cities, and posed a serious threat to the Catholic crown and Paris over the next three decades.
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
In what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 24 August – 3 October, 1572, Catholics killed thousands of Huguenots in Paris. Similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following. The main provincial towns and cities experiencing the Massacre were Aix, Bordeaux, Bourges, Lyon, Meaux, Orleans, Rouen, Toulouse, and Troyes. Nearly 3,000 Protestants were slaughtered in Toulouse alone. The exact number of fatalities throughout the country is not known. On the 23 - 24 August, between about 2,000 and 3,000 Protestants were killed in Paris and between 3,000 and 7,000 more in the French provinces. By the 17 September, almost 25,000 Protestants had been massacred in Paris alone. Outside of Paris, the killings continued until the 3 October. An amnesty granted in 1573 pardoned the perpetrators.
Edict of Nantes
The pattern of warfare, followed by brief periods of peace, continued for nearly another quarter-century. The warfare was definitively quelled in 1598, when Henry of Navarre, having
succeeded to the French throneHenry IV of France's succession to the throne in 1589 was followed by a four-year war to establish his legitimacy. Henry IV inherited the throne after the assassination of Henry III, the last Valois king, who died without children...
as
Henry IVHenry IV was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France. His parents were Queen Jeanne III and King Antoine of Navarre.As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the Wars of Religion before...
, and recanted Protestantism in favour of Roman Catholicism, issued the
Edict of NantesThe Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598. by Henry IV of France to grant the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic...
. The Edict established Catholicism as the state religion of France, but granted the Protestants equality with Catholics under the throne and a degree of religious and political freedom within their domains. The Edict simultaneously protected Catholic interests by discouraging the founding of new Protestant churches in Catholic-controlled regions.
With the proclamation of the Edict of Nantes, and the subsequent protection of Huguenot rights, pressures to leave France abated. However, enforcement of the Edict grew increasingly irregular over time, and it was increasingly ignored altogether under
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
. Louis imposed
dragonnadeA policy, commonly called in French "dragonnades", was instituted by Louis XIV in 1681 in order to intimidate Huguenot families into either leaving France or reconverting to Roman Catholicism....
s and other forms of persecution for Protestants, which made life so intolerable that many fled the country. The Huguenot population of France dropped to 856,000 by the mid-1660s, of which a plurality lived in rural areas. The greatest concentrations of Huguenots at this time resided in the regions of Guienne,
SaintongeSaintonge is a small region on the Atlantic coast of France within the département Charente-Maritime, west and south of Charente in the administrative region of Poitou-Charentes....
-
AunisAunis is a former province of France. It extended to Marais Poitevin in the north, Basse Saintonge in the east, and Rochefortais in the south. Aunis had an influence approximately 20-25 km into the Isle of Ré ....
-
AngoumoisAngoumois was an old province of France, nearly corresponding today to the Charente département. Its capital was Angoulême....
and
PoitouPoitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
.
Edict of Fontainebleau
In 1685, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared Protestantism to be illegal in the
Edict of FontainebleauThe Edict of Fontainebleau was an edict issued by Louis XIV of France, also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes of 1598, which had granted to the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the state...
. After this, Huguenots (with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 1,000,000
) fled to surrounding Protestant countries:
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
and
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
— whose Calvinist Great Elector Frederick William welcomed them to help rebuild his war-ravaged and underpopulated country. Following this exodus, Huguenots remained in large numbers in only one region in France: the rugged
CévennesThe Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...
region in the south, from which a group known as the
CamisardCamisards were French Protestants of the rugged and isolated Cevennes region of south-central France, who raised an insurrection against the persecutions which followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685...
s revolted against the French crown in the early 18th century.
Early emigration
The first Huguenots to leave France seeking freedom from persecution went to Switzerland and to the Netherlands. A group of Huguenots was part of the French colonisers who arrived in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
in 1555. Two ships with around 500 people arrived at the Guanabara Bay,
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
today, and settled in a small island. A fort, named
Fort ColignyFort Coligny was a fortress founded by Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1555, in what constituted the so-called France Antarctique historical episode....
