The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes 9781463228422

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T h e H u g u e n o t s and the Revocation of the Edict of N a n t e s

The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

Volume 1

Henry Martyn Baird

1«

gorgia* press 2010

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2010 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in 1895 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2010

1

ISBN 978-1-61719-428-3 Reprinted from the 1895 New York edition.

Printed in the United States of America

PREFACE

I PURPOSE in these volumes to write the history of the Huguenots from the close of the reign of Henry the Fourth—that is, from a point at which the Edict signed by him at Nantes, some twelve years earlier, may be said to have been in full operation. I shall narrate their fortunes not merely as far as to the formal repeal of the Edict in 1685, but through the century during which their worship was suppressed and they were themselves deprived of all civil rights, down to the promulgation of the Edict of Toleration by Louis the Sixteenth, on the eve of the first French Revolution, and, indeed, down to the full recognition of Protestantism by Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, in the second year of the nineteenth century. The work comprises a space of not much less than two hundred years, an eventful period of great interest in the history of civilization, of which the successive portions are of a widely different character and present startling contrasts. The first fifty years must be regarded, upon the whole, as the epoch of the greatest material and intellectual development of the Huguenots. Then it was that they obtained such opportunities as they had never before enjoyed, and as they were never again to enjoy under the rule of the Bourbons, for the exhibition to the world of their true genius, and of the legitimate fruits of their ecclesiastical organization, as well as of the excel-

vi

PREFACE

lence of the moral and religious training which, had they been permitted, they would have extended throughout France. It is true that within this very half-century fall the three Huguenot wars under Louis the Thirteenth and the reduction of La Rochelle, the citadel of French Protestantism. But if, despite the heroic efforts of Henry of Rohan, of his brother Soubise, and of others scarcely less brave and chivalric, the military and political importance of the Huguenots, as a party in the state, came to an end, the loss of this importance was more than compensated by their quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the benefits of the great law of Henry the Fourth under the administration of the two cardinals, Richelieu and Mazarin. The next twenty-five years (1660-1685) were strangely different ; for they witnessed the progressive and unceasing assaults made upon the rights guaranteed by law to the Huguenots. The Edict of Revocation, when at length it came, was not a detached act of supreme iniquity. It was rather the culmination of a long series of criminal acts. I purpose, therefore, to follow, step by step, the preparations made for striking the final blow by which it was hoped to annihilate the Reformed religion in France. The examination is not devoid of interest for the curious. It may be instructive even for men of a subsequent generation. As history repeats itself, the close of the nineteenth century is even now beholding the counterpart, or the copy, of the legislation by means of which Louis the Fourteenth undertook to crush out the Huguenot religion from France, in laws remarkably similar, menacing the existence of Protestantism in the Baltic provinces of a great empire of our own times. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes with its consequences, both in persecution at home and in emigration to foreign lands, requires the extended discussion which I have undertaken to give. It does not fall within the scope of the present work to follow the exiles for religion's sake much beyond the bounds of France, and to tell the story, which is in itself of romantic

PREFACE

vii

interest, of the subsequent adventures of the devoted exiles that fled from their native land, destitute indeed of worldly goods, but rich in faith toward God, and blessed in the conscious possession of His favor. I must leave the inviting field of their fortunes after their departure from France, for the most part, to others. I need scarcely say that the Huguenot emigration to America has been treated with rare thoroughness of research by my brother, the late Rev. Charles Washington Baird, D.D., whose work should be supplemented by one or more volumes taking up the narrative at the point where death compelled him to lay down his work. I have viewed the War of the Camisards as an episode of Huguenot history well entitled to a fulness of treatment which, at the first glance, might appear disproportionate to the brevity of the struggle and the paucity of the men that took a part in it. The heroic character of the conflict, comparing favorably with the character of the most famous contests of early Greece or Rome, would be my ample justification, even were it not for the controversy, not yet fully settled, respecting the answer to the question, How far the peasants of the Cevennes were warranted by natural right in their recourse to arms to resist intolerable tyranny; not to speak of the equally curious inquiry, Whether the results of this recourse were, upon the whole, favorable or injurious to the progress of that spiritual religion in whose interests the Oamisard war was waged. If the fruits of recent investigation have placed us in a position of great advantage for the intelligent and accurate study of all the events to which I have just referred, this is especially the case with respect to the period of the " Desert," so called; a period whose importance, particularly outside of France, has been strangely overlooked. Thanks to the industry of a band of enthusiastic collaborators, the memoirs and narratives of the obscure workers upon whom devolved the herculean task of reconstituting the churches in the presence of one of the most determined persecutions that ever raged on the face of the

