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:
“I AM WHO I AM.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 3:14.
“I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, The LORD’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 33:19.
“The LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 13:21,22.