, was built to protect them from attack from the Portuguese troups and Brazilian natives. The settlement was an attempt to establish a French colony in South America. The fort was destroyed in 1560 by the Portuguese who captured part of the Huguenots. The Catholic Portuguese threatened the prisoners with death penalty if they did not convert to Catholicism. The Huguenots of Guanabara, as they are now known, produced a declaration of faith to express their beliefs to the Portuguese. This was their death sentence. This document, the
Guanabara Confession of FaithThe Guanabara Confession of Faith was the first Protestant writing in the Americas in 1559. It was written by the French Huguenots Jean du Bourdel, Matthieu Verneuil, Pierre Bourdon e André la Fon, who were taken under arrest by Villegaignon. 12 hours after writting it, the authors were hanged....
, became the first Protestant confession of faith in the whole of the Americas.
A group of Huguenots under the leadership of
Jean RibaultJean Ribault was a French naval officer, navigator, and a colonizer of what would become the southeastern United States...
in 1562 ended up establishing the small colony of
Fort CarolineFort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida on June 22, 1564, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted only a year before being obliterated by the Spanish...
in 1564, on the banks of the
St. Johns RiverThe St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The elevation drop from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ; like...
, in what is today
JacksonvilleJacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida, and is the county seat of Duval County. Since 1968, as a result of the consolidation of the city and county government, and a corresponding expansion of the city limits to include almost the entire county, Jacksonville became the...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
.
The colony was the first attempt at any permanent European settlement in the present-day continental
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but the group survived only a short time. In September 1565, an attack against the new Spanish colony at
St. AugustineSt. Augustine is the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, in the United States. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States. St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as The First Coast, which...
backfired, and the Spanish wiped out the Fort Caroline garrison.
South Africa
Individual Huguenots have settled at the Cape of Good Hope from as early as 1671 with the arrival of Francois Villion (Viljoen).
On December 31, 1687 the first organized group of Huguenots set sail from Holland to the Dutch East India Company post at the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
. The largest portion of the Huguenots to settle in the Cape arrived between 1688 and 1700, thereafter the numbers declined and only small batches arrived at a time.
Many of these settlers chose an area that was later called Franschhoek, (
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
for French Corner), in the present-day
Western CapeThe Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
province of South Africa. A large monument to commemorate the arrival of the Huguenots in South Africa was inaugurated on 7 April 1948 at
FranschhoekFranschhoek is a small town with in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns of the Republic of South Africa.-History:...
.
Many of the farms in the Western Cape province in South Africa still bear French names. There are many families, today mostly
AfrikaansAfrikaans is an Indo-European language derived from Dutch and thus classified as Low Franconian West Germanic. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, the United...
-speaking, whose surnames bear witness to their French Huguenot ancestry. Examples of these include: Blignaut, de Klerk (Le Clercq),
de Villiersde Villiers may refer to:*AB de Villiers, a current South African international cricketer*De Villiers Graaff, a former South African politician.*Fanie de Villiers, a former South African cricketer...
, du Plessis, Du Preez (Des Pres), du Toit, Franck, Fouche, Fourie (Fleurit), Gervais, Giliomee (Guilliaume), Hugo, Jordaan (Jurdan),
JoubertJoubert is a French language surname, and may refer to* André Joubert, South African rugby player* Burt Joubert, South African archer* Barthelemy Catherine Joubert, French general* Brian Joubert, French figure skater...
, Labuschagne (la Buscagne), le Roux, Lombard,
MalanMalan may be:Members of the prominent South African Malan family:*F. S. Malan , Minister of Education, 1910–1924*Daniel François Malan , Prime Minister of South Africa, 1948–1954...
, Malherbe, Marais, Minnaar (Mesnard), Nel (Nell), Nortje (Nortier),
PienaarPienaar is a surname of Huguenot origin that is particularly common in South Africa. It may refer to:*Andries Albertus Pienaar, Pienaar is a surname of Huguenot origin (originally Pinard) that is particularly common in South Africa. It may refer to:*Andries Albertus Pienaar, Pienaar is a surname...
, Rossouw
RousseauRousseau is a French surname and may refer to:Arts* Eugène Rousseau , French glass and ceramics artist* Eugene Rousseau , American saxophonist* Frederick Rousseau , French musician...
, Taljard (Taillard), TerBlanche,
TheronTheron, originally Greek pronounced THER-on meaning "Hunter", or French pronounced THE-ro, may refer to:*Theron of Acragas, a 5th century BC tyrant of Acragas, Sicily.*Therons are a race of fictional aliens in the Dan Dare stories....
, Viljoen (Villon) and Visagie (Visage).
