Curse of Cannan - The New Ensign

thrown into pots to be boiled, or fried in great skillets, while crowds stood hooting and reveling
in the entertainment. Families were dragged out into the squares in cities and villages to be
murdered one by one. No one was spared the terror of the mobs, whether elderly or invalid. Their
property was then divided up among the eagerly waiting instigators of the killings, who would
rush on to find other victims.
The physical act of killing whole families in city after city could not remain a secret, and a current
of alarm now swept the nation. Many thousands of the Huguenots were able to flee, leaving their
possessions behind them, particularly those in the northern districts of France.
They were able to make their way across the borders into the Netherlands, where they found that
they were hardly welcome. Most of them embarked for the shores of Ireland, and after remaining
there for periods as long as one hundred years, they were able to jet sail for the shores of the
New World.
It is hardly surprising to learn that the repressive acts against Huguenots began after Catherine
de Medici became Regent on the accession of Charles the Ninth. We have already noted that the
de Medicis paid for the formulation of the doctrine of secular humanism, when Cosimo de Medici
set up the Accademia in Florence, centring its teachings around the Christian Cabala. The
Encyclopaedia Britannica says of Catherine's rule in France, "She introduced Italian methods of
government, alternating between concessions and persecution, both alike devoid of sincerity."
Catherine began negotiations with Spain to bolster her planned slaughter of t he Huguenots; on
the 28th of September 1568, she issued 1I1 edict which placed the Huguenots outside the
protection of the law, an open invitation for the massacres to begin. At this time, they constituted
one-tenth of the population of France. Her son, Charles Ninth, realized that his mother's plans
would be a catastrophe for the nation, and he opened negotiations with the Huguenot leaders,
hoping to avert the slaughter. Catherine true to her black nobility heritage, plotted the massacre
to take place while he had the leaders conveniently assembled. The notorious Massacre of St.
Bartholomew's took place on the 24th of August, 1572, during which the Huguenot leader,
Coligny, and all of the important Huguenots were killed. The Encyclopaedia Britannica notes,
“This date marks a disastrous epoch in the history of France. The Paris massacre was followed
by massacres throughout France. One victim was King Charles himself. Overcome with horror
at the atrocities Committed by the tragedy of St. Bartholomew's, he expired." There is a strong
possibility that Catherine, knowing of his unwillingness to proceed with the massacre of the
Huguenots, and his plans to make concessions to them, way have poisoned him. This, too, would
have been in keeping with her black nobility heritage. Charles' successor, Henry II, also died
violently; he was assassinated by the monk Jacques Clement, who believed that he, too, would
be unwilling to proceed with the massacres of the Huguenots.
The Edict of Nantes, April 13, 1598, was an attempt to reverse the process. It granted the
Huguenots a charter guaranteeing them religious and political freedom, but many officials ignored
it, and continued the persecutions. The terrible dragonnades (1663-83) saw many Protestants
tortured until they abjured their faith. On the 18th of October 1685, King Louis XIV declared
that the Edict of Nantes was revoked. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica comments " ...thus was
committed one of the most flagrant political and religious blunders in the history of France,
which in the course of a few years lost more than 400,000 of its inhabitants, men who, having
to choose between their conscience and their country, endowed the nations which received them
with their heroism, their courage, and their ability."
It was the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, more than any other single event in history, which
set the United States on its future course to greatness. During the American Revolution, and the
writing of the Constitution which followed its victory, it was the Huguenots who predominated
in every battle and every deliberation. The fortunes of France, on the other hand, sank into a
steady decline, from which it has never recovered. Indeed, this nation has subsequently lurched
from one disaster to another, not the least of which was the Napoleonic Wars, whose excesses
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