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From the 16th to the 18th century the name Huguenot was applied to a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of France , historically known as the French Calvinists . ETYMOLOGY Used originally as a term of derision, the derivation of the name ''Huguenot'' remains uncertain. It may have been a French corruption of the German word in France from the influential House Of Guise , a move which would have had the side-effect of fostering relations with the Swiss. Thus, ''Hugues'' plus ''Eidgenosse'' becomes ''Huguenot,'' with the intention of associating the Protestant cause with some very unpopular politics. History: ''The origin of the name ''Huguenot'''' The Huguenot Society of America Like the first hypothesis, several others account for the name as being derived from German as well as French. O.I.A. Roche writes in his book ''The Days of the Upright, A History of the Huguenots'' that "Huguenot" is Some discredit dual linguistic origins, arguing that for the word to have spread into common use in France, it must have originated in the French language. The "Hugues hypothesis" argues that the name can be accounted for by connection with Hugues Capet King Of France ,Janet G. Gray, "The Origin of the Word Huguenot", Sixteenth Century Journal 14 (1983), 349-359 who reigned long before the Reform times, but was regarded by the Gallicans and Protestants as a noble man who respected people's dignity and lives. Frank Puaux suggests, with similar connotations, a clever pun on the old French word for a ''covenanter'' (a signatory to a contract).Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed, Frank Puaux, ''Huguenot'' Janet Gray and other supporters of the theory suggest that the name ''huguenote'' would be roughly equivalent to ''little Hugos'', or ''those who want Hugo''. In this last connection, the name could suggest the derogatory inference of superstitious worship; because, ignorant people believed that Huguon, the gate of King Hugo, was haunted by the ghost of Count Hugon (regarded by Catholics as an infamous scoundrel), The Catholic Encyclopedia , Antoine Dégert, 1911, ''Huguenots'' and it was in this place in )Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance , by Association d'humanisme et renaissance, 1958, p217 The Huguenots in Florida; Or, The Lily and the Totem, by William Gilmore Simms, 1854, p470 While this and the many other theories offer their own measure of plausibility, attesting at least to the wit of later partisans and historians, if not of the French people at the time of this term's origin, "no one of the several theories advanced has afforded satisfaction".[http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC05203528&id=KKAR2MEwKRoC&pg=RA1-PA241&lpg=RA1-PA241&dq=Origin+Huguenot#PRA1-PA241,M1 George Lunt, ''Huguenot - The origin and meaning of the name''] New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Boston, 1908/1911, 241-246 Since the eighteenth century they have been commonly designated "French Protestants", the title being suggested by their German co-religionists, or Calvinists, as being disciples of Calvin. EARLY HISTORY AND BELIEFS The availability of the Bible in local language was important to the spread of the Protestant movement and the development of the Reformed church in France; and the country had a long history of struggles with the papacy, by the time the Protestant Reformation finally arrived. The first known French language translation of the Bible had been prepared by the 12th Century religious radical, Pierre de Vaux ( Peter Waldo ). It is not known whether his followers had preserved this earliest known French translation. Long after the sect was suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church , the remaining Waldensians sought to join William Farel and the Protestant Reformation, but those who emerged from secrecy were eradicated by Francis I in 1545 . Around 1294 , a French version of the Scriptures was prepared by the Catholic priest, Guyard De Moulin . A two-volume folio version of this translation appeared in Paris, in 1488 . Other predecessors of the Reformed church included the pro-reform and , Lefevre, a professor at the University Of Paris , prepared the way for the rapid dissemination of Lutheran Ideas in France with the publication of his French translation of the New Testament in 1523 , followed by the whole Bible in the French language, in 1528 . William Farel was a student of Lefevre who went on to become a leader of the Swiss Reformation, establishing a Protestant government in Geneva. Jean Cauvin (John Calvin), another student at the University of Paris, also converted to Protestantism. The French Confession of 1559 shows a decidedly Calvinistic Influence . The French Confession of Faith of 1559 Sometime between 1550 and 1580, members of the Reformed church in France came to be commonly known as ''Huguenots'' Criticisms of Roman Catholic Church Above all, Huguenots became known for their fiery criticisms of worship as performed in the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the focus on ritual and what seemed an obsession with death and the dead. They believed the Ritual , images, Saint s, Pilgrimage s, Prayer s, and Hierarchy of the Catholic Church did not help anyone toward Redemption . They saw Christian faith as something to be expressed in a strict and godly life, in obedience to Biblical