The wine industry in South Africa owed a significant debt to the Huguenots, many of whom had vineyards in France.
North America
Barred from settling in
New FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763...
, many Huguenots nevertheless moved to
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
, settling instead in the Dutch colony of
New NetherlandNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
(later incorporated into New York and New Jersey), as well as the
Thirteen ColoniesThe Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783...
of Great Britain and
Nova ScotiaThe "Foreign Protestants" were a group of immigrants to Nova Scotia in the mid-18th century and the ethnonymical basis behind the name "New Brunswick", as well as support behind naming "Prince Edward Island" for a representative of the Braunschweiger dynasty....
. A number of New Amsterdam's families were of Huguenot origin, often having emigrated to the Netherlands in the previous century. The Huguenot congregation was formally established in 1628 as L'Église française à la Nouvelle-Amsterdam
. This parish continues today as L'Eglise du Saint-Esprit, part of the Episcopal (Anglican) communion still welcoming Francophone New Yorkers from all over the world. Services are still conducted in French for a Francophone parish community, and members of the Huguenot Society of America.
Huguenot immigrants founded
New Paltz, New YorkNew Paltz may refer to:*New Paltz , New York*New Paltz , New York*State University of New York at New Paltz...
, which has
the oldest street in the current United States of AmericaThe Huguenot Street Historic District is located near downtown New Paltz, New York, approximately north of New York City. The seven stone houses and several accompanying structures in the district were built in the early 18th century by Huguenot settlers fleeing discrimination and religious...
with the original stone houses, and
New Rochelle, New YorkNew Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing Catholic pogroms in France...
(named after
La RochelleLa Rochelle is a city in south-western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department....
in France).
Louis DuBoisLouis DuBois was a Huguenot colonist in New Netherland who, with two of his sons and nine other refugees, founded the village of New Paltz, New York...
, son of
Chretien DuBoisChretien DuBois lived in the village of Wicres, outside of Lille. In 1659 the area was handed over by the Catholic Spanish Netherlands to the Catholic regime of Louis XIV, who imposed high taxes on the middle classes and cruelly persecuted the Protestant dissidents.Chretien du Bois is said to have...
, was one of the original Huguenot settlers in this area. There was Huguenot settlement on the
south shoreRossville is the name of a neighborhood of Staten Island, New York, located to the west of Prince's Bay, on the island's South Shore.-Early History of the Area:...
of Staten Island, New York in 1692. The present-day neighborhood of
HuguenotHuguenot is the name of a neighborhood located on the South Shore of Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA.Originally named Bloomingview, its present name is derived from the Huguenots, led by Daniel Perrin, who settled in the area during the late 17th century and early 18th...
was named for those early settlers.
Some Huguenot immigrants settled in Central Pennsylvania. There, they assimilated with the predominately
Pennsylvania GermanThe Pennsylvania Dutch are the descendants of Germanic peoples who emigrated to the U.S. , from Germany and The Low Countries prior to 1800. The Dutch are generally regarded as one of several Germanic peoples...
settlers.
Some of the settlers chose the Virginia Colony (John Broache is one on record), and formed communities in present-day
Chesterfield CountyChesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2006, its population was estimated to be 306,000, an increase of over 35,000 since 2000. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...
and at the falls of the James River. They settled at what is called Manakintown, an abandoned Monacan village now located in
Powhatan CountyPowhatan County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is named for the most prominent local leader of the Native Americans at the time the British Colony of Virginia was established at Jamestown in 1607...
about west of downtown
Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, where some descendants continue to reside. On May 12, 1705, the
Virginia General AssemblyThe Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members, and an upper house, the Senate of Virginia, with 40 members...
passed an act to naturalize the 148 Huguenots resident at Manakintown.
The
Huguenot Memorial BridgeHuguenot Memorial Bridge is located in Henrico County and the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It carries State Route 147 across the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Huguenot Memorial Bridge is located in Henrico County and the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It carries State Route...
across the
James RiverThe James River in the U.S. state of Virginia is a long river, including its Jackson River source. It drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million people...
and Huguenot Road was named in their honor, as were many local features, including several schools, including
Huguenot High SchoolHuguenot High School, part of the Richmond Public Schools system, is a high school located in Richmond, Virginia, with grades 9-12.Huguenot High School was named in honor of the Huguenots, French Protestants who emigrated to the English Virginia Colony beginning in the early 18th century.-Land for...
