Huguenots

Huguenot is the nick-name given to French Protestants during the Protestant Reformation.

While most are Calvinists in the Reformed Church who would be considered Presbyterians, Lutherans and Baptists also make up a sizable number of those considered to be Huguenots. Many have come from France's middle-classes.

The Roman Catholic Church and the French government have had a long history of persecuting the Huguenots. Occasional outbreaks of violence against French Protestants at the instigation of the Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order killed off many within France drove thousands of others into exile. Events such as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre drained France of much of its middle-class, helping to set the stage for the bloody French Revolution several generations later. The flight of many middle-class Huguenots to other nations like England and the American colonies helped bolster their host nations' economies.