Provisions
The Edict of Nantes consisted of 93 articles and 36 secret decrees; the latter were not considered by parliaments and were not included in their protocols. Its publication was preceded by countless complaints from the Huguenots and the king's lengthy negotiations with them. No 16th-century edict in Western Europe granted such extensive toleration as the Edict of Nantes. Subsequently, he gave reason to accuse the Huguenots of forming a state within a state.
The Edict of Nantes granted full equality to Catholics and Protestants. The first article of the edict consigned to oblivion the events of the Religious Wars and prohibited any mention of them.
I. ... the memory of everything that happened on both sides from the beginning of March 1585 until our coronation and during other previous troubles will be erased, as if nothing had happened. Neither our attorney generals nor any other persons, public or private, will be allowed to ever mention this for any reason...
- "Edict of Nantes"
The third article of the edict introduced Catholic worship wherever it had been discontinued. At the same time, in those cities and villages where Huguenots were allowed to worship before 1597, this right was restored.
III. We command that the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion be restored in all places of our kingdom... where its practice was interrupted and that it be practiced peacefully and freely without any disturbances or obstacles.
In order not to give any cause for unrest and strife among our subjects, we have allowed and allow those who profess the so-called reformed religion to live and dwell in all the cities and places of our kingdom and the regions subject to them, without persecution or coercion, to do anything in the matter of religion that is contrary to their conscience ; they will not be searched for this reason in the houses and places where they wish to live...
- "Edict of Nantes"
The Catholic clergy was restored to all its former rights and estates. Calvinism was tolerated wherever it was before. All nobles who held the highest judicial positions had the right to perform Calvinist worship and to admit outsiders to it. In the castles of ordinary nobles, Protestant worship was allowed if the number of Protestants did not exceed 30 people and if the castles were not located in areas where Catholic owners enjoyed the right of the supreme court.
Calvinist worship was formally prohibited in Paris and some cities closed to it on the basis of earlier capitulations; but Protestants were allowed to live there. In all other places, Huguenots could have churches, bells, schools, and hold public positions. It was forbidden for religious reasons to disinherit relatives, attack Huguenots and induce their children to convert to Catholicism. All those sentenced to punishment for religious beliefs were pardoned.
The government pledged to help the Huguenots with subsidies for schools and churches. In addition, the Huguenots were granted a number of privileges of a political, judicial and military nature: they were allowed to convene periodic meetings (consistories, synods), keep deputies at court to present petitions and complaints through Sully, Mornay and d'Aubigné. A court chamber (Chambre de l'Edit) was established in Paris for the Protestants of Normandy and Brittany, in Castres - for the Toulouse district, in Bordeaux and Grenoble - mixed chambers (Chambres miparties), for the Protestants of Provence and Burgundy.
The exiles were allowed to return to their homeland. 200 fortresses and fortified castles that belonged to them before 1597 (places de sûreté - places of security) were left in the power of the Huguenots for 8 years; the garrisons were maintained here at the expense of the king, and the commanders were subordinate to the Huguenots. The main fortresses were: La Rochelle, Saumur and Montauban. The king directly told the Huguenot delegation that the fortresses would be useful to them in the event of a possible repeal of the Edict of Nantes by his successors...
The Pope called the Edict of Nantes wicked. The Huguenots demanded even more, interpreting the edict in the sense of expanding its content.
Henry IV, with great tact, persuaded the parliaments to include the edict in their protocols; only Rouen Parliament persisted until 1609. Having sealed the edict with the large state seal, Henry called it “eternal and irrevocable”, protected it from misinterpretations, sometimes limiting it or expanding it temporarily, especially in relation to the period of fortresses belonging to the Huguenots.
Under Louis XIII
During the accession of Louis XIII, the regency approved the Edict of Nantes, decreeing that it must be “inviolably observed.” Although Richelieu deprived the Protestant party of its political influence, the principle of religious tolerance remained in force.
