Our Huguenot Heritage

 Today's format will be different than usual. We will focus on one topic. May it be a blessing to you.

Learning about, and Honoring, Our Huguenot Heritage

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

When we consider our beginnings here in the land now known as America, all of us recall the Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA. Some of us know of the British, under the leadership of Reverend Robert Hunt, who landed at Jamestown, VA in 1607 for the purpose of bringing the Gospel to the New World . . .

But very few of us know of the landing of several hundred Huguenots in the summer of 1564, who were fleeing for their lives from persecution in France, who were simply seeking to worship our God freely. In their homeland, the persecution was so intense, they were forced to meet secretly in caves at night.

The following is brief summary of their story; and tomorrow we will examine its prophetic implications for our day.

(Please note: Most of the material quoted below is taken from a book, "America's First Martyrs," which is now out of print but available via Kindle on Amazon. In addition, the majority of its research came from a book published in 1976, "Fort Caroline and Its Leader," written by Congressman Charles E. Bennett. His book is also still available at Amazon. For those who would like to explore the following topic in the depth required, we encourage you to seek out either of these two volumes for more information,)

Who were the French Huguenots?

In the fifteenth century, a group of men in France began to break away from the traditional teachings of Rome, choosing instead to study the Bible for themselves and to be led directly by the Spirit of the Lord in their day-to-day lives.

The official church of France, was greatly threatened by this move, which it interpreted as weakening its absolute authority. As a result, Huguenots were harassed continuously and some even faced death because of their faith. Indeed, the name "Huguenot," as applied to the dissenters, is supposed to have been derived from "Hugeon," a word used in Touraine to signify persons who walk at night. For over 100 years, the only safe place for the Huguenots to worship had been inside dark caves where, huddled together, these men and women studied the Word "in Spirit and in truth"

When was their colony in America established?

By the middle of the sixteenth century, some Huguenots, under the leadership of Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France and a prominent Huguenot himself, began to seek a way of escape from this persecuted lifestyle. As a man of great wealth, Gaspard de Coligny had favor in the court of nine-year-old King Charles IX and his influential mother, Catherine de Medici. In 1560 these persecuted saints had a breakthrough: Coligny worked out a plan with the royal family that would allow the Huguenots to explore the New World and to eventually establish a colony there, if the colonists would promise to search the area for the rumored silver and gold once they had arrived.

Thus, in 1562, Admiral Coligny dispatched a fearless military man, Jean Ribault, with three ships for the purpose of exploring the coast of La Florida to find land suitable for colonization. On May 1, 1562, Ribault and his company set foot in present day Jacksonville at St. John's Bluff on what they then dubbed the River of May (now called the St. John's River). Having established a marker and uttered a prayer to dedicate this work to the Lord, they then explored the coast, eventually returning to France to give a report to their patron.

Two years later, Coligny sent another man, Rene de Laudonniere, to the new land to head up the new colony. Laudonniere was given three ships to fill with supplies for this venture and was allowed three hundred people on the voyage.

The First Landing of the Huguenot Colonists in June, 1564

(Please note: this landing is separate from the first French explorers, who arrived in 1562.)

Upon landing on June 30, 1564, Laudonniere led his group in expressing the following prayer of thanksgiving to God for their safe passage:

"On the morrow about the break of day, I commanded a trumpet to be sounded, that being assembled we might give God thankes for our favourable and happie arrival. Then wee sang a Psalme of thanksgiving unto God, beseeching him that it would please him of his grace to continue his accustomed goodnesse toward his poore servaunts, and ayde us in all our enterprises, that all might turne to his glory and the advancement of our King."

The prayer ended, and every man began to take courage.

Learning about, and Honoring our Huguenot Heritage

PART TWO: The Establishment of Fort Caroline

The French named their community La Caroline, after their king, Charles IX. With the help of their new Indian (Timucuan) friends, the French began building a triangular shaped fort, which was fortified with walls, bulwarks, the cannon they had brought with them from France, and a moat. An impressive gate was constructed, bearing the coat of arms of France, and of their patron, Admiral de Coligny. Then La Caroline was re-named Fort Caroline--a name it retains to this day.

