Directory of French Resources

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The first professed Protestants in France were Lefevre, Wolmar, Farel, Viret, Marot, Olivetan, Calvin, and Beza, all men of distinguished learning and ability; but most of them had to seek safety in exile. It was only after the successful establishment of the Reformation in French Switzerland that the movement became serious in France. Calvin and Beza may be called the fathers of the French Reformed Church. Their pupils returned as missionaries to their native land. The first Protestant congregation was formed at Paris in 1555, and the first synod held in the same city in 1559. In 1561 the theological conference at Poissy took place, where Theodore Beza eloquently but vainly pleaded the cause of the Protestants before the dignitaries of the Roman Church, and where the name "Reformed," as an ecclesiastical designation, originated. In 1571 the general synod at La Rochelle adopted the Gallican Confession, and a system of government and discipline essentially Calvinistic, yet modified by the peculiar circumstances of a Church not in union with the State (as in Geneva), but in antagonism with it. The movement here unavoidably assumed a political character, and led to a series of civil wars between those who were Catholic, led by Catherine, and the Protestants (Huguenots) who were led by the Princes of Navarre. These civil wars led to the treasonous slaughter of the Huguenots at the St. Bartholomews's Day massacre in 1572. The Reformed church again acquired status under the Edict of Nantes in 1598, but that edict was revoked in 1685 and the French Reformed Church lost nearly all of its membership.

Resources in This Category

• Huguenot History

  http://67.199.41.216/Huguent.htm
  Describes the religious wars of France and includes a link to a timeline of Huguenot and Protestant Reformed chronology.

• Huguenot Timeline

  http://www.pierrechastain.com/content/timeline.html
  A timeline beginning in France with Jacques le Fevre in 1512 through the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV in 1685. Events concerning the Huguenots in the New World are also listed.

• Huguenots

  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07527b.htm
  A Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Huguenots and their place in the French reformation.

• Pierre Viret

  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2001/issue71/8.35.html
  A reformer who helped consolidate the Reformation in Lausanne and then captured the hearts of the Huguenots in France.

• Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

  http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/revo_nantes.html
  A copy of the edict by Louis XIV in 1685 which again allowed persecution of the French Reformed Church.

• St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

  http://www.reformation.org/bart.html
  August 24, 1572, was the date of the infamous St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in France. On that day, over 400 years ago, began one of the most horrifying holocausts in history.

• The French Reformation

  http://www.preparingforeternity.com/gc/gc12.htm
  Chapter 12 of a book,"The Great Controversy" by Ellen G. White, tracing the history of the movement in France from Jacques Lefevre to John Calvin.

• The History of Protestantism

  http://www.doctrine.org/history/HPv2b13.htm
  Book 13 of Wylie's works, from the rise of Protestantism in France (1510) to the publication of the Institutes in 1536.

• The History of Protestantism

  http://www.doctrine.org/history/HPv2b14.htm
  Book 14 of Wylie's work, covering the rise and establishment of Protestantism at Geneva.

• The History of Protestantism

  http://www.doctrine.org/history/HPv2b17.htm
  Book 17 of Wylie's works covering Protestantism in France from the death of Francis I (1547) to the Edict of Nantes (1598).

• The History of Protestantism

  http://www.doctrine.org/history/HPv3b22.htm
  Book 22 of Wylie's work, covering Protestantism in France from the death of Henry IV (1610) to the Revolution (1789).

• The Huguenots in France

  http://www.eldrbarry.net/heidel/huguersc.htm
  An extensive list of links to resources on the Huguenots and the French Reformation.

• The Reformation in France

  http://www.zum.de/whkmla/period/reformation/fraref.html
  A site on pre-reformation history, Lutheranism, and the Huguenots in France.

• Wars of Religion

  http://www.lepg.org/wars.htm
  Articles, maps, and bibliography detailing the wars between Protestants and Catholics in 16th century France.

 

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