In 1629, in Alais, after the end of the local war with the Huguenots, it was published Edict of Nîmes, repeating the articles of the Edict of Nantes. After the death of Louis XIII, a declaration was issued (July 8, 1643), in which Protestants were granted free and unrestricted practice of their religion and the Edict of Nantes was approved, but with the caveat: “as far as it turned out to be necessary.” Louis XIV declared in a declaration on May 21, 1652: “I wish that the Huguenots should not cease to make full use of the Edict of Nantes.”
Cancel
Submitting unwillingly to the Edict of Nantes, the Catholic clergy under Louis XIV tried by all means to destroy it or paralyze its significance. Since 1661, religious persecution resumed. In the 9th article of the Edict of Nantes, worship was allowed in those places where it was performed in 1596 and 1597. On this basis, Catholics began to destroy Protestant churches in other places. On April 2, 1666, Louis issued a declaration in which the principle of freedom recognized by the Edict of Nantes was destroyed. On October 17, 1685, Louis XIV signed the
Plan
Introduction
1 Provisions
2 Under Louis XIII
3 Cancel
Introduction
Edict of Nantes (fr. Edit de Nantes) - a law that granted religious rights to the French Protestant Huguenots. The issuance of the edict ended the thirty-year period of the Wars of Religion in France and ushered in a century of relative peace known as the "Great Century". The edict was drawn up by order of the French king Henry IV and approved in Nantes (April 13, 1598). Abolished by Louis XIV in 1685.
1. Provisions
The Edict of Nantes consisted of 93 articles and 36 secret decrees; the latter were not considered by parliaments and were not included in their protocols. Its publication was preceded by countless complaints from the Huguenots and the king's lengthy negotiations with them. No 16th-century edict in Western Europe granted such extensive toleration as the Edict of Nantes. Subsequently, he gave reason to accuse the Huguenots of forming a state within a state.
The Edict of Nantes granted full equality to Catholics and Protestants. The first article of the edict introduced Catholic worship wherever it had been discontinued. The Catholic clergy was restored to all its former rights and estates. Calvinism was tolerated wherever it was before. All nobles who held the highest judicial positions had the right to perform Calvinist worship and to admit outsiders to it. In the castles of ordinary nobles, Protestant worship was allowed if the number of Protestants did not exceed 30 people and if the castles were not located in areas where Catholic owners enjoyed the right of the supreme court.
In cities and villages where Huguenots were allowed to worship before 1597, this right was restored. Calvinist worship was formally prohibited in Paris and some cities closed to it by virtue of capitulations; but Protestants were allowed to live there. In all other places, Huguenots could have churches, bells, schools, and hold public positions. For religious reasons, it was forbidden to disinherit relatives, attack Huguenots, and induce their children to convert to Catholicism. All those sentenced to punishment for religious beliefs were pardoned.
The government pledged to help the Huguenots with subsidies for schools and churches. In addition, the Huguenots were granted a number of political, judicial and military privileges: they were allowed to convene periodic meetings (consistories, synods), and keep deputies at court to present petitions and complaints through Sully, Mornay and d’Aubigné. In Paris, a court chamber (Chambre de l'Edit) was established for the Protestants of Normandy and Brittany, in Castres - for the Toulouse district, in Bordeaux and Grenoble - mixed chambers (Chambres miparties), for the Protestants of Provence and Burgundy.
The exiles were returned to their homeland. 200 fortresses and fortified castles that had belonged to them until 1597 (places de sûreté) were left in the power of the Huguenots for 8 years; the garrisons were maintained here at the expense of the king, and the commanders were subordinate to the Huguenots. The main fortresses were: La Rochelle, Saumur and Montauban. The Pope called the Edict of Nantes wicked. The Huguenots demanded even more, interpreting the edict in the sense of expanding its content.
Henry IV, with great tact, persuaded the parliaments to include the edict in their protocols; only the Rouen parliament persisted until 1609. Having sealed the edict with the large state seal, Henry called it “eternal and irrevocable”, protected it from misinterpretations, sometimes limiting it or expanding it temporarily, especially in relation to the period of fortresses belonging to the Huguenots.
2. Under Louis XIII
During the accession of Louis XIII, the regency approved the Edict of Nantes, decreeing that it must be “inviolably observed.” Richelieu deprived the Protestant party of its political influence, but the principle of religious tolerance remained in force.
