After the Reformation, a sizeable group of Reformed adherents (followers of John Calvin) arose in France. These "Protestants", called Huguenots by their opponents, were the center of political and religious quarrels, which at times were extremely bloody. In 1572, thousands of Huguenots were massacred. Still, many of the political leaders were Huguenots. One of them, Henry of Navarre, became the King of France. Since the majority of the people in France were Catholic, Henry decided that he should practice Catholicism. He did, though, issue the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which gave political and religious freedom to the Huguenots in 75 cities. As such, they were a republic within a kingdom.
They lost this political freedom under Henry VIII, but still maintained their religious freedom. In 1685, Louis XIV repealed the Edict of Nantes. Thousands of Huguenots fled their homes for new homes in England, Prussia, The Netherlands, and America. In America, groups of them settled in South Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York.
The most famous Huguenot individual in connection with the Germanna Colonies was John Fontaine. His family had gone to England and Ireland. He was seeking farm land in Virginia where members of the family might settle.
There was a group of Huguenots who were settled along the James River in Virginia on the frontier. This was just before 1700. Over in Switzerland, the authorities were persecuting another religious group, the Anabaptists. One individual there, Franz Michel, thought that perhaps a colony could be set up in America where Anabaptists could be settled. He was aware of the Huguenot colony in Virginia. He decided to investigate whether a Swiss colony might not be set up there along the lines of the Huguenot colony. He made a trip to Virginia, where he liked what he saw. Returning to Switzerland, he described the possibilities to his friends and set off again for America. This time he stayed longer and investigated many facets of America. His most notable find was a silver mine (so he thought). The news of this inflamed Christopher Graffenried, who wanted to develop the silver mines. Graffenried and Michel sought German miners for this purpose. This was the origin of the First Germanna Colony. We might say it owes its existence to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Though the Huguenots have garnered their share of the publicity, it is arguable that they were the largest of the "evictions" for religious reasons. Perhaps a hundred thousand people left Austria after the Thirty Years' War when faced with the choice of becoming Catholic or leaving.
The Waldenses, whom I was writing about recently, were also caught up in the persecutions in France after the Edict of Nantes was revoked. Religion has played an important part in the relocations of Europeans at the dawn of the modern ages.
(21 Aug 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.