Late in the 17th century, France declined from being the most powerful and rich nation in Europe to a country pressed to hold its own against powerful foes. Possibly, just possibly, one event above all helps explains this decline. On October 18, 1685, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. In doing so, he drove hundreds of thousands of his best citizens abroad.

The Edict of Nantes was a promise of religious toleration. It was granted in 1598 to the French Protestants known as Huguenots after years of civil wars. The Calvinist Huguenots came into being around 1550 when preachers brought Bibles to France from Switzerland. The growth of this reform movement in Gallic lands was astonishingly rapid. Within five years the new church held its first synod. Within a century it boasted a million and a half adherents.

Conflict seemed inevitable from the start. The Roman Catholic church was concerned at its loss of control over souls; the government feared Protestant demands for local rule. The government's concerns certainly appeared justified when powerful nobles such as the Condés attempted to employ Protestant strength for their own political advancement against the powerful Guise family.

War began in 1562 when a number of Huguenots were massacred by the Guises in a church at Vassy. The Huguenots were only a twentieth of the total French population, yet fought so fiercely they were able to win concessions from the Roman Catholic majority. In 1572 a peace was arranged.

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
This was shattered when Catherine de Medici, the power behind the French throne, ordered the assassination of the brilliant Huguenot Admiral Coligny. The attempt left him wounded but not dead. Catherine panicked and ordered the massacre of all Huguenots, including Coligny. The slaughter began in Paris on the evening of St. Bartholomew's Day and spread to the countryside on the following days. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Huguenots were butchered in cold blood.

Surviving Huguenots fled to their fortresses. A weary round of wars followed until the Huguenot prince, Henry of Navarre, became heir-elect to the throne of France. In order to gain the throne, Henry found he must convert to Catholicism. This he did. The Huguenots saw this as a betrayal. To quiet their fears, Henry issued the Edict of Nantes, protecting Huguenot rights.

The Huguenots continued to defend themselves with arms when necessary, but eventually they came to distrust the use of weapons. Their leaders decided that it is better to suffer than to fight for rights. Thus, when the rebellion called "the Fronde" erupted, the Huguenots refused to join their natural allies but instead supported the young Louis XIV. He in turn gravely acknowledged their loyalty and confirmed the Edict of Nantes.

All the same, he did not want France divided in faith. Bit by bit he gave ground to churchmen who called for him to strip Huguenot privileges. Laws were passed making it hard for Protestants to enter the guilds. If a child of fourteen converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, the child could leave its Huguenot parents who nonetheless must support it. Huguenots were forbidden to establish new colleges. For a Huguenot to attempt to leave France was made punishable by condemnation to the galleys. On the other hand, any Huguenot who converted to Catholicism was paid an endowment.

In 1682 Louis XIV threatened the Huguenots with terrible evils if they did not convert. His religious training, harsh upbringing, and cruel advisers, led him to believe he could not be saved unless he wiped out heresy. He destroyed 570 of the Protestants' 815 churches. Huguenots who met secretly in the woods were subject to savage reprisals and immediate death.