HUGUENOTS

huguenots, the name given from about the middle of the 16th century to the protestants of france. it was formerly explained as coming from the german _eidgenossen_, the designation of the people of geneva at the time when they were admitted to the swiss confederation. this explanation is now abandoned. the words _huguenot_, _huguenote_ are old french words, common in 14th and 15th-century charters. as the protestants called the catholics _papistes_, so the catholics called the protestants _huguenots_. henri estienne, one of the great savants of his time, in the introduction to his _apologie d'herodote_ (1566) gives a very clear explanation of the term _huguenots_. the protestants at tours, he says, used to assemble by night near the gate of king hugo, whom the people regarded as a spirit. a monk, therefore, in a sermon declared that the lutherans ought to be called _huguenots_ as kinsmen of king hugo, inasmuch as they would only go out at night as he did. this nickname became popular from 1560 onwards, and for a long time the french protestants were always known by it. france could not stand outside the religious movement of the 16th century. it is true that the french reform movement has often been regarded as an offshoot of lutheranism; up to i he middle of the century its adherents were known as lutherans. but it should not be forgotten that so early as 1512 jacobus faber (q.v.) of etaples published his _santi pauli epistolae xiv. ... cum commentariis_, which enunciates the cardinal doctrine of reform, justification by faith, and that in 1523 appeared his french translation of the new testament. the first protestants were those who set the teachings of the gospel against the doctrines of the roman church. as early as 1525 jacques pavannes, the hermit of livry, and shortly afterwards louis de berquin, the first martyrs, were burned at the stake. but no persecution could stop the reform movement, and on the walls of paris and even at amboise, on the very door of francis i.'s bedroom, there were found placards condemning the mass (1534). on the 29th of january 1535 an edict was published ordering the extermination of the heretics. from this edict dates the emigration of french protestants, an emigration which did not cease till the middle of the 18th century. three years later (1538) at strassburg the first french protestant church, composed of 1500 refugees, was founded. of all these exiles the most famous was john calvin (q.v.), the future leader of the movement, who fled to basel, where he is said to have written the famous _institutio christianae religionis_, preceded by a letter to francis i. in which he pleaded the cause of the reformers. the first protestant community in france was that of meaux (1546) organized on the lines of the church at strassburg of which calvin was pastor. the catholic florimond de remond paid it the beautiful tribute of saying that it seemed as though "la chretiente fut revenue en elle a sa primitive innocence." persecution, however, became more rigorous. the vaudois of cabrieres and merindol had in 1545 been massacred by the orders of jean de maynier, baron d'oppede, lieutenant-general of provence, and at paris was created a special court in the parlement, for the suppression of heretics, a court which became famous in history as the _chambre ardente_ (1549). in spite of persecution the churches became more numerous; the church at paris was founded in 1556. they realized the necessity of uniting in defence of their rights and their liberty, and in 1558 at poitiers it was decided that all the protestant churches in france should formulate by common accord a confession of faith and an ecclesiastical discipline. the church at paris was commissioned to summon the first synod, which in spite of the danger of persecution met on the 25th of may 1559. the synod of paris derived its inspiration from the constitution introduced by calvin at geneva, which has since become the model for all the presbyterian churches. ecclesiastical authority resides ultimately in the people, for the faithful select the elders who are charged with the general supervision of the church and the choice of pastors. the churches are independent units, and there can be no question of superiority among them; at the same time they have common interests and their unity must be maintained by an authority which is capable of protecting them. the association of several neighbouring churches forms a local council (_colloque_). over these stands the provincial synod, on which each church is equally represented by lay delegates and pastors. supreme authority resides in the national synod composed of representatives, lay and ecclesiastic, elected by the provincial synods. the democratic character of this constitution of elders and synods is particularly remarkable in view of the early date at which it began to flourish. the striking individuality of the huguenot character cannot be fully realized without a clear understanding of this powerful organization which contrived to reconcile