Huguenots Quotes
Admiral Coligny was a leading French Protestant. He was murdered along with 50,000 Protestants by the French Catholics in what has come to be known as Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. Earlier in his career Pius V had been the an inquisitor or the Inquisition and was appointed “Inquisitor General For All Christendom,” so he had an anti-Protestant background. Incredibly enough, he was beatified and canonized a saint despite—some say because of—his participation in and encouragement murders of non-Catholics and even Catholics who happened to dissent on some aspect of theology. It is not clear whether the Pope knew in advance of the planned massacre or whether he or his representatives had any part in the planning of it. Since the end of the Second World War, Popes have been in the forefront of protest and moral condemnation of religious or ethnic atrocities, and it is hard for most of us to conceive that a Pope could countenance the murder of 50,000 souls by his faithful followers.
“Coligny” was Gaspard de Coligny, 1519–1572, the Huguenot fonder. “William the Silent” was William of Orange the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish, and Cromwell was the leader of the English revolution. All three were major figures in advancing the concept of individual freedom of the ordinary man and all three were profoundly influences by John Calvin.
It was uttered in the King’s name by soldiers and officials throughout the land. It is not certain that the exact words of choice were created by Louis but they were uttered in his name. Protestants had been given the right to practice their religion in France by the King’s grandfather (the Edict of Nantes {617664}), but Louis XIV rescinded that {617765} and gave Protestants this choice. Some converted. Some were murdered. Some escaped to other countries.
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew followed the assassination.
In August of 1572 Catholics in Paris led by the Marshall and his soldiers attacked the homes of all known Huguenots, murdering the inhabitants. Tavannes rode through the streets of Paris on his horse shouting the first quotation to his troops who would murder the helpless Protestants. The frenzy spread to the countryside. When it was over 50,000 innocent, unsuspecting Protestants had been murdered. When asked how he, a military marshal felt about such a one sided action against unarmed civilians he responded with the second quotation. The event came to be known as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew as it commenced on that Saint’s day.
Charles was a young man who ruled under the thumb of his mother, Catherine de Medici. She and the leading Catholic political figures had decided to have the army massacre the Huguenots—Protestants—of France. Charles knew the massacre was to begin that night and tried to save his friend Rochefoucault, a Protestant, who was a member of the King’s court. He suggested several times that Rochefoucault not go home that evening but stay at the Louvre. The unsuspecting Rochefoucault felt that he had to get home to his wife and left explaining that to the King. Hence the King’s remark. Rochefoucault and his family were murdered that night. In the end, 50,000 Protestants were massacred in what has come to be known as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. Many of the palace servants were Protestants and were cut to ribbons throughout the palace. The King from a palace window shot a rifle at Protestants trying to swim the River Seine to escape, while his page kept reloading for him.
Henry of Navarre. Only 26 years earlier 50,000 Protestant Huguenots were slaughtered by the Catholics. The sectarian hatred was extreme. The King who had been a Protestant had converted to Catholicism, the faith of the vast majority of Frenchmen. Among the many different and usually futile efforts of reconciliation, the edict of the King ordering all subjects to forget the past was one of the more fascinating attempts.
The letter was in response to the King’s letter commanding him and all the other governors to massacre all the Protestants in his district. Montmorrin, a Catholic, died suddenly and shortly thereafter. It is supposed he and one other objector (Viscount Orthez) were poisoned by order of King Charles. All the other governors obeyed and 50,000 Protestants were murdered in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew.
