Huguenot

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a nickname formerly applied by the Roman Catholics to the Protestants of France, who were nearly all Calvinists, and who converted the appellation into one of honor instead of reproach. D'Aubigné believed that the Reformation began in France in A. D. 1512, while that of Switzerland commenced in 1516, and that of Germany in 1517. For a time France seemed as likely as the other two countries to adopt Protestantism. Though Margaret, the sister of Francis I., had favored it, yet that king had been strongly against it, as were Francis II. and Henry II. It arose among the people, and through their sympathy became so formidable that when, in 1561, a year after the accession of Charles IX., the Huguenots were prohibited from preaching, they took up arms to achieve religious liberty. The struggle went on for the next century and a quarter. Its two most notable incidents were the Massacre of St. Bartholomew and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. See BARTHOLOMEW, MASSACRE OF ST.: EDICT OF NANTES. HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF AMER- ICA, a patriotic organization having for its purpose the promotion of Huguenot principles, the celebration of events in the history of the Huguenots, and the collection and preservation of documents having relation to the arrival and record of Huguenots in America. The society was organized in New York in 1883 and incorporated in 1885. Membership is in the main confined to descendants of Huguenot families who came to America before the Edict of Toleration of 1787. The principal office of the society is in New York, where the archives are stored, and whence is issued its chief publication. Members are entitled to wear insignia consisting of a badge bearing a device of Margarite de Valois, pendant from a gold dove with wings outspread, and bearing on the reverse the name and society number of the wearer. There are branches of the society in nearly all the States. HUIA BIRD (Heteralocha acutirostris), a remarkable New Zealand starling, now restricted to a few wooded and mountainous regions. The plumage is black, except on the white tips of the tail feathers; there is a wattle at the corner of the mouth; the bill of the female is strikingly different from that of her mate, being long, much curved, and pliant, instead of straight and strong as in the male. HULL. See KINGSTON-ON-HULL.