155th Infantry Division "Emilia"
After the Armistice of Cassibile was announced on 8 September 1943, most of the division surrendered to the Germans, but some elements held out until October, while the 155th Artillery Regiment managed to cross the Adriatic Sea to reach Apulia in Southern Italy, where it joined forces with the Italian Co-belligerent Army.


155th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
The 155th Infantry Division (German: 155. Infanteriedivision) was a German Army infantry division in World War II.


155th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht), History
The 155th Infantry Division was raised some time before February 1945, when it was known to have been sent into Italy to reinforce the German and Italian armies, who were resisting the Allied advance during the Italian campaign.


155th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The "Mississippi Rifles" or the 155th Infantry Regiment, is Mississippi's oldest National Guard unit. Its history predates statehood, back to June 1799, and it is the seventh oldest infantry regiment in the United States Army. They patrolled the frontiers of the Mississippi Territory, captured Aaron Burr, defended Fort Mims during the Indian Wars, and served under General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.


155th Infantry Regiment (United States), History
The 155th Infantry is one of only twenty-four currently active Army National Guard units with campaign credits for the War of 1812, and one of only two from a state west of the Appalachians. It has credit for the Florida (1814) and New Orleans Campaigns.


155th Infantry Regiment (United States), History
They were known as the "Mississippi Rifles" under the command of Colonel Jefferson Davis in the war with Mexico. They acquired this nickname because the regiment was the first in American history to have an official issue rifle (M1841 Mississippi rifle) instead of a smoothbore musket. It was at the Battle of Buena Vista when other American units began to be overrun by the Mexicans that Col. Davis gave the order, "Stand fast, Mississippians!" The regiment stood their ground and the battle was eventually won. Davis' order later became the regimental motto.


155th Infantry Regiment (United States), History
Instead of the standard US Army uniform, the regiment was outfitted in red shirts, white duck trousers, and black slouch hats. The unit was instrumental in winning the Battle of Monterrey, and mustered for service in the Spanish–American War.


155th Infantry Regiment (United States), History, World War I and World War II
The Mississippi Rifles went with General Pershing's "Punitive Expedition" in Mexico and fought against Pancho Villa in 1916. In World War I under the Army's new federalization system, they were designated the 155th Infantry Regiment and served with the 39th Division. In World War II the regiment fought with the 31st Infantry Division in the Pacific Theater. They conducted training for Korea and many members went forward to fight. During the 1950s all but the 1st Battalion were deactivated.


155th Infantry Regiment (United States), History, Modern
First Battalion (Combined Arms), 155th Infantry (Mechanized) is now a part of the 155th Heavy Brigade Combat Team (155th HBCT), Mississippi Army National Guard. The unit served in Bosnia as "Task Force Rifles" and in Iraq in 2005–06 and again in 2009–10. The battalion is headquartered in McComb, MS and has infantry companies in Biloxi, MS (A Company), Poplarville, MS (B Company), as well as an Tank company in Kiln, MS (C Company) and a support company (I Company) Brookhaven, MS.


155th New York Infantry Regiment
The 155th New York Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.


155th New York Infantry Regiment, Service
The 155th New York Infantry was organized at New York City, New York, and mustered in for three years service on November 18, 1862, at Newport News, Virginia, under the command of Colonel William McEvily.


155th New York Infantry Regiment, Service
The regiment was attached to Newport News, Virginia, Department of Virginia, to December 1862. Corcoran's Brigade, Division at Suffolk, Virginia, VII Corps, Department of Virginia, to April 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to July 1863. Corcoran's Brigade, King's Division, XXII Corps, Defenses of Washington, to November 1863. 1st Brigade, Corcoran's Division, XXII Corps, to December 1863. 2nd Brigade, Tyler's Division, XXII Corps, to May 1864. 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June 1864. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps, to July 1865.


155th New York Infantry Regiment, Service
The 155th New York Infantry mustered out of service July 15, 1865.


155th New York Infantry Regiment, Detailed service
Left New York for Newport News, Va., November 10, 1862. Duty at Newport News, Va., until December 1862, and at Suffolk, Va., until June 1863. Expedition toward Blackwater January 8–10, 1863. Action at Deserted House January 30. Siege of Suffolk April 12-May 4. Edenton Road and Nansemond April 15. Edenton Road April 24. Providence Church Road, Nansemond River, May 3. Siege of Suffolk raised May 4. Expedition to Blackwater June 12–18. Carrsville June 16. Blackwater June 17.


155th New York Infantry Regiment, Detailed service
Dix's Peninsula Campaign June 24-July 7. Moved to Washington, D.C., July 10, and duty in the defenses of that city and guard duty on Orange & Alexandria Railroad until May 1864. Actions at Sangster's Station December 15 and 17, 1863. Ordered to join the Army of the Potomac in the field May 1864. Rapidan Campaign May 17-June 15. Spotsylvania Court House May 17–21. North Anna River May 23–26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26–28. Totopotomoy May 28–31. Cold Harbor June 1–12. Before Petersburg June 16–18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865.


155th New York Infantry Regiment, Detailed service
Jerusalem Plank Road, Weldon Railroad, June 22–23, 1864. Demonstration north of the James July 27–29. Deep Bottom July 27–28. Demonstration north of the James August 13–20. Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14–18. Ream's Station August 25. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27–28. Dabney's Mills, Hatcher's Run, February 5–7, 1865. Watkins' House March 25. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Boydton Road and White Oak Ridge March 29–31. Crow's House March 31. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Pursuit of Lee April 3–9. Sailor's Creek April 6. High Bridge, Farmville, April 7. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. At Burkesville until May 2. March to Washington May 2–12. Grand Review of the Armies May 23. Duty at Washington until July.


155th New York Infantry Regiment, Casualties
The regiment lost a total of 187 men during service; 9 officers and 105 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 71 enlisted men died of disease.


155th New York State Legislature
The 155th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to December 14, 1932, during the fourth year of Franklin D. Roosevelt's governorship, in Albany.


155th New York State Legislature, Background
Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1894, re-apportioned in 1917, 51 Senators and 150 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts consisted either of one or more entire counties; or a contiguous area within a single county. The counties which were divided into more than one senatorial district were New York (nine districts), Kings (eight), Bronx (three), Erie (three), Monroe (two), Queens (two) and Westchester (two). The Assembly districts were made up of contiguous area, all within the same county.


155th New York State Legislature, Background
At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Socialist Party and the Communist Party also nominated tickets.


155th New York State Legislature, Elections
The New York state election, 1931, was held on November 3. No statewide elective offices were up for election.


155th New York State Legislature, Elections
Assemblywoman Rhoda Fox Graves (Rep.), of Gouverneur, a former school teacher who after her marriage became active in women's organisations and politics, was re-elected, and remained the only woman legislator.