.
Many Huguenots also settled in the area around the current site of
CharlestonCharleston is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the largest city and county seat of Charleston County. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Towne, Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of...
,
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a U.S. state that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was...
. In 1685, Rev. Elie Prioleau from the town of Pons in France settled in what was then called Charlestown. He became pastor of the first Huguenot church in North America in that city. The French Huguenot Church of Charleston, which remains independent, is the oldest continuously active Huguenot congregation in the United States today. L'Eglise du Saint-Esprit in NY is older, founded in 1628, but left the French Reformed movement in 1804 to become part of the Episcopal Church in America.
Most of the Huguenot congregations (or individuals) in North America eventually affiliated with other Protestant denominations, such as the
Presbyterian Church (USA)The Presbyterian Church or PC is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed family of Protestantism, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
,
Episcopal ChurchThe Episcopal Church , also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America , is the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States, Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
,
United Church of ChristThe United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed tradition. The UCC formed in 1957 with the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches...
, Reformed Churches, the
Reformed BaptistThe name Reformed Baptist refers both to a distinct Christian denomination, and to a description of theological leaning. Not all churches or individuals that are Reformed in doctrine identify themselves as Reformed Baptist....
s and the Mennonite Church.
American Huguenots readily married outside their immediate French Huguenot communities, leading to rapid assimilation. They made a contribution to American economic life, especially as merchants and artisans in the late Colonial and early Federal periods. One contribution was the establishment of the Brandywine powder mills by
E.I. du PontÉleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours , known as Irénée du Pont, or E.I. du Pont, was a French-born Huguenot chemist and industrialist who immigrated to the United States in 1799 and founded the gunpowder manufacturer, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company...
, a former student of Lavoisier.
Paul ReverePaul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution.He was glorified after his death for his role as a messenger in the battles of Lexington and Concord, and Revere's name and his "midnight ride" are well-known in the United States as a patriotic symbol...
was descended from Huguenot refugees, as were
Henry LaurensHenry Laurens was an American merchant and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress Laurens succeeded John Hancock as President of the Second Continental Congress. Laurens ran the largest slave...
, who signed the Declaration of Independence for South Carolina;
Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher...
,
Jack JouettJohn "Jack" Jouett, Jr. was a politician and a hero of the American Revolution, known as the "Paul Revere of the South" for his late night ride to warn Thomas Jefferson, then the Governor of Virginia, and the Virginia legislature of coming British cavalry who had been sent to capture them...
made the ride from Cuckoo Tavern to warn Thomas Jefferson and others that Tarleton and his men were on their way to arrest him and the others for crimes against the king; and a number of other leaders of the American Revolution and later statesmen.
The Netherlands
Some Huguenots fought in the Low Countries alongside the Dutch against Spain during the first years of the
Dutch RevoltThe Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands , was the partially successful revolt of the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries against the Spanish Empire. It led to the formation of the independent Dutch state of the Netherlands and marked the beginning of the Eighty Years' War...
. The Dutch Republic rapidly became a haven of choice for Huguenot exiles. Early ties were already visible in the Apologie of
William the SilentWilliam I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born into the House...
, condemning the Spanish Inquisition and written by his court reverend Huguenot Pierre L'Oyseleur, lord of Villiers.
Louise de ColignyLouise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...
, daughter of the murdered Huguenot leader
Gaspard de ColignyLord Gaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon held the office of Admiral of France and is best remembered as an austerely disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...
, had married
William the SilentWilliam I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born into the House...
, leader of the Dutch (Calvinist) revolt against Spanish (Catholic) rule. And as both spoke French in everyday life, their court church in the
PrinsenhofThe Prinsenhof in Delft in The Netherlands is an urban palace built in the Middle Ages as a monastery. Later it served as a residence for William the Silent . The building still exists and now houses the municipal museum...
in
DelftSee also: Delft, Cape Town, Delft IslandDelft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands...
held services in French, a practice still continued to today. The Prinsenhof is now one of the remaining 14 active Walloon churches of the
Dutch Reformed ChurchDutch Reformed Church was one of many branches of churches established during the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the sixteenth century. While the Dutch Reformed Church was based in the Netherlands, other churches holding similar theological views were founded in France, Switzerland, Germany,...
.
The ties between Huguenots and the Dutch Republic's military and political leadership, the
House of Orange-NassauThe House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years'...