"Inside the fort, buildings housed the munitions. Some houses were erected within the fortifications, but many others were built outside its protective walls of timber and sand. Sentinels were stationed by the fort and on nearby St. Johns Bluff to watch for and protect the settlers from surprise attack from unfriendly Indians or Spanish soldiers."

Life in the Colony

At first, life was very good at Fort Caroline. The Timucuan Indians were friendly neighbors; the land produced good crops; and the waters of the St. Johns River teemed with fish. More important to these Huguenot settlers, however, was the fact that they were now free to worship the Lord as they chose. Every day at noon, a bell was rung in the middle of the colony, and its residents were called to a worship service. Surely, their main goal in coming to the New World-the freedom to worship-had now been achieved.

Learning about, and Honoring our Huguenot Heritage

PART THREE: THE DESTRUCTION OF FORT CAROLINE

King Philip II was furious. Not only was this an affront to the sovereignty of Spain, it also would greatly endanger his trading ships that sailed along the coast. But the worst part was that these renegades were HUGUENOTS-that vile group of heretics! No, this was very bad news indeed and it must be dealt with immediately and thoroughly.

King Philip II knew exactly whom to appoint to rid Florida of the French: Captain General Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the ablest of Spain's naval commanders and military leaders. Menendez was instructed to find the French settlers in Florida and drive them out by any means necessary.

On June 29,1565, Menendez set sail from Cadiz, Spain with 700 men to search out and destroy the Huguenot colony. After sailing across the ocean all summer, Menendez arrived in La Florida. To the fanfare of trumpets, the firing of cannon, and the shouts of 700 colonists, Pedro Menendez de Aviles stepped ashore on September 8, 1565. As the flags flapped briskly in the breeze, Father Francisco Lopez celebrated a solemn Mass of thanksgiving. Menendez and his company knelt to kiss the cross and to receive the priest's blessing. Menendez then proclaimed that the land belonged to King Philip II of Spain. St. Augustine was established in honor of St. Augustus, whose feast day it was.

The Massacre at Fort Caroline

Menendez sent scouts up the coast to determine the location of Fort Caroline. The following is quoted from Fort Caroline and its Leader, by Charles E. Bennett.

"In the morning darkness of September 20th , the force camped at a small pond, exhausted, wet and hungry. About the break of day, Menendez assembled his men at the shores of the pond to decide whether to attack Caroline or return to St. Augustine and leave Florida to the French." The decision was then made to attack the fort that morning, in the midst of a raging storm.

. . . Meanwhile, the French had also been making plans-plans that soon proved to be disastrous. Jean Ribault, having learned that Menendez was in the area, had left with a force of 300 men to go south to search out the Spanish ships and destroy them before they destroyed the French. Before departing, Ribault had once again put the fort under the command of Rene de Laudonniere. We again quote from Mr. Bennett:

"The Frenchmen at Fort Caroline were taken by surprise. Although Laudonniere had ordered watchmen to remain on guard, the incessant rain and wind convinced them there could be no danger of an attack by the Spaniards from distant St. Augustine. The few sentinels who remained at their posts were quickly silenced: Most of the people left by Ribault at Caroline were not experienced soldiers, and many of the fighting men lay ill. Laudonniere himself was sick; so sick, in fact, that he had placed La Vigne, the chaplain, in charge of the sentinels and the latter had dismissed most of the guards because of the bad weather and had gone to bed himself."

Finding the fort almost defenseless, the Spanish easily killed the few sentinels still on duty and entered the fort to carry out a massacre."