155th New York State Legislature, Sessions
The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 6, 1932; and adjourned on March 11.


155th New York State Legislature, Sessions
The Legislature met for a special session at the State Capitol in Albany on December 9, 1932; and adjourned on December 14. This session was called to enact legislation to avoid the financial breakdown of New York City which threatened to occur on December 17.


155th New York State Legislature, State Senate, Members
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Joe R. Hanley changed from the Assembly to the Senate.


155th New York State Legislature, State Senate, Members
Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."


155th New York State Legislature, State Assembly, Assemblymen
Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."


155th Ohio Infantry Regiment
The 155th Ohio Infantry Regiment, sometimes 155th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) was a Union Army infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was among scores of regiments raised as Hundred Days Men to provide relief for veteran troops to enable a major U.S. War Department push to end the war within 100 days.


155th Ohio Infantry Regiment, History
In early May 1864, the 92nd Regiment of the Ohio National Guard and the 44th Battalion (Mahoning County) were consolidated to form the 155th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The new unit was organized Sunday, May 8, at Camp Dennison (Cincinnati, Ohio) with 838 men under the command of Colonel Harley H. Sage for one hundred days' service. Sage had previously served in the 13th Ohio Infantry and 43rd Ohio Infantry, and had commanded the 92nd Regiment, Ohio National Guard before taking command of the 155th.


155th Ohio Infantry Regiment, History
On May 12, the 155th OVI left for New Creek, West Virginia. The regiment did garrison duty at Martinsburg until June 3, when it moved to Washington, D.C. From there, it moved into Virginia to White House, Bermuda Hundred and then City Point. On June 29, it went into an entrenched camp at Norfolk, where it remained until July 27 as a part of the Army of the James.


155th Ohio Infantry Regiment, History
On that date, a Union expeditionary force (including the 155th Ohio, 20th New York Cavalry, 1st U.S. Volunteers, and two sections of the 8th New York Independent Battery) left Norfolk for Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The troops marched the forty miles or so south to Elizabeth City to capture horses, cotton, tobacco and other contraband. On August 6, 1864, the regiment returned to Natick. Fifteen days later, its term of enlistment expiring, the 155th was ordered home. The regiment returned to Ohio and was mustered out August 27, 1864. The 155th Ohio lost during its service 20 enlisted men by disease.


155th Ohio Infantry Regiment, History, Statistics
The men of the 155th varied greatly in age, with 52 men aged 40 and older. The oldest recruit was 48-year-old Private McAlister of Company A, and the youngest was 13-year-old William Barker, a musician with Company B. There was also 14-year-old Private Jimmy Ross of Company K.


155th Ohio Infantry Regiment, History, Statistics
Five companies of the 155th were from Pickaway County, Ohio—A, C, E, H, & I. Company H showed 83 men on the official roster; however two of the men never mustered, and another was discharged the day after muster on a Surgeon's Certificate of Disability. The remaining 80 active men of Company H ranged in age from a 15-year-old boy (the musician) to a 44-year-old sergeant. The average age of the company was 27, with 31 men aged 21 or younger, and six men aged 40 or over.


155th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
The 155th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a Federal infantry regiment that served in the American Civil War in the Army of the Potomac in the Eastern Theater of the conflict.


155th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
Recruits from the Pittsburgh area and Allegheny County organized at Camp Copeland from September 2–19, 1862 into the 155th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Edward J. Allen served as the first colonel. After initial training and drilling, the regiment moved via train to Washington, D.C. where it joined the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division of the Union Fifth Corps. From there, it went to Sharpsburg, Maryland, after the Battle of Antietam. Their first introduction to battle came on December 13, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg where the color guard suffered heavy casualties in an ill-fated assault.


155th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
During its first years, the regiment wore the regulation uniform of the Union Army, but in February 1864 they, along with the 140th New York received a uniform inspired by the French Zouave uniform. Another regiment in the brigade, the 146th New York Volunteer Infantry, had already been issued their Zouave uniform in June 1863. The 140th New York wore a predominately dark blue Zouave uniform with red trim. The 146th New York wore a light blue uniform with red and yellow trim.


155th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
The 155th Pennsylvania uniform was French blue (not dark blue) with yellow trim that featured very large yellow "tombeaux", a stylized false pocket on the front left and right breasts of the jacket. A red Zouave sash with yellow trim, a red fez with yellow trim with a dark blue tassle attached, completed the uniform. Slight variations in jacket styles can be seen in the unit's regimental history entitled "Under the Maltese Cross" published in 1910.


155th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
The 155th Pennsylvania along with the 140th New York and the 146th New York became the "Zouave Brigade" in the Army of the Potomac's Fifth Corps. The brigade would later grow with the addition of the 5th New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment, however the 155th would be transferred to another brigade due to a disagreement between the regiment's colonel and the brigade commander.


155th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Alfred L. Pearson, commander of the regiment at the Battle of Lewis's Farm on March 29, 1865, was awarded the Medal of Honor on September 17, 1897, for his actions leading a counterattack which regained lost ground and repulsed the Confederates, driving them back to their original positions.


155th Pioneers
The 155th Pioneers was a pioneer regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in Mesopotamia and Palestine in May and June 1918, saw service in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the First World War, and was disbanded in 1920.


155th Pioneers, Background
Heavy losses suffered by the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front following the German spring offensive in March 1918 resulted in a major reorganization of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force:


155th Pioneers, Background
In fact, the 75th Division already had four Indian battalions assigned, so of the 36 battalions needed to reform the divisions, 22 were improvised by taking whole companies from existing units already on active service in Mesopotamia and Palestine to form the 150th Infantry (3 battalions), 151st Sikh Infantry (3), 152nd Punjabis (3), 153rd Punjabis (3), 154th Infantry (3), 155th Pioneers (2), 156th Infantry (1) and the 11th Gurkha Rifles (4). The donor units were then brought back up to strength by drafts. In the event, just 13 of the battalions were assigned to the divisions and the remaining nine were transferred from Mesopotamia to India in June 1918.


155th Pioneers, History
The 155th Pioneers was formed of two battalions in May and June 1918. The 1st Battalion was formed in Mesopotamia in May, by posting complete companies from battalions serving in that campaign, before transferring to Egypt in July. It joined the 2nd Battalion which was formed in Palestine in June with companies posted from battalions already serving in the theatre.


155th Pioneers, History
The battalions were assigned as pioneers to the two divisions of XX Corps, 53rd (Welsh) and 10th (Irish), respectively. Both battalions were detached to Watson's Force along with the 1/1st Worcestershire Yeomanry (XX Corps Cavalry Regiment) and a detachment from XX Corps Reinforcements Camp. The force occupied 5 miles of the line in the centre of the XX Corps front during the Battle of Nablus (19–21 September 1918).


