Huguenots

French Protestants who became one of the great diasporas of early modern Europe — and proof that religious persecution is also economic suicide.

Who they were

Huguenots were French Calvinists, a substantial minority granted toleration under the Edict of Nantes (1598). For nearly a century they coexisted uneasily with the Catholic majority. Then Louis XIV decided to revoke the Edict in 1685.

The Revocation

Before the formal revocation, Louis squeezed: the dragonnades quartered soldiers in Huguenot homes with tacit permission to terrorize residents into converting. When the Edict of Nantes was officially revoked in October 1685, Protestantism became illegal in France. An estimated 200,000–400,000 Huguenots fled — to England, the Dutch Republic, Brandenburg-Prussia, and the American colonies. They took their skills with them. Many were artisans, merchants, bankers, and professionals.

Why it mattered

A massive unforced error. Brandenburg-Prussia’s rise as a European power was partly built on Huguenot refugees. London’s silk-weaving industry in Spitalfields was Huguenot. The Dutch Republic got a boost to its already thriving economy. And the refugees hardened Protestant Europe’s hostility toward Louis, making the alliances against France easier to build.

In the novel

Jack encounters Huguenot refugees throughout his European wanderings. Their presence is a constant reminder of Louis XIV’s reach and cruelty — and of the way religious persecution reshuffles populations and economies across the continent. Eliza, navigating French court politics, sees the persecution from the inside.