Matthew Cooper, age 14, of Lynn, mass., for his question:
WHO WERE THE HUGUENOTS?
Huguenots were a group of Protestants who became the center of political and religious quarrels in France in the 1500s and 1600s. The Huguenots believed in the teachings of John Calvin and were members of the Reformed Church.
The French Roman Catholics gave them the name Huguenots. The name may have come from that of Besancon Hugues, a Swiss religious leader.
The Huguenots became a large and influential political group in France during the reign of Henry II between 1547 and 1559. As they grew stronger, the Catholic government persecuted them more and more.
Many important persons were Huguenots. The Guise family led the Catholic group. The Guises influenced Henry’s son, King Francis II, against the Huguenots.
After Francis II died and Charles IX became king, the queen mother, Catherine deMedicis, controlled France. For a time she encouraged the Huguenots as a balance against the Guises. But feelings in both parties became so bitter that civil war broke out.
Catherine allied herself with the Duke of Guise. Beginning on August 24, 1572, they carried out the massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day. During the next several days, thousands of Huguenots were murdered.
But the political pendulum swung again in the other direction. Henry III feared the Guise family and had the Duke of Guise assassinated. These murders aroused the public against Henry III and he allied himself with Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots. Later Henry III was assassinated and Henry of Navarre became king.
Henry of Navarre issued an edict that gave the Huguenots freedom of worship in about 75 towns and cities where Calvinism prevailed. The edict also gave them complete political freedom.
The Huguenots lost their political freedom during the reign of Louis XIII but they were still allowed freedom of worship,
In 1685, Louis XIV came along and took away the Huguenots’ freedom of worship. Thousands of Huguenots fled France to new homes in England, Prussia, the Netherlands and America. Many settled and prospered in South Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts and New York.
Some of the laws against the Huguenots were relaxed shortly before the French Revolution started in 1789.
But the Huguenots did not get complete religious and political freedom in France until the Constituent Assembly of 1789 to 1791 gave equal rights to Roman Catholics, Protestants and Jews.
Most of the Huguenots were craftsmen or textile workers. They played a major part in building up the English textile industry.