viii

PKEFACE

globe, have been supplemented by numerous documents drawn from various sources.

The files of the hostile departments of

state, war, and police have proved only less valuable than the inedited letters of such men as Antoine Court, Paul Rabaut, Rabaut Saint iltienne, Court de Gebelin, and others; while the Minutes of the Synods of the Churches of the Desert, now for the first time printed and made accessible to all, enable us to gain such inside views of the growth of Protestantism as it was formerly impossible to obtain. The preachers and missionaries that worked at a wonderful disadvantage, always under the ban of the law, not infrequently with a distinct price set upon them, whether taken dead or alive—gladiators in an arena from which they seem always to be saluting us as about to die—these were not always in themselves very picturesque personages.

But if they were

often clad in rough attire and themselves unlearned rustics, daily and hourly committing the sin—unpardonable at the elegant court of Versailles—of preaching and praying to Almighty God in very bad French, at least, they were men who, being able to die for their opinions, could not be constrained.

Thus

it was that, with God's blessing upon their labors, they learned the divine art how to make a great church out of a very little one, or, indeed, out of one that did not exist at all. The Huguenot drama would be incomplete without the last and crowning act—embracing the recovery of religious liberty and of full civic rights. proscription.

I t was much to obtain toleration after

I t was much to compel a distinct admission of

the fact that Protestantism still existed in Prance, when the fact had been denied a century through.

If

professed sceptics

proved very useful allies in preparing the way, and if, to secure his ends, a humane and intelligent statesman like Malesherbes was driven to resort to the device of ascribing to Louis the Fourteenth equitable

intentions respecting the

Protestants,

much at variance with his known acts, these circumstances did not make the boon of freedom, when at last it came, any the

PREFACE

less acceptable. The imperfect work of Louis tlie Sixteenth, in 1787, was duly enlarged within a few months by the Revolution, with its recognition of the Eights of Man ; and finally, in 1802, Protestantism was accorded an established position as the religion of a part, although a minority, of the French nation. There the history of the Huguenots ends. Thus the volumes now offered to the public constitute an independent history, intended to be complete in itself, of the causes and the effects, proximate and remote, of the repeal of one of the most important laws ever given by a human legislator. At the same time they form the conclusion and natural complement of a historical series of which the first two parts have heretofore been published,in "The Eise of the Huguenots of France " and " The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre." It is the author's hope that the last piece in the Huguenot trilogy may be as kindly received as its two predecessors. The very great number of works, both old and well-known and of recent publication, upon which this history is based, must serve as my excuse for not attempting, in this place, the task of inserting a list, even approximately complete, of my authorities. I shall only repeat what I said on a previous occasion, that no trustworthy source of information, whether friendly or hostile to the Huguenots, has been consciously neglected by me ; that I have endeavored to hold a steady and impartial course between conflicting views and representations, and that I have, as far as possible, preferred to read history in the contemporary writings of both Eoman Catholics and Protestants. I trust that the notes, which I have endeavored to make a faithful guide to the original sources of information, will enable any reader that is so disposed to verify my assertions and test my conclusions. I feel it a pleasure, not less than a duty, to acknowledge once more tlie invaluable assistance which I have derived from the great store of fresh and hitherto unknown material brought to light in the successive volumes of the Bulletin of the Société