, existing since the early days of the Dutch Revolt explains the many early settlements of Huguenots in the Dutch Republic's colonies around
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
in South-Africa and the
New NetherlandNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
colony in North America.
Stadtholder William III of Orange, who later became King of England, emerged as the strongest opponent of Louis XIV, after Louis' attack on the Dutch Republic in 1672. He formed the League of Augsburg as a coalition in opposition to Louis. Consequently many Huguenots saw the wealthy and Calvinist Dutch Republic, leading the opposition against Louis XIV, as the most attractive country for exile after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. They also found established many more French speaking Calvinist churches there.
The Dutch Republic received the largest group of Huguenot refugees with an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict. Amongst them were 200 clergy. This was a huge influx, the entire population of the Dutch Republic amounted to ca. 2 million at that time.
Around 1700 it is estimated that near 25% of the Amsterdam population was Huguenot. Amsterdam and the area of West-Frisia were the first areas providing full citizens rights to Huguenots in 1705, followed by the entire Dutch Republic in 1715. Huguenots married with Dutch from the outset.
One of the most prominent Huguenots refugees to the Netherlands was
Pierre BaylePierre Bayle was a French philosopher and writer.Bayle was a self-pronounced Protestant and as a fideist he advocated a separation between the spheres of faith and reason, on the grounds of God being incomprehensible to man...
, who started teaching in Rotterdam, while publishing his multi-volume masterpiece Historical and Critical Dictionary, which became one of the one hundred foundational texts that formed the first collection of the US
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
.
Most Huguenot descendents in the Netherlands today are recognisable by French family names with typical Dutch given names. Due to their early ties with the Dutch Revolt's leadership and even participation in the revolt, parts of the Dutch
patriciateElite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant group within a large society, having a privileged status perceived as being envied by others of a lower line of order.The elite at the top of the social strata...
are of Huguenot descent.
Britain and Ireland
An estimated 50,000 Protestant Walloons and Huguenots fled to England, about 10,000 of whom moved on to Ireland. In relative terms, this could be the largest wave of immigration of a single community into Britain ever. A leading Huguenot theologian and writer who led the exiled community in London,
Andrew LortieAndrew Lortie was a leading Huguenot Protestant theologian, author and emigre leader, born in France and resident of London at his death, heading the French church there....
(born André Lortie), became known for articulating Huguenot criticism of the
Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic...
and
transubstantiationIn Roman Catholic theology, "transubstantiation" means the change of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.Some Greek confessions use the term "transubstantiation" , but most Orthodox...
.
Of these refugees, upon landing on the
KentKent , originally Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent...
coast, many gravitated towards
CanterburyCanterbury lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent, in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, then the county's Calvinist hub, where many Walloon and Huguenot families were granted
asylumRight of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or Church sanctuaries...
.
Edward VIEdward VI became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestant ruler. During Edward’s reign, the realm was governed by a...
granted them the whole of the Western crypt of
Canterbury CathedralCanterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion...
for worship. This privilege in 1825 shrank to the south aisle and in 1895 to the former
chantryChantry is the English term for the establishment of an institutional chapel on private land or within a greater church, where a priest would celebrate Mass. The same term is also used for the endowment itself. The word derives from the Latin cantaria, meaning 'licence to sing mass'...
chapel of the
Black PrinceEdward, Prince of Wales, was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, and father to King Richard II of England. He was called Edward of Woodstock in his early life, after his birthplace, and has more recently been popularly known as The Black Prince...
, where services are still held in French according to the reformed tradition every Sunday at 3pm. Other evidence of the Walloons and Huguenots in Canterbury includes a block of houses in Turnagain Lane where weavers' windows survive on the top floor, and 'the Weavers', a
half-timberedTimber framing , or half-timbering, is the method of creating framed structures of heavy timber jointed together with pegged mortise and tenon joints.- Naming :...
house by the river (now a restaurant - see illustration above). The house derives its name from a weaving school which was moved there in the last years of the 19th century, resurrecting the use to which it had been put between the 16th century and about 1830. Many of the refugee community were weavers, but naturally some practised other occupations necessary to sustain the community distinct from the indigenous population, this separation being a condition of their initial acceptance in the City. They also settled elsewhere in Kent, particularly
SandwichSandwich is a historic town in Kent, south-east England. It was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval buildings. While once a major port, it is now two miles from the sea, its historic centre preserved.....