In 1629, in Alais, after the end of the wars with the Huguenots, the Edict of Nîmes (édit de grâce) was issued, repeating the articles of the Edict of Nantes. After the death of Louis XIII, a declaration was issued (July 8, 1643), in which Protestants were granted the free and unrestricted exercise of their religion and the Edict of Nantes was approved “as far as it turned out to be necessary.” Louis XIV declared in a declaration on May 21, 1652: “I wish that the Huguenots should not cease to make full use of the Edict of Nantes.”
Submitting unwillingly to the Edict of Nantes, the Catholic clergy under Louis XIV tried by all means to destroy it or paralyze its significance. Religious persecution began in 1661. On October 17, 1685, Louis XIV signed an edict at Fontainebleau revoking the Edict of Nantes.
Literature
· Élie Benoit, “Histoire de l’Édit de Nantes”;
· Bernard, “Explication de l’Édit de Nantes” (H., 1666);
· Meynier, “De l’exécution de l’Édit de Nantes dans le Dauphiné”
When writing this article, material was used from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1890-1907).
Century Edict of Nantes, approved in 1598 and granting French Protestants equal rights with Catholics, turned out to be short-lived - it was canceled in 1685.
Almost the entire second half of the 16th century, France was shaken by religious wars (the well-known St. Bartholomew's Night, which opened the fourth of them, dates back to this era). Brief periods of calm were followed by military actions, armies of Catholics and Huguenots (as Calvinists were called here) roamed the country, no one wanted to give in, the people were exhausted.
Acceptance of the Edict of Nantes
By the end of the century, it became clear to everyone that this confrontation was turning into a bad infinity, and King Henry IV, in the recent past one of the leaders of the Huguenots, who converted to Catholicism in 1593, signed an edict of toleration in Nantes in 1598, under the terms of which the Calvinists were equalized in rights with Catholics, which historians called Edict of Nantes, by the name of the city where it was adopted.
According to the terms Edict of Nantes the Huguenots were allowed to have their own military forces; the king left about 200 fortresses and castles in their hands - as he himself stated, in case his successors decided to oppress the Huguenots again.
Henry IV looked into the water. For what is absolute power good for its bearer? Correct: the monarch has the right to both pass any laws and repeal them. However, the provisions of the Edict of Nantes operated with greater or lesser success for almost a century.
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
In the 1620s, under Louis XIII, military clashes on religious grounds (remember the Three Musketeers) resumed, but were quickly “pacified” - with some modernization of the Edict of Nantes in favor of Catholics. Louis XIV in the early 1660s, that is, when he became not a nominal, but a real ruler of France, still spoke about the need to adhere to the provisions of the Edict of Nantes as a guarantee of peaceful civil life, but all his further activities ran counter to this statement.
The articles of the treaty were successively repealed or rewritten - until the king in 1685 announced that the Edict of Nantes would henceforth lose its legal force - under the pretext that “the best and most part of our subjects, who called themselves Reformed, happily returned into the bosom of the Catholic Church" (this was a lie).
The edict to repeal the Edict of Nantes was prepared by Chancellor Michel Letslier, a staunch opponent of Protestantism. A mass exodus of Huguenots from France began.
Excerpts from the Decree revoking the Edict of Nantes
October 1685
Art. 1. We declare that we... by our present edict, eternal and irrevocable, have abolished and repealed, abolish and repeal the edict of the king (Henry IV), our ancestor, given in Nantes in April 1598... As a result of this, we wish and we are pleased that all the temples of the so-called reformed religion, located in our kingdom, provinces and seigneuries, were immediately destroyed.
Art. 2. We forbid our subjects of the so-called reformed religion to assemble for the practice of the said religion in any place or private house under any pretext whatsoever...
Art. 3. Likewise, we prohibit all lords, whatever their rank, from practicing it in their houses and fiefs, whatever the type of these fiefs, under threat of punishment for all our subjects who practice this religion, deprivation of rights and property.
Art. 4. We command all ministers of the said religion, which calls itself reformed, who do not wish to convert to the Catholic, Apostolic Roman religion, to leave our kingdom and the lands subject to us within two weeks after the publication of our present edict, without the right to reside longer than this period and without the right to During this time, preach, teach or perform other services under fear of exile to the galleys.
