Article 4 LOUIS XIV AND THE HUGUENOTS Roger Mettam HISTORIANS HAVE DEVOTED MUCH Further battles with the Huguenot 1661. Yet nearly twenty years were to attention to the decision of Louis XIV, minority dominated the subsequent elapse before severe pressure was in 1685, to revoke the Edict of Nantes reign of Louis XIIIuntil, after the siege exerted upon the Huguenots to abjure "'nd thereby deny the French Protes­ and fall of the last Protestant strong­ their faith. nts - the Huguenots - any role in his hold at La Rochelle, another agree­ In his memoires for 1661, Louis XIV kingdom. The original Edict had been ment was reached in the 1629 Grace of listed the problems facing the crown issued in 1598 by his grandfather, Alais, which severely restricted the on his assumption of personal power, Henri IV, and was undoubtedly an access of Huguenots to offices and and he devoted some time to the uneasy compromise, designed to end removed their right to garrison places religious issues which concerned him. the so-called 'wars of religion' which of surety. Since that date, they largely The Jansenists and the defiant had divided Frenchmen since 1560. It ceased to be a problem for the French Cardinal de Retz, with his militant insisted that the Roman religion was government. They played a con­ supporters among the parish clergy of the true faith of the country, but it spicuous part in commercial and Paris, were all designated as danger­ allowed the presence of Protestants, industrial life, showed no signs of ous elements in society, but the permitting them to become royal offi­ disloyalty during the civil strife of the Huguenots were not even mentioned cials and to retain certain places of Frondes in 1648-53, and their only in this context. Later on in his text he surety which they had the right to crime was therefore to be an heretical does refer to them, and hopes that in defend militarily. The Edict was there­ sect in the Catholic dominions of the the long term this heresy canbe elimi­ fore a recognition that none of the Most Christian King, as the French nated. Yet Louis stresses that this must political and religious groups who monarchs always styled themselves. be achieved by gentle persuasion and had fought in the civil wars could Heterodoxy was always unwel­ that the rights previously granted to achieve a total victory, and that an come in any monarchy where the this minority must be respected. It accommodation was vital. Yet to the power of the ruler rested partly on a seems, therefore, that the decision to moderate Catholics and to the religious basis, but the adherents of revoke the Edict of Nantes and force extreme papalists, it went too far in its the RPR, the religion preiendue rqor­the Huguenots into submission was tolerance of these heretics, while to mee, as it was generally known at the taken, not at the beginning of the the Huguenots it was less than they time, gave Louis XIV no reason to feel personal rule, butat a muchlater date. had expected from a King who until that he was harbouring an actively Historians have selected a number recently had been the leader of their seditious group within his realm. If it of villains on whom to blame this cause. Henri IV had been compelled was their mere existence which was outrageous act of persecution, for that to convert to Catholicism in order to offensive to this Catholic sovereign, is the emotive language they have secure his throne, but his Catholic then it might be expected that he employed. To Protestant scholars, .ibjects suspected his sincerity and would have taken action against them especially in England and the Nether­ the Protestants regarded his change of as soon as he took over the reins of lands, it bore the worst hallmarks of heart as a betrayal. power on the death of Mazarin in Catholic absolutism, but some French First published in History Today, May 1985, pp. 15-21. Reproduced by kind permission of History Today, Ltd., 83-84 Berwick 22 Street, London W1V 3PJ England. s .~- 4. Louis XIV and the Huguenots writers have regarded it with little See, and might be somewhat mol­ as yet one more arrogant act by a more favour. It caused the exodus lified by a crusade against heresy? sovereign who had been violating the from France of foreigners who had Whatever the calculated risks of rights and liberties of the Church for worked hard to boost French initiating the persecution of the many years. Indeed this one action economic life, the exileof manyFrench­ Huguenots, there were a number of did more than any other to harm the men who had been similarly indus­ consequences which could not have reputation of Louis XIV in his own trious, and the loss of men with great been foreseen in 1685, even though country and in many parts of Europe. military expertise, both in fighting historians have added them to the It is obviously vital for historians to and in the manufacture of new charges against Louis XIV when they discover why such a repressive deci­ weaponry, most of whom now placed have considered the revocation and sion was taken and who was respons­ their talents at the disposal of enemy its aftermath. First of all, Europe ible for it. rulers. Worst of all, it did not solve the seemed peaceful. The Dutch War of Protestant problem within the king­ 1672-9, in which the French had been * * * dom because, despite fierce and forced to fight the Holy Roman If the Huguenots had been hard­ socially divisive persecution, stub­ Emperor, the King of Spain and many working and docile subjects since born enclaves of Huguenots remained powerful German princes, when they 1629, the memory of their earlier in the frontier provinces until long had hoped to confront only the tiny misdeeds was still vivid. This was an after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, Dutch Republic, had been far from age when much attention was paid to while many of those who had con­ successful for Louis XIV. Yet the fol­ the history of France, and in particular verted awaited their revenge. lowing years had been more peaceful, to the reign of Henri IV and his Some chroniclers of these dramatic and in 1684 the Truce of Ratisbon was success in ending the 'wars of relig­ events have placed the principal signed by France, Spain and the ion'. In fact religion had been onlyone responsibility upon the King himself. Empire, which committed them to a element in the sixteenth-century civil The Edict of Fontainebleau of 1685, further peace for twenty years. The wars, although warring aristocratic which revoked the Nantes agree­ French were therefore reassured that factions and provincial separatists ment, was based on the premise that, the Emperor had no aggressive had adopted sectarian labels when as the recent policy of conversion had designs against them, and would con­ they were politically convenient. The been overwhelmingly successful, centrate on the Turkish threat to his most enduring memories of there was no further need for an edict imperial lands. Another cause for Huguenot participation in those tur­ of toleration because there were no celebration was the accession of a bulent decades were that some of Protestants remaining. Surely, it has Catholic King, James II, to the throne them had contemplated the dismem­ been argued, the King did not really of England, with no indication that he berment of the kingdom, hoping to believe that. If he did not, then the would be forced to vacate it a mere establish a Protestant state in the revocation was clearly designed to three years later. The next great Euro­ southern and western provinces countenance persecution. Yet kings pean conflict, the Nine Years War of where they had been dominant; that are always at the mercy of their advis­ 1688-97, was not even thought to be they had also allied with foreign ers, and perhaps it is they who should likely. Also, the possible exodus of enemies of the crown; and that they be blamed, either for misleading their many Protestant Frenchmen was not had formulated political theories sovereign or for being themselves envisaged, because the royal minis­ which were unashamedly revolutio­ misled about the number of converts. ters were confident that their newly nary. To moderate Catholic French­ Madame de Maintenon, that most fortified frontiers were as capable of men, there was little to choose bet­ pious of royal mistresses, has also keeping citizens within France as they ween the Protestants and the ultra­ been suspected of influencing the were adequate for preventing unwel­ papists, for both groups seemed to King, as have his confessor and the come enemeies from violating her owe their prime allegiance to an inter­ other Jesuits. Some writers have sing­ territorial sovereignty. national system which appeared to led out the war minister, Louvois, Historical chance apart, the gov­ threaten the government of France. suggesting that he was reluctant to ernment was nevertheless guilty of After the Massacre of St Barth­ disband the army which he had complacency in its foreign policy dur­ olomew in 1572, Protestant writers assembled with such difficulty for the ing the 1680s. Louis had always pro­ had elaborated ideas of a social con­ recent Dutch War of 1672-9 and saw a tested the legitimacy of his diplomatic tract between king and people which policy of forced conversion as a way of claims and his military adventures, could be revoked if the sovereign employing the troops in peacetime.