Discusses the erosion of the rights of the Calvinist minority in seventeenth‐century France, setting the scene for Church and State policy and the struggle for toleration in the eighteenth century. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685 was the culmination of a long process of harassment of the Huguenots and restriction of their rights. They had to face the persistent ill will of fanatical Catholics, including lawyers; the Church consistently called for harsh measures; and the crown resorted to all manner of chicanery to obtain conversions. The revocation damaged France...

Discusses the erosion of the rights of the Calvinist minority in seventeenth‐century France, setting the scene for Church and State policy and the struggle for toleration in the eighteenth century. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685 was the culmination of a long process of harassment of the Huguenots and restriction of their rights. They had to face the persistent ill will of fanatical Catholics, including lawyers; the Church consistently called for harsh measures; and the crown resorted to all manner of chicanery to obtain conversions. The revocation damaged France economically and the country lost population. It bequeathed to the eighteenth century large numbers of insincere converts of Catholicism, with many remaining Protestants in their hearts and others drifting towards having no religion at all.