The Huguenots were French Protestants, who were members of the Reformed Church established by John Calvin about 1550. A persecuted minority in France from the early 1500s until 1789, the French Protestants were given the name of Huguenots in the time of the Reformation. The origin of the word "Huguenot" is widely disputed, however it is believed to have come from the German word "Eidgenossen", or "confederates", and was first used in Geneva, Switzerland where many Protestants had fled from France.
In their struggles for religious freedom, the Huguenots were forced to become politically active, and lead by some of the greatest French nobles, they soon became one of France's most industrious and economically advanced groups.By the middle of the 16th century, the Huguenots by their number and influence had aroused the fears of the Catholic party and the powerful family of Guise.
A general Edict urging the extermination of the Heretics, aka. Huguenots, was issued on the 29th day of January, 1536. On March 1, 1562, some 2000 Huguenots were slain at Vassey, France. This ignited the first of eight seperate religious wars which would devastate France for the next three decades. The massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed, took place on August 24, 1575 and earned the distiction of being the most dreadful of the crimes that marked this era of civil and religious warfare.
The Huguenot Wars ended in 1598, when Henry IV, who had been a Huguenot but had agreed to conform to the Roman Catholic church, issued the Edict of Nantes. The edict gave the French Protestants political rights, religious freedom, and the possession of certain fortified towns.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, signed by Louis XIV on October 22, 1685, increased the persecutions of the Huguenots once more. Although forbidden to leave, at least 200,000 French Protestants fled France to friendly nations, such as Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and Britain. Between 1618 and 1725 between 5000 and 7000 Huguenot refugees reached the shores of America. The largest concentration was in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina.
