Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes (
While upholding Catholicism as the established religion, and requiring the re-establishment of Catholic worship in places it had lapsed,[1]: 721 it granted religious toleration to the Protestant Huguenots, who had been waging a long and bloody struggle for their rights in France. The main contents were:[2][3]
- Freedom of conscience and the right to practice their religion (Protestantism) in certain specified towns and cities throughout France.
- The right to hold public office, including the right to serve as judges and administrators, without having to renounce their religion.
- The right to maintain their own schools and universities, and to receive government funding for them.
- The right to fortify their towns and cities for their own protection.
- The right to maintain their own military forces (known as the "Huguenot militia"), which were to be paid for by the French government.
- The right to engage in certain specified trades and professions, including the manufacture and sale of textiles and arms.
- The right to travel freely throughout France, without being subject to searches or seizures of their property.
- The right to bury their dead in their own cemeteries.
The Edict of Nantes helped to end the Wars of Religion in France, which had been raging for decades. It also ensured that the Protestant minority in France would have a measure of religious and political freedom, and helped to establish France as a more tolerant and pluralistic society. However, the Edict was eventually revoked by King Louis XIV in 1685, leading to a mass exodus of Huguenots from France and a loss of talent and resources for the country.
In this
The
The Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked the Edict of Nantes in October 1685, was promulgated by Louis XIV, the grandson of Henry IV. This act drove an exodus of Protestants and increased the hostility of Protestant nations bordering France.
Background
The edict aimed primarily to end the longrunning French Wars of Religion.[b]
King
Re-establishing royal authority in France required internal peace, which was based on limited toleration enforced by the crown. Since royal troops could not be everywhere, Huguenots needed to be granted strictly-limited possibilities of self-defense.[4]
Terms
The Edict of Nantes that Henry IV signed had four basic texts, including a main text made up of 92 articles that was largely based on unsuccessful peace treaties signed during the recent wars. The edict also included 56 "particular" (secret) articles dealing with Protestant rights and obligations. For example, the French state guaranteed protection of French Protestants travelling abroad from the Inquisition. "This crucifies me", protested Pope Clement VIII upon hearing of the edict. The last two parts consisted of brevets (letters patent), which contained the military clauses and pastoral clauses. Both brevets were withdrawn in 1629 by Louis XIII after a final religious civil war.
The two
While it granted certain privileges to
The original act that promulgated the edict has disappeared. The
The location of the signing is uncertain. The edict itself stated merely that it was "given at
Revocation
The Edict remained unaltered in effect, registered by the parlements as "fundamental and irrevocable law", with the exception of the brevets, which had been granted for a period of eight years, and were renewed by Henry in 1606 and in 1611 by
During the remainder of Louis XIII's reign, and especially during the minority of Louis XIV, the implementation of the Edict varied year by year, voiced in declarations and orders, and in case decisions in the Council, fluctuating according to the tides of domestic politics and the relations of France with powers abroad.[10]
In October 1685,
Freedom to worship and civil rights for non-Catholics in France were not restored until the signing of the
Translation of selected passages
These are the principal and most salient provisions of the edict as promulgated in Nantes, Brittany, probably on 30 April 1598:[16]
Henri, by the grace of God king of France and of Navarre, to all to whom these presents come, greeting:
Among the infinite benefits which it has pleased God to heap upon us, the most signal and precious is his granting us the strength and ability to withstand the fearful disorders and troubles which prevailed on our advent in this kingdom. The realm was so torn by innumerable factions and sects that the most legitimate of all the parties was fewest in numbers. God has given us strength to stand out against this storm; we have finally surmounted the waves and made our port of safety,—peace for our state. For which his be the glory all in all, and ours a free recognition of his grace in making use of our instrumentality in the good work.... We implore and await from the Divine Goodness the same protection and favor which he has ever granted to this kingdom from the beginning....
We have, by this perpetual and irrevocable edict, established and proclaimed and do establish and proclaim:
I. First, that the recollection of everything done by one party or the other between March, 1585, and our accession to the crown, and during all the preceding period of troubles, remain obliterated and forgotten, as if no such things had ever happened....