155th Pioneers, History, Nomenclature
Perry shows each battalion with distinct designations: 1st Battalion, 155th Pioneers and 2nd Battalion, 155th Infantry despite the fact that the 2nd Battalion was formed from companies drawn from existing pioneer battalions and served successively as pioneers to the 60th (2/2nd London), 10th (Irish), and 53rd (Welsh) Divisions. Similarly, Gaylor designates the units as the 1st Battalion, 155th Indian Pioneers and 2nd Battalion, 155th Indian Infantry. It is notable that no other Indian infantry or pioneer regiment incorporated Indian in their titles at this time.


155th Pioneers, History, Nomenclature
Becke uses a severely abbreviated notation for unit names in his tables: 2/155 (P.) for 10th (Irish) Division and 155th (P.) for 53rd (Welsh) Division but is more explicit in his General Notes for the 60th (2/2nd London) Division where he names 2/155 Pioneers.


155th Pioneers, History, 1st Battalion
The 1st Battalion was formed in Mesopotamia in May 1918 by the transfer of complete companies from:


155th Pioneers, History, 1st Battalion
The battalion was made up of two companies of Mazhabi Sikhs, one company of Jats and one company of Rajput Muslims.


155th Pioneers, History, 1st Battalion
The battalion disembarked at Suez on 11 July and moved to Qantara. It reached Lydda on 6 August and joined the 53rd (Welsh) Division on 12 August 1918 near Ram Allah. It remained with the division for the rest of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, taking part in the Battle of Nablus (18–21 September 1918).


155th Pioneers, History, 1st Battalion
On 27 October, the 53rd (Welsh) Division started moving to Alexandria even before the Armistice of Mudros came into effect on 31 October, thereby ending the war against the Ottoman Empire. It completed its concentration at Alexandria on 15 November. The division received demobilization instructions on 20 December 1918. The Indian infantry battalions returned to India as transports became available and the division was reduced to cadre by 7 June 1919. The battalion was disbanded in 1920.


155th Pioneers, History, 2nd Battalion
The 2nd Battalion was formed in Palestine on 12 and 13 June 1918 by the transfer of the following complete companies:


155th Pioneers, History, 2nd Battalion
The battalion was made up of three companies of Mazhabi Sikhs and one company of Yusafzais.


155th Pioneers, History, 2nd Battalion
The battalion served as pioneers with the 60th (2/2nd London) Division from 18 June to 19 July before joining the 10th (Irish) Division as its pioneer battalion. On 31 August, it was detached to the 53rd (Welsh) Division until after the breakthrough as a result of the Battles of Megiddo (19–25 September). It rejoined the 10th (Irish) Division and in October was employed on the Damascus Road near Tiberias.


155th Pioneers, History, 2nd Battalion
The 10th (Irish) Division concentrated near Tul Karm in the middle of October and was there when the Armistice of Mudros came into effect. The division moved to Sarafand (now Tzrifin) by 12 November and moved back to Egypt, concentrating in Cairo by 1 December. It was there when demobilization began in January 1919. The battalion was disbanded in 1920.


155th Reserve Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)
The 155th Reserve Panzer Division (German 155. Reserve-Panzer-Division) was formed by redesignation of Panzer-Division Nr.155 in August 1943. The division was stationed in France from August 1943 to April 1944 when it was absorbed by 9th Panzer Division.


155th Rifle Division
The 155th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army of the Soviet Union. It was established in Opotschka in 1939. In December 1939, it fought in the Winter War and attacked the town of Lieksa. In October 1941, it was destroyed in Bryansk.


155th Rifle Division
On October 28, 1941 the 1st and 2nd Moscow Worker's Brigades were in Moscow formed using Destroyer Battalions' troops, similar to the earlier People's Militia formations. On November 14, 1941, they were upgraded in status to the 4th and 5th Moscow Rifle Divisions respectively. On January 20, 1942 the 4th Moscow Rifle Division was redesignated the 155th Rifle Division (Second Formation).


155th Rifle Division
During the rest of the Second World War, it fought in Kalinin, Kursk, the Carpathians, and Budapest. By May 1945, it served with the 27th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. In the summer of 1945, the division was disbanded and the soldiers then served with the Southern Group of Forces.


155th Street (Manhattan)
155th Street is a crosstown street separating the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the northernmost of the 155 crosstown streets mapped out in the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 that established the numbered street grid in Manhattan. The street consists of a "high portion" which is a major artery through the area, as well as a lesser-used "low portion".


155th Street (Manhattan)
The "high" portion of 155th Street starts on the West Side at Riverside Drive, crossing Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and St. Nicholas Avenue. At St. Nicholas Place, the terrain drops off steeply, forming Coogan's Bluff. 155th Street is carried on the 1,600-foot (490 m) long 155th Street Viaduct, a City Landmark constructed in 1893, that slopes down towards the Harlem River, continuing onto the Macombs Dam Bridge, crossing over (but not intersecting with) the Harlem River Drive. A separate, unconnected section of 155th Street runs under the viaduct, connecting Bradhurst Avenue and the Harlem River Drive.


155th Street (Manhattan)
The New York City Subway serves the high part of 155th Street at 155th Street/St. Nicholas Avenue on the IND Eighth Avenue Line and the low portion at 155th Street/Frederick Douglass Boulevard on the IND Concourse Line.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line)
155th Street (155th Street–Eighth Avenue on some signage) is a local station on the IND Concourse Line of the New York City Subway. It is located at the intersection of the bi-level 155th Street's lower level and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at the border of Harlem and the Coogan's Bluff section of Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan. It is served by the D train at all times except rush hours in the peak direction and the B during rush hours only. The station opened in 1933, along with the rest of the Concourse Line.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line), History
This station was built as part of the IND Concourse Line, which was one of the original lines of the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND). The route of the Concourse Line was approved to Bedford Park Boulevard on June 12, 1925 by the New York City Board of Transportation. Construction of the line began in July 1928. The station opened on July 1, 1933, along with the rest of the Concourse subway.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line), Station layout
This underground station has two side platforms and three tracks. The center track is used by the D express train during rush hours in the peak direction.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line), Station layout
Both platforms have an orange trim line with a black border and mosaic name tablets reading "155TH ST. – 8TH AVE." in white sans-serif lettering on a black background with orange border. Small "155" and directional tile captions in white lettering on a black background run below the trim line and some of the mosaic name tablets. Orange-yellow I-beam columns run along both platforms at regular intervals, with alternating ones having the standard black name plate in white lettering.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line), Station layout
The street staircase is wider than normal staircases, since the Polo Grounds stadium, home of the former New York Giants, was situated near the station, before the team left for San Francisco in 1958. The stadium was demolished in 1964 to make way for public housing after the New York Mets played there in 1962 and 1963. Today, Rucker Park is located at the entrance of the station.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line), Station layout
An abandoned tower sits on the south end of the Brooklyn-bound platform. When the IRT Ninth Avenue Line and later the Polo Grounds Shuttle were in service, there was a provision for transfer tickets between the IND underground level and the IRT elevated shuttle level. A very steep walk was needed to make this transfer.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line), Station layout
This is the only station in Manhattan that is served solely by the IND Concourse Line. To the north, the line continues under the Harlem River towards 161st Street–Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. To the south, the line continues under Saint Nicholas Place to a transfer station with the IND Eighth Avenue Line at 145th Street. South of 145th Street, the IND Concourse Line merges with the IND Eighth Avenue Line.


