19 Facts About Huguenot

Huguenot was frequently used in reference to those of the Reformed Church of France from the time of the Protestant Reformation.

Louis XIV claimed that the French Huguenot population was reduced from about 900, 000 or 800, 000 adherents to just 1, 000 or 1, 500.

The label Huguenot was purportedly first applied in France to those conspirators who were involved in the Amboise plot of 1560: a foiled attempt to wrest power in France from the influential and zealously Catholic House of Guise.

Huguenot was regarded by the Gallicians as a noble man who respected people's dignity and lives.

Huguenot wrote in French, but unlike the Protestant development in Germany, where Lutheran writings were widely distributed and could be read by the common man, it was not the case in France, where only nobles adopted the new faith and the folk remained Catholic.

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Bulk of Huguenot emigres moved to Protestant states such as the Dutch Republic, England and Wales, Protestant-controlled Ireland, the Channel Islands, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the Electorate of Brandenburg and Electorate of the Palatinate in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Duchy of Prussia.

Huguenot numbers grew rapidly between 1555 and 1561, chiefly amongst nobles and city dwellers.

Huguenot immigrants did not disperse or settle in different parts of the country, but rather, formed three societies or congregations; one in the city of New York, another 21 miles north of New York in a town which they named New Rochelle, and a third further upstate in New Paltz.

Huguenot refugees settled in the Delaware River Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania and Hunterdon County, New Jersey in 1725.

Huguenot became pastor of the first Huguenot church in North America in that city.

Paul Revere was descended from Huguenot refugees, as was Henry Laurens, who signed the Articles of Confederation for South Carolina; Jack Jouett, who made the ride from Cuckoo Tavern to warn Thomas Jefferson and others that Tarleton and his men were on their way to arrest him for crimes against the king; Reverend John Gano was a Revolutionary War chaplain and spiritual advisor to George Washington; Francis Marion, and a number of other leaders of the American Revolution and later statesmen.

In 1705, Amsterdam and the area of West Frisia were the first areas to provide full citizens rights to Huguenot immigrants, followed by the whole Dutch Republic in 1715.

Huguenot started teaching in Rotterdam, where he finished writing and publishing his multi-volume masterpiece, Historical and Critical Dictionary.

Some Huguenot families have kept alive various traditions, such as the celebration and feast of their patron, similar to the Dutch feast.

The implication that the style of lace known as 'Bucks Point' demonstrates a Huguenot influence, being a "combination of Mechlin patterns on Lille ground", is fallacious: what is known as Mechlin lace did not develop until the first half of the eighteenth century and lace with Mechlin patterns and Lille ground did not appear until the end of the 18th century, when it was widely copied throughout Europe.

Huguenot regiments fought for William of Orange in the Williamite War in Ireland, for which they were rewarded with land grants and titles, many settling in Dublin.

Significant Huguenot settlements were in Dublin, Cork, Portarlington, Lisburn, Waterford and Youghal.

Around 1685, Huguenot refugees found a safe haven in the Lutheran and Reformed states in Germany and Scandinavia.

Several prominent German military, cultural and political figures were ethnic Huguenot, including the poet Theodor Fontane, General Hermann von Francois, the hero of the First World War's Battle of Tannenberg, Luftwaffe general and fighter ace Adolf Galland, the Luftwaffe flying ace Hans-Joachim Marseille and the famed U-boat Captains Lothar von Arnauld de la Periere and Wilhelm Souchon.