L’instruction protestante dans les Quatre Terres au xviiie siècle : un enjeu majeur pour les luthériens du Pays de Montbéliard

Abstract

Until 1793, the county of Montbéliard was under the sovereignty of the duke of Wurtemberg and encountered no difficulty in the development of its Protestant instruction. This one developed within dense educational Protestant network and was the foundation of the denominational and linguistic identity of the inhabitants as well as base of the formation of elites, the instructionHowever, the territory of the county laid within a principality consisted of several seigneuries which were under the sovereignty of France since 1748. There was four Lutheran and catholic French-speaking seigneuries of Héricourt, Châtelot, Blamont and Clémont. Once established the sovereignty of France, the Parliament of Besançon and certain priests did not intend to respect the treaties providing the freedom of Protestant worship in these seigneuries, as well as in the Alsatian lands. The main problems appeared in particular around the instruction, its financing and the recruitment of teachers)... These cleavages were most important in some areas shared between Catholics and Protestants. Afterward, by the liberties that are granted to the Protestants, the French Revolution generated profound upheavals that concerned in particular the instruction in Four Earth. However, they renewed at first the fights more than they levelled them.

Keywords

• Protestantism
• Education
• Religious tension