Huguenot diaspora

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Huguenot diaspora emerged from the emigration of French Protestants , the so-called Huguenots , to Protestant countries that were willing to accept them. In Europe it was in particular Switzerland , Germany (especially Strasbourg - at that time still German - and Frankfurt , the Electorates of Palatinate and Brandenburg , the Duchies of Hesse-Kassel and Württemberg ), the Netherlands ( Amsterdam ), England , Ireland , Scotland , Denmark and Sweden . A secondary migration led to the Dutch South Africa , the USA ( Boston , New York and Charleston ), the French Canada and Russia . The Huguenot diaspora considerably strengthened the economic power of the host countries and also contributed to the religious tolerance of the various Protestant faiths among themselves. It strengthened the dominance of the French language and culture well into the Napoleonic period.

Escape waves

The persecution of Protestants under the French kings Francis I and Henry II already led to the flight of French Protestants from 1535, who later became mostly Calvinists . A typical example is the Frenchman Jean Calvin himself, who emigrated to Geneva via Strasbourg and Basel from 1536 and carried out the Reformation there under the protection of the Confederates (= Switzerland ) and developed Geneva into a center for refugees and the center of Calvinism.

During the Huguenot Wars of 1562–1598 there were several waves of flight.

The best known, however, was the wave of refugees under the French King Louis XIV , who had the Huguenots harassed from 1669 and the religious tolerance of the Edict of Nantes issued in 1598 with the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685 and forbade evangelical services. Before the persecution of the ruling Catholics, it was primarily members of the upper class who fled, later other groups of people such as craftsmen and farmers followed. Around 180,000 people left the country between 1670 and 1720.

In London, the French prophets movement arose , in which inspiration, prophetic speeches and ecstatic raptures were practiced as part of religiosity. Missionaries of this group spread these religious forms on the continent and especially influenced Pietism .

The first immigration permits in Germany were issued by the Duke of Braunschweig in 1684 and the Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel in 1685. The distribution of the refugiés was as follows until 1720:

  • Brandenburg-Prussia: 20,000 immigrants
  • Hessen-Kassel: 5,000 immigrants
  • Hessen-Darmstadt: 2,500 immigrants
  • Electoral Palatinate: 3,400 immigrants
  • Francs: 3,200 immigrants
  • Württemberg: 2,500 immigrants
  • Bayreuth: 1,600 immigrants

Branch offices in Germany

Relief "Huguenots in Buchholz "

Some evangelical reformed congregations, which among other things go back to a Huguenot tradition or foundation, existed in the following places (list not complete). In some areas such as B. In Württemberg, however, the parishes were incorporated into the (Lutheran) regional church at the beginning of the 19th century.

In Bad Karlshafen there is a Huguenot Museum, the German Huguenot Center with a genealogical research facility, and the library and image archive of the German Huguenot Society .

See also

literature

  • Ingrid Brandenburg, Klaus Brandenburg: Huguenots. Story of a martyrdom . Panorama-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-926-64217-3 .
  • Joseph Chambon: French Protestantism. His Path to the French Revolution , 2004, ISBN 3-89397-964-6 ( PDF ).
  • Eberhard Gresch: The Huguenots. History, Belief and Impact. 4th, revised edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-374-02260-1 ( review (PDF)).
  • Ernst Schreiner: The Huguenot's Harp , ISBN 3-89397-719-8 ( PDF ).
  • Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: The amulet .
  • Lothar Zögner: Huguenot villages in Northern Hesse - planning, construction and development of seventeen French emigrant colonies . Marburg 1966.
  • Dreger van Guerre: War of Faith and Enlightenment: The Huguenots. On the connection between diaspora, media history and the development of enlightened ideas in French Protestantism , VDM Verlag, Saarbrücken 2008, ISBN 3-639-01406-5 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ute Lotz-Heumann: Reformed Denominational Migration: Die Huguenots , European History Online, May 31, 2012
  2. ↑ The Huguenot Refugee Movement , Musée virtuel du protestantisme
  3. ↑ Eberhard Gresch: The Huguenots. History, Belief and Impact. 4th, revised edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-374-02260-1 , pp. 101–117