Art. 5. We express our will that those of the mentioned ministers who convert to Catholicism will continue to enjoy throughout their lives, and their widows after their death, while they remain widowed, the same exemptions from the payment of tags and military billets , which they enjoyed while they performed the duties of ministers: and in addition, we will order the payment to the said ministers, also during their entire lives, of a pension, which will be one third higher than the remuneration they received as ministers, when which their wives will also enjoy after their death, half of this pension, while they are widowed.
Art. 7. We prohibit special schools for the education of children of the so-called reformed religion and all generally any measures that could mean any concession in favor of the said religion.
Art. 8. As for children who will be born to persons belonging to the so-called reformed religion, we wish that from now on they will be baptized by parish (Catholic) priests. For which purpose we command their fathers and mothers to send them to churches (Catholic), under pain of a fine of 500 livres and even higher in case of an offence. And then the children will be raised in the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion, which we command the local judges to oversee.
Art. 10. We categorically and repeatedly prohibit all our subjects of the so-called reformed religion from leaving, they, their wives and children, from the borders of our kingdom, regions and lands subject to us, as well as from exporting their property, under pain of exile to the galleys for men and imprisonment and confiscation of property for women.
The French Republic has always proclaimed the separation of Church and State. Unlike other European countries, where religion is an integral part of political and social life, France sought to make laws guided primarily by secular motives. However, this was not always the case. Even 400 years ago, the repeal of the Edict of Nantes (1685) led to severe repression of Protestants. The possibility of carrying out such a policy indicates that in the 17th century the church was inseparable from the state. On October 18, 1685, Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, which prohibited the practice of Protestant rites throughout the entire French kingdom. From now on, one single religion became mandatory, the religion that the king himself professed - Catholicism. Thus, the Edict of Nantes, signed in 1598, was revoked.
Henry IV, signing the Edict of Nantes, freed Protestants from the obligation to attend Catholic services, and also granted the right to have their own fortified cities and fortresses and an armed army. However, this peacekeeping activity has always been considered by the authorities as a temporary measure. Throughout the entire 17th century. the status of Protestants underwent serious changes, and their situation became increasingly worse. Since 1626, the time of the conclusion of peace in Ales, Louis XIII abolished one of the most important articles of the Edict of Nantes - permission to create his own army.
Beginning with the reign of Louis XIV (meaning his personal rule, without a regency, which began in 1661), the political and socio-economic position of Protestants worsened. Until 1685, the Edict of Nantes was officially in force throughout the country, but the implementation of its provisions became more and more difficult, and numerous amendments and restrictive conditions were adopted. Between 1661 and 1679 The Royal Council adopts about twelve restrictive edicts, which indicate a transition from a policy of tolerance to real despotism. All these amendments were collected in a kind of anthology, called Catholic Decisions and published in 1668.
The idea that it was necessary to put an end to the Reformed religion in France did not originate only in the minds of the royal ministers. From the provinces, mainly from the areas where Protestants were most widely represented (Bas-Languedoc, Béarn, Cévennes, Vivaret, Dauphine), complaints began to be increasingly received from bishops, intendants, local parliamentarians and simply zealous Catholics against the Huguenots, who, according to the local population sought to overthrow the royal power. The reformists were accused of all mortal sins: they are bad subjects and want to kill the king (didn’t they execute Charles I in 1649?), they are republicans and enemies of the king and honest people. Of course, all this was fiction, since 1629, more than one and a half million Protestants living in France no longer have any power and influence in their own country, they cannot even openly express their opinions in the electoral bodies. The “Huguenot Republic,” which was supposed to be organized along the lines of the United Provinces, remained a dream. Accusations of disloyalty also turned out to be groundless; the Huguenots were among the most loyal supporters of the young Louis XIV during the Fronde (1648-1653).
In the 80s of the 17th century. Repressions against Protestants, as well as against individual dissatisfied people locally and in the provinces, are intensifying. The monarchy strives to increasingly absoluteize its power. Continuing the policies of Richelieu and Mazarin, Louis XIV sought to unify the state structure so that all subjects obeyed only one monarch and were all of the same faith. Protestants did not fit well into such projects. In addition, the king suspected their leaders of having relations with Protestants in other countries, thinking that they were preparing a rebellion against his person.
