Document 8

… More and more Louis tried to impose uniformity in religious affairs. In the 168os he

intensified persecution of Protestants; his actions made the edict [of Nantes] nothing but a scrap

of paper. Finally in 1685 he declared that the majority of French Protestants had been converted

to Catholicism and that therefore there was no need for the edict. It was revoked.

Now Louis launched a reign of terror. He refused to allow French Protestants to leave the

country. He promised that those who remained could worship privately, free of persecution, but

never kept the promise. Their churches were torn down, their gatherings forbidden, their

children made to attend mass. The Waldensians in Savoy were massacred, and six hundred

Protestants “caught making assemblies” were executed. Perhaps two hundred and fifty thousand

fled abroad to escape persecution.…

Source: Milton Meltzer, Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled, Orchard Books

According to Milton Meltzer, what was one action Louis XIV took in an attempt to control the Protestants

in France?