PicardyPicardy (ˈpɪkərdi; Picard and Picardie, pikaʁdi, pika(ː)rdi) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. The historical province of Picardy stretched from Senlis to Calais via the main parts of the Oise and Aisne departments, the whole of the Somme department and the west of the Pas-de-Calais department. The province of Artois (Arras area) separated Picardy from French Flanders.
Edict of NantesThe Edict of Nantes (édit de Nantes) was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the minority Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was predominantly Catholic. It granted religious toleration to the Protestant Huguenots, who had been waging a long and bloody struggle for their rights in France. The main contents were: Freedom of conscience and the right to practice their religion (Protestantism) in certain specified towns and cities throughout France.
Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world.
LaonLaon (lɑ̃) is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar there was a Gallic village named Bibrax where the Remis (inhabitants of the country round Reims) had to meet the onset of the confederated Belgae. Whatever may have been the precise locality of that battlefield, Laon was fortified by the Romans, and successively checked the invasions of the Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Alans and Huns.
AngersAngers (UKˈɑ̃ʒeɪ, USɑ̃ˈʒeɪ,_ˈændʒərz, ɑ̃ʒe) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the province are called Angevins or, more rarely, Angeriens. Angers proper covers and has a population of 154,508 inhabitants, while around 432,900 live in its metropolitan area (aire d'attraction). The Angers Loire Métropole is made up of 29 communes covering with 299,500 inhabitants (2018).
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies. Protestantism emphasizes the Christian believer's justification by God in faith alone (sola fide) rather than by a combination of faith with good works as in Catholicism; the teaching that salvation comes by divine grace or "unmerited favor" only (sola gratia); the priesthood of all believers in the Church; and the sola scriptura ("scripture alone") that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice.
Elizabeth IElizabeth I (7 September 1533 - 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last monarch of the House of Tudor and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Elizabeth was the only surviving daughter of Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed when Elizabeth was two years old. Anne's marriage to Henry was annulled, and Elizabeth declared illegitimate. Henry restored her to the line of succession when she was ten, via the Third Succession Act 1543.
ArdècheArdèche (aʁdɛʃ; Ardecha, aɾˈdet͡ʃɔ; Ardecha) is a department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019. Its prefecture is in Privas, but its largest city is Annonay. The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardèche river has extensive standing stones (mainly dolmens but fewer menhirs), erected thousands of years ago.
InquisitionThe Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, but convictions of unrepentant heresy were handed over to the secular courts, which generally resulted in execution or life imprisonment. The Inquisition had its start in the 12th-century Kingdom of France, with the aim of combating religious deviation (e.g.
NantesNantes (nɒ̃t, USalsonɑːnt(s), nɑ̃t; Gallo: Naunnt or Nantt nɑ̃(ː)t; Naoned ˈnãunət) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 320,732 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabitants (2020). With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms one of the main north-western French metropolitan agglomerations. It is the administrative seat of the Loire-Atlantique department and the Pays de la Loire region, one of 18 regions of France.
