The Huguenots

The existence of the so-called Huguenots and their bloody struggle for religious Reformation in 16th century France is known to almost everyone who has been forced to buckle down and delve into the pages of any educational text on European history. Or by many others who, without resorting to reading, have watched on screen the excellent cinematic production by French screenwriter and director Patrice Chéreau, "La Reine Margot," in which a radiant Isabelle Adjani masterfully portrays Marguerite of Valois, for whom, in the midst of the Wars of Religion, her brother King Charles IX, and her mother Catherine de' Medici, arranged a marriage with the Huguenot king of Navarre, Henry of Bourbon, in an attempt to end the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants.

But the truth is that when one tries to delve deeper into the subject, one is surprised to find that, for mysterious reasons, the information provided, even in the most prestigious sources, is either nonexistent or minimal.

Félix Benlliure Andrieux seeks to fill this historical void. To do so, he has traveled to the geographical settings and meticulously searched archives, libraries, museums, and temples. The result is an exceptional work of historical research that covers the entire process of the Reformation in France, providing many unpublished and unknown details.

He places the reader in the context of the Wars of Religion in 16th-century Europe, describes in detail the horrors of that tragic night of August 24, 1572, known as the "St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre" - a carnage in which almost one hundred thousand Huguenot Protestants lost their lives and which many historians find repugnant - continues with the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes in 1598, its revocation by Louis XIV in 1685, and concludes with the French Revolution and its emphatic declaration that "All citizens are equal before the law."

A scientific and well-documented work, yet easy to read. Useful for anyone interested in historical topics, and especially in religious freedom. Its author states: "I propose to be a narrator rather than a judge and to tell a story rather than make it speak in favor of a theory... the objectives I intend to achieve in the reader are to awaken in them a profound aversion to all religious persecution, regardless of its name or pretext, and an unwavering defense of freedom of thought and belief within the limits of common law."