, Faversham and
MaidstoneMaidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
- towns in which there used to be refugee churches.
The
French Protestant Church of LondonThe French Protestant Church of London is a Huguenot Protestant church in Soho Square, London. It is a registered charity under English law....
was established by
Royal CharterIn medieval Europe, royal charters were used to create cities . The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was "founded", regardless of when the locality originally began to be settled.At one time a royal charter was the only way in which an incorporated body could be...
in 1550. It is now at
Soho SquareSoho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, whose statue stands in the square. At the centre of the garden, there is a distinctive half-timbered gardener's hut. During the...
.
Huguenot refugees flocked to
ShoreditchShoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east north east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in large numbers. They established a major
weavingWeaving is the textile art in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads, called the warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a fabric or cloth...
industry in and around
SpitalfieldsSpitalfields is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday UpMarket, and...
(see Petticoat Lane and the
TentergroundA tenterground or tenter ground was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called tenters and stretched taut so that the cloth would dry flat and square....
), and in
WandsworthWandsworth is an inner suburb of London on the south bank of the River Thames in south-west London. Wandsworth takes its name from the River Wandle, which enters the Thames at Wandsworth. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Wandsworth appears in...
. The
Old Truman BreweryThe Old Truman Brewery is the former Black Eagle brewery complex located around Brick Lane in the Spitalfields area, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets...
, then known as the Black Eagle Brewery, appeared in 1724. The fleeing of Huguenot refugees from
ToursTours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
had virtually wiped out the great
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
mills they had built.
At the same time other Huguenots arriving in England settled in
BedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region....
, which was (at the time) the main centre of England's
LaceLace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
industry. Huguenots greatly contributed to the development of lace-making in Bedfordshire, with many families settling in
CranfieldCranfield is a village in north-west Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It has a population of around 6,000, and is within the district of Central Bedfordshire.-Amenities:...
,
BedfordBedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town of Kempston...
and
LutonLuton is a town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 32 miles north of London. Luton, along with its near neighbours of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of over 230,000.Luton is home to non-league Luton Town Football Club, whose...
.
Some of these immigrants moved to
NorwichNorwich is a city in Norfolk, East Anglia which is in Eastern England. It is the regional administrative centre and county city of Norfolk...
which had accommodated an earlier settlement of Walloon weavers; they added to the existing immigrant population which made up about a third of the population of the city.
Many Huguenots settled in Ireland during the
Plantations of IrelandPlantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were established throughout the country by the confiscation of lands occupied by Gaelic clans and Hiberno-Norman dynasties, but principally in the provinces of Munster and Ulster. The lands were then granted by Crown authority to colonists from Britain...
. Huguenot regiments fought for
William of OrangeWilliam III was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland, and as William II over Scotland...
in the
Williamite war in IrelandThe Williamite War in Ireland, also known as the Jacobite War in Ireland and in Ireland as Cogadh an Dá Rí or The War of the Two Kings, was the opening conflict following the deposition of King James II in 1688 when he attempted to regain the throne of his Three Kingdoms from his daughter Mary II...
, for which they were rewarded with land grants and titles, many settling in
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
. Some of them took their skills to
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
and assisted in the founding of the Irish
linenLinen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
industry, particularly in the
LisburnLisburn is the third-largest city in Northern Ireland. It is situated south-west of Belfast on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down...
area. Numerous signs of Huguenot presence can still be seen with names still in use, and with areas of the main towns and cities named after the people who settled there, for instance the Huguenot District in Cork City. There is also a French Church in Portarlington, County Laois which dates back to 1696, and was built to serve the new Huguenot community.
Germany and Scandinavia
Huguenots refugees found a safe haven in the Lutheran and Reformed states in Germany and Scandinavia. Nearly 44,000 Huguenots established themselves in Germany, particularly in
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
where many of their descendents rose to positions of prominence. Several congregations were founded, such as the
FredericiaFredericia is a town located in Fredericia municipality in the eastern part of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, in a sub-region known locally as Trekanten, or The Triangle. It was founded in 1650 by Frederick III, after whom it was named...
(Denmark),
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
,
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
,
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
,
FrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000. The urban area had an estimated population of 2.26 million in 2001...
,
HelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin...
,
EmdenEmden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
.
