Document 8
… More and more Louis tried to impose uniformity in religious affairs. In the 168os he
intensified persecution of Protestants; his actions made the edict [of Nantes] nothing but a scrap
of paper. Finally in 1685 he declared that the majority of French Protestants had been converted
to Catholicism and that therefore there was no need for the edict. It was revoked.
Now Louis launched a reign of terror. He refused to allow French Protestants to leave the
country. He promised that those who remained could worship privately, free of persecution, but
never kept the promise. Their churches were torn down, their gatherings forbidden, their
children made to attend mass. The Waldensians in Savoy were massacred, and six hundred
Protestants “caught making assemblies” were executed. Perhaps two hundred and fifty thousand
fled abroad to escape persecution.…
Source: Milton Meltzer, Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled, Orchard Books
According to Milton Meltzer, what was one action Louis XIV took in an attempt to control the Protestants
in France?