20
September 1565 A.D. Senseless
& Murderous Butchery of Florida’s Huguenots by Spanish Papists
Graves,
Dan. “Senseless Butchery of Florida’s Huguenots.” Christianity.com.
Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/senseless-butchery-of-floridas-huguenots-11630010.html?utm_source=nextArticleBox&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=next-article-box. Accessed 19 May 2014.
The Huguenots were converted out of Catholic France
when preachers brought Bibles and the Calvinist doctrines of predestination and
justification by faith from Switzerland. Growth of this Reform church was rapid
in Gallic lands. Within a hundred years it had won a million and a half
converts.
Some French leaders saw in the emergence of this
sect a chance to catapult themselves to power. Unfortunately, this led to a
succession of wars in which the Huguenots, fighting against overwhelming odds,
won enough victories to force concessions from Catholic France, but never took
the throne. One of these concessions was the Edict of Nantes. Gradually it was
gnawed away by government officials and overzealous prelates. Consequently many
Huguenots began to migrate overseas, hoping to improve their lot.
Of all the Christian sects which emerged from the
Reformation, the Anabaptists and Huguenots suffered the most. The atrocities
committed against both have filled books. One of the bloodiest and most
senseless acts of butchery against the Huguenots occurred in Florida on this
day September 20, 1565.
Colonies of Huguenots had struggled to establish
themselves in Florida for several years. The Huguenots at St. Johns expected
trouble when Spanish captain Pedro Menéndez sailed into the area. Spain, after
all, claimed the New World and had no use for the French and especially French
Protestants.
One leader of the Huguenots, Laudonnière, wanted to
throw up a fort. He was overruled by Ribault, commander of the whole
expedition. Ribault had determined on a naval battle (he had seven ships).
Unfortunately Ribault's ships were wrecked in a storm and the unhappy Huguenot
refugees on shore were left to fend for themselves.
Menéndez landed with 2,600 men. He butchered all
the men he could lay hands on but spared women and children. Laudonnière fled
with a few men in a small remaining boat and eventually reached France. Ribault
and those who had escaped the shipwreck, about 350 in all, asked for terms of
surrender. Menendez said they must trust themselves to his mercy. It appears he
swore an oath to spare them. Two hundred who distrusted him fled into the
wilderness. The rest surrendered.
Ribault reminded Menéndez that Spain and France
were at peace. That mattered little to the cruel Spaniard. Menéndez wrote the
king: "I had their hands tied behind their backs and themselves put to the
sword. It appeared to me that by thus chastising them, God our Lord and your
Majesty were served. Whereby this evil sect will in future leave us more free
to plant the gospel in these parts." When the matter became known in
Europe there was a tremendous outcry from all decent men, Catholic and
Protestant alike.
The remaining 200 Huguenots put up such fierce
resistance that they were finally promised their lives if they surrendered.
They were consigned to the Spanish galleys.
Bibliography:
1. Avery, Elroy McKendree. History
of the United States and its People. Cleveland: Burrows Bros, 1904.
2. Fosdick, Lucian J. The French
Blood in America. New York: F. H. Revell company, 1906.
3. Woodburn, James Albert and Moran,
Thomas Francis. Introduction to American History. New York: Longmans, Green and
Co., 1916. Source of the Image.
4. Various encyclopedia articles.
Last updated April, 2007.
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