Why Huguenots and other Protestant refugees migrated to England
By far the largest group of immigrants in Early Modern England were
- The 1560s French speaking people in a region that is now part of Belgium. In the 16th century Protestant Walloons came to England as refugees. from what is now Belgium were suffering under the Spanish Christians whose religious leader is the Pope. rule of the Duke of Alba.
- After the Massacre of St Bartholomewâs Day in Paris in 1572, when over 10,000 French Protestants, many of whom came to England as refugees in the 16th and 17th centuries. Protestants were murdered, many fled to England.
- A second, larger, wave of Huguenots fled from France in the 1680s when King Louis XIV revoked a previous An order issued by a king or queen. protecting Protestants and they were again attacked. Many Huguenots had difficult and dangerous journeys, escaping France and crossing to England by sea.
- The final wave of Protestant refugees were the People from the lower Rhineland in what is now Germany, mainly Protestant, who arrived in England as refugees in the early 18th century. from the Middle Rhine, part of which is now Germany. They were suffering under French Catholic landlords and very poor harvests. They came because of a 1708 law, the Foreign Protestants Naturalisation Act, which invited European Protestants to come and settle in Britain. Some Palatines also migrated because they hoped to travel from England to a new life in North America.
The Huguenots arrive in Sussex
More guides on this topic
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