Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

Timeline

1. 1685Versailles · FranceAfter dragoon operations produced large numbers of nominal conversions in the provinces, the court and bishops declared that "there were almost no Protestants left," arguing the Edict of Nantes was no longer needed. Chancellor Le Tellier and others drafted the revocation text, packaging forced religious uniformity as a legal ratification of a fait accompli.
2. 1685Palace of Fontainebleau · Île-de-FranceLouis XIV signed at Fontainebleau the new edict revoking the Edict of Nantes: Protestant churches were to be demolished, public worship and schools banned, pastors had to convert or leave the kingdom within fifteen days, and children had to receive a Catholic education. Laypeople were forbidden to leave the country under penalty of confiscation. The limited religious toleration established by Henry IV thus legally came to an end.
3. 1685Parlement of Paris · ParisAfter the Parlement of Paris registered the edict, church demolitions, arrests and dragoon quartering intensified across the provinces. Despite the ban on flight, some 150,000 to 200,000 Huguenot artisans, officers and merchants migrated to the Dutch Republic, England, Brandenburg–Prussia and British North America, carrying France's crafts and anti-French opinion to Protestant Europe.