The Surviving Practice of Illegal Marriage and Baptism among Huguenots in the 18th Century. Enlightenment Discourse and Inheritance Law as the Two Main Pillors in the Process of Achieving Religious Tolerance
Abstract
The study presents an empirical analysis of the risky practice of illegal marriage and baptism among Huguenots in 18th century France, drawing on contemporary pamphlets to trace to problematic evolution of French Calvinist inheritance law - a process that played a decisive part in efforts to relegalize Calvinism in the kingdom. Agitators for the reformed church pursued two main lines of argument: Calvinist pastors, both within the country and in exile, made increasingly active use of Enlightenment philosophical discourse that condemned religious intolerance.
At the same time, especially from the 1760´s on, pamphleteers emphasized the social and economic importance of the Huguenot upper class. A positive image of the Calvinists' social contribution was presented, stressing their usefulness and loyalty to state and sovereign.
Among their supporters at court were the lawyers and ministers de Breuil and de Malesherbes, who eventually succeeded in pushing through reforms.