A Brief History
On January 21, 1535, in the aftermath of “The Affair of the Placards,” French Protestants were burned at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
Digging Deeper
Starting in October of 1534, in the largest French cities, Protestant activists had been hanging up posters (placards) casting aspersions on the Catholic Church, the most gutsy move being the hanging of such a poster on King Franςois I’s bedroom door!
This action apparently was the last straw for the frightened King who reaffirmed his Catholic faith as the religion of the land and decided to throw out any last tolerance of the Protestants.
Accordingly, rewards were offered for the capture of the perpetrators, and the public responded eagerly, turning in as many known Protestant activists as they could.
The subsequent public burning of these Protestants at the stake in front of the main cathedral of France certainly made it quite clear that freedom of religion was not to be on the immediate political agenda.
Such incidents and the all too common anti-Jewish pogroms throughout Europe in the Middle Ages until relatively recently certainly show how extraordinary and possibly even revolutionary it was when the Founding Fathers of the United States made freedom of religion a basic right.
In the meantime, European countries have come on board with the freedom of religion concept, but unfortunately many of today’s Muslim countries show little tolerance for any religion other than the specific brand of Islam common there.
One “religion” that continues to suffer a lack of tolerance in the United States is atheism, and no major politician is able to be elected without at least pretending to believe in God. As the numbers of self-admitted atheists in the U.S. grows, especially among celebrities and scientists, perhaps even atheism will be accepted as a mainstream belief someday. At least no one is getting burned at the stake for it!
Question for students (and subscribers): Is it ever justifiable to burn someone at the stake? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Frieda, Leonie. King Francis I of France. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="8472 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=8472">89 Comments
Most of the Acts that took place back in these times were extremely gruesome, Many of these would be highly unexceptable in today’s times, Mass public execution is unheard of in today’s governmental power. Punishments like this seemed very popular within the parliaments back then.
“One “religion” that continues to suffer a lack of tolerance in the United States is atheism, and no major politician is able to be elected without at least pretending to believe in God.”
Pete Stark (US HoR) and Jesse Ventura come to mind.
Once again a case of religion leading to violence. I wonder if there will ever be a time when religion halts wars rather than starting them
It’s shocking to me that people even consider themselves religious if they start violence and even kill other people for their god
They had guts… They hung a poster on the King’s bedroom door. But this sounds like another case where religion has lead to violence. It is such a sensitive topic for many civilizations that it often leads to war.
It’s amazing that atheism is less accepted than any other religion. That just shows societies value in a god.
I would have liked to have seen more information on the situation in France.
I dont think it is right to say a certain religion is the “religion of the land”. People should have freedoms.
It is good that we have grown to a world where many countries have religious freedoms and where we have more tolerance! Hopefully every country becomes more tolerant throughout time!
Hanging a poster on the king’s bedroom door was probably not the smartest move to make.
im glad i live in a world that i can have my own faith and not be told by someone oh this is the faith you have to follow since you live in that land. i wonder if it was like this back then what really great things this would have prevented from going on in history.
I think it’s okay to have a religion associated with a country like Latin America and Catholicism but that should not defer anyone from feeling like they can’t practice their own religion or will not be accepted. I think we as the United States have some work to do on acceptance and tolerance but it’s funny to look at the progress of religion in the United States and now how accepting people are of atheism versus where we came from with the Puritans
Thankfully in this country we are afforded the right to religious liberty. Unfortunately, that seems to be something that is losing popularity for some bizarre reason. This competition and violence among religions seems to never stop.
It is so sad that religion tends to lead to violence.
It is interesting that there has not really been a major political figure in office with a belief in atheism.
The tables turned though with many protestant groups in later centuries though. When people come into power of any religious sect who see the world in a pure good/evil lens the outcome always seems to end ugly.
It seems religion drives most of History and it is not stopping anytime soon.
It seems that even today many are being killed for their religious beliefs. Church and religion use to have a major role in almost all families in the United States but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
The kings paranoia must have went off the charts with a poster being hung on his bedroom door, unless he had no fear of any type of violence towards himself the perpetrator of that particular incident would of had to have been someone in his household.
It’s still hard for me to believe that there was a time where people felt this strong about their religion. The fact that the king would order people to be killed for having an opinion and practicing a different religion is mind boggling.
That’s crazy that the people are being killed and hurt because they believe in something different than other people. Everyone is different and is aloud to believe whatever they like in my opinion.
The king obviusly was a little parnoid if he had to warn others that it was the last straw. I’m thinking he was freightened by something else going on.
Goes to show the change in the freedom of religion from then to now
It’s sad to see how the past is still sort of happening. People were getting killed for what they believe in then and some are still getting killed for what they believe in now. I think it’s funny that in present time people are so for their religion but the rate of Church-goers is declining.
It’s sick to think people were getting killed because of their beliefs.
As always people get criticized for standing up for what they believe in or believing in something different than what the majority population does. It is so sad that people got killed for having different beliefs.
Its sad and shameful to kill someone over their religion
Things are nowhere near perfect but our world has come a long way in the area of religious tolerance. Not everyone is willing to play nice, but I think there has been a great improvement.
so sad that people were killed over their religion..
It’s a shame that people were subjected to such harsh punishment just for having different beliefs.
Many people that have commented have said that it is sad that people WERE killed for their religion. This is still a problem. People are still killed because of their religion.
People will still be killed over their religion. Nothing will ever change
While we have more freedom of religion than ever before, I agree that we still don’t have full tolerance. The point about atheism was a very good one.
