France and Her Huguenots

crockholm

This thread is going to rely on a lot of supposition,what if's and personal opinion.

It is widely regarded as a catastrophe for France that the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685-amidst the despair for those who had to flee,there were benefits to the surrounding countries near and those farther away that gave the Huguenots sanctuary.

Had it not been revoked,would France have beaten the British to the industrial revolution? And with economic strength perhaps kept more of their Empire and even expanded into British/Dutch terrotories? Would the World be more Franco-centric?

Or would it have lead to more religious wars,and a less unified and weaker country?

Manach

My 2c: An alternative view that France was on its way to a centralised state during the 16th-17th C. It was was known as the eldest child of the Church, as it had fairly well dominated the appointment of RC bishops. The phenomenon of Hugeonotism was not so much a heretical movement but one based on regional separatism, such as that of Burgundy but without the religous overtones of that area. By the hostility to central power as well as the rather blood-thirsty piratical activities Huguenots divided and weaken French power which had its golden age from most of the 18thC.

Peregrinus

In purely political and material terms, France was a pretty successful country for many decades after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; more so than England, if we are honest. So in short term, as far as power and wealth goes, it did them no harm.

Huguenots in exile did come to play a disproportionate role in trade, banking, etc, in their host countries. But this was largely because, as recently-arrived foreigners, they owned no land, they had no established networks, guilds, etc, and professions like the army and the church were closed to them. Their career options were limited. There is no reason to think that if they had remained unmolested in France, they would not have followed the same economic patterns as the rest of the Frenchy community. I don't think the French Protestants had any cultural gift or ideological commitment to industrial capitalism.