NOTE: The information in this section is based on and adapted from an article entitled A Brief History of the Huguenots and the Unexpected Legacies They Bequeathed Their Descendants written by Richard Loewer Goodbar, which was published in The Huguenot Society of Maryland 1968 – 2004, edited by Henry C. Peden, Jr.
The major lesson of the Huguenots’ story is as old as civilization. Freedoms, both religious and civil, if not carefully defended, can be curtailed and lost. The Huguenots influenced the development within the Western World of the concept of the rights of individuals to have both religious and civil liberties. Their struggles should serve as cautionary examples for all of us. As proved by the many bloody religious and ethnic conflicts that are being waged around the globe today, our freedoms are as tender plants, easily withered and even killed by cold-blooded attacks by bully dictators and religious fanatics.
- Who Were the Huguenots and What Did They Want?
- The French Reformation
- Persecution of the Huguenots
- The Massacre at Vassy
- The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
- Henri de Navarre Becomes King of France
- The Siege of La Rochelle
- Louis XIV and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
- The Great Dispersion
- The Effects of the Huguenots’ Dispersion
- Why the Opposition to the Huguenots?
- Our Unanticipated Legacies from our Huguenot Ancestors