Thursday, July 17, 2014

Huguenot miracles

Following Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, French protestants faced the stark choice of abandoning their religion, or defying the law. Many fled abroad, whilst others continued to meet clandestinely for worship and to organise resistance to government policy, culminating in the bloody Camisard rebellion of 1702-10. During this period of conflict and repression, a distinct culture of prophecy and divine inspiration grew up, which was to become a defining characteristic of the dispersed protestant communities in southern France.

Drawing on a wide range of printed and manuscript material, this study, examines the nature of Huguenot prophesying in the Cévennes during the early years of the eighteenth century. As well as looking at events in France, the book also explores the reactions of the Huguenot community of London, which became caught up in the prophesying controversy with the publication in 1707 of Le Théatre sacré des Cévennes. This book, which recounted the stories of exiles who had witnessed prophesying and miraculous events in the Cévennes, not only provided a first hand account of an outlawed religion, but became the centre of a heated debate in London concerning 'false-prophets'. 
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754651826 
Georgia Cosmos, Huguenot Prophecy and Clandestine Worship in the Eighteenth Century. 
Chapter six is drawn almost entirely from the author’s article on a particular miracle near the village of Sérignan in August 1703, when the prophet Pierre Claris appeared to be consumed by fire, then walked miraculously out of it without any effect at all.[8] There were, in fact, a number of apparent miracles performed by prophets before and during the Camisard war, though this one was certainly among the more dramatic.  
http://www.h-france.net/vol6reviews/Vol6no51monahan.pdf

5 comments:

  1. Steve, thanks for alerting us to this. Because of these references I spent some time looking around and found a MA thesis: "Huguenot Prophetism, Clerical Authority, and the Disenchantment of the World, 1685-1710"
    by Jason Charbonneau. I just skimmed it but it looks interesting. https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/theses/28375.pdf

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    Replies
    1. This will be quite helpful to me thank you.

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    2. On a related note:

      https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/renref/article/view/11609

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    3. More background info:

      http://www.h-france.net/vol6reviews/Vol6no52cosmos.pdf

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    4. If you input *miracles* in the search box of this scholarly monograph, it pulls up some interesting info:

      http://www.amazon.com/Let-God-Arise-Rebellion-Camisards/dp/0199688443

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