Huguenot

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, or historically as the French Calvinists.

Flight

Under Louis XIV (reigned 1638–1715), chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, who held real power during the king's minority up to his death in 1661, resumed persecution of the Protestants using soldiers to inflict dragonnades that made life so intolerable that many fled. The king revoked the "irrevocable" Edict of Nantes in 1685 and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. After this, huge numbers of Huguenots (with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 500,000) fled to surrounding Protestant countries: England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Prussia — whose Calvinist Great Elector Frederick William welcomed them to help rebuild his war-ravaged and underpopulated country. On December 31, 1687 a band of Huguenots set sail from France to the colony at the Cape of Good Hope.

Related Topics:
Louis XIV - Cardinal Mazarin - 1661 - Dragonnade - Edict of Nantes - 1685 - Edict of Fontainebleau - England - Netherlands - Switzerland - Denmark - Prussia - Frederick William - December 31 - 1687 - Cape of Good Hope

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Barred from settling in New France, many Huguenots moved instead to the 13 colonies of Great Britain in North America, the first in 1624 (in 1924 a commemorative half dollar, known as the Huguenot-Walloon Half Dollar, was coined in the United States to celebrate the 300th anniversary of this settlement), among them a silversmith called 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 Revere, the famous United States revolutionary. Huguenot immigrants founded New Paltz, New York, where is now located the oldest street in America with the original stone houses, New Rochelle, New York (named after the town of La Rochelle in France), and a neighborhood in New York City's borough of Staten Island was named "Huguenot" after them.

Related Topics:
New France - 13 colonies - North America - 1624 - 1924 - Half dollar - Walloon - United States - Paul Revere - New Paltz, New York - New Rochelle, New York - La Rochelle - New York City - Staten Island - Huguenot

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A leading Huguenot theologian and writer who led the exiled Huguenot community in London, Andre Lortie (or Andrew Lortie), became known for articulating Huguenot criticism of the Holy See and transubstantiation.

Related Topics:
Andre Lortie - Andrew Lortie - Holy See - Transubstantiation

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Huguenot refugees flocked to Shoreditch, London in large numbers. They established a major weaving industry in and around Spitalfields, and in Wandsworth. The Old Truman Brewery, then known as the Black Eagle Brewery, appeared in 1724. Huguenot refugees fled Tours, France virtually wiping out the great silk mills they had built. Some of them took their skills to Northern Ireland and assisted in the founding of the Irish linen industry.

Related Topics:
Shoreditch - London - Spitalfields - Wandsworth - Old Truman Brewery - 1724 - Tours - France - Silk - Northern Ireland - Linen

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The exodus of Huguenots from France created a kind of brain drain from which the kingdom would not fully recover for years. The French crown's refusal to allow Protestants to settle in New France was a factor behind that colony's slow population growth, which ultimately led to its conquest by the British. By the time of the French and Indian War, there may have been more people of French ancestry living in Britain's American colonies than there were in New France.

Related Topics:
Brain drain - French and Indian War

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A third of American Presidents have some proven Huguenot ancestry, as do Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and other leading statesmen, and (according to an oft-repeated belief) one quarter or more of all Englishmen.

Related Topics:
Alexander Hamilton - John Jay

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Frederick the Great of Prussia, a strong believer in the separation of church and state, invited Huguenots to settle in his realms, and a number of their descendents rose to positions of prominance in Prussia. The last Prime Minister of the (East) German Democratic Republic, Lothar de Maiziere, was a scion of a Huguenot family.

Related Topics:
Frederick the Great - Prussia - German Democratic Republic - Lothar de Maiziere

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Persecution of Protestants ended in 1764, and the French Revolution of 1789 finally made them full-fledged citizens.

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