Exodus
The French Wars of Religion began with a massacre at Vassy on 1 March 1562, when 23 Huguenots (some sympathetic sources say hundreds of them) were killed, and about 200 were wounded.
The Huguenots transformed themselves into a definitive political movement thereafter. Protestant preachers rallied an army and cavalry, which came under the leadership of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. Henry of Navarre and the House of Bourbon allied themselves with the Huguenots. This added wealth and holdings to the Protestant strength, which at its height grew to sixty fortified cities, and posed a serious threat to the Catholic crown and Paris over the next three decades.
Protestantism spread throughout France in the 16th century and led to civil wars. Henry IV, of the Bourbon dynasty, issued the Edict of Nantes (1598), granting religious tolerance to the Huguenots.
They were forced into exile and fled, mainly to Britain and North America. A large community found their way to South Africa, Mauritius, Réunion and thence to Seychelles.
Read more about this topic: Seychelles Community In EU
Famous quotes containing the word exodus:
“...they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 6:9.
“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 23:10,11.
“Who made you a ruler and judge over us?”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 2:14.
Hebrews to Moses.