Facing the Revocation: Huguenot Families, Faith, and the King's Will

2016 | History & Politics

Facing the Revocation tells the story of one French Protestant (Huguenot) family, the Robillard de Champagnes, as they faced the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, issued under Louis XIV, which criminalized their religion in 1685. Carolyn Chappell Lougee challenges the way Huguenot history has been told for 300 years, ever since the Huguenots themselves set its principal interpretive lines, thereby offering new insights into the reign of Louis XIV. Denying the standard ascription of deeper faith to the Huguenots who emigrated and venal motives to those who remained in France, this study shows how complex the considerations were-at once social, familial, economic, and political, as well as religious-that impelled individuals and families either to leave the country or stay and convert to the king's religion. Lougee uses evidence elucidating Huguenot escapes from France to question how intent Louis XIV was on stopping Huguenots from leaving, and how closely he and his agents hewed to the lett

Carolyn Chappell Lougee (Author)