X

PREFACE

de l'histoire du Protestantisme Français. To the labors of the scholars connected with this Society, more than to the labors of any other investigators, is due the great progress made of late in Huguenot studies. I avail myself the more gladly, therefore, of the present opportunity, to give public expression to my sense of gratitude for the high and unexpected honor conferred upon me, on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the foundation of the Society, in my election to be an Honorary Member of the Governing Committee. At the same time I may be permitted to make thankful acknowledgment of the help of various kinds rendered to me by my French friends and correspondents—Baron Fernald de Schickler, President of the Society which I have just named, and M. N. Weiss, the Secretary, worthy successor in the editorship of the Bulletin of the lamented Dr. Jules Bonnet. I am under special obligations to the late Charles Dardier, President of the Consistory of Nismes, whose death is one of the most notable losses recently sustained by students of Huguenot history, especially the history of the eighteenth century. M. Dardier's two collections of the Letters of Paul Rabaut to Antoine Court and to Others, annotated in so rich and scholarly a manner, not to speak of his Ésaïe Gasc, and a series of monographs on particular points of importance, are monuments of his well-directed labors. Nor should I fail to make mention of the kindness of Professor G. Frosterus, of the University of Helsingfors, Finland, editor of the Memoirs of the Baron d'Aigaliers, of M. Th. A. Dufour, Director of the Library of the City of Geneva, and of the Abbé Goiffon, formerly archivist of the diocese of Nismes. While referring to these particular obligations, I cannot refrain from expressing my high appreciation of the truly fraternal spirit that has appeared to me to animate all the workers in the same field of study, a spirit that leads each cheerfully to extend a helping hand to all the rest. Of such a spirit was that eminent scholar to whom I referred in the preface of my

PREFACE

xi

" Rise of the Huguenots," the late Professor Baum, of Strasbourg, who, writing to me under the dark shadow projected by the fast approaching Franco-Prussian War, cheered his own heart and mine with these words: " In the midst of the military despotism to which the continent of old Europe seems to be fatally destined, it is, after the Gospel and its immortal principles, one of the greatest consolations that the Bepublic of Science and Letters will remain standing, and that against her, too, the gates of hell shall not prevail. I understand thereby the great association and fraternity, in all the civilized countries of the globe entire, of those that believe that man does not live by material bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." I am happy to be able to lay before my readers, in the second volume of the present work, a reproduction of a remarkable medal struck at Eome to commemorate the illustrious piety exhibited by Louis the Fourteenth in revoking the Edict of Nantes. I state on the sixty-sixth page of that volume the circumstances under which it was my good fortune to discover the existence of this interesting but forgotten product of the pontifical mint. It is not without a feeling of regret akin to sadness that I lay down my pen at the conclusion of historical studies that were begun more than thirty years ago. In the inception of my plans it was my privilege to profit by the wise suggestions and encouragement of a father, himself not less conversant with the present condition than with the past fortunes of the churches of the Reformation. In the prosecution of my work I long had the companionship and derived inestimable benefit from the counsels of a brother, whose scholarly tastes led him to devote the leisure hours wrung from an engrossing profession to pursuits kindred to my own. The advantage which I enjoyed in the inspiration of the words and the example of such men, not less than the circumstance that I am now per-

xii

PREFACE

mitfced to complete an undertaking that has occupied much of my time and thoughts for so considerable a space of human life, justly demands of me a grateful acknowledgment of the goodness of the great Being in whom we live and whose are all our ways. XJNIVEKSITt OF THE ClTY OF NEW

July 12, 1895.