laws, out of gratitude for God's mercy. Like other Protestants of the time, they felt that the Roman church needed radical cleansing of its impurities, and that the Pope represented a worldly kingdom, which sat in mocking tyranny over the things of God, and was ultimately doomed. Rhetoric like this became fiercer as events unfolded, and stirred up the hostility of the Catholic establishment. Violently opposed to the Catholic Church, the Huguenots attacked images, Monasticism , and church buildings. Most of the cities in which the Huguenots gained a hold saw Iconoclast attacks, in which altars and images in churches, and sometimes the buildings themselves were torn down. The cities of Bourges , Montauban and Orleans saw substantial activity in this regard. Reform and growth Huguenots faced periodic persecution from the outset of the Reformation; but Francis I (reigned 1515–1547) initially protected them from Parlement ary measures designed for their extermination. The Affair Of The Placards of 1534 changed the king's posture toward the Huguenots: he stepped away from restraining persecution of the movement. Huguenot numbers grew rapidly between 1555 and 1562, chiefly amongst the nobles and city-dwellers. During this time, their opponents first dubbed the Protestants ''Huguenots''; but they called themselves ''reformés,'' or "Reformed." They organized their first national synod in 1558, in Paris. By 1562, they had a total membership estimated at least a million, especially numerous in the southern and central parts of the country. The Huguenots in France likely peaked in number at approximately two million, compared to approximately sixteen million Catholics during the same period. WARS OF RELIGION See Also: French Wars of Religion In reaction to the growing Huguenot influence, and the aforementioned instances of Protestant zeal, Catholic violence against them grew, at the same time that concessions and edicts of toleration became more liberal. In 1561, the Edict of Orléans, for example, declared an end to the persecution; and the Edict Of Saint-Germain recognized them for the first time ( January 17 , 1562 ); but these measures disguised the growing strain of relations between Protestant and Catholic. Civil wars Tensions led to eight Civil War s, interrupted by periods of relative calm, between 1562 and 1598. With each break in peace, the Huguenots' trust in the Catholic throne diminished, and the violence became more severe, and Protestant demands became grander, until a lasting cessation of open hostility finally occurred in 1598. The wars gradually took on a dynastic character, developing into an extended feud between the Houses of Bourbon and Guise , both of which — in addition to holding rival religious views — staked a claim to the French throne. The crown, occupied by the House of Valois , generally supported the Catholic side, but on occasion switched over to the Protestant cause when politically expedient. The French Wars of Religion '' The French Wars Of Religion began with a massacre at Vassy on March 1 , 1562 , when 23(some sympathetic sources say hundredsA History of the Reformation, by Thomas Martin Lindsay, 1907, p190 "six or seven hundred Protestants were slain") of the Huguenots were killed, and about 200 were wounded. The Huguenots transformed themselves into a definitive political movement thereafter. Protestant preachers rallied a considerable army and a formidable cavalry, which came under the leadership of Admiral Gaspard De Coligny . Henry Of Navarre and the House of Bourbon allied themselves to the Huguenots, adding wealth and holdings to the Protestant strength, which at its height grew to sixty fortified cities, and posed a serious threat to the Catholic crown and Paris over the next three decades. St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1790 - 1871).]] See Also: St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre In what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 24 August – 17 September , 1572 , Catholics killed thousands of Huguenots in Paris. Similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following, with death toll estimates again ranging wildly, from thousands to as high as 110,000. An amnesty granted in 1573 pardoned the perpetrators. Edict of Nantes The fifth Holy War against the Huguenots began on February 23 , 1574 . The conflict continued periodically until 1598, when Henry of Navarre, having converted to Catholicism and become King of France as Henry IV , issued the Edict Of Nantes . The Edict granted the Protestants equality with Catholics under the throne and a degree of religious and political freedom within their domains. The Edict simultaneously protected Catholic interests by discouraging the founding of new Protestant churches in the Catholic-controlled regions. With the proclamation of the Edict of Nantes, and the subsequent protection of Huguenot rights, pressures to leave France abated, as did further attempts at colonization. However, under King Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1715), chief minister Cardinal Mazarin (who held real power during the king's minority up to his death in 1661) resumed persecution of the Protestants using soldiers to inflict Dragonnade s that made life so intolerable that many fled. Edict of Fontainebleau The king revoked the "irrevocable" , the Netherlands , Switzerland , Norway , Denmark and Prussia — whose Calvinist Great Elector