Around 1700, a significant proportion of Berlin's population was French-speaking, and the Berlin Huguenots preserved the French language in their church services for nearly a century. They ultimately decided to switch to German in protest against the occupation of Prussia by
NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
in 1806-07.
Prince Louis de Condé, along with his sons Daniel and Osias, arranged with Count Ludwig von Nassau-Saarbrucken to establish a Huguenot community in present-day Saarland in 1604. The Count was a supporter of mercantilism and welcomed technically-skilled immigrants into his lands regardless of their religious persuasions. The Condés established a thriving glass-making works which provided wealth to the principality for many years, and other founding families created enterprises including textiles and other traditional Huguenot occupations in France. The community and its congregation remain active to this day, with many of the founding families still present in the region. Members of this community emigrated to the United States in the 1890s.
In
Bad KarlshafenBad Karlshafen is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Diemel and Weser rivers, 15 km south of Höxter, and 37 km north of Kassel.-History:...
, Hessen, Germany is the Huguenot Museum and Huguenot archive. The collection includes family histories, a library, and a picture archive.
Effects
The exodus of Huguenots from France created a
brain drainBrain drain or human capital flight is a large emigration of individuals with technical skills or knowledge, normally due to conflict, lack of opportunity, political instability, or health risks. Brain drain is usually regarded as an economic cost, since emigrants usually take with them the...
, as many Huguenots had occupied important places in society, from which the kingdom did not fully recover for years. The French crown's refusal to allow non-Catholics to settle in New France may help to explain that colony's slow rate of population growth compared to that of the neighboring British colonies, which opened settlement to religious dissenters. By the time of the
French and Indian WarThe French and Indian War, also known as the War of the Conquest or referred as part of the larger conflict known as the Seven Years' War, was a war fought in North America between 1754 and 1763...
, there was a sizeable population of Huguenot descent living in the British colonies, many of whom participated in the British conquest of New France in 1759-60.
Frederick William, Elector of BrandenburgFrederick William was the Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Prussia from 1640 until his death. He was of the House of Hohenzollern and is popularly known as the Great Elector because of his military and political skill...
invited Huguenots to settle in his realms, and a number of their descendants rose to positions of prominence in Prussia. Several prominent German military, cultural, and political figures in subsequent history, including poet
Theodor FontaneTheodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many to be the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.-Youth:Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family...
, General
Hermann von FrançoisHermann von François was a German General der Infanterie during World War I, and is best known for his key role in several German victories on the Eastern Front in 1914.-Early life and military career:...
, the hero of the First World War
Battle of TannenbergThe Battle of Tannenberg was in August 1914 a decisive engagement between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in the first days of World War I, fought by the Russian First and Second Armies and the German Eighth Army between 23 August and 30 August 1914. The battle resulted in the almost...
, and famed U-boat captain Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, trace their ancestry to the Huguenot refugees from France. The last Prime Minister of the (East)
German Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic was a Communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin...
,
Lothar de MaizièreLothar de Maizière is a German conservative politician. In 1990, he served as the only democratically elected Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic, and as such was the last leader of an independent East Germany....
, is also a scion of a Huguenot family.
The persecution and flight of the Huguenots greatly damaged the reputation of Louis XIV abroad, particularly in England; the two kingdoms, which had enjoyed peaceful relations prior to 1685, became bitter enemies and fought against each other in a series of wars (called the "
Second Hundred Years' WarThe Second Hundred Years' War is a periodization used by some historians to describe the series of military conflicts between the Kingdom of England and France that occurred from about 1689 to 1815...
" by some historians) from 1689 onward.
End of persecution and restoration of French citizenship
Persecution of Protestants continued in France after 1724, but ended in 1787 with the
Edict of TolerationAn edict of toleration is a declaration made by a government or ruler and states that members of a given religion will not be persecuted for engaging in their religious practices and traditions...
. Three years later, during the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, Protestants were finally granted full citizenship.
The December 15, 1790 Law stated : "All persons born in a foreign country and descending in any degree of a French man or woman expatriated for religious reason are declared French nationals (naturels français) and will benefit from rights attached to that quality if they come back to France, establish their domicile there and take the civic oath." This might have been, historically, the first law recognising a
right of returnThe term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return and re-enter his country of origin...
.
Article 4 of the June 26, 1889 Nationality Law stated : "Descendants of families proscribed by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes will continue to benefit from the benefit of the December 15, 1790 Law, but on the condition that a nominal decree should be issued for every petitioner. That decree will only produce its effects for the future."
