Читать книгу Cycling London to Paris. The classic Dover/Calais route and the Avenue Verte онлайн

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In France, the country’s biggest Catholic cathedral was built at Amiens in the 13th century (classic route, Stage 7) and an even bigger one started at Beauvais (classic route, Stage 8), but this was never finished. In the early 16th century the Protestant reformation reached France from Germany and Switzerland, rapidly taking hold driven by widespread perception of corruption among Catholic clergy. By mid-century many towns had substantial numbers of Protestant worshippers, known as Huguenots. This sparked violent reaction from devout Catholics led by the Duc de Guise and between 1562 and 1598 France was convulsed by a series of ferocious wars between religious factions. It is estimated that between two million and four million people died as a result of war, famine and disease. The wars were ended by the Edict of Nantes which granted substantial rights and freedoms to Protestants. However, this was not the end of the dispute. Continued pressure from Catholic circles gradually reduced these freedoms and in 1685 Louis XIV revoked the edict. Thankfully this did not provoke renewed fighting, many Huguenots choosing to avoid persecution by emigrating to Protestant countries (particularly Switzerland, Britain and the Netherlands), but it had a damaging effect on the economy.