Huguenot - English spelling: Huguenot

Another name for the French Protestant church that inherited the Calvinist tradition. The origin is unclear, but it is said to have been derived from the German form of the Swiss country name, Eidgenossen (Covenant Community), and to have been changed to Iguenots or Huguenots. The followers of Calvinism, who brought back to France the strong influence they had received in Geneva, began to form their own unique movement in the mid-1550s, characterized by a Presbyterian church government, a marked tendency towards secular asceticism, and an anti-monarchical stance. Among them were powerful nobles such as Condé, Naval, and Coligny. The Confessio Gallicana, or "French Faith," of 1559, became the common foundation of the Huguenots.

In the 1560s, there was a fierce armed conflict with the Valois dynasty and the Catholic Duke of Guise, and after 30 years of religious wars, the Huguenots finally received equal legal recognition with the Ordinance of Nantes (1598) of Henry IV. As a result, wealthy cities, mainly in the south of France, such as Bordeaux, Nantes, and Rouen, came under the control of the Huguenots, and seminaries such as Montauban and Sedan also flourished. However, when Louis XIV revoked the Ordinance of Nantes in 1685, many of the Huguenots fled the country, and with their advanced skills, financial resources, and hard work, they made a great contribution to the promotion of modern civic culture in various places.

[Akira Demura]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

カルバンの伝統を継ぐフランスのプロテスタント教会の別称。語源は明らかでないが、スイスの国名のドイツ語形Eidgenossen（盟約共同体）からIguenots, Huguenotsと転じたともいわれる。ジュネーブで受けた強い影響をフランスに持ち帰ったカルビニズムの信奉者たちは、1550年代なかばから長老制教会政治、顕著な世俗内禁欲主義の傾向、加えて反王権的姿勢を特色とする独自の流れを形成し始めた。なかにはコンデ、ナバル、コリニーなど高位の有力貴族も含まれる。1559年の「フランス信仰」Confessio Gallicanaはユグノー派の共通のよりどころとなった。

　1560年代に入ると、バロア王朝およびカトリックのギーズ公家との間で激しい武力衝突をきたし、30年に及ぶ宗教戦争の末、アンリ4世のナント王令（1598）によって初めて法的に平等な承認を獲得した。その結果、ボルドー、ナント、ルーアンなど南フランスを中心に富裕な都市がユグノー派の支配下に入り、モントーバン、セダンなどの神学院も隆盛をみた。しかし、1685年ルイ14世がナント王令を撤回するに及んで、ユグノーの多くは国外に亡命し、高度の技術と資力、および勤勉によって各地の近代市民文化の振興に大きく寄与した。

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