Huguenot History Trivia Quiz

Answer: France

Huguenots were French Protestants. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century it is estimated that around a quarter of a million Huguenots fled their homeland to escape persecution. Many found refuge in England. The Huguenots who came from the southern French speaking part of Belgium, Wallonia, are generally known as Walloons.

Answer: John Calvin

Luther (1483-1546) and Calvin (1509-1564) led the Protestant reformation. Luther was a German monk and theologian who called for a strict adherence to the basic teachings of the Bible, which he translated into German. Calvin was born in France and was inspired by Luther. Expelled from France in 1533 he moved to Geneva where he turned the city into a theocratic dictatorship. Calvin's teachings, whilst they shared the simplicity of Lutheranism, had differing views of the meaning of predestination and opposed the appointment of bishops.

These differences later became the basis for several wars between the Protestant states of Germany.

Answer: House Fellows

In the Flemish part of France, Bible students who gathered secretly in each other's houses to study were called "Huisgenooten". Whereas on the German and Swiss borders they were called "Eidgenossen" meaning "Oath Followers". Another possibility is that the word Huguenot derived from the religious leader Besancon Hugues; or indeed that the name is a combination of two or more of these words.

Answer: Extermination of all Huguenots

The general edict issued in January 1536 urged the extermination of Huguenots. However, Protestantism continued to flourish with the first Huguenot church being founded in Paris in 1555. By 1561 there were about 2,150 Huguenot churches and around one million Huguenots in France. Estimates of the total population in France at that time vary between ten and twenty million.

Answer: Vassy

The massacre of Vassy, (or Vassey), occurred when skirmishes broke out following the decision of Francis, Duke of Guise, to stop at Vassy to attend Mass. The local Protestants were holding a religious ceremony in a barn to which some of the Duke's entourage attempted to gain entry.

The seven wars of religion over 18 years were fueled by German and British support of the Huguenots and Spanish and Italian support for the Catholics.

Answer: St Bartholomew's Day Massacre

The wedding took place on 23 August 1572 in Navarre in Paris. Protestants were lured into a trap set by Charles IX and inspired by Catherine de Medici. Pope Gregory XIII led prayers of thanksgiving for God having "granted the Catholic people a glorious triumph over a perfidious race".

The response from other European nations forced a truce but conflict continued to flare up. King Henry IV converted to Catholicism to ensure that the Catholics would accept him.

Answer: Edict of Nantes

The Huguenots were concentrated in the south of France, whilst Paris and the northeast remained Catholic. The Edict of Nantes allowed Huguenots to worship freely in 20 specified French cities, but not Paris. It also gave them equal political rights with Catholics. It was the first example of acceptance of Protestantism in a major Catholic country.

Answer: Cardinal Richelieu

Huguenots were increasingly denied the privileges that had been granted to them. This harassment culminated in 1685 when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and issued the Edict of Fontainebleau which declared Protestantism illegal. Protestant churches, homes and Bibles were burned. Many Huguenots died at the stake and others were sent to sea to serve as galley slaves. Emigration was declared illegal.

Cardinal Richelieu was born Armand Jean du Plessis in 1585. In 1627 on behalf of the French government he led the siege of the Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle.

Answer: Dragonnades

The task of the dragonnades was to cause havoc and bully Huguenot families into reconverting to Roman Catholicism or to defy the law and leave France. (It was rather like having soccer hooligans living in ones' house). Huguenots turned to local guides to assist their escape route, which they did for a price.

Answer: Sir John Houblon

Sir John Houblon was born in March 1632 and went on to become the first governor of the Bank of England. His maternal grandfather, Isaac Jurin, was a Huguenot refugee from Flanders. The Houblon family business was shipping and they had frequent meetings with Samuel Pepys who hired their ships.

Indeed it was the Houblon family who bailed Pepys out of the Tower of London in 1679 where he had been imprisoned on suspicion of being a Papist.