155th Street station (IND Concourse Line), Station layout, Exit
This station has a full length mezzanine above the platforms. However, only the northern end is open and has six staircases to the platforms. The Brooklyn-bound platform has four closed staircases while the Bronx-bound one has five. The mezzanine has yellow I-beam columns. The fare control area at the north end has a turnstile bank, token booth, one exit-only turnstile on each side of the mezzanine, and a quadruple-wide staircase diagonal to the mezzanine that goes up to the west side of Frederick Douglass Boulevard between 155th Street and Harlem River Drive.


155th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)
155th Street is a local station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located under the intersection of 155th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, at the border of the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan, it is served by the C train at all times except nights, when the A train takes over service.


155th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line), Station layout
The station opened on September 10, 1932, as part of the city-operated Independent Subway System (IND)'s initial segment, the Eighth Avenue Line between Chambers Street and 207th Street. It has two local tracks with two side platforms. Two express tracks, used by the A train during daytime hours, run below the station and are not visible from the platforms.


155th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line), Station layout
The station once had a southern mezzanine with exits to 153rd Street, but it is now closed and used as a MTA New York City Transit facility. The north end at 155th Street has vent chambers and a high ceiling.


155th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line), Station layout
Like several other IND Eighth Avenue Line local stations, this station does not have a trim line, but does have mosaic name plates reading "155TH ST." in white sans-serif lettering on a yellow background with black border. Small tile captions reading "155" run along the wall at regular intervals between the name tablets, and beneath the name tablets are directional captions, all white lettering on a black background.


155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)
155th Street was an elevated railway station in Manhattan, New York City, that operated from 1870 until 1958. It served as the north terminal of the IRT Ninth Avenue Line from its opening until 1918 and then as the southern terminal of a surviving stub portion from 1940 until its closure in 1958. It had two tracks and one island platform.


155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line), History
The Ninth Avenue El originally terminated at 155th Street at its inception as a matter of geographic necessity (the hills of Washington Heights would have made an northward expansion difficult) and political boundaries (at its opening, The Bronx was part of Westchester County). Development came to the area in the New York City and Northern Railroad building its terminal at 155th Street in 1880 and relocation of the Polo Grounds to in 1889.


155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line), History
The line expanded into The Bronx on June 1, 1918, when the Putnam Bridge, which had been built in 1881 to carry the Putnam Division across the Harlem River, was leased by the IRT and connected to the 9th Avenue line, allowing it to join the IRT Jerome Avenue Line and add intermediate stops at Sedgwick Avenue and Anderson–Jerome Avenues.


155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line), History
With the building of the Eighth Avenue Line and Concourse Line by the city-owned Independent Subway System in the 1930s, the Ninth Avenue El was rendered redundant. On June 12, 1940, the el was closed entirely except for the portion from this station north to provide a connection from the Jerome Avenue Line to the Polo Grounds. The retained service, known as the Polo Grounds Shuttle, ran from 155th Street to the 167th Street on the Jerome Avenue Line.


155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line), History
Though still moderately successful at its outset, the Polo Grounds Shuttle eventually suffered at the hands of the Concourse line and declining ridership of the New York Central's Putnam Division, the successor to New York and Northern. The need for the shuttle decreased when the Polo Grounds went vacant in 1957 after the baseball Giants moved to San Francisco and football Giants moved across the river to Yankee Stadium.


155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line), History
On May 29, 1958, the New York Central ceased operations on the Putnam Division, which rendered the shuttle unnecessary. Three months later, at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, August 31, the shuttle was shut down and the elevated portion of the line demolished. The two underground stations were abandoned, but remain intact.


155th meridian east
The meridian 155° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Australasia, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.


155th meridian east
The 155th meridian east forms a great circle with the 25th meridian west.


155th meridian east, From Pole to Pole
Starting at the North Pole and heading south to the South Pole, the 155th meridian east passes through:


155th meridian west
The meridian 155° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.


155th meridian west
The 155th meridian west forms a great circle with the 25th meridian east.


155th meridian west, From Pole to Pole
Starting at the North Pole and heading south to the South Pole, the 155th meridian west passes through:


155–158 North Street, Brighton
The building at 155–158 North Street in Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, was built between 1921 and 1923 as a branch of National Provincial Bank. The King Louis-style bank was built on the site of several shops (with offices above). The properties were acquired by the National Provincial Bank during 1916–20. The Brighton Gazette had occupied 155a North Street since 1910, when its long-time home at number 150 was converted into the Cinema de Luxe.


155–158 North Street, Brighton
Published by William James Towner, the paper’s full title was the Brighton Gazette, Hove Post and Sussex Telegraph (It later became part of National Westminster Bank's network of branches after that bank acquired National Provincial). In 2011 it became J D Wetherspoon's second pub in central Brighton. One of many buildings by the prolific local architecture firm of Clayton & Black, whose work in various styles can be found across the city, it forms an important component of the range of banks, offices and commercial buildings on North Street—a significant commercial thoroughfare since the 18th century. In particular, the "good attention to detail" shown throughout the building's Louis XIV-style façade has been praised. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, History
Brighton (originally Brighthelmston) originated as a fishing village bounded by four streets named after the points of the compass. The land to the north, west and east was agricultural. North Street lay on the main route towards London, and it thrived as the town grew in the 18th century: by 1800 it was the centre of commerce, lined with inns, shops and offices. Many buildings on the north side were removed between 1874 and 1879 when the road was widened, and offices and banks were attracted to the area. Large early 20th-century buildings included offices for the Prudential Association and the Royal Assurance Society and a branch of Midland Bank, and the north side of the street was soon "dominated" by such companies.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, History
National Provincial Bank, a major retail bank founded in 1833, sought to open a branch in Brighton, and in 1921 they commissioned the Clayton & Black firm to work with their in-house architect F.C.R. Palmer to design a building on North Street at the corner of Bond Street. The site faced the Midland Bank branch of 1902. Clayton & Black had nearly 50 years of experience in Brighton and neighbouring Hove, designing an eclectic range of buildings to serve a variety of functions. Among other commissions, they were responsible for the Royal Assurance Society offices at 163 North Street.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, History
The building was completed in 1923, and it was in use by National Provincial until the bank merged with the Westminster Bank in 1968 to form the National Westminster Bank. The branch was rebranded with that identity. From the 1990s, in response to changes in Government policy over alcohol licensing, many bank branches were sold for conversion into pubs and bars. There was already a National Westminster Bank branch a short distance away, at the corner of North Street and Pavilion Buildings, and 155–158 North Street was turned into a bar.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, History
By the early 21st century it operated under the name Saqqara. A sports bar and nightclub called The Gentleman's Turf then occupied the building, and it was later acquired by the J D Wetherspoon chain, which was granted permission by the city council in July 2010 to convert it into a pub. The Post & Telegraph opened on 21 December 2010. It is a short distance from the group's Bright Helm pub, and as of 2021 is one of four Wetherspoon outlets in the city of Brighton and Hove.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, Heritage
Under the name National Westminster Bank, 155–158 North Street was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 23 June 1994. This status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, Heritage
The building is within the North Laine Conservation Area, one of 34 conservation areas in the city of Brighton and Hove. This was designated by Brighton Council in 1977 and covers 41.37 acres (16.74 ha).


