Edict of Coucy

King Francis I of France issued the Edict of Coucy on July 16, 1535, ending the persecution of Protestants that followed Nicolas Cop's speech on November 1, 1533 calling for reform in the Catholic Church, and the provocative placards that were posted almost a year later in Paris and elsewhere, attacking the Mass as a blasphemy. Backed by the king, some dissenters were jailed, twenty-four were executed, and over seventy fled, including Cop and his friend John Calvin.

The Edict of Coucy freed all of the jailed, and offered amnesty to the exiles. The "Sacramentarians", who held to Zwingli's view of the Eucharist (which had appeared on the placards), were included only if they would repudiate their anti-Romanist views. Francis sought by the edict to assuage the anger of some German Protestant princes with whom he was attempting to form an alliance, which ultimately failed. Even so, he extended pardon to the Sacramentarians in 1536.

References

Andrew Pettegree (2000). The Reformation World. Routledge. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-415-16357-6.

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