Frederick William welcomed them to help rebuild his war-ravaged and underpopulated country. The Huguenot population of France had dropped to 856,000 by the mid 1660s, of which a plurality was rural. The greatest populations of surviving Huguenots resided in the regions of Basse-Guyenne, Saintonge-Aunis-Angoumois and Poitou.1 HUGUENOT EXODUS FROM FRANCE Early emigration See Also: Fort Caroline The first Huguenots to leave France seeking freedom from persecution had done so years earlier under the leadership of Jean Ribault in 1562. The group ended up establishing the small colony of Fort Caroline in 1564, on the banks of the St. Johns River , in what is today Jacksonville, Florida . The colony was the first attempt at any permanent European settlement in the present-day United States , but the group survived only a short time. In September 1565, an attack against the new Spanish colony at St. Augustine backfired, and the Spanish wiped out the Fort Caroline garrison. Settlement in South Africa See Also: Huguenots in South Africa On December 31 , 1687 a band of Huguenots set sail from France to the Dutch East India Company post at the Cape Of Good Hope , South Africa . Individual Huguenots settled at the Cape of Good Hope from as early as 1671 with the arrival of Francois Villion (Viljoen) and an organized, large scale emigration of Huguenots to the Cape of Good Hope took place during 1688 and 1689. A notable example of this is the emigration of Huguenots from La Motte D'Aigues in Provence , France . of Franschhoek.]] Many of these settlers chose as their home an area called Franschhoek , Dutch for French Corner, in the present day Western Cape province of South Africa. A large monument to commemorate the arrival of the Huguenots in South Africa was inaugurated on 7 April 1948 at Franschhoek . Many of the farms in the Western Cape province in South Africa still bear French names and there are many families, today mostly ,Visagie (Visage), du Plessis, du Toit, Fourie, Fouche, Giliomee (Guilliaume), Hugo, Joubert , and Labuschagne (la Buscagne), Le Roux , Malan , Malherbe , Marais, Theron , Jordaan (Jurdan) and Viljoen amongst others, which are all common surnames in present day South Africa.Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L'Afrique Du Sud. Translation: The French People Who Made South Africa. Bernard Lugan. January 1996. ISBN 2841000869' The wine industry in South Africa owed a significant debt to the Huguenots, many of whom had Vineyards in France. Settlement in North America See Also: The Huguenot Society of America Barred from settling in New France , many Huguenots moved instead to the Dutch colony New Netherland later incorporated into New York and New Jersey and the 13 Colonies of Great Britain in North America , the first in 1624. (1721) in New Paltz .]] Huguenot immigrants founded New Paltz, New York , where is now located The Oldest Street In The Current United States Of America with the original stone houses, New Rochelle, New York (named after La Rochelle in France). Chretien du Bois was one of the original Huguenot settlers in this area. A Huguenot settlement on the South Shore of Staten Island, New York was founded by Daniel Perrin in 1692 . The present day neighborhood of Huguenot was named after Perrin and these early settlers. Some of the settlers chose the Virginia Colony , and formed communities in present-day Chesterfield County and at Manakintown , an abandoned Monacan village now located in Powhatan County about 20 miles west of downtown Richmond, Virginia , where their descendants continue to reside. On May 12, 1705, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act to naturalize the 148 Huguenots resident at Manakintown. The Huguenot Memorial Bridge across the James River and Huguenot Road was named in their honor, as were many local features including several schools, including Huguenot High School . Many Huguenots also settled in the area around the current site of Charleston, South Carolina . In 1685, Rev. Elie Prioleau from the town of Pons in France settled in what was then called Charlestown. He became pastor of the first Huguenot church in North America in that city. The French Huguenot Church of Charleston, which remains independent, is the oldest continuously active Huguenot congregation in the United States today. Most of the Huguenot congregations in North America merged or affiliated with other Protestant denominations, such the Presbyterian Church (USA) , United Church Of Christ , Reformed Church es, and the Reformed Baptist s. American Huguenots readily married outside their immediate French Huguenot communities, leading to rapid assimilation. They made an enormous contribution to American economic life, especially as merchants and artisans in the late Colonial and early Federal periods. One outstanding contribution was the establishment of the Brandywine Powder Mills by E.I. Du Pont , a former student of Lavoisier . Asylum in Britain and Ireland ]] An estimated 50,000 Protestant Walloons and Huguenots fled to England, with about 10,000 moving on to Ireland. A leading Huguenot theologian and writer who led the exiled community in London, Andrew Lortie (born André Lortie), became known for articulating Huguenot criticism of the Holy See and Transubstantiation . Of these refugees, upon landing on the Kent coast, many gravitated towards Canterbury, then the county's hub, where many Walloon & Huguenot