YORK,

CONTENTS OF

VOLUME

BOOK

FIRST

I

THE HUGUENOT WARS AND THE REDUCTION OF LA ROCHELLE CHAPTER

I

1610-1612 Page ACCESSION

OF

LOUIS

THE

THIRTEENTH—POLITICAL

ASSEMBLY

OF

SAUMTJR

The Great Charter of Protestant Liberties Not an Edict of simple Toleration . Geographical Distribution of the Huguenots . . . . . Provision for their Security Huguenot Hostage Cities ' ' Places de Mariage " " Places Particulières " Land and Sea Forces . . . . . . . . . . Deputies General and Political Assemblies Roman Catholicism and Despotism Protestantism and the Rights of Man Protestant Assemblies, the Model of free and constitutional Bodies . Character of Louis the Thirteenth . . . . . . . His Hatred of Protestantism . . . . . . . . . The Queen Mother, Marie de1 Medici Duplessis Mornay, the leading Protestant Statesman . . . . His Treatise on the Means of diminishing the Power of Spain . . Duplessis Mornay contrasted with Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigné . . He is appointed Governor of Saumur . . . . . . . Is surnamed " the Pope of the Protestants " Marie de' Medici is recognized as Regent . . . . . . The Duke of Sully .

B

3 4 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 11 13 14 15 17 18 21 22 22"23 2 5

XIV

CONTENTS

Inconsistencies of his Character A lukewarm Protestant His great Services to France His Irresolution after Henry's Murder Rough Pleasantly of the Baron St. Poix Downfall of Sully Loyalty of the Governor of'Saumur and the Huguenots . . . Louis confirms the Edict of Nantes (May 22, 1610) The Regent abandons the Policy of Henry the Fourth . . . The Court all Spanish The projected Spanish Marriages The Huguenots and the great Nobles Antagonism of the Dukes of Bouillon and Sully . . . . Bouillon consents to become a Tool of the Court His ample Recompense . . . . . . . . . The Political Assembly of Saumur (May 25, 1611) Protestant Grievances Demand for the Edict as originally granted The royal Envoys They discourage the chief Huguenot Demand . . . . . D'Aubigne's Indignation at Bouillon's Propositions . . . . More complete Organization of the Huguenots Establishment of the u Cercles " The Protestant Delegates at Paris The Queen Mother threatens to recognize the Minority of the Assembly . By his Tact Duplessis Mornay parries the Blow of the Court . . Choice of the Deputies General, Rouvray and L a Milletiere . . . Unsatisfactory Answers to the Huguenot Petition . . . . The " Pretended Reformed Religion " Disappointment of the Saumur Assembly Its Adjournment (September 12, 1611) Frofuse Employment of Money Protestantism and exaggerated Ideas of royal Prerogative . . . Types of Character in the R a n k s of the Protestants . . . . The Provincial Assemblies send new Delegates to Paris . . . . They are roughly treated and dismissed The King offers an Amnesty (April 24, 1612) Which the Hngnenots indignantly reject as an Insult . . . Unsatisfactory Declaration of J u l y 11, 1612 . . . . . . President Jeannin's Suggestion . . . . . . . . Mutual Distrust of the Court and the Protestants The Priests of Saint Sulpice and the dying Protestant . . . A seditious Placard at Rouen . . . . . . . . . Calumny against Mornay . . . . . . . . . He publishes his " Mystery of Iniquity " National Synod of Privas (May 2 3 - J u l y 4, 1612) Protestant Union . . . . . . . . . . .

Page 25 26 28 29 30 31 33 34 35 36 36 37 37 39 40 40 42 42 43 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 49 49 50 51 52 52 53 53 54 55 55 56 57 57 57 58 59 59 60 62 63

CONTENTS

XV

Page

The " Committee of Reconciliation " Jeremie Ferrier His Weakness or Treachery at the Saumur Assembly . The Excommunication (July 14, 1613) Riot at Nismes

CHAPTER

.

.

.

63 64 64 65 66

II

1612-1616 CIVIL COMMOTION, THE STATES G E N E R A L OP 1 6 1 4 , A N D THE POLITICAL ASSEMBLY OP G B E N O B L E A N D N I S M E S

