Edict of Nantes

Examples of Edict of Nantes in the following topics:

• Louis XIV and the Huguenots

  • The Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598 by Henry IV of France.
  • The Edict gained a new significance when Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, broke the post-Nantes tradition of relative religious tolerance in France and in his efforts to fully centralize the royal power, began to persecute the Protestants.
  • After all, the Edict of Nantes was the pragmatic concession of his grandfather Henry IV to end the longstanding French Wars of Religion.
  • The Edict of Fontainebleau revoked the Edict of Nantes, and repealed all the privileges that arose therefrom.
  • The revocation of the Edict of Nantes created a state of affairs in France similar to that of nearly every other European country of the period (with the brief exception of Great Britain and possibly the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), where only the majority state religion was legally tolerated.

• The French Wars of Religion

  • The exact number of wars and their respective dates are the subject of continued debate by historians; some assert that the Edict of Nantes in 1598 concluded the wars, although a resurgence of rebellious activity following this leads some to believe the Peace of Alais in 1629 is the actual conclusion.
  • Between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 people were killed as a result of war, famine and disease,  and at the conclusion of the conflict in 1598, Huguenots were granted substantial rights and freedoms by the Edict of Nantes, though it did not end hostility towards them.
  • The warfare was finally quelled in 1598 when Henry IV recanted Protestantism in favour of Roman Catholicism, issued the Edict of Nantes.
  • The Edict simultaneously protected Catholic interests by discouraging the founding of new Protestant churches in Catholic-controlled regions.
  • With the proclamation of the Edict of Nantes, and the subsequent protection of Huguenot rights, pressures to leave France abated.

• The Sun-King and Authoritarianism

  • His mother, Anne of Austria, was named regent in spite of her late husband's wishes.
  • Responding to petitions, Louis initially excluded Protestants from office, constrained the meeting of synods, closed churches outside Edict of Nantes-stipulated areas, banned Protestant outdoor preachers, and prohibited domestic Protestant migration.
  • In 1685, he issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, which cited the redundancy of privileges for Protestants given their scarcity after the extensive conversions.
  • It revoked the Edict of Nantes, and repealed all the privileges that arose therefrom.
  • By his edict, Louis no longer tolerated Protestant groups, pastors, or churches to exist in France.

• Philip II and the Spanish Armada

  • The son of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, and his wife, Infanta Isabella of Portugal, Philip II of Spain was born in 1527.
  • She was a daughter of Philip's maternal uncle, John III of Portugal, and paternal aunt, Catherine of Austria.
  • Philip's third wife was Elisabeth of Valois, the eldest daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.
  • Meanwhile, Henry issued the Edict of Nantes, which offered a high degree of religious toleration for French Protestants.
  • A distant view of the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

• Cardinal Mazarin and the Fronde

  • At the moment of King Louis XIII's death in 1643, his successor, Louis XIV, was only five years old and his mother, Anne of Austria, ruled in his place until he came of age.
  • This anticipated the formation of the 1658 League of the Rhine, leading to the further diminution of Imperial power.
  • For six years they believed to be on the eve of recovering the protections of the Edict of Nantes, but in the end they obtained nothing.
  • In May 1648, a tax levied on judicial officers of the Parlement of Paris provoked not merely a refusal to pay but also a condemnation of earlier financial edicts and a demand for the acceptance of a scheme of constitutional reforms framed by a united committee of the parlement (the Chambre Saint-Louis), composed of members of all the sovereign courts of Paris.
  • The last vestiges of resistance in Bordeaux fizzled out in the late summer of 1653.

• Louis XIV's Wars

  • With the Treaty, King Philip IV of Spain had to cede certain territories and consent to the marriage of his daughter Maria Theresa of Spain to young Louis XIV. 
  • However, a Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic forced  France to give most of it back in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
  • A total of 12 conquered cities remained in the hands of the French king.
  • The resulting Truce of Ratisbon guaranteed France's new borders for twenty years, but Louis' subsequent actions – notably his revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 – led to the deterioration of his military and political dominance.
  • By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) Louis XIV retained the whole of Alsace but he was forced to return Lorraine to its ruler and give up any gains on the right bank of the Rhine.

• The Rise of Christianity

  • Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors at different times, but Constantine and Licinius's Edict of Milan (313) has traditionally marked the end of the persecution.
  • Constantine, Caesar in the Western empire and Licinius, Caesar in the East, also were signatories to the edict of toleration.
  • The Edict of Milan went a step further than the earlier Edict of Toleration by Galerius in 311 and returned confiscated Church property.
  • This edict made the empire officially neutral with regard to religious worship; it neither made the traditional religions illegal nor made Christianity the state religion (as did the later Edict of Thessalonica in 380 CE).
  • The Edict of Milan did, however, raise the stock of Christianity within the empire and it reaffirmed the importance of religious worship to the welfare of the state.

• Ashoka's Conversion

  • Edict 13 on the Edicts of Ashoka Rock Inscriptions reflect the great remorse the king felt after observing the destruction of Kalinga:
  • The edict goes on to address the even greater degree of sorrow and regret resulting from Ashoka's understanding that the friends and families of deceased would suffer greatly too.
  • The use of Buddhist sources in reconstructing the life of Ashoka has had a strong influence on perceptions of Ashoka, as well as the interpretations of his Edicts.
  • In his edicts, Ashoka expresses support for all the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikaism.
  • However, the edicts alone strongly indicate that he was a Buddhist.

• Expansion of the Maurya Empire

  • Perhaps one of the greatest-known accomplishments of Ashoka was his creation of his edicts, which were erected between 269 BCE and 232 BCE.
  • The Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent.
  • Ashoka's edicts refer to the Greeks, Kambojas, and Gandharas as peoples forming a frontier region of his empire.
  • Ashoka's edicts also mentioned social and cultural attributes of his empire, emphasizing Buddhism, though not condemning other religions.
  • For this, the Edicts of Ashoka are known as an early document that promoted religious tolerance.

• A word about "bad people"

  • And the answer, after a bit of discussion, was obviously ‘no'.
  • Since the end result of the changes being requested would eventually end up benefiting everyone, Womack explained that the real problem was not the change itself, but rather a lack of discussion, inclusion and negotiation with those who saw themselves as losers in order to make everyone whole.
  • Such is what all too often happens with internal and external customers when managers or teams choose to think by themselves and then broadcast edicts rather than work collaboratively with every stakeholder.