DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22140#0320
3o4 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL HISTORY.
thieves. Now in these vast northern parishes, and their bigness
is a proof of how sparse the population was in early times, the new
industry could not be carried on except sharp remedies were
employed against robbers. The maiden of Halifax—a kind of
guillotine—is an example of early discipline exercised on pilferers.
More significant, however, than the immigration of the Flemish
weavers, was that of the French Huguenots after the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes. It appears that nearly all the manufactures
of France, and not a little of its business was in the hands of these
sectaries. Till the epoch began in which conversion was chiefly due
to Court influence, and the desire to achieve a career which was
barred to the heretic, a large proportion of the nobles in Southern
France, from the east to the west, had embraced the Calvinist
type of the Reformed creed. Now from the first it was seen that
Calvinism was certain to be in opposition to the monarchical
position, and, one must add, was believed to be inimical to that
union of France under a strong government, which had been the
policy of French monarchs, from the reign of Philip Augustus in
the twelfth, to that of Louis XIV. in the seventeenth century. Of
course, long before the Reformation, the French nobles had striven
to depress the power of the Crown. The English gained their
entries into France in the Hundred Years' War, and owed some of
their successes to the invitation and co-operation of discontented
French nobles. It is no wonder then that the French king was
not on good terms with the nobility till he had routed them.
But when, in addition to this hereditary tendency, they added the
stimulants of a republican religion, the movement was more dis-
tasteful than ever. We hardly require any other explanation
of the hatred of the reigning powers to the Huguenots, and
the repeated massacres that took place. The Calvinist nobility
had, it is true, put Henry IV. on the throne, though the new
king did not think himself strong enough to do without con-
formity, being convinced that his old comrades would not desert
him. But he gave them security by his celebrated edict of tole-
ration, and they were on the whole, worthy of the trust which
was put in them. But after the affair of Rochelle, at the begin-
ning of our Charles L's reign, and the foolish expedition of
Buckingham, Richelieu thought it necessary to gradually disarm
thieves. Now in these vast northern parishes, and their bigness
is a proof of how sparse the population was in early times, the new
industry could not be carried on except sharp remedies were
employed against robbers. The maiden of Halifax—a kind of
guillotine—is an example of early discipline exercised on pilferers.
More significant, however, than the immigration of the Flemish
weavers, was that of the French Huguenots after the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes. It appears that nearly all the manufactures
of France, and not a little of its business was in the hands of these
sectaries. Till the epoch began in which conversion was chiefly due
to Court influence, and the desire to achieve a career which was
barred to the heretic, a large proportion of the nobles in Southern
France, from the east to the west, had embraced the Calvinist
type of the Reformed creed. Now from the first it was seen that
Calvinism was certain to be in opposition to the monarchical
position, and, one must add, was believed to be inimical to that
union of France under a strong government, which had been the
policy of French monarchs, from the reign of Philip Augustus in
the twelfth, to that of Louis XIV. in the seventeenth century. Of
course, long before the Reformation, the French nobles had striven
to depress the power of the Crown. The English gained their
entries into France in the Hundred Years' War, and owed some of
their successes to the invitation and co-operation of discontented
French nobles. It is no wonder then that the French king was
not on good terms with the nobility till he had routed them.
But when, in addition to this hereditary tendency, they added the
stimulants of a republican religion, the movement was more dis-
tasteful than ever. We hardly require any other explanation
of the hatred of the reigning powers to the Huguenots, and
the repeated massacres that took place. The Calvinist nobility
had, it is true, put Henry IV. on the throne, though the new
king did not think himself strong enough to do without con-
formity, being convinced that his old comrades would not desert
him. But he gave them security by his celebrated edict of tole-
ration, and they were on the whole, worthy of the trust which
was put in them. But after the affair of Rochelle, at the begin-
ning of our Charles L's reign, and the foolish expedition of
Buckingham, Richelieu thought it necessary to gradually disarm