Huguenot Timeline
The Reformation
The new Protestant faith sweeps across Europe.
First Huguenots in London
King Edward VI Charter allowed Huguenots to pray at Austin Friars Church in the City of London.
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
Around 30,000 Catholics and Protestants were slaughtered across France on the eve of the wedding of Henry of Navarre, heir to the throne, and a Protestant, to Marguerite de Valois, a Catholic.
The Edict of Nantes
Signed by Henri of Navarre, which allowed Protestants to practise their faith in France providing they didn’t upset the Catholics.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Louis XIV wanted everyone in France to be Catholic. Protestants had to convert to Catholicism, or be punished by the forfeiture of all their goods, bullying, imprisonment, torture and being sentenced to work on the galley ships.
Large numbers of Huguenots arrive in London
Mainly settling in Spitalfields and Soho but also Wandsworth, Clerkenwell, Greenwich, the City of London and as far afield as Plymouth, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter, Southampton, Faversham, Sandwich, Dover, Rye, Colchester, Canterbury and Norwich.
French Revolution
Protestants free to practise their faith in France.