Student Question
Why did Louis XIV revoke the Edict of Nantes?
Quick answer:
Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes to establish religious uniformity under Catholicism, believing it essential for a unified nation under one law and one king. This move was likely intended to strengthen ties with the Catholic Church and restore France's prestige among European Catholic nations. Additionally, Louis had vowed to eliminate heresy, following decades of religious conflict. The revocation led to increased persecution of Protestants, many of whom fled France.
Now-days, the government relies on schools and TV to inform, guide, propagandize, and mold the opinions and attitudes of the people. In Louis XIV's time, those functions were performed by the Church. The king could issue a decree and the priests would all read it in their churches. The Catholic Church and monarchy had evolved together. They supported one another.
In England, King James I told Puritian petitioners who wanted the episcopal Church of England altered into a presbyterian church, "A Scottish presbytery agreeth as well with monarchy as God and the devil." This was probably also the feeling of Louis XIV. (Some historians have said that the American War of Independence was a Presbyterian rebellion. Presbyterian churches are governed by the people of each individual church; the Catholic church is governed by a Pope and Cardinals, much like a country was governed by a king and his ministers.)
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Kagan, et al, in their textbookThe Western Heritage since 1648 (1979), give it as Louis's reason, that a country could not be under one law and one king unless it was also under one religious system. They also say that until the time of his death, Louis thought he had done a great thing for which "God was indebted to him."
The Edict of Nantes gave religious freedom to Protestants in Catholic France. It was enacted by Henri IV to end religious wars, but by the time Louis XIV became king, the Protestants had acquired quite a bit of power in France, despite the fact that it was still considered a Catholic country. It is not certain exactly why Louis revoked the Edict. For some time, historians believed that Louis XIV's second wife, Madame de Maintenon, was responsible for goading Louis to revoke the Edict, but this theory has lost some credence of late. It is now believed that Louis XIV could have revoked the Edict to placate the Catholic Church, angry over the many restrictions that the king had placed on the church. Also, the Turks had been defeated in the Austro-Turkish war in which France had remained neutral, so some feel he may have been trying to restore prestige to France with the other European Catholic nations. Finally, when he was crowned king, he vowed to end heresy in France (France had been plagued by decades of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants), so this also could have been a reason. Louis had made life miserable for Protestants in France prior to evoking the Edict of Nantes. Many of them had left for other countries. In France, Catholics were forbidden to marry Protestants, and the Protestants were not allowed to hold positions in court, among other restrictive policies.