Horrors against the Huguenots in Orange

CHAPTER ON FIRST CIVIL WAR 1562, PROVENCE, DAUPHANY, AND ORANGE AND CHATEAUNEUF DE PAPES:  horrors here in orange not surpassed in the most savage annals of war history. Page 49 vol 2 of Baird. This makes a full chapter maybe two. Cathedral of Notre Dame of Nazareth, completed in 1208, but looks very Romanesque, square tower, round arches, and crammed into medieval streets so it’s hard to get a complete view of it. That may be just today. In December of 1561 the gospel had taken such a hold on the people in this place that Huguenots far outnumbered RC. The cathedral became the temple for Huguenot worship. William of Orange had become the duke of this principality in France, by marriage, I assume. It’s nowhere near Holland. Apparently he was still RC as his dukedom became more Protestant and pressures were exerted on him to crush Reformation in his dukedom, which he sort of half-heartedly did at first. Meanwhile, the Reformation is growing in the Netherlands; he would eventually be converted to Christ and become a champion of Reformation. As far as I know, he never lived in Orange, but may have visited. In the first war of religion, Orange was brutally put to the sword, men killed, women raped and abused and then killed, children and elderly put to the sword, the few who survived thrown in prison, the ancient Roman theatre. It has a vast wall with inset Roman arches but is an imposing wall, theatre, fort, slum, prison, now back to theatre (we ate our 30^th wedding anniversary dinner at a café right in front of it). There is a castle ruin behind it that probably played a role in the war. The arch of triumph built in BC 20 celebrates the Roman victory over the Ghauls in this region. Very impressive, intact edifice, lots of detailed stone carving visible in its three arches (middle large, two on sides smaller and narrower, unlike Nîmes’ which had four, two large ones for chariots, and two smaller for walking through, but Nîmes was just a city gate for walking in and out, right and left traffic, through the walls, this a triumphal arch, larger middle one for chariots, and two walking ones, still pretty large).