In less than an hour the Spaniards won a complete victory, with only one of their men a casualty. Many men and some women and children were slain in the battle. Some reports of the attack imply that Menendez was a bit tardy in ordering his men to spare the women and children and state that the bodies of some infants were impaled on pikes stuck in the ground. The rest of the women and children were spared. The other men were hanged . . . and the inscription placed over their dangling bodies read, "I do this, not as to Frenchmen but as to Lutherans." (In other words, this was a religious war -- not a political one.) As many as 143 Frenchmen were killed or hanged at Fort Caroline.

The fort was then looted for booty to be taken to St. Augustine. All symbols of the Huguenot faith were burned or broken. Finally, Menendez renamed the fort and the river San Mateo, thus removing all vestiges of the French infiltration from the map of La Florida.

Before we leave the story of Fort Caroline (for there were two other massacres that followed this one) we should mention that there were survivors from this slaughter and one of them was Rene de Laudonniere. Quoting here:

On his flight, Laudonniere met Nicolas Le Challeux, an old carpenter and lay preacher who had been amazed by his own ability to leap over the fort's wall and save himself from death. He credited his unusual strength to God.

The strong religious beliefs of the Huguenots are illustrated by Le Challeux's account of his escape:

One of our number . . . proposed . . . would it not be better to fall into the hands of men than into the jaws of wild beasts or die of hunger in a strange land? I pointed out . . . we should be cowards to trust in men rather than in God who gives 'life to his own in the midst, of death, and gives ordinarily his assistance when the hopes of men entirely fail.

I also brought to their minds examples from Scripture, instancing Joseph, Daniel, Elias and the other . . . and apostles . . . who were all drawn out of much affliction, as would appear by means strange and extraordinary to the reason and judgment of men. His arm, said I, is not shortened, nor in anywise enfeebled; His power is always the same.

In all, between 50 and 60 Frenchmen escaped from the Spaniards. They left La Florida in two ships bound for France on September 25, 1565.

Learning about, and Honoring Our Huguenot Heritage

PART FOUR: THE MASSACRES AT MATANZAS

> > > Editor's note: For the sake of brevity, a summarization will complete this tragic tale . . . that ended with a GREAT VICTORY for Christ's Kingdom!

Jean Ribault (the Huguenot soldier and leader) was not present at the time of the massacre at Fort Caroline. Instead, he had left and taken his band of approximately 300 soldiers to intercept the Spanish at sea, and to cut off the attack.

His plan failed miserably. In the same raging storm, his ship was destroyed, but all men made it back to land safely. They split into two groups, about eight miles south of St. Augustine, trying to make their way back to the fort. They arrived at an inlet, near the ocean, which at that time had no name.

There followed two horrible slaughters of the Frenchmen by Menendez and his men, who then had effectively carried out the orders of King Philip II of Spain, to "do away with the French problem." The French were martyred on the inlet on September 29th and on October 12th, 1565. Only a handful escaped to tell the tale.

When the battle was over, the Spanish named the land "MATANZAS," . . . meaning "SLAUGHTERS."

" . . . and they loved not their lives unto death." (Revelation 12:11)

Father God, it is so difficult to tell this story but we know that this story is one that must be retold and never forgotten.

We thank You for the Blood that was poured out by Jean Ribault and his band of courageous believers, and we thank You, O Lord, for their sacrifice.

Father, in the current hour, when we see the enemy about ready to arrive at the gate, we thank You that we now stand in unity and in truth. May we overcome, as they overcame, that we, like them, might live eternally . . .

We thank You for the wisdom to understand that, in this day and age, there are many streams in Your river . . . all leading to Your Throne of Grace. We especially lift up those of the Catholic faith today, understanding that the testimony presented was of a very different time. We thank you that today, all Christian believers stand united in faith and in resolve to see Jesus lifted up by everyone who believes in His holy name . THANK YOU, FATHER GOD, THAT HOLY WARS HAVE CEASED IN OUR LAND.

And Lord our God, help us to have "eyes to see and hearts to know and understand" of Your absolute love in our day and throughout history; and to be prepared to rejoice in the great victory that shall be told tomorrow. In Your Name, Holy One, we pray, amen.