Why cant people just accept everyones religions and get over themselves. I hate arrogant people who think their religion is better or the “right one”
It is very important to stand up for what you believe in, but no one should ever get killed for what they believe in.
Having the ability to respect ones beliefs and tolerate another simply for believing differently is one of the best qualities a person can have. Obviously, as simple as it sounds, so many people are too ignorant to let others live how they see fit.
im catholic, should i be judged? no. if somebody is not catholic would i judge them? no. let people live with what they believe in, and if there is a debate, then that should still be acceptable. but to kill somebody because they do not believe in the same thing is wrong.
Being non religous I dont judge people and I neever will however I dont believe that we should tell people how to live
Again with religion and violence. No one should be judged on their beliefs.
Once again another instance of people being killed over religion, its a never ending cycle.
So much death over different religious views. This never gets old.
It seems like so many people were killed back then because of religion. What a shame.
We don’t have to always agree on each other’s beliefs, but who are we to judge one another?
I’ve always been astonished at the number of people that have the courage to judge someone for their beliefs.
I’ve never understood why different religions would want to kill other religions. Almost all religions preach you shouldn’t kill.
Thank “God” we have freedom of religion in the United States. : )
16th/17th Centuries: religious people killing other religious people with slightly different views.
Thank the Heavens that when the U.S. was founded freedom of religion was one of the cornerstones. Looking at these historical events never ceases to amaze me. The amount of hate, all due to religion.
I could never imagine wanting to kill people just because they are part of a different religion. It is a good thing the United States has freedom of religion.
Living in a country in which freedom of religion isn’t an option is hard for American’s to understand and would be a very hard place to live.
I”m so glad that we have freedom of religion
Some would prefer freedom from religion…
The history of humanity and the mass killings of people doesn’t provide much hope for the future.
i couldn’t blame the people i would have trying to get a reward also turning in a bunch of people.
Since recently becoming a christian and learning more about religion I’ve realized so many people are against others religion that isn’t their own. I don’t understand why people cant be accepting of those beliefs.
I am glad that we live in a world with freedom of religion
I personally believe that no one should be judged for what they believed in. I was raised in a Catholic household and I know many who do not believe in any sort of god. Just because they don’t believe doesn’t mean I’m going to treat them any differently
Thank god(no pun intended) for our first amendment
Makes me even more thankful our country has the first amendment. The sad thing is, people are still mistreated today because of their religious beliefs.
If we didn’t have Freedom of Religion then we wouldn’t have congress and recognition is basic to all human liberties. To me anyone can be what ever religion they want and believe in God if they choose. They say 1 in 9 people don’t believe in God now which makes me think what its going to be like later in life.
Looking back into history and seeing how big of a role religion played in those people’s lives and then looking at today and seeing the amount of people that don’t believe in anything is very interesting. Imagine what would’ve happened to those people back then.
In my opinion, as much as it’s sought after peace between different religions will never be obtained. Although things have improved since then there will still always be religious radicals that contribute to the violence.
It is crazy that the mention of a reward would cause people to murder others.
I think it’s crazy that if you were protestant and didn’t hang those posters, you get hanged at stake.
freedom of religion has really come a long way. As mentioned about the growing number of atheists in the US could not be more evident in today’s news streams.
I am so thankful for freedom of religion! I belive people take that for granted because religion use to be controlled by authority and there were serious consequences for rebelling against it.
Thankful for freedom of religion!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe the amount of burning at the stake that would take place during these times
when government and religions fight it never turns out good
Burning at the stake couldn’t of smelt good….
Burning people is wrong.
I have never burned anyone alive and I don’t plan to!
This is a perfect example of the quote, “absolute power corrupts absolutely”, by 19th century British politician Lord Acton. We as humans have inalienable rights. Nobody has the power to tell us what we can think or not think. (don’t tell the FCC that though hahaha)
This is wild that people to this day have troubles accepting other religions as a freedom.
I was never a huge fan of publicly killing someone back then but then again it would sow these people what is going to happen if you go against the king.
Killing someone by burning them on the stake I’ve always associated it with witches from the Salem Witch Trials.
It’s very interesting to see other peoples intolerance to religion and how they react to it.
Thank you for bringing up the atheism issue! I strongly agree with you on this. I’m glad no one is being burnt at the stake, but there should not be any issue with “tolerating” humans who just choose not to follow an organized religion.
Intolerance to religion is still around, but not as widespread as it was during the 17th Century. Here in America, we have the First Amendment that allows us to chose our religion, including atheism. Citizens in other countries are not as lucky as us, and are persecuted every day.
There may be no burning at the stake for sake of religion anymore but the world continues to hate and murder those with different ideas.
I personally believe that, at least for right now, if any politician were to come out and say publicly that they were atheist they would never get elected/reelected.
I do not get how under any circumstance they find burning people alive the best way to deal with the protestants.
It’s ridiculous that people then and now are treated completely different if they do not practice a certain religion for the most part.. Not believing in a certain religion or one at all does not make you a better or worse person than anyone else.
Read the article. I would’ve liked to read more about the burning of the Protestants than obvious statements about what’s happening with the world today.
What’s happening in the world today is history in the making. It is also a reflection of the past.
I feel like their is still religious persecution even if it is not to the extent that there was in that time but still it exists. You would think that after so long we could all just agree to disagree
I do not understand how they find burning people alive the best way to deal with the protestants
It seems to me like history repeats its treatment of certain parties in history. :/
its crazy to think in other countries people are still getting prosecute and are punished in terrible ways. Christians taking over other Christians, starting war against Muslims its all violence towards others. Then there’s a monk that makes a statement for the protest against something evil by his own body on fire.