HUGUENOTS
533
HUGUENOTS
public offices, for admission to colleges and academies,
could hold synods and even political meetings; they
received 45,000 crowns annually for expenses of wor-
ship and support of schools; they were given in
the Parliament of I'aris a tribunal in which their
representatives constituted one-third of the members,
while in those of Grenoble, Bordeaux, and Toulouse
special chambers were createtl, half of whose mem-
bers were Huguenot. One hundred places de surete
were ceded to them for eight years, and, while the
king paid the garrison of these fortresses, he named
the governors only with the assent of the churches.
If many of these provisions are nowadays recognized
by common law, some on the other hand would seem
incompatible with orderly government. This con-
dition of benevolent and explicit tolerance was en-
tirely new for the Huguenots. Many of them con-
sidered that too little had been yielded to them, while
the Catholics thought that they had been given too
much. Pope Clement VIII energetically complained
of the edict to Cardinal d'Ossat, the king's ambas-
sador; the French clergy protested against it; and
many of the parliaments refused for a long time to
register it. Henry IV succeeded finally in imposing
his will on all parties, and for some years the Edict of
Nantes ensured the religious peace of France. The
Huguenots, possessing at that time 773 churches,
enjoyed during the reign of Henry IV the most perfect
calm; their happiness was marred only by the efforts
of the Catholic clergy to make converts among them.
Cardinal du Perron and many of the Jesuits, Capu-
chins, and other religious engaged in this work, and
sometimes with great success. Upon the death of
Henry IV (1610) there was at first no change in the
situation of the Protestants. They did indeed raise
numerous complaints in their assemblies of Saumur,
Grenoble, La Rochelle, and Loudun, but in reality
they had no grievances to allege except those due to
popular intolerance with which the Government had
nothing to do. Truth compels the less prejudiced
among their historians to admit that the Huguenots,
who complained so much of Catholic intolerance,
were themselves just as intolerant wherever they
happened to be the stronger. Not only did they re-
tain the church property and the exclusive use of the
churches, but, wherever possible (as at B(;arn), they
even opposed the enforcement of those clauses of the
Edict of Nantes which were favourable to Cath-
olics. They went so far as to prohibit Catholic wor-
ship in the towns that had been ceded to them. It
was with the greatest difficulty that Sully, the min-
ister of Henry IV and himself a Protestant, could
obtain for Catholic priests permission to enter the
hospitals of La Rochelle, when summoned to admin-
ister the sacraments, and authorization to bury, with
never so little solemnity, their dead co-religionists.
To this intolerance, which often explains the attitude
of the Catholics, they added the imprudence of showing
themselves ever ready to make common cause with
the domestic enemies of the State, or with any
lords who might be in revolt. In 1616, in Guyenne,
Languedoc, and Poitou, they allied themselves with
Rohan and Conde, who had risen against the queen
regent, Marie de' Medici. They again got restless
when the king, conformably with the Edict of Nantes,
re-established Catholicism at B^arn. An assembly,
held at La Rochelle despite the king's prohibition,
divided the realm into eight military circles, and
among other matters provided for plundering the
king's revenues and the goods of the Church. To deal
with this condition of affairs the king was obliged to
capture Saumur, Thouars, and other rebellious towns.
He laid siege to Montauban, which city, defended by
Rohan and La Force, repelled all his assaults. Lastly
he invested Montpellier and had no better success;
nevertheless peace was signed there (October, 1622),
according to which the Edict of Nantes was con-
firmed, political meetings were forbidden, and the
cities which had been won from the Protestants re-
mained in the king's hantls. Cardinal de Richelieu,
when he became i)rime minister, entertained the idea
of putting an end to the political power of the Hu-
guenots while respecting their religious liberty.
Rohan and Soubise, on the pretext that the Edict of
Nantes had been violated, quickly effected an up-
rising of the South of France, and did not hesitate to
make an alliance with England, as a result of which
an English fleet of ninety vessels manned by 10,000
men endeavoiu'cd to effect a landing at La Rochelle
(July, 1627). The king and Richelieu laid siege to
this strongliold of the revolted Huguenots; they
drove off the English fleet, and even made its ap-
proach to the place impossible in future by means of
a mole about 1640 yards long which they constructed.
In spite of the fanatical heroism of the mayor Guiton
and his co-religionists. La Rochelle was obliged to
capitulate. Richelieu used his victory with moder-
ation; he left the inhabitants the free exercise of their
religion, granted them a full amnesty, and restored
all property to its owners. Rohan, pursued by Cond6
and Epernon, kept up the war, not disdaining to ac-
cept succour from Spain, but he was at last obliged
to sign the Peace of Alais, by which the Edict of
Nantes was renewed, an amnesty promised, the
cities taken from the Huguenots, and the religious
wars brought to an end (June, 1629). Subsequently
Protestantism disappcaretl from the stage of politics,
content to enjoy in peace the advantages of a religious
character which were still accorded to it. The strife
was transferred to the field of controversy. Public
lectures, polemical and erudite writings, were multi-
plied, and preachers and professors of theology —
such as Chamier, Amyraut, Rivet, Basnage, Blonilel,
Daille, Bochart — demonstrated their industry, learn-
ing, and courage. The Church in France, more and
more affected by the beneficent influence of the Coun-
cil of Trent, opposed them with vigorous and learned
controversialists, with prudent and zealous preachers,
such as Sirmond, Labbe, Coton, St. Francis de Sales,
Cosp^an, Lejeune, S^nault, Tenouillet, Coeffeteau, de
B^ruUe, Condren, whose success was manifested in
numerous conversions. These conversions took place
especially in the higher circles of society; the great
lords abandoned Calvinism, which retained its in-
fluence only among the middle classes. Excluded
from the public service, the Huguenots became
manufacturers, merchants, and farmers; the number
of their churches decreased to 630; their religious
activity lessened; between 1631 and 1659 they held
only four synods. Without being sympathetic to-
wards them, the public authorities respected the re-
ligious liberty guaranteed by the Edict of Nantes.
Richelieu judged that the scope of that edict should
not be widened, nor should the liberties there granted
be curtailed, and even Protestant historians pay
tribute to his moderation. Louis XIV being a minor
at his accession, his mother, Anne of .Austria, began
her regency by pnamising to the Protestants the
enjoyment of " their liberties. Mazarin abstained
from disturbing them. "If the httle flock ", he said,
"feeds on evil weeds, it does not wander away"
(Si le petit troupeau broute de mauvaises herbes, il
ne s'^carte pas). It is indeed true that some of the
feudal lords, the Due de Bouillon among others, when
they gave up Calvinism, caused the temples within
their j urisdictions to be closed ; but the Edict of Nantes
permitted this, and the Government had neither the
right nor the inclination to prevent it. In 1648, when
Alsace with the exception of Strasburg was reunited
with France, liberty of public worship was maintained
for all the new subjects who were of the Augsburg
Confession. In 1649 the Royal Council, dealing with
certain complaints of the Huguenots, declared that
those of the "pseudo-reformed" (pretendue reformee)
