This week in Christian history: Voice of the Martyrs leader found dead, Edict of Nantes signed, Corrie ten Boom born
The Edict of Nantes signed – April 13, 1598
This week marks the anniversary of when King Henry IV of France signed the Edict of Nantes, which granted assorted rights to French Protestants, also known as Huguenots.
Named after the city where it was signed, the edict temporarily put an end to the religious wars that had taken place within France between Catholics and Protestants.
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Conditions of the edict included giving Huguenots the right to worship freely nationwide, privately and publicly, in 200 named towns and on estates owned by Protestants.
Additionally, an amnesty was given to both Catholics and Protestants for any crimes committed during the religious wars, with the government agreeing to help fund the garrisons of about 50 fortified Huguenot towns.
“Some historians regard the Edict of Nantes as an equally cynical stratagem to draw the Huguenot sting, as in fact it did,” wrote Richard Cavendish of History Today in 1998.
“Protestantism weakened in France after 1598 until eventually Louis XIV’s revocation of the edict in 1685 led to mass emigration of Huguenots to England and other countries.”
