Edict of Fontainebleau (1540)

The Edict of Fontainebleau was issued June 1, 1540 by the French King Francis I while at his Palace of Fontainebleau. It occurred after the "Affair of the Placards" turned Francis I's policy from one of tolerance to the persecution of the Protestants. The Edict stated that the Protestant heresy was "high treason against God and mankind" and so deserved the appropriate punishments of torture, loss of property, public humiliation, and death. Thus, the Edict of Fountainebleau codified the persecution of the French Protestants or Huguenots and was the first of many edicts in France to persecute the Huguenots. The next major edict was the Edict of Châteaubriant issued by Henry II of France.