THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 39 



7. The word Huguenot was uot applied to the Re- 

 formed Church of France as a distinctive epithet until 

 about 1560. Then the term was applied to the whole 

 political party which supported the claims of Henry of 

 Navarre to the crown. It was intended as a reproach, 

 and soon became synonymous with Reformer. Cardinal 

 Richelieu captured the city of Rochelle, the stronghold 

 of the Protestants, and by 1628 had broken up the 

 political organization of the Huguenots, leaving only the 

 religious organization as the bond of union for the Re- 

 formed in religion. In 1660 the religious organization 

 was also practically wiped out of existence by the 

 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. But the name and 

 the Reformed religion have both survived in France, 

 while the descendants of the Reformers have spread their 

 influence around the globe. 



II 



Early in the sixteenth century the corruptions and corruption in 

 abuses of the Roman Catholic Chnrch in France be- 

 came so wide spread that thinking men could no longer 

 remain blind to them, but were forced to recognize that 

 ignorance, superstition and immorality prevailed through- 

 out the whole organization. 



The immorality of the clergy was notorious. So bad 

 were the lives of most of the ecclesiastics that the ex- 

 pressions ''Idle as a priest" and "Lewd and greedy as 

 a monk" became popular proverbs. From bishop to 

 friar the spiritual leaders of the people were debauched 

 and corrupt. The great dignitaries of the church gave immorality 

 themselves up to a life of pleasure on a magnificent of the ciergy 

 scale ; no courtier could outrival them in their luxurious 

 dissipation, their banquets, drinking bouts, games and 

 revels. The only care of the priests was to extort as 

 much money out of the people as they could possibly 

 squeeze, and they saw to it that none of their wealth was 

 wasted in helping the poor and distressed. Like their 



