Henry Martyn Baird traces the emergence of French Protestantism from its earliest evangelical stirrings under Francis I through the consolidation of the Huguenot movement in the mid-sixteenth century. Drawing extensively on French archives, Baird chronicles the spread of Reformed theology, the role of Calvin’s Geneva as a spiritual headquarters, and the escalating royal and Catholic opposition that culminated in the Wars of Religion.
Scholarly yet readable, this first volume is the essential starting point for understanding the Huguenots — one of Europe’s most consequential religious minority communities and a major force in early modern French history.