Henry, Duke of Rohan His Life and Character Affair of Saint Jean d'Angely Rohan's Course condemned by the more prudent of his Party . . But apparently justified in the Circumstances Meeting of the " Cercle " of La Rochelle Duplessis mediates and averts War Condé and other malcontent Nobles withdraw f r o m Court . . . The Huguenots prudently stand aloof from the Quarrel . . . Treaty of Sainte Meneliould (May 15, 1614) National Synod of Tonneins (May, 1614) James I. s Plea for Protestant Union The Synod submits a Plan of Harmony . . . . . . Louis proclaims his own Majority He confirms the Edict of Nantes (October 1, 1614) . . . . The States General of 1614 The Tiers État opposes the Publication of the Decrees of Trent . Savaron's Arraignment of the Loyalty of the Nobles . . . . Anger of the Noblesse De Mesmes proclaims the Brotherhood of the three Orders . . . The Doctrine repudiated with Insult The first Article of the Tiers État reprobates the regicidal Tenets of the Jesuits . Violent Opposition of the Clergy aad Nobles Cardinal Du Perron pronounces ' ' problematic " the Doctrine that Kings cannot be deposed He hints that Calvinistic influence has been at Work . . . . Parliament sides with the Representatives of the People . . . Deliberation of the King's Council Condé shows how Kings may lawfully be killed The Tiers État forbidden to use their Article Paul Y. thanks the unpatriotic Orders Cardinal Richelieu, Spokesman for the Clergy The Clergy's Demands foreshadow the Revocation The " Pretended Religion "

68

68 69 71 73 73 75 77 79 80 81 81 82 83 84 85 85 86 88 89 89 90 9 1 92 94 94 9 5 96 97 98 99 100 101 101

XVI

CONTENTS Page

Louis's Coronation Oath He again confirms his Father's tolerant Legislation (March 12, 1615) . Clerical Fund for converted Protestant Ministers . . . . _ . Fresh Rising of malcontent Princes The double Spanish Marriages " L'Année des Magnificences" (1612) Remonstrances against the Marriages . . . . . . . Protestant National Assembly of Grenoble (1615) . . . . Huguenot Demands . . Extravagant Deference to royal Authority . . . . . . The unsatisfactory Answer of the Court Alarm caused by Jesuit Preaching . . . . . . . No secret Articles between France and Spain The Protestant Assembly resolves to leave Grenoble . . . . Remonstrances of Marshal Lesdiguières . . . . . . Arguments of Duplessis Mornay . . 1 The Assembly removes to Nismes . . . . . . . . Audacious Crime of the Archbishop of Bordeaux . . . . The Huguenots of Bordeaux commanded to hold religious Services . The Assembly of Nismes concludes a Treaty of Union with Condé (November 10, 1615) J t removes to La Rochelle by royal Permission IVace of Loudun (May, 1616) Tiie Course of the Duke of Rohan . . . . . . . . His caustic Reply to the Prince of Condé Ephemeral Conversion of the Duke of Candale

CHAPTER

102 108 105 107 108 108 109 110 Ill 113 114 114 115 115 116 1 6 118 119 120 121 122 122 123 124 125

III

1617-1620 T H E REDUCTION OF BEJARN

Importunity of the French Clergy Harangue of the Bishop of M&con History of the Reformation in Blarn Queen Jeanne d'Albret . . . . . . . . . . Conspiracy of her Enemies Mutual Toleration Jeanne's Ordinance of 1566 . Terride overruns the Principality . . . . . . • Jeanne's Authority re-established by Count Montgomery . . Ecclesiastical Ordinances of 1571 . . . . . . . . Maintained in force by Henry of Navarre . . . . . . Confirmed by his " perpetual and irrevocable " Edict . . . . Henry refuses to expel the Protestant Ministers And rebukes the Pertinacity of the Bishops

