This week is very much on a theme of France.
We have of course celebrated Bastille Day on the 14 July, an important date for all of France and its dependencies but many may not realise that the French Revolution was in part hastened by the harsh and inflexible treatment of the French protestants, the Huguenots.
This is the reason that this date was chosen for the launch of the new edition of - The Story of the Huguenots: A Unique Legacy. The book gives a long look at the treatment of these people and why the Edict of Nantes' slow erosion of hard fought for toleration of these peoples had led to the Revocation. Gradually, many enlightened members of French society, including the King's brother, sought to bring about toleration which led to King Louis XVI signing the Edict of Tolerance on the 29 November 1787, but in many ways this was too little too late as less than two years later the Revolutation began with the storming of the Bastille on the 14 July 1789.
By Unidentified painter - L’Histoire par l’image, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6882732
Another celebration that took place this week was the Battle of the Boyne. There has been annual celebrations of this event for over 200 years on the 12 July, but in fact the battle was fought on the 11 July unless you look back at the old Julian calendar, in which case the battle date was the 1 July.