III. We ordain that the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion shall be restored and reëstablished in all places and localities of this our kingdom and countries subject to our sway, where the exercise of the same has been interrupted, in order that it may be peaceably and freely exercised, without any trouble or hindrance; forbidding very expressly all persons, of whatsoever estate, quality, or condition, from troubling, molesting, or disturbing ecclesiastics in the celebration of divine service, in the enjoyment or collection of tithes, fruits, or revenues of their benefices, and all other rights and dues belonging to them; and that all those who during the troubles have taken possession of churches, houses, goods or revenues, belonging to the said ecclesiastics, shall surrender to them entire possession and peaceable enjoyment of such rights, liberties, and sureties as they had before they were deprived of them....
VI. And in order to leave no occasion for troubles or differences between our subjects, we have permitted, and herewith permit, those of the said religion called Reformed to live and abide in all the cities and places of this our kingdom and countries of our sway, without being annoyed, molested, or compelled to do anything in the matter of religion contrary to their consciences, ... upon condition that they comport themselves in other respects according to that which is contained in this our present edict.
VII. It is permitted to all lords, gentlemen, and other persons making profession of the said religion called Reformed, holding the right of high justice [or a certain feudal tenure], to exercise the said religion in their houses....
IX. We also permit those of the said religion to make and continue the exercise of the same in all villages and places of our dominion where it was established by them and publicly enjoyed several and divers times in the year 1597, up to the end of the month of August, notwithstanding all decrees and judgments to the contrary....
XIII. We very expressly forbid to all those of the said religion its exercise, either in respect to ministry, regulation, discipline, or the public instruction of children, or otherwise, in this our kingdom and lands of our dominion, otherwise than in the places permitted and granted by the present edict.
XIV. It is forbidden as well to perform any function of the said religion in our court or retinue, or in our lands and territories beyond the mountains, or in our city of Paris, or within five leagues of the said city....
XVIII. We also forbid all our subjects, of whatever quality and condition, from carrying off by force or persuasion, against the will of their parents, the children of the said religion, in order to cause them to be baptized or confirmed in the Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church; and the same is forbidden to those of the said religion called Reformed, upon penalty of being punished with especial severity....
XXI. Books concerning the said religion called Reformed may not be printed and publicly sold, except in cities and places where the public exercise of the said religion is permitted.
XXII. We ordain that there shall be no difference or distinction made in respect to the said religion, in receiving pupils to be instructed in universities, colleges, and schools; nor in receiving the sick and poor into hospitals, retreats, and public charities.
See also
- Edict of toleration
- Freedom of religion
- Michel de l'Hôpital, a precursor to Henry IV's policies
- Peace of Vervins
Notes
- ^ In 1898, the tricentennial celebrated the edict as the foundation of the coming Age of Toleration; the 1998 anniversary, by contrast, was commemorated with a book of essays under the title, Coexister dans l'intolérance (Michel Grandjean and Bernard Roussel, editors, Geneva, 1998).
- ^ A detailed chronological account of the negotiations that led to the Edict's promulgation has been offered by Janine Garrisson, L'Édit de Nantes: Chronique d'une paix attendue (Paris: Fayard) 1998.
- ^ For Eastern Europe, see Mehmed II's Firman on the Freedom of the Bosnian Franciscans or the Warsaw Confederation.
- ^ The king agreed to support the Protestant ministers in partial compensation.
- Barbary.[6]By the time the ordonnance was published, Henri IV had been assassinated.
References
Footnotes
- ISSN 0361-0160.
- ^ Geoffrey Treasure, The Huguenots (Yale UP, 2015) pp 226–229.
- ^ Charles Tylor. The Huguenots in the Seventeenth Century (1892) pp 9–10.
- ^ a b George A. Rothrock Jr., "Some Aspects of Early Bourbon Policy toward the Huguenots" Church History 29.1 (March 1960:17–24) p. 17.
- ^ Texts published in Benoist 1693 I:62–98 (noted by Rothrock).
- ^ L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 2005:318
- ^ Rothrock 1960:23 note 6.
