Quote:
Originally Posted by sopas ej
Except the Huguenots. Many Americans with French ancestry, their French ancestors were Huguenots.
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Right. This was because of the so called
wars of religion opposing well established Catholicism to the early Protestant communities in the 16th and 17th centuries.
I think that in fact, it was nothing much related to any Christian spirituality. It was more about the economy as usual. The Huguenots (Protestants from France) were growing more and more influential in business nationwide. That the French Catholic crown didn't like. I may be overly simplifying the whole story, but always heard that that's actually what caused the gruesome civil conflicts and massacres back then. People say it was somewhat horrific.
Then a lot of Huguenots had to move to neighboring countries more Protestant-friendly, like England or the Netherlands. John Calvin himself had to spend much of his lifetime in Switzerland.
Some also crossed the ocean indeed. Hence some towns like New Rochelle, NY that would have been founded by the Huguenots over there.
From my perspective, I would say the country probably lost a lot of interesting people because of those civil wars. That's how France remained mostly Catholic by a very large majority. Otherwise, I guess it would've been more like Germany with a better balance between the Roman and reformed churches.
Whatever, that's just old history, but still can be felt in today's French culture. We don't like the idea of excessive rivalry between religious communities at all in this country.