Protestants, Persecutions, and Pedagogy: The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and Its Consequences

Abstract

Three centuries have gone by since the thoroughgoing termination by the royal and Catholic government of France of the religious, educational, cultural, commercial, and personal freedom of the adherents of the Calvinist Reformed Church, or Huguenots, as they have been better known. This group, which had demonstrated outstanding achievements in all areas of life, would convert to Catholicism, practice its faith underground, resist with arms, or emigrate under adverse circumstances. The Huguenots did all of these. The historical context of the Edict of Fontainebleau (Revocation of the Edict of Nantes) by King Louis XIV, the force of the Edict itself, and the relocation of the Huguenots on three continents form the theme of this essay.