A letter to King Louis XIV from a French Huguenot

For context, this is a fictional letter from a french protestant (or Huguenot) to King Louis XIV during the 17th century. King Louis XIV was notorious for his persecution of French Protestants, and this letter is supposed to be written by one such protestant as a petition to Louis XIV to stop the persecution.


Dear “Honorable and Majestic” King Louis XIV of France and Navarre,

My name is Pierre Bouille of Normandy. A French protestant, or Huguenot as we are known, me and others of my faith have felt it necessary to send you a petition in regards to our treatment under the policies and positions you have enacted during your reign.

Many of us have died, been imprisoned, chased away, harassed, tortured and otherwise suffered greatly due to recent anti-Huguenot policies. Those of us who left the country in order to evade such horrors were forced to leave behind our friends, family, livelihood, homeland and nearly all our earthly possessions. We have been shunned by the nation we love, the throne that but two generations ago enacted policies of tolerance and understanding between Catholics and Huguenots. But alas, now those days seem forgotten and dead, making way for hatred, animosity, and ruin.

If you could only see our suffering, our plight. Would you continue your violent persecution if you could witness the immeasurable anguish you have brought upon us? Families fleeing desperately in the night, with naught an earthly possession but the clothing on their backs as their homes burn down behind them. Huguenot churches smashed, as the blood of dead pastors stain the cold stone. Fathers ripped from their families, locked up and doomed to a short existence suffering in a filthy cell. People anguishing, as the throne of a country they loved and were proud of turned against them. Would you be able to stomach these scenes? Could you continue to sleep at night? Can you acknowledge that YOU caused all this? Look deep inside yourself, and ask “What am I doing, what am I causing to happen?”.

And you must also ask yourself “Why am I doing this?”. Is it because you feared we would overthrow you? I will have you know that there were never more honorable or loyal citizens in your entire realm than the Huguenots. We would have gladly taken up arms for the glory and well-being of our nation and countrymen just as much as any catholic would. By God, we may have been even more loyal. For tell me, which denomination is ruled and told how to act and what to obey by a pope in a different land? The Catholics. Which denomination has a church that demands submission and obedience by any sovereign nation? The Catholics. Which denomination refuses to believe that a king could rank higher in closeness to God than the pope? The Catholics. Us Huguenots owe no such loyalty to the papacy, our one and sovereign ruler is that of France.

But why must we fight? Why must we come to conflict? The policies enacted under your grandfather were those of tolerance and understanding between Huguenots and Catholics. France flourished under these policies. But now, strife and ruin wrack much of your dominion. And economic ruin came with it. You see, many if not most, of those Huguenots you drove away were skilled laborers, craftsmen, architects, scholars, soldiers, merchants, bankers and bureaucrats. But when we left, a hole appeared in the positions we once filled. And there are not enough Catholics who possessed all the same skills and the same expertise that we had, leading to economic collapse. You need us more than we need you.

All your subjects have suffered because of these laws, whether they realize it or not. So for the good of the entirety of France, I beseech you to reconsider your anti-Huguenot positions. I can only hope my appeals to your both your human empathy and your desire for the success of France have succeeded, for if they have not, all of us will feel the repercussions. 

Regards,
Pieree Bouille,
Huguenot, Refugee, Proud Frenchman