The Huguenots – Part I

                 Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

                 Content: The Protestant Reformation had its roots in the heart of Europe and in England. Jon Hus in Bohemia and John Wycliff in England articulated early efforts at reform and Martin Luther’s work in Germany after 1517 marked the dissolution of European Christian unity. France was largely spared the turmoil emerging from Germany until the writings of a French expatriate, former Catholic humanist scholar, John Calvin, began to make their way across the border from Geneva, Switzerland where he had taken refuge in the 1530s. Calvin’s Institute of the Christian Religion, in its many editions, struck a responsive chord among many Frenchmen anxious for social and political, as well as religious reform. The connection between the Vatican in Rome and the French ruling class, royal and aristocratic, was extremely close. In exchange for championing the Roman Catholic Church in France and throughout Europe, French kings were permitted unusual control over church affairs in France. It was a relationship, symbiotic, mutually beneficial and corrupt.