155–158 North Street, Brighton, Architecture
The stone-built structure is in the Louis XVI style, a derivative of Neoclassical architecture. Elements of the Edwardian Baroque style, which Clayton & Black used in their 1904 commission at 163 North Street, have also been identified. The building has been said to stand "glowering ... across the entrance to Bond Street" at T.B. Whinney's Edwardian/Italianate Midland Bank branch of 1902. The two-storey building has six windows facing North Street, a chamfered corner entrance bay and three windows to each floor facing Bond Street. There are dormer windows set into the slate-tiled mansard roof.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, Architecture
There are three entrances: two subsidiary doorways in the outermost bays, and an elaborate arrangement in the corner bay consisting of straight-headed double doors decorated with zodiac-themed reliefs, set in an architrave with a cornice supported on corbels, below which is an escutcheon with a bas-relief coat of arms. Above the cornice and its entablature is a lavishly decorated Diocletian window surrounded by carved swags with a female face forming the centrepiece on top of the keystone. The whole of the ground floor is rusticated, including the concave, heavily recessed window surrounds in which tall round-arched windows are set.


155–158 North Street, Brighton, Architecture
These windows have intricately carved keystones. A wide entablature forms separates the ground and first floors; above it, the windows are straight-headed and set below architraves with decorative keystones. Between each window is a slightly projecting panel. At the top of the building, a parapet runs around the whole building in front of the roof; it has balustraded sections in front of each dormer window. The dormers have distinctive architraves.


155–171 Oakhill Road
155–171 Oakhill Road is a Grade II listed block of flats designed in an Arts and Crafts style as a row of four cottages and a laundry block at the rear in Oakhill Road, Putney, London SW15.


155–171 Oakhill Road
It was built in 1906, and the architect was William Hunt, together with his son and partner Edward Hunt.


156
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Graham87 (talk | contribs) at 11:21, 10 January 2021 (1 revision imported: import old edit from the Nostalgia Wikipedia). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


156
Year 156 (CLVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silvanus and Augurinus (or, less frequently, year 909 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 156 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.


156 (number)
156 (one hundred [and] fifty-six) is the natural number, following 155 and preceding 157.


156 (number), In mathematics
156 is an abundant number, a pronic number, a dodecagonal number, a refactorable number and a Harshad number.


156 (number), In mathematics
156 is a repdigit in base 5 (1111), and also in bases 25, 38, 51, 77, and 155.


156 BC
Year 156 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lupus and Figulus (or, less frequently, year 598 Ab urbe condita) and the Eighth Year of Houyuan. The denomination 156 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.


156 Light AD Missile Regiment (Self propelled)
156 Light Air Defence Missile Regiment (Self Propelled) is an Air Defence regiment of the Indian Army.


156 Light AD Missile Regiment (Self propelled), Formation
The regiment was raised at Kamptee on 01 May 1982 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel (later Brigadier) SS Gyani. At the time of its formation, the Regiment was equipped with 40 mm L/70 guns.


156 Light AD Missile Regiment (Self propelled), History
The regiment was initially placed under 97 (Independent) Artillery Brigade of  Southern Command. Between 1983 and 1987, the unit was part of the 611 (Independent) Air Defence Brigade.


156 Light AD Missile Regiment (Self propelled), History
The unit moved to Delhi Cantonment in 1987 and came under the 627 (Independent) Mechanised Air Defence Brigade, where it was re-organised into a Light Air Defence Missile Regiment (Self Propelled) in 1989 and equipped with the Strela-10M weapon system. The unit thus assumed the role of a frontline fighting unit, providing intimate air defence to mechanised forces. The unit became part of 16 (Independent) Armoured Brigade in 1994 and 769 (Independent) Air Defence Brigade in 2001.


156 Regiment RLC
156 Regiment RLC is an Army Reserve Regiment of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps.


156 Regiment RLC, History
The Regiment was first formed in the Royal Corps of Transport as 156th (Lancashire and Cheshire) Regiment, RCT (Volunteers) in 1967. 238 Squadron was formed in 1969 and the regiment was renamed as 156th (Merseyside and Greater Manchester) Transport Regiment, RCT (Volunteers) in 1980 and 156th (North West) Transport Regiment, RLC (Volunteers) in 1993.


156 Regiment RLC, History
156 Transport Regiment was re-rolled in 2014 and is now a Supply Regiment within 101 Logistics Brigade.


156 Xanthippe
Xanthippe (minor planet designation: 156 Xanthippe) is a dark background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 120 kilometers (75 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 22 November 1875, by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Observatory, in what is now Croatia. It is named after Xanthippe, the wife of the Greek philosopher Socrates.


156 Xanthippe, Orbit and classification
Xanthippe is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 6 months (1,645 days; semi-major axis of 2.73 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.23 and an inclination of 10° with respect to the ecliptic.


156 Xanthippe, Physical characteristics
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile during 1981 gave a light curve with a period of 22.5 hours. Based upon its spectrum this is classified as a hydrated C-type asteroid (Ch-subtype) in the SMASS classification, indicating that it likely has a carbonaceous composition.


156 Xanthippe, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Xanthippe measures between 110.409 and 143.35 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.030 and 0.0687.


156 Xanthippe, Naming
This minor planet was named for Xanthippe, the wife of the Greek philosopher Socrates (c. 470–399 BC), after whom asteroid 5450 Sokrates was named. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 20).


1560
Year 1560 (MDLX) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1560 AM
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1560 kHz: 1560 AM is classified as a United States clear-channel frequency by the Federal Communications Commission. KNZR Bakersfield and WFME New York City share Class A status of 1560 kHz. (WFME is currently dark as its transmitter is relocated.)


1560 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1560.


1560 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1560 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1560 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1560 in science
The year 1560 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.