Foreign descendants of Huguenots lost the automatic right to French citizenship in 1945 (by force of the ordonnance du 19 octobre 1945, revoking the 1889 Nationality Law)."Ordonnace du 19 octobre 1945" also states in article 3 " This application does not however affect the validity of past acts by the person or rights acquired by third parties on the basis of previous laws."
In the 1920s and 1930s, members of the extreme-right
Action FrançaiseThe Action Française is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
movement expressed strong animus against Protestants, as well as against
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s, and freemasons - all three being regarded as groups supporting the French Republic, which Action Française sought to overthrow.
Protestants in France today number about one million, or about 1.7% of the population.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35454.htm. They are most concentrated in the
CévennesThe Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...
region in the south.
French
A number of French churches are descended from the Huguenots, including:
- Reformed Church of France
The Reformed Church of France is a denomination in France . It is the original, and largest, Protestant denomination in France....
American
- Eight American Presidents (George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and Lyndon Johnson) had significant proven Huguenot ancestry, as did founding fathers Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher...
, John JayJohn Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, President of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779 and, from 1789 to 1795, the first Chief Justice of the United States...
, and Paul ReverePaul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution.He was glorified after his death for his role as a messenger in the battles of Lexington and Concord, and Revere's name and his "midnight ride" are well-known in the United States as a patriotic symbol...
. Twelve other U.S. Presidents had credible but unproven claims to Huguenot ancestors.
- Davy Crockett
David Crockett was a celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician; referred to in popular culture as Davy Crockett and often by the epithet “King of the Wild Frontier.” He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas...
, celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician was of Huguenot stock. The Crocketts were the descendants of Huguenots who fled France in the 17th Century and migrated to Ireland. Crockett is an Anglicized version of the name "de Crocketagne".
- Francis Marion
Francis Marion was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven...
, American Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , also sometimes known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers...
guerilla fighter, was of predominantly Huguenot heritage.
- In 1924 a commemorative half dollar, known as the Huguenot-Walloon Half Dollar, was coined in the United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to celebrate the 300th anniversary of their initial settlement in what is now the United States. One Huguenot colonist was a silversmith named Apollos Rivoire, who would later anglicize his name to Paul Revere. He would, still later, give his name and his profession to his son, Paul ReverePaul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution.He was glorified after his death for his role as a messenger in the battles of Lexington and Concord, and Revere's name and his "midnight ride" are well-known in the United States as a patriotic symbol...
, the famous United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
revolutionary.
- A neighborhood in New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
's borough of Staten IslandStaten Island is a borough of New York City in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
is named HuguenotHuguenot is the name of a neighborhood located on the South Shore of Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA.Originally named Bloomingview, its present name is derived from the Huguenots, led by Daniel Perrin, who settled in the area during the late 17th century and early 18th...
, and the city of New Rochelle, New YorkNew Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing Catholic pogroms in France...
, is named after La RochelleLa Rochelle is a city in south-western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department....
, a former Huguenot stronghold in France.
Other
- Huguenot refugees in Prussia
Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
are thought to have contributed significantly to the development of the textileA textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands...
industry in that state.
Symbol
The
Huguenot crossThe Huguenot cross is a Christian religious symbol originating in France and is one of the more recognisable and popular symbols of the evangelical reformed faith. It is commonly found today as a piece of jewellery or engraved on buildings connected with the Reformed Church in France...
is the distinctive emblem of the Huguenots (croix huguenote
). It is now an official symbol of the Eglise des Protestants reformé
(French Protestant church). Huguenot descendants sometimes display this symbol as a sign of reconnaissance (recognition) between them.
See also
- List of Huguenots
- Huguenot, New York
Huguenot, New York may refer to:* Huguenot, Orange County, New York - a hamlet in the town of Deerpark, New York* Huguenot, Staten Island, a neighborhood located in Staten Island, New York...
- Huguenot Street Historic District
The Huguenot Street Historic District is located near downtown New Paltz, New York, approximately north of New York City. The seven stone houses and several accompanying structures in the district were built in the early 18th century by Huguenot settlers fleeing discrimination and religious...
Further reading
- Baird, Charles W. "History of the Huguenot Emigration to America." Genealogical Publishing Company, Published: 1885, Reprinted: 1998, ISBN 978-0-8063-0554-7
External links