The Edict of Nantes, signed by Henri IV in 1598, offers Protestants freedom of worship, freedom of conscience and puts France on the path of tolerance. It also marks the end of the wars of religion. But, under Louis XIII, a rebellion of the Protestants of Béarn, who refuse to authorize the Catholic religion, generates a conflict of religions suppressed by force by Louis XIII and Richelieu in several places from 1622 (Nègrepelisse, La Rochelle, Montauban , etc.). Then, the capture of Privas (a city nicknamed "bulwark of the Reform") in 1629, which killed around 1,500 people, and the signing of the Edict of Alès (1629) led to a reduction in the privileges granted by the king until ' then to the Protestants (dismantling of the strongholds, prohibition of meetings, etc.) but confirming the freedom of worship of the Protestants and the peace between the latter and the Catholics.
October 18, 1685
Characters
Louis XIV
René de Marillac De Marillac
François Michel Le Tellier said Marquis de Louvois
Procedure
But if Louis XIII was religious and did not plan to convert his people by force, his successor, King Louis XIV, wanted to subject the people to his religion. The death of Colbert, a fine adviser to the Sun King who advocated tolerance, left Louis XIV even freer in his decisions. The latter, considering himself as the defender of the Catholic faith, encouraged by his confessor, Père Lachaise, therefore more than strongly favors conversions.
The religious policy hardens and takes measures. Indeed, the Protestants lose their loads of the liberal professions, they are excluded from the offices; as for the half-party chambers (that is to say half-Protestant, half-Catholic courts), they are definitively abolished. Thus, the State organizes real repressions carried out by the military, the dragoons, called the "dragonnades", strongly supported by Minister Louvois and Intendant Marillac.
These persecutions condemn the Huguenots (French Protestants) to exile or forced conversion. From then on, on the strength of these abjurations which took place en masse, Louis XIV considered that Protestantism in France had practically disappeared and felt justified in revoking the Edict of Nantes – signed by his grandfather Henri IV – on October 18, 1685. It prohibits the Protestant religion in France (Alsace excepted). The revocation of this text was signed on October 18, 1685, at the same time as that of the Edict of Fontainebleau, written by François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, who henceforth proclaimed religious unity, under the banner of Catholicism. From then on, the temples were destroyed, the Protestant schools closed, and many people fled the kingdom while the laity were banned from exile.
Consequences
This edict generates, despite the ban, the exodus of a Huguenot population (about 200,000 people) who, with their know-how, will enrich the surrounding countries (United Provinces, England, Switzerland, Brandenburg, etc.) . In addition, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes reinforces a little more the mistrust of the States of Europe with regard to King Louis XIV, already considered a tyrant, who will form, little by little, a second coalition against France.