The repressions against the Huguenots reflect the context of the era well. In 1678, the peace treaty signed in Nimwegen put an end to the Dutch War, in which France was confronted by a huge Protestant country. Despite the fact that France lost many of the territories it had previously captured, Alsace and Lorraine, as well as other lands along the Rhine, were transferred to it. All this strengthened the authority of royal power. In addition, the king received support from the French clergy in his conflict with Pope Innocent XI, which was unfolding around the same time. In 1682, the highest church hierarchs created Declaration in four articles, which proclaimed the independence of the king of France from the papacy. Another document was also released entitled Pastoral Warning, in which Protestants were accused of schism.
Now, when the king’s power was absolute, when the Catholic faith was recognized as the only correct one in the state, the accusation of treason was worse than the accusation of heresy. The Huguenots were executed not so much because they were bad Christians, but because they did not want to recognize the absolute power of the king, that is, they became rebels and enemies of the people.
From July 1682 to October 1685, eighty-three restrictive decrees concerning Protestants were issued from the royal office. For example, according to the decree of August 30, 1682, they were forbidden to gather together and sing anywhere other than churches, with the obligatory presence of a pastor. The police were charged with enforcing this decree. At the same time, temples already built by the Huguenots were destroyed.
Victims of the king's segregation, the Huguenots found themselves outlawed in their own country. In August 1683, mixed marriages between Catholics and Huguenots were prohibited, and in October 1685, a decree was issued on the activities permitted to Protestants. Of the permitted professions, only agriculture and trade remained. Protestants, of course, did not remain indifferent witnesses to such treatment. Wherever possible, resistance is organized using various means. The main forms of protest were mass hunger strikes and peaceful demonstrations. The king's reaction was only to intensify repression. In Poitou in 1681, in Dauphine, Cevennes and Lower Languedoc in 1683, and then in the continuation of 1685-1686. Martial law is introduced, which means that soldiers are quartered directly in Protestant homes. The army's mission in this case is to return them to the fold of the Catholic Church. This policy was called the dragonade; its result was several thousand deaths and the forced flight of 200,000 people.
In the fall of 1685, the king received news that Protestants were converting en masse to Catholicism. Now he can officially abolish the Edict of Nantes, since it is no longer necessary. The king announced the following to the country: “we see that the best and most of our subjects, who called themselves Reformed, joyfully returned to the bosom of the Catholic Church; hence we believe that the implementation of the Edict of Nantes becomes useless.”
This legal fiction, however, was perceived in France as legal and necessary, which again contributed to the growth of the authority of Louis XIV, who was now rightfully considered the collector of lands and the most Catholic monarch. This authority, however, strengthened only on French territory. In neighboring states, on the contrary, the image of the king faded, which was greatly facilitated by Protestant refugees who flooded all of Europe. Among the refugees there were many knowledgeable people, artisans and scribes. It was they who fired arrows of sarcasm and criticism towards the French king, comparing him to Nebuchadnezzar. Herod and even the devil himself.
In 1686, in his work Fulfillment of Prophecies Pastor Pierre Juriot predicted the overthrow of the French king, which would follow his decision to defeat the Electoral Palatinate (1688-1689). Then, wrote Juriot, Europe will call Louis to account. In France itself there were also voices against universal Catholicization, Vauban in his “ Memoirs of the Huguenots"(1689) criticizes the king's desire to rule over minds, but not over bodies."
From 1702 to 1713 the authorities brutally suppress the Protestant uprising that engulfed the Cevennes. The participants in the uprising were called camisards, after the white shirts they wore over their clothes. However, Louis XIV failed to completely subjugate the Camisards, and he was forced to make concessions. More and more French people see him as a tyrant rather than a champion of religion.
Only a hundred years later were Protestants finally able to gain freedom to practice their religion. It was granted to him in 1789. The French Revolution, which soon followed, declared all religions equal and allowed each citizen to choose a faith to his liking.
