Huguenots (‘les Huguenots Calvinistes’) was the name given to French Protestants who were followers of Jean Calvin (1509-1564), a French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. Breaking with the Roman Catholic Church around 1530, he was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism.
In its opposition to the Roman Catholic Church, Calvinism gained significant popularity particularly among the middle and upper classes of French society. In short, Calvinism was highly critical of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, accusing it of corruption and abuse of church practices, and the Pope of having made a mockery of its sacred mission in the name of Christianity. Not surprisingly, this led to significant hostility on the Catholic side, culminating into the French Wars of Religion between 1562–98 that were primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants.
This period was also earmarked by a number of massacres in which thousands of French Protestants and their families were brutally killed. The most notorious has been referred to as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 24 August – 3 October 1572, which led to as a many as 25,000 Protestants being killed in Paris. Similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following, with nearly 3,000 Protestants slaughtered in Toulouse alone.
Edict of Nantes – 1598
As with most religious disputes, this touched on all areas of society and extended well into the political realm, and included the power struggle between the aristocratic families of France such as the House of Bourbon and the House of Guise. Eventually, peace was introduced in 1598 by Henry IV (1553–1610) from the House of Bourbon through the enactment of the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed a range of religious freedoms to the Protestants. This didn’t necessarily stop all the hostility towards the Huguenots, and Henry IV – a former Protestant himself – would eventually pay for his efforts to legitimize the Protestant religion when he was assassinated in 1610 by François Ravaillac, a religious fanatic on the Catholic side.
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes – 1685
However, less than a hundred years after its enactment, the Edict of Nantes was revoked in October 1685 by Louis XIV, the grandson of Henry IV, and the Huguenot community would once again become the target of religious persecution. The revocation forbade Protestant services, required education of children as Catholics, and prohibited emigration.
As well, they were forced to recant their protestant faith during mass ceremonies, usually at the local parish church, and sign a statement to that effect.
These religious conflicts proved disastrous for the Huguenots and costly for France as it nearly bankrupted the country and caused severe, long-term economic damage. It precipitated civil bloodshed, ruined commerce, and while exact numbers are hard to come by –and vary wildly – it has been estimated that perhaps as many as 200,000 Huguenots were forced to leave France since the mid 1500’s to avoid religious persecution.
While the majority of French Protestant refugees fled to other European countries where they were free to practice their religion, other significant Huguenot communities were successfully settled as far away as North and South America, and South Africa. Because the vast majority of Huguenots were professionals or trained tradesman, their skills were usually very much demand and allowed them to become quickly integrated into the social and economic life of the communities that had welcomed them.
The Dutch Republic
While under the rule of Spain In1581 the stadholder of the Netherlands – William of Orange – led a rebellion that resulted in the country’s seven most Northern provinces’ seceding from the King of Spain and the creation of the Dutch republic of the United Provinces. Earlier, at age 11 in 1544, William had inherited the Principality of Orange in Southern France. The Principality was incorporated into the holdings of what became the House of Orange. This pitched it into the Protestant side in the French Wars of Religion and as an independent enclave the principality of Orange became an attractive destination for Protestants and a Huguenot stronghold in France.
After an attack on the Dutch republic by Spain’s Louis XIV in 1672, William III of Orange – grandson of William of Orange – emerged as the leading opponent of Louis XIV. This resulted in many Huguenots seeing the wealthy and Calvinist Dutch Republic, as the most attractive country for their exile destination and so it should come as no surprise that following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 between 50,000 and 75,000 Huguenots fled to the Netherlands – then the Dutch Republic – making it the largest single destination for these exiles, accounting for approximately 20% of the entire Huguenot diaspora. The massive influx, which included roughly 400 French-speaking ministers profoundly shaped the local culture, religious landscape and economy of the Dutch republic.
Amsterdam
Around 12,000 Huguenots settled in Amsterdam around the early part of the 18th century, forming approximately 6% of the city’s population. At that time there was already a large and well-established French community centered around the French or Walloon Church; this following the earlier events of 1581 and the declaration of independence by the Seven United Provinces from the King of Spain. This caused many French speaking Calvinist in the Southern Netherlands to flee to the new republic in the North and away from the Spanish rulers in the Southern provinces who were making Roman Catholicism the mandatory state religion there.
The Walloon or French Church in Amsterdam dates from the year 1409. Formerly a chapel of a Roman Catholic a monastery, the building was put at the disposal of the French-speaking protestant refugees from the Southern Netherlands and France when Amsterdam converted to Protestantism shortly after 1578.
Amsterdam and the area of West-Frisia were the first areas providing full citizens rights to Huguenots in 1705, followed by the entire Dutch Republic in 1715. Huguenots married with Dutch from the outset. Many Huguenot descendents in the Netherlands today are recognisable by their French family surnames. Due to their early ties with the Dutch Revolt’s leadership and even participation in the revolt, parts of the Dutch patriciate are of Huguenot descent.