1560s
The 1560s decade ran from January 1, 1560, to December 31, 1569.


1560s BC
The 1560s BC was a decade lasting from January 1, 1569 BC to December 31, 1560 BC.


1561
Year 1561 (MDLXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg
A mass sighting of celestial phenomena or unidentified flying objects (UFO) occurred in 1561 above Nuremberg (then a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire). The phenomenon has been interpreted by some (John A Keel; 'Operation Trojan Horse' p.75) modern UFO enthusiasts as an aerial battle of extraterrestrial origin. This view is mostly dismissed by skeptics, some referencing Carl Jung's mid-twentieth century writings about the subject while others find the phenomenon is likely to be a sun dog.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, History
A broadsheet news article printed in April 1561 describes a mass sighting of celestial phenomena. The broadsheet, illustrated with a woodcut engraving and text by Hans Glaser, measures 26.2 centimetres (10.3 in) by 38.0 centimetres (15.0 in). The document is archived in the prints and drawings collection at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich in Zürich, Switzerland.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, History
According to the broadsheet, around dawn on 14 April 1561, "many men and women" of Nuremberg saw what the broadsheet describes as an aerial battle "out of the sun", followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object and exhausted combattant spheres falling to earth in clouds of smoke. The broadsheet claims that witnesses observed hundreds of spheres, cylinders, and other odd-shaped objects that moved erratically overhead. The woodcut illustration depicts objects of various shapes, including crosses (with or without spheres on the arms), small spheres, two large crescents, a black spear, and tubular objects from which several small spheres emerged and darted around the sky at dawn.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, The Broadsheet Text
The text of the broadsheet has been translated by Ilse Von Jacobi as follows:


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, The Broadsheet Text
In the morning of April 14, 1561, at daybreak, between 4 and 5 a.m., a dreadful apparition occurred on the sun, and then this was seen in Nuremberg in the city, before the gates and in the country – by many men and women. At first there appeared in the middle of the sun two blood-red semi-circular arcs, just like the moon in its last quarter. And in the sun, above and below and on both sides, the color was blood, there stood a round ball of partly dull, partly black ferrous color.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, The Broadsheet Text
Likewise there stood on both sides and as a torus about the sun such blood-red ones and other balls in large number, about three in a line and four in a square, also some alone. In between these globes there were visible a few blood-red crosses, between which there were blood-red strips, becoming thicker to the rear and in the front malleable like the rods of reed-grass, which were intermingled, among them two big rods, one on the right, the other to the left, and within the small and big rods there were three, also four and more globes.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, The Broadsheet Text
These all started to fight among themselves, so that the globes, which were first in the sun, flew out to the ones standing on both sides, thereafter, the globes standing outside the sun, in the small and large rods, flew into the sun. Besides the globes flew back and forth among themselves and fought vehemently with each other for over an hour.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, The Broadsheet Text
And when the conflict in and again out of the sun was most intense, they became fatigued to such an extent that they all, as said above, fell from the sun down upon the earth 'as if they all burned' and they then wasted away on the earth with immense smoke. After all this there was something like a black spear, very long and thick, sighted; the shaft pointed to the east, the point pointed west. Whatever such signs mean, God alone knows.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, The Broadsheet Text
Although we have seen, shortly one after another, many kinds of signs on the heaven, which are sent to us by the almighty God, to bring us to repentance, we still are, unfortunately, so ungrateful that we despise such high signs and miracles of God. Or we speak of them with ridicule and discard them to the wind, in order that God may send us a frightening punishment on account of our ungratefulness.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, The Broadsheet Text
After all, the God-fearing will by no means discard these signs, but will take it to heart as a warning of their merciful Father in heaven, will mend their lives and faithfully beg God, that He may avert His wrath, including the well-deserved punishment, on us, so that we may temporarily here and perpetually there, live as his children. For it, may God grant us his help, Amen. By Hanns Glaser, letter-painter of Nurnberg.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, Modern interpretations
According to author Jason Colavito, the woodcut broadsheet became known in modern culture after being published in Carl Jung's 1958 book Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, a book which analyzed the archetypal meaning of UFOs. Jung expressed a view that the spectacle was most likely a natural phenomenon with religious and military interpretations overlying it. "If the UFOs were living organisms, one would think of a swarm of insects rising with the sun, not to fight one another but to mate and celebrate the marriage flight."


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, Modern interpretations
A military interpretation would view the tubes as cannons and the spheres as cannonballs, emphasize the black spearhead at the bottom of the scene, and Glaser's own testimony that the globes fought vehemently until exhausted. A religious view would emphasize the crosses. Jung thinks the images of four globes coupled by lines suggested crossed marriage quaternities and forms the model for "the primitive cross cousin marriage". He also posited that it could also be an individuation symbol and that the association of sunrise suggests "the revelation of the light".


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, Modern interpretations
Otto Billig made an effort to provide a historical context for the apparition in his comments. He notes Nuremberg was one of the most prestigious cities of the late Middle Ages, a Free Imperial City known for its wealth and nobility. It tried to maintain neutrality during the furious warring between Catholics and Protestants during the Reformation, but when one Protestant prince was rebuffed when he insisted on financial tributes to fund his battles, the city was besieged and its trade cut off. Though ultimately successful in defending itself, the rebuilding of fortifications in Nuremberg necessitated a new round of taxation and the city suffered hard times in its aftermath.


1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, Modern interpretations
On Good Friday, 1554 another siege happened, and one broadsheet publisher described mock suns that prognosticated God's will wanted confession of sinful ways – i.e. the victims brought it on themselves. Another sky apparition followed in July of knights fighting each other with fiery swords, thus warning a coming Day of Judgment. Very similar apparitions of knights fighting in the skies were frequently reported during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Many similar broadsheets of wondrous signs exist in German and Swiss archives; and Nuremberg seems the focus of a number of them, presumably because of the hardships and conflicts of the ex-prosperous. Such conditions typically accentuate apocalyptic thought.


1561 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1561.


1561 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or French).


1561 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1561 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1561 in science
The year 1561 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.


1562
Year 1562 (MDLXII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1562 Imperial election
The imperial election of 1562 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Regensburg on November 28.


1562 Imperial election, Background
This was the third imperial election to take place during the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg, now part of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, had delivered the Ninety-five Theses to Albert of Brandenburg, the elector of Mainz. This list of propositions criticized the practice of selling indulgences, remissions of the punishment meted out for sin in Purgatory.


1562 Imperial election, Background, Schmalkaldic War
Luther's criticism snowballed into a massive schism in the church, and from there into a split among the states of the empire. In 1527, John, Elector of Saxony, the elector of Saxony, established a Lutheran state church in Saxony with the elector as chief bishop. On February 27, 1531, John joined Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, the landgrave of Hesse, in establishing the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive military alliance of Lutheran principalities in which each pledged to support the other in the event of an attack by the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. In time Anhalt, Württemberg, Pomerania, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Kempten, Brandenburg and the Electoral Palatinate were added to the League.


