France in the 18th century would have defeated Great Britain as the
super power of the world if King Louis XIV did not introduced the Edict of
Fontainebleau, a declaration of persecution of Protestant within his realm.
The Huguenots
The Edict of Fontainebleu targeted a religious sector of French society called Huguenots or French protestants and they traced their origins to the 16th century. At that period, France witnessed a great divide in society. Already, the
French people had seen division based on wealth and birth – between the
nobility and peasantry. With the rise of Protestantism in Europe, another
cleavage rifted the country apart between religious beliefs. John Calvin led
the spread of Protestantism in France and gained followers among the wealthy
and educated. The Huguenots, which the French Protestants came to be known, and
their high status bought them toleration within the Catholic majority Kingdom.
By 1562, their number stood about 2 million worshiping in over 2,000 churches
within the country.
Wave of religious violence, however, hit the late decades of the 1600's. Persecution of Protestants in Catholic Kingdoms and vice versa spread
across Europe and France was no exception. In 1562, the Edict of St. Germaine
limited Huguenot activities outside towns and only in daytime. This placed them
in danger of bandit attacks. Worst, the King also barred them from arming
themselves fearing a revolt. Soon Catholics began to attack Huguenots that sow the seeds
of hatred and violence between the 2 religions.
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| Masscare of Protestants in Merindol (1545) |
Protestants in Orleans revolted in April 1562. The revolt sparked a
wave of massacres of Huguenots in Sens and Tours. Thousands died and the Wars
of Religion began.
The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre revealed the hand of the royal
family in the war. Huguenots entered Paris under a pretense of peace and safety
only to be discovered later as false. On the night between August 23 and 24,
1572, Catholic mobs with the instigation of the Queen Mother Catherine de
Medici slaughtered Huguenots in an orgy of violence. Across the country and in
major cities, violent Catholic militias did the same. Over the period of
August 23 and 26, 70,000 Huguenots perished violently.
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| The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of French Protestants (1572) |
The Edict of Nantes
The Wars of Religion persisted for decades. Huguenots either fell in
battle or fled the Kingdom for England, the Netherlands or some of the
Protestant German States. Fighting continued until the reign of King Henry IV.
The Edict of Nantes marked the end of the Wars of Religion. King Henry
IV from the Huguenot Bourbon family converted to Catholicism to receive the
crown of France. As an act of reconciliation, he promulgated the Edict of
Nantes on April 1598. Under the edict, Huguenots regained civil liberties and
most importantly freedom of worship.
After the Edict of Nantes, Huguenots and Catholics began to live in order
in France for a while. After the death of Henry IV, however, state policies
continued to stifle on the activities and power of the Huguenots. Rebellions by
Huguenots became common, but never rose to the same level of violence as the
Wars of Religion.
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| Henry IV |
King Louis XIV
King Louis XIV ascended to the throne in 1641. His reigned marked the
height of the power of the Kingdom of France. As the Sun King, he imposed his
will throughout the realm and subjugated the power of the nobility. Under his
reign, however, Huguenots once more saw a persecution that changed France.
Louis wanted to unite the country under one religion – the Catholic
religion. Harassment of Huguenots began to worsen in 1680’s. The military
became an instrument of religious persecution with the policy of Dragonnades.
It began in 1681 in the town of Poitou and meant sending a unit of
rowdy and wild dragoons to stay in a Huguenot dominated town or city. The
dragoons then act violently against the townspeople, stealing goods and
furniture, destroying houses, and abusing bystanders. Only by converting back
to Catholicism that a population spared themselves from the terror. Hence, the
mere news of Dragoons coming in a Huguenot town prompted mass conversion.
In the middle of 1680’s, Louis continued to descent into Catholic
fanaticism. Much driven by his aging and by his new extremely pious eloquent
influential wife Madame de Maintenon. Her advice led to Louis to revoke the
Edict of Nantes and to enact the Edict of Fontainebleau.
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| King Louis XIV |
Edict of Fontainebleau
The Kingdom’s anti-Huguenot sentiment consolidated in 1685 with the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the declaration of the Edict of
Fontainebleau. The 12 article edict organized state policies against Huguenots.