families were granted asylum. . Huguenot refugees flocked to Shoreditch , London in large numbers. They established a major weaving industry in and around Spitalfields (see Petticoat Lane and the Tenterground ), and in Wandsworth . The Old Truman Brewery , then known as the Black Eagle Brewery, appeared in 1724. The fleeing of Huguenot refugees from Tours , France had virtually wiped out the great Silk mills they had built. Many Huguenots settled in Ireland during the 's Huguenot Regiments. Some of them took their skills to Ulster and assisted in the founding of the Irish Linen industry. The only two remaining Huguenot cemeteries in Europe are in Ireland. One of the most famous Huguenots in America's history was Paul Revere. Revere was noted for widely spreading his beliefs of Calvinism. Asylum in Germany and Scandinavia ]] Huguenots refugees found a safe haven in the Lutheran and Reformed states in Germany and Scandinavia. Nearly 44,000 Huguenots established themselves in Germany, and particularly in Prussia where many of their descendents rose to positions of prominence. Several congregations were founded, such as the Fredericia (Denmark), Berlin , Stockholm , Hamburg , Frankfurt , Emden . Around 1700, a significant proportion of Berlin's population was of French mother tongue and the Berlin Huguenots preserved the French language in their service for nearly a century. They ultimately decided to switch to German in protest against the occupation of Prussia by Napoleon in 1806/07. Effects The exodus of Huguenots from France created a kind of Brain Drain from which the kingdom did not fully recover for years. The French crown's refusal to allow Protestants to settle in New France was a factor behind that colony's slow population growth, which ultimately led to its conquest by the British. By the time of the French And Indian War , there may have been more people of French ancestry living in Britain's American Colonies than there were in New France. Frederick William, Elector Of Brandenburg invited Huguenots to settle in his realms, and a number of their descendants rose to positions of prominence in Prussia. The last Prime Minister of the (East) German Democratic Republic , Lothar De Maizière , is a scion of a Huguenot family. The persecution and flight of the Huguenots greatly damaged the reputation of Louis XIV abroad, particularly in England; the two kingdoms, which had enjoyed peaceful relations prior to 1685, became bitter enemies and fought against each other in a series of wars from 1689 onward. END OF PERSECUTION AND RESTORATION OF FRENCH CITIZENSHIP See Also: Persecution of Huguenots under Louis XV Persecution of Protestants continued in France after 1724, but ended in 1764 and the French Revolution of 1789 finally made them full-fledged citizens. The December 15, 1790 Law stated that : "All persons born in a foreign country and descending in any degree of a French man or woman expatriated for religious reason are declared French nationals (''naturels français'') and will benefit to rights attached to that quality if they come back to France, establish their domicile there and take the civic oath." This might have been, historically, the first law recognising a Right Of Return . Article 4 of the June 26, 1889 Nationality Law stated that: "Descendants of families proscribed by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes will continue to benefit from the benefit of the December 15, 1790 Law, but on the condition that a nominal decree should be issued for every petitioner. That decree will only produce its effects for the future." Foreign descendants of Huguenots lost the automatic right to French citizenship in 1945 (by force of the ''ordonnance du 19 octobre 1945'', revoking the 1889 Nationality Law). In the 1920s and 1930s, members of the extreme-right Action Française movement expressed strong animus against the Protestant s, as against the Jew s, and the Freemasons - all three being regarded as groups supporting the French Republic which Action Française sought to overthrow. During the occupation of France in the Second World War , a significant number of Protestants - not persecuted themselves - were active in hiding and saving Jews. Up to the present, many French Protestants, due to their history, feel a special sympathy for and tendency to support "The Underdog " in various situations and conflicts. Protestants in France today number about 1 million, or about 2% of the population [http://www.ambafrance-rsa.org/HTML/ThisIsFrance/Population/PO_Religion_Body.htm . They are most concentrated in the Cévennes region in the south. LEGACY French A number of French churches are descended from the Huguenots, including: American
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SYMBOL The Huguenot Cross is the distinctive emblem of the Huguenots (''[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croix_huguenote croix huguenote]''). It is now an official symbol of the ''Eglise des Protestants reformé'' (French Protestant church) and Huguenot descendants are proud to display this piece of jewelery as a sign of ''reconnaissance'' (recognition) between them. SEE ALSO NOTES Baird, Charles W "History of the Huguenot Emigration to America" Genealogical Publishing Company, Published: 1885, Reprinted: 1998, ISBN 9780806305547 Charles Burgess(later, Cathal Brugha)- Irish freedom fighter EXTERNAL LINKS
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