1562 Imperial election, Background, Schmalkaldic War
In view of the preparations of the emperor, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to suppress them, the members of the League launched a preemptive attack on his forces at the Catholic city of Füssen on July 10, 1546. The ensuing war led to the defeat and dissolution of the Schmalkaldic League. It led also to the 1547 Capitulation of Wittenberg, according to which John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony was compelled to cede the electorate to his cousin Maurice, Elector of Saxony, the first member of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin to hold it.


1562 Imperial election, Background, Cuius regio, eius religio
On May 15, 1548, Charles issued the Augsburg Interim. Intended as a compromise between the Catholic empire and its Protestant princes and subjects, it permitted the marriage of Protestant clergy and the receipt by the laity of communion under both kinds. However, it also ordered the readoption among Protestants of Catholic practices including the seven sacraments. Domestic pressure from the Protestant subjects of the empire led to the offer of additional concessions in the Leipzig Interim in December, and finally to more violence.


1562 Imperial election, Background, Cuius regio, eius religio
On January 15, 1552 a coalition of Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire signed the Treaty of Chambord with the French king Henry II of France, inviting him to occupy the Three Bishoprics of Metz, Verdun and Toul in exchange for military assistance against Charles. The renewed conflict was ended by the Peace of Passau of August 1552, which revoked the Augsburg Interim, and by the Peace of Augsburg of September 1555, which permitted princes of the empire to establish Lutheranism or Catholicism as their state religions.


1562 Imperial election, Background, Election of 1562
Charles was succeeded by his brother Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor upon his official abdication in 1558. Ferdinand called for the election of his successor. As king of Bohemia, he held one vote. The remaining electors were:


1562 Imperial election, Aftermath
Maximilian acceded to the throne on his father's death  on July 25, 1564.


1562 Riots of Toulouse
The 1562 Riots of Toulouse are a series of events (occurring largely in the span of a week) that pitted members of the Reformed Church of France (often called Huguenots) against members of the Roman Catholic Church in violent clashes that ended with the deaths of between 3,000 and 5,000 citizens of the French city of Toulouse. These events exhibit the tensions that would soon explode into full civil war during the French Wars of Religion.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background
The history and political structure of Toulouse played a significant part in the tensions that led to the riots in 1562.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Medieval religious past
The city of Toulouse was the capital of Languedoc which had been a stronghold for Catharism throughout the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. In an effort to stamp out what it deemed heresy, the Roman Catholic Church had called for military action against the Cathars. These campaigns are grouped under the term the Albigensian Crusade. The Catholic hierarchy also developed the Dominican Order and the Medieval Inquisition in order to expose and eliminate this belief.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Medieval religious past
Some historians, such as Edgar Sanderson, believe that the inroads that the later Reformed Church of France made in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries can be traced to a general questioning of Roman Catholic authority by the people in this region, an attitude that made Catharism so difficult to exterminate. Sanderson notes "In the contest [between Cathars and Catholics] which ensued, sometimes heretics were burnt alive, at other times Inquisitors were driven out or assassinated."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Medieval religious past
Also, as a result of the Catholic Church's sustained focus on the area, great attention was paid to ensure that the population held views seen as acceptable to Catholic orthodoxy, and great efforts were put forward to teach that orthodoxy. These two cultural factors competing in the region (questioning authority and an intense focus on doctrine) may explain how the larger part of the population (including the Parlement) was staunchly Roman Catholic, but the Reformed Church members were able to make quick inroads there.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Rise of Protestantism
By 1530 some within the mendicant orders living in Toulouse and at its university became persuaded by the writings of Martin Luther. By 1532 Catholic authorities began a purge of the university, persecuting and then banishing several students and professors on charges of ascribing to Protestantism. Also in 1532 Toulouse produced one of the first French Protestant martyrs, when the lawyer Jean de Caturce was burnt on a slow fire. This was for making what was termed a "'Lutheran' exhortation" while merry-making on the feast of Epiphany (he recommended replacing the prayer "May Christ reign in our hearts!" with "The king drinks! ").


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Rise of Protestantism
In 1536 copies of John Calvin's Institution chrétienne were discovered in the city and the Reformed Church of France began to win converts, this despite Toulouse being the seat of Dominican Inquisition. A strange sign of the success for the Reformed Church was when on September 10, 1538, Toulouse's Catholic Inquisitor of the Faith, Louis Rochette, was strangled and burned at the stake for embracing Protestantism. By the 1540s the struggle between Catholics and Reformed Church members escalated in Toulouse.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Rise of Protestantism
The Reformed Church members continued their activities in Toulouse for decades despite legal and popular persecution (that sometime escalated into killing). Though the Reformed Church had appeared later in Toulouse than in other provincial capitals (such as Lyon or Rouen), by 1561 they were holding their conventicles  close to the Hôtel de Ville in the expensive homes of some of Toulouse's leading citizens.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Psalms in French
In the events leading up to the riots and during the riots themselves, there was a strong reaction by Catholics against anyone singing the Psalms in French. In the late 1530s Clément Marot had translated the Psalms into French and set them to popular music. At first Marot had presented these only to the royal Court of King Francis I where they were extremely well received especially by the young Dauphin (who later became King Henry II of France). The Dauphin made his courtiers sing them with him while his musicians accompanied him on viol or lute. John Calvin caused twelve of Marot's translations to be published adding five additional Psalms translated by himself and set to music.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Psalms in French
As the 1540s began Marot had translated around 50 Psalms and published these for the general populace, they became popular among Catholics and Protestants. In the year 1542 a rise in Catholic concerns over the spread of Protestant ideas led to several edicts against people and writings the Church deemed heretical. It was at this time the Sorbonne banned Marot's Psalms in French and issued a warrant for his arrest (which he escaped by permanently leaving the country). Theodore Beza was among those who worked translating the rest of the Psalms into French, until they were all complete.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Psalms in French
The popularity of the Psalms in French is seen by some historians (like Strada and Rowland Prothero) as "among the chief causes of the Reformation in the Low Countries. So in France the metrical version of the Psalter, in the vulgar tongue, set to popular music, was one of the principal instruments in the success of the Reformed Church. The Psalms were identified with the everyday life of the Huguenots. Children were taught to learn them by heart; they were sung at every meal, 'to chant psalms' meant, in popular language to turn Protestant. The Psalms became the Huguenot Marseillaise."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Psalms in French
In addition to banning the singing of the Psalms in French, Catholic doctrine held that "Alleluia" was a sign of movement from lament to praise and banned the verbalization of any Psalm containing the word "Alleluia" (Alleluatic Psalms) during funeral rites and during the penitent and solemn season of Lent (which focused on the suffering of Jesus and called for prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial). Protestants did not consider themselves bound by this tradition and demanded to be free to use whatever Psalms they felt appropriate. As Catholics viewed the refraining of using these Alleluatic Psalms as a sign of respect and reverence to Jesus they viewed any Protestant singing them between the Saturday before Septuagesima Sunday (the ninth Sunday before Easter) until the night of the Easter Vigil as engaging in an especially blasphemous act.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Consumption of meat
Another easily observable practice that differentiated Protestants from Catholics during this time was the eating of meat on days prohibited by the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Catholics saw Protestants displaying, selling, purchasing, or eating meat on days prohibited by their Church as blasphemy.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Consumption of meat
Distinct from fasting (refusing all food), Catholic doctrine calls for the abstinence from "flesh meat" or soup made from meat during some days of the year (in some eras this was also extended to eggs, milk, butter, cheese, or condiments that included animal fat). Catholics hold that this helps to subdue the flesh, and is imitative of Paul the Apostle who according to 1 Corinthians 9:27 "chastised his body and brought it into subjection".