It banned the worship of Protestant belief and punished those converted
Huguenots returning to Protestantism. It also denied the entry of new
Protestant immigrants and expelled Huguenot pastors in the country. It closed
Protestants schools and confiscated Protestant church holdings. Louis just
uprooted Protestantism from the country.
The Edict led to the treatment of Huguenots as second class citizens.
The government sent 12,000 Huguenots into concentration camps. They lived in
poor conditions that led to majority dying of starvation and maltreatment.
The effect of the Edict of Fontainebleau led to fear and mass
conversion. Many Huguenots choose to convert rather than face terrible violence
and abuse. However, not all decided to turn their backs to Protestantism and
decided another option – flee.
Brain Drain
As a result of the Fontainebleau Edict, many Huguenots left France for a better life in others. Around 200,000
did so and found themselves in Protestant states such as England, the
Netherlands, and some of the German Protestant states. Many of the recipients of
Huguenot refugee welcomed them and benefited from their talents. France just inflicted to itself a brain drain by sending away the most talented of its
population out to its rivals.
Most the Huguenots who fled had been professionals and skilled workers.
Skilled Huguenot clock makers fled to Geneva and contributed to its rise as a
global leader in clocks. Huguenot textile weavers found themselves a new home
in England and contributed to its ascension as a major textile producer.
Huguenots soldiers gave their services to their new home country such as Henri
de Massue who served England. He fought in the side of the English in the
Spanish Succession War and granted the title of Earl of Galway as a result.
Prussia also became a major recipient of Huguenot refugees. 4,000
arrived in Berlin and they contributed in making it an economic center in the
region. Textile and porcelain among others grew in the city. Intellectuals also
found a home in the German capital. Marthe de Roucoulle, a French Huguenot,
luckily found service as a governess to the later Kings Frederick William I and
Frederick the Great.
Denis Papin a French physicist also failed to return to France after
the Edict of Fontainebleau. The native of Blois assisted Christiaan Huygens in
the 1670’s in his study of air and vacuum. In 1675, he went to London to work
with the English physicist Robert Boyle. By 1679, he invented a steam digester otherwise known as a pressure cooker along with the valve that prevented the
explosion of highly pressurized containers. By the 1680’s he had great knowledge
of steam and its power. In 1690, he invested a steam piston where a closed metal
cylinder with little water and a piston inside went over a fire. The steam
produced by the water inside lifted the piston. It became the basic design for
the steam engine.
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| Denis Papin (1689) |
If Papin returned and had the support to develop his steam piston
further, France might have been the pioneer of industrial revolution. The Edict
of Fontainebleau prevented it and Papin stood with his Protestant belief and
stayed in London until dying in obscurity in 1712. His design, however, led to
the development of the steam engine and cemented Britain as the leader of the
industrial revolution. Papin’s life paralleled the life of many talented French
who decided to offer their services and knowledge to countries who welcomed
them. The Edict of Fontainebleau killed the chance of a French 19th century.
Summing Up
The Edict of Fontainebleau was a just among a long list of
discriminatory policies aimed towards the Huguenots. For centuries they faced
violence and hardships leading to hatred of Catholics and the crown. In this
violence, only France lose as the people concentrated their minds in killing
each other rather than progress. The Edict of Nantes only established a break
from all the violence, but state sponsored persecution persisted after the
death of Henry IV.
In the reign of King Louis XIV, the Kingdom of France reached its apex,
but also sowed the seeds of its fall. In a time of great intellectual progress
and scientific development, France decided to shun once and for all the
Huguenots – most of which the Kingdom’s most skilled and intelligent belonged. Thus,
the brain drain hampered France’s economy and development leading to its
financial decline ultimately leading to the end of the Kingdom in 1789.
See also:
Bibliography:
“The ‘Dragonnades’ (1681-1685).” Musee Protestant. Accessed May 26, 2019.
URL: https://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-dragonnades-1681-1685/
“The Edict of Fontainebleau or the Revocation (1685).” Musee
Protestant. Accessed May 26, 2019. URL: https://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-edict-of-fontainebleau-or-the-revocation-1685/
History.com Editors. "Huguenots." History.com. Accessed June 2, 2019. URL: https://www.history.com/topics/france/huguenots
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