127

127 128 129 130 131 131 132 133 133 134 135 135 136 137

CONTENTS

xvii Page

Louis XIII. orders the Re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Religion (June 25, 1617) 138 And the Restoration of the ecclesiastical Revenues . . . . 138 Compensation promised to the Protestants . . . . . . 138 Opposition of the Bearnese 139 Political Assembly at Casteljaloux 140 Louis issues a '' Lettre de Jussion " . . . . . . . 141 Prudent Advice of Duplessis Mornay . . . . . . . 141 The Assembly goes to Orthez, then to La Rochelle . . . . 142 Political Assembly of Loudun (1619-1620) 143 Protestant Grievances . .143 The Assembly ordered to adjourn 145 Assurances given by the Prince of Conde . . . . . . 146 And endorsed by Montbazon on the King's Part 146 Civil Commotion 148 La Force, Governor of Beam . 149 Louis XIII. proceeds to Pau . . . . . . . . . 151 The Protestant Governor put out of Navarrenx 152 The King overturns his Grandmother's Legislation . . . . 153 The Protestants expelled from the Churches . . . . . 155 Insults and Violence 155 National Synod of Vitre (May, 1617) 156 Exaggerated Loyalty of Hesperien's Address to the King . . 157 The Synod of Alais (1620) endorses the Canons of Dort . . . 158 Proposed Protestant University at Charenton 160 Opposition of the University of Paris 160 Father Arnoux succeeds Father Cotton as royal Confessor . . . 161 Richelieu, Bishop of Luing Prot-6 priest might interrogate him privately respecting his e ' tant inclination to profess the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church and to receive the last sacraments. The sick man persisting in his Protestant faith and desiring to be left alone, the vicar departed, only to be succeeded by the curate of the same parish church. He came with a following of sixty or eighty persons. When admission was refused him, he threatened to break down the door. The bctilU of the Faubourg Saint Germain, a judicial officer, now appeared upon the scene. Demanding an entrance in the king's name, he brought this second ecclesiastic to the bedside of the Protestant. The latter, when again pressed to change his religion, summoned all his remaining strength and raising himself to a sitting posture, bade the Duplessis Mornay to President Jeannin, October 19, 1612, Mémoires, xi. 472. 1

1612

T H E POLITICAL ASSEMBLY OF SAUMUR

59

intruders to be gone, then exhausted by the effort fell back and instantly expired. " At once," writes our informant, " the bailli compelled the poor woman to bury her husband, who had but just drawn his last breath." 1 When such crimes occurred, and, for the most part, remained unpunished, it would have been idle to expect the Huguenots to be unmoved. The precautionary measures to which the Huguenots were driven, reacted upon the Roman Catholic populace. The acts of the political assembly of Saumur, published far and wide throughout France, fanned the flame of hatred and suspicion. At Rouen, one morning in September, a placard was found , . posted in the streets, which ran thus : " Poor Catholics ! A seditious * placard at Have a care oi yourselves and beware of the HugueKouen.

m-i

i

y a p u b l i c a n d v e r i f i e d l a w . and t h e q u e e n to r e t u r n promise."

permitted

b y a s e c r e t p r o m i s e ; so t h a t it was easy

to t h e law w h e n

s h e p l e a s e d to do so, a n d to

for

forget h e r

B e n o i s t , ii. 1 2 0 .

- F o r t h e s t o r v o f t h e m e e t i n g o f t h e c i r c l e at L a R o c h e l l e , c o m p a r e M . ' m o i r e s de l l o h a n , i. 1 1 1 - 1 1 4 ; M e r c ura f r a i l ,ois, ii. 7 ; > 7 - 7 4 4 , iii. iiti ; l ' e m u s t , ii. l l o - l ' J O ;

1613

CIVIL

COMMOTION

77

That this impression did not become universal, was due above all to the patriotic and untiring exertions of one man, who never lost either courage or self-possession. Duplessis Mornay, from his castle of Saumur, swayed the influences Dupiessis which dissipated for the time the threatening storm arcrtsanouf- w a r " interceded with the angry court, he gave break of war. s o u n ( j advice to the excited deputies at La Rochelle, he labored by letter and personally with the Duke of Rohan, to free him from the temporary delusion into which the evil counsel of Haultefontaine and his own fear of loss of influence with his followers had led him. Not even the unwise advance of the royal troops to the Loire, ordered by Marie de' Medici in a moment of uncontrollable passion, caused by the presumption of the circle, was sufficient to make him flinch. To show fear, to collect provisions, to mass troops and prepare as if against an expected attack, would have been to precipitate war. Duplessis Mornay refused to do more than exercise the ordinary precaution against unauthorized attempts at a surprise.