Edict of Fontainebleau

This article is about the edict passed by Louis XIV. For the edict similarly persecuting Protestants issued by Francis I, see Edict of Fontainebleau (1540).

The Edict of Fontainebleau (18 October 1685, published 22 October 1685), also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, was an edict issued by King Louis XIV of France, repealing the rights freedoms afforded to the Huguenots. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots (French Calvinism Protestants) the right to practice their religion without state persecution. Protestants had lost their independence in places of refuge under Cardinal Richelieu on account of their supposed insubordination, but they continued to live in comparative security and political ease prior to the edict. From the outset, religious tolerance in France had been a royal, rather than popular, policy. However, the lack of universal adherence to Roman Catholicism was incompatible with Louis XIV's vision of a perfect autocracy, and through successive efforts, the Huguenots were left disenfranchised of their religious institutions and rits.

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