Peter & John discussed an interest in the origins of the reformation and the protestant faith in Europe and the events which followed that period, which led to our protestant ancestors leaving France and the Spanish Netherlands for other areas. I think in the past religion and governance in the Catholic world were heavily intertwined, somewhat as it is in Iran and some other islamic countries today. People began to question the piety of the church that draped itself in wealth, land and gold, while many ordinary people lived in relative poverty. So I think the reasons that our ancestors chose to turn against the Catholic faith have to be looked in political terms as well as religious(I think the political reasons were foremost at the beginning rather than questions of theology). The Kings and the Catholic church therefore saw the rise of protestantism as a threat to their own governance, perhaps fearing the toppling of monarchies and the aristocracy, along with the catholic church which is why they oppressed our ancestors with such venom. These problems eventually led to the religious wars 1562-1598 which involved France and the Netherlands. These ended in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes which gave some rights to huguenots. However in thae reign of Louis XIV he was increasingly pressured to take away these rights by the Catholic church who feared the huguenots were becoming too strong. The life of Huguenots was then made very hard, with decrees that they were not allowed to leave the country and had to accomodate troops within their houses(a clear tactic of oppression) if they did not convert to Catholicism. This culminated with formal withdrawal of rights of protestants with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes at the Edict of Fontainebleau, Oct.22nd, 1685 which resulted in further oppression of protestants and their fleeing in their thousands. The following websites cover the history in greater detail: Religious Wars http://www.lepg.org/wars.htm (further pages linked at base of page) Flanders history http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/flanders-medieval.htm (further pages linked at base of page) The Edict of Nantes http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/revo_nantes.html Will _________________________________________________________________ On the move? Get Hotmail on your mobile phone http://www.msn.co.uk/msnmobile