68 HISTORY OF 



Frederick II, Elector Palatine, embraced the Lutheran 

 faith; Frederick III. became a Catholic,* Lodovic V. 

 restored the Lutheran church ; his son, and successor, 

 was a Calvmist. These, m their turn, protected some, 

 others they did not. The last Prince, son of Lodovic, 

 was succeded by a Catholic family, during whose 

 reign it was the lot of the Protestants to be unkindly op- 

 pressed. Besides these unpropitious changes, and of 

 being subjects of alarm and persecution, the Germans 

 occupied the unenviable position of living between two 

 powerful belligerent rivals. War seemed to be the very 

 element of these ruling Princes, then, of those countries. 



In the year 1622, Count Tilly, the Imperial General, 

 took Heidelberg, and put five hundred of the inhabitants 

 to the sword. In 1634, Louis XIV. entered the city and 

 destroyed many of the inhabitants. 



The close of the seventeenth century, was an eventfiil 



l>eriod. The celebrated Edict of Nantes, issued by 



Heniy IV. hi 159«, in favor of the Huguenots* or 



Protestants, was revoked, Oct. 23, 1685, by Louis XIV. 



whose name was execrated over a great part of Europe. 



Consequent upon there vocation of this edict, there was 



one of the most terrible persecutions ever suffered in 



Franee. It is recorded in History, "abdit that time, 



though the frontiers were vigilantly guarded, upwards of 



five hundred thousand Huguenots made their escape to 



*Huguenot. — This epithet has been the subject of some dis- 

 cussion. We are inclined to the opinion, that the origin of the 

 word is derived from the German, Eidgenossen, confederates. 

 A party thus designated existed at Geneva ; and it is probable 

 ttat the French Protestants would adopt a term so applicable 

 to themselves. This opinion is supported by Mezeray, Main,' 

 hourg, and Diodatiy Professor of Theology at Geneva— Wl. 

 S. Browning's His. Hug. 292. 

 See AppendixC, for a fuliei account of the Huguenots^ • 



