dragonnades


dragonnades

or

dragonades

(both: drăgənādz`), name given to a form of persecution of French Protestants, or HuguenotsHuguenots
, French Protestants, followers of John Calvin. The term is derived from the German Eidgenossen, meaning sworn companions or confederates. Origins

Prior to Calvin's publication in 1536 of his Institutes of the Christian Religion,
..... Click the link for more information. , before and after the revocation (1685) of the Edict of Nantes (see Nantes, Edict ofNantes, Edict of,
1598, decree promulgated at Nantes by King Henry IV to restore internal peace in France, which had been torn by the Wars of Religion; the edict defined the rights of the French Protestants (see Huguenots).
..... Click the link for more information. ) by Louis XIV. It consisted of harassing the Huguenots by billeting soldiers (particularly the rowdy dragoons) in their houses and in disregarding the soldiers' misconduct. The outrages committed against the persons and property of the Huguenots contributed—at least as much as the legal enforcement of the revocation of the edict—to the conversion but also to the mass emigration of Huguenots, so that entire cities and regions were ruined and depopulated.