- ^ Reported in Baedeker, Northern France, 1889.
- ^ A point made in Rothrock 1960:19.
- ^ Ruth Kleinman, "Changing Interpretations of the Edict of Nantes: The Administrative Aspect, 1643–1661" French Historical Studies 10.4 (Autumn 1978:541–71.
- ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks". www.fordham.edu.
- ISBN 0-451-62600-1.
- ^ See History of the French in Louisville.
- ^ City ordinance of 1682-03-11
- ^ Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Ideals, Edict of Versailles (1787) Archived 2012-07-14 at the Wayback Machine, downloaded 29 January 2012
- ^ History Guide, The Edict of Nantes (1598) Archived 2018-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
Sources
The source followed by most modern historians is the Huguenot refugee Élie Benoist's Histoire de l'édit de Nantes, 3 vols. (Delft, 1693–95). E.G. Léonard devotes a chapter to the Edict of Nantes in his Histoire général du protestantisme, 2 vols. (Paris) 1961:II:312–89.
Further reading
- Alcock, Antony. A history of the protection of regional cultural minorities in Europe: From the Edict of Nantes to the present day (Springer, 2000).[ISBN missing]
- Baumgartner, Frederic J. "The Catholic Opposition to the Edict of Nantes, 1598–1599." Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance 40.3 (1978): 525–536. online
- Cavendish, Richard. "The edict of Nantes." History Today 48.4 (1998): 35+.
- Champeaud, Gregory. "The Edict of Poitiers and the Treaty of Nérac, or two steps towards the Edict of Nantes." Sixteenth Century Journal (2001): 319–334. online
- Davis, Stephen M. The French Huguenots and Wars of Religion: Three Centuries of Resistance for Freedom of Conscience (2021) [ISBN missing]
- Greengrass, Mark. "The Edict of Nantes (1598)." in Handbuch Frieden im Europa der Frühen Neuzeit (2021): 897–910. online in English[permanent dead link]
- Kleinman, Ruth. "Changing Interpretations of the Edict of Nantes: The Administrative Aspect, 1643–1661." French Historical Studies 10.4 (1978): 541–571 online
- Gerson, Noel B. The Edict of Nantes (Grosset & Dunlap, 1969) [ISBN missing]
- Lualdi, Katharine J. "Persevering in the faith: Catholic worship and communal identity in the wake of the Edict of Nantes." Sixteenth century journal (2004): 717–734. online
- Orcibal, Jean. "Louis XIV and the Edict of Nantes." in Louis XIV and Absolutism (Palgrave Macmillan, 1976) pp. 154–176. [ISBN missing]
- Parsons, Jotham, ed. The Edict of Nantes: Five Essays and a New Translation (National Huguenot Society, 1998).
- Pugh, Wilma J. "Social welfare and the Edict of Nantes: Lyon and Nimes." French Historical Studies 8.3 (1974): 349–376. online
- Sutherland, Nicola M. "The Crown, the Huguenots, and the Edict of Nantes." in The Huguenot Connection: The Edict of Nantes, Its Revocation, and Early French Migration to South Carolina (Springer, Dordrecht, 1988) pp. 28–48. [ISBN missing]
- Sutherland, Nicola Mary. "The Huguenots and the Edict of Nantes 1598–1629." in Huguenots in Britain and their French Background, 1550–1800 (Palgrave Macmillan, 1987) pp. 158–174. [ISBN missing]
- Treasure, Geoffrey. The Huguenots (Yale UP, 2015) [ISBN missing]
- Tylor, Charles. The Huguenots in the Seventeenth Century: Including the History of the Edict of Nantes, from Its Enactment in 1598 to Its Revocation in 1685 (1892)
- Whelan, Ruth. Toleration and Religious Identity: The Edict of Nantes and its Implications in France, Britain and Ireland (2003) [ISBN missing]
External links
Media related to Edict of Nantes at Wikimedia Commons
- The Edict of Nantes Archived 2012-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
- The Edict of Nantes Manuscript and French transcription of the Edict of Nantes
- The Edict of Nantes, with its Secret Articles and Brevets, Translated by Jotham Parsons