individual liberty with a central authority. the synod of 1559 was the beginning of a remarkable increase in the reform movement; at that synod fifteen churches were represented, two years later, in 1561, the number increased to 2150. the parlements were powerless before this increase; thousands left the catholic church, and when it was seen that execution and popular massacre provided no solution of the difficulty the struggle was carried into the arena of national politics. on the side of the reformers were ranged some among the noblest frenchmen of the age, coligny, la noue, duplessis mornay, jean cousin, ramus, marot, ambroise pare, olivier de serres, bernard palissy, the estiennes, hotman, jean de serres, with the princess renee of france, jeanne d'albret, louise de coligny. the policy which refused liberty of conscience to the reformers and thus plunged the country into the horrors of civil war came near to causing a national catastrophe. for more than fifty years the history of the huguenots is that of france (1560-1629). francis ii., who succeeded henry ii. at the age of sixteen, married mary stuart, and fell under the domination of the queen's uncles, the guises, who were to lead the anti-reform party. the bourbons, the montmorencies, the chatillons, out of hostility to them, became the chiefs of the huguenots. the conspiracy of amboise, formed with the object of kidnapping the king (march 1560), was discovered, and resulted in the death of the plotters; it was followed by the proclamation of the edict of romorantin which laid an interdict upon the protestant religion. but the reformers had become so powerful that coligny, who was to become their most famous leader, protested in their name against this violation of liberty of conscience. the guise party caused the prince of conde to be arrested and condemned to death, but the sentence was not carried into effect, and at this moment catherine de' medici became regent on the accession of charles ix. she introduced italian methods of government, alternating between concessions and vigorous persecution, both alike devoid of sincerity. for a moment, at the colloquy of poissy (oct. 1561), at which roman catholic and protestant divines were assembled together and theodore beza played so important a part, it seemed as though a modus vivendi would be established. the attempt failed, but by the edict of january 1562, religious liberty was assured to the huguenots. this, however, was merely the prelude to civil war, the signal for which was given by the guises, who slaughtered a number of huguenots assembled for worship in a barn at vassy (march 1, 1562). the duke of guise, entering paris in triumph, transferred the court to fontainebleau by a daring _coup d'etat_ in defiance of the queen regent. it was then that conde declared "qu'on ne pouvait plus rien esperer que de dieu et ses armes," and with the huguenot leaders signed at orleans (april 11, 1562) the manifesto in which, having declared their loyalty to the crown, they stated that as good and loyal subjects they were driven to take up arms for liberty of conscience on behalf of the persecuted saints. the first civil war had already broken out; till the end of the century the history of france is that of the struggle between the huguenots upholding "the cause" (la cause) and the roman catholics fighting for the holy league (la sainte ligue). the leading events only will be related here (see also france: _history_). the huguenots lost the battle of dreux (dec. 19, 1562), the duke of guise was assassinated by poltrot de mere (feb. 18, 1563) and finally conde signed the edict of amboise which put an end to this first war. but the league gradually extended its action and catherine de' medici entered into negotiations with spain. the huguenots, seeing their danger, renewed hostilities, but after their defeat at st denis (nov. 10, 1567) and the revolt of la rochelle, peace was concluded at longjumeau (march 23, 1568). this truce lasted only a few months. pope pius v. did not cease to demand the extermination of the heretics, and the queen mother finally issued the edict of the 28th of september 1568, which put the huguenots outside the protection of the law. the huguenots once more took up arms, but were defeated at jarnac (march 13, 1569), and conde was taken prisoner and assassinated by montesquiou. but jeanne d'albret renewed the courage of the vanquished by presenting to them her son henri de bourbon, the future henry iv. coligny, whose heroic courage rose with adversity, collected the remnants of the protestant army and by a march as able as it was audacious moved on paris, and the peace of st germain was signed on the 8th of august 1570. for a moment it seemed reasonable to hope that the war was at an end. coligny had said that he would prefer to be dragged through the streets of paris than to recommence the fighting; charles ix. had realized the nobility and the patriotism of the man who wished to drive the spaniards from flanders; henri de bourbon was to marry marguerite of france. peace seemed to be assured when on the night of the 24th of august, 1572, after a council at which catherine de' medici, charles ix., the duke of anjou and other leaders of the league assisted, there occurred the treacherous massacre of st bartholomew (q.v.) in which coligny and all the leading huguenots were slain. this date marks a disastrous epoch in the history of france, the long period of triumph of the catholic reaction, during which the huguenots had to fight for their very existence. the paris massacre was repeated throughout france; few were those who were noble enough to decline to become the executioners of their friends, and the protestants were slain in thousands. the survivors resolved upon a desperate resistance. it was at this time that the huguenots were driven to form a political party; otherwise they must, like the protestants of spain, have been exterminated. this party was formed at milhau in 1573, definitely constituted at la rochelle in 1588, and lasted until the peace of alais in 1629. the delegates selected by the churches bound themselves to offer a united opposition to the violence of the enemies of god, the king and the state. it is a profound mistake to attribute to them, as their enemies have done, the intention of overthrowing the monarchy and substituting a republic. they were royalists to the core, as is shown by the sacrifices they made for the sake of setting henry iv. on the throne. it is true, however, that among themselves they formed a kind of republic which, according to the historian j. a. de thou, had its own laws dealing with civil government, justice, war, commerce, finance. they had a president called the protector of the churches, an office held first by conde and afterwards by the king of navarre up to the day on which he became king of france as henry iv. (1589). the fourth religious war, which had broken out immediately after the massacre of st bartholomew, was brought to an end by the pacification of boulogne (july 16, 1573), which granted a general amnesty, but the obstinate intolerance of the league resulted in the creation of a catholic party called "les politiques" which refused to submit to their domination and offered aid to the huguenots against the guises. the recollections of the horrors of st bartholomew's night had hastened the death of charles ix., the last of the valois; he had been succeeded by the most debauched and effeminate of monarchs, henry iii. once more war broke out. henry of guise, "le balafre," nephew of the cardinal of lorraine, became chief of the league, while the duke of anjou, the king's brother, made common cause with the huguenots. the peace of monsieur, signed on the 5th of may 1576, marked a new victory of liberty of conscience, but its effect was ephemeral; hostilities soon recommenced and lasted for many years, and only became fiercer when the duke of anjou died on the 10th of june 1584. the fact that on the death of henry iii. the crown would pass to henry of navarre, the protector of the churches, induced the guise party to declare that they would never accept a heretical monarch, and, at the instigation of henry of guise, cardinal de bourbon was nominated by them to succeed. henry of navarre since 1575 leader of the huguenots, had year by year seen his influence increase, and now, faced by the machinations of the guises, who had made overtures to spain, declared that his only object was to free the feeble henry iii. from their influence. on the 20th of october 1587 he won the battle of coutras, but on the 28th the foreign protestants who were coming to his aid were routed by guise at montargis. the new body, known as "the sixteen of paris," thereupon compelled henry iii. to sign the "edict of union" by which the cardinal of bourbon was declared heir presumptive. the king could not, however, endure the humiliation of hearing henry of guise described as "king of paris" and on the 23rd of december 1588 had him murdered together with the cardinal of lorraine at the chateau of blois. the league, now led by the duke of mayenne, guise's brother, declared war to the knife upon him and caused him to be excommunicated. in his isolation henry iii. threw himself into the arms of henry of navarre, who saved the royalist party by defeating mayenne and escorted the king with his victorious army to st. cloud, whence he proposed to enter paris and destroy the league. but henry iii., on the 1st of august 1589, was assassinated by the monk jacques clement, on his deathbed appointing henry of navarre as his successor. this only spurred the league to redoubled energy, and mayenne proclaimed the cardinal of bourbon king with the title of charles x. but henry iv., who had already promised to maintain the roman church, gained new adherents every day, defeated the leaguers at arques in 1589, utterly routed mayenne at ivry on the 14th of march 1590, and laid siege to paris. cardinal de bourbon having died in the same year and france being in a state of anarchy, philip ii. of spain, in concert with pope gregory