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Consumption of meat
Catholics also maintain that "by abstaining from flesh, we give up what is, on the whole, the most pleasant as well as the most nourishing food, and so make satisfaction for the temporal punishment due to sin even when its guilt has been forgiven." Different from fasting (refusing all food), abstinence was practiced at this time on Fridays, Saturdays, and during Lent on Sundays (total fasting on Sundays was always forbidden). Abstaining from meat during Lent was also seen as symbolically significant for in this way "no animal has to suffer death, no blood flows."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Consumption of meat
Substituting "flesh meat" with fish was de rigueur during Lent at this time, and the Catholic Church only allowed those with infirmity to eat meat. The only way healthy people could eat meat during these occasions was if they paid for a license from the clergy. Anyone who had not received permission to eat meat at this time was supposed to be subject to legal punishment from state authorities. Punishments were usually public, such as confinement to the stocks or pillory.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Consumption of meat
Denying that the Catholic Church had any other authority over them, French Protestants did not feel obligated to avoid eating meat, and where they were in control of the local government they allowed its sale during Lent. In response to this development a royal edict forbidding the sale of meat or the public serving of it was issued in 1549 (and would be issued later in 1563).


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Consumption of meat
All the rules concerning Catholic abstinence and fast days continued to be ignored by a majority of Protestants and openly defied in areas were Reformed Church members held a majority of the population and dominated the local consulat. This practice infuriated Catholics (later in 1601 officials in Saint-Maixent even had house-to-house sweeps to ensure suspected Protestants were not eating meat on prohibited days).


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Reformation, Consumption of meat
The Protestant eating of meat during the Lent that preceded the riots was a source of outrage among the Catholics that participated in the violence.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Capitouls
Toulouse's political system was unique, which as historian Mark Greengrass states, resulted in "a city where royal judges and municipal authorities had no clear sense of their mutual responsibilities ... [it had] an old and highly developed political consciousness stretching back to its charters in the thirteenth century. Amongst its privileges was a freedom from royal taxation and an exemption from royal garrison within its walls." Each year capitouls were elected from each of the cities eight urban districts (called capitoulats).


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Capitouls
The role of capitoul was not limited to any particular group and candidates could be seigneurs from noble bloodlines or lawyers and merchants (only officers of the Crown were ineligible). Once in office they were allowed some trappings of nobility, such as wearing a red silk gown. Any major decisions for Toulouse (such as justice, economy, and police powers) were debated and decided by a general council of the capitouls (called a consulat), and they were normally free of interference from the Crown's judges.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Parlement
An opposing center of authority in the city was the Parlement of Toulouse. The French Parlements had been established first in Paris (in 1307) and later in regional capitals by the French monarchy. (These French parlements acted as provincial appellate courts ruling on questions of law and should not be confused with legislative bodies that create laws called parliaments.)


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Parlement
The Parlement of Toulouse had been established by King Charles VII in 1420. Its Parlement was held in esteem second only to that of Paris.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Parlement
The parlement had a surprising amount of authority and independence considering the strong centralization of power under the French monarchy. It could issue regulations for the application of both royal edicts and customary practices. It could also refuse to register any law that they held was contrary to either fundamental law or local legal customs. It could even refuse to register a law if it judged the law as untimely.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Parlement
Members of the Parlement were drawn from hereditary nobility with positions being purchased from the king with these positions being made hereditary by paying the Crown an annual tax called the paulette which would render them "Nobles of the Robe". With this sense of aristocracy they declared themselves exempt from gabelles and city property taxes, billeting of troops, and even tithes. They also declared that no member of Parlement could be tried by any court in the region except the Parlement itself. These privileges angered the capitouls, especially when city finances were low.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Parlement
Throughout the conflicts between Catholics and members of the Reformed Church in Toulouse the Parlement was staunchly on the Catholic side. It had strong links with the clerical establishment within the city and the province, even making some provincial bishops honorary members. In 1548, as the Reformed Church continued to make converts, King Henry II charged the Parlement with forming a chambre ardente made of a president and twelve councillors in order to prosecute heretics. This action established the Parlement as the province's supreme defender of the faith.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Parlement
By the end of the 1540s, the Parlement had tried two hundred people suspected of Protestantism and executed at least eighteen by burning at the stake. Despite these persecutions, two members of the Parlement itself embraced Reformed ideas in 1554. They fled into exile in Geneva and were burned in effigy in Toulouse.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, General processions
Like other French cities of this era, Toulouse authorities would on occasion call for a general procession. These were mass ceremonial displays that would parade through the town on holy days, civic occasions, and times of collective danger. Groups from every segment of society would be represented in the parades "from the varied officialdom and ecclesiastical orders to artisan guilds and even a delegation of the poor, took to the streets in an elaborate ceremony that in Toulouse could involve the participation of more than five thousand people".


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, General processions
While the parades were meant as an expression of municipal unity, often rival corporations would be placed next to each other and engage in a shoving match over their placement in parade order. This would cause the parade to halt, while officials tried desperately to break up the factions with thousands of other parade participants stuck waiting. During the events that led up to the riots, the use of such parades by Catholic authorities put large numbers of Catholics on the streets that could quickly devolve into an angry mob if they encountered behavior they deemed Protestant heresy.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Rising tensions
Tensions over political prerogatives grew when the Parlement had interfered with the regular method of electing capitouls during an outbreak of plague in 1557, which caused much resentment. By 1561 nearly every aspect of how the city was run (including governance, education, and defense) became a matter of dispute between the two governing authoritative bodies. By March, reeling from war taxes and having to pay the Crown to renew its fiscal privileges, Toulouse faced massive fiscal problems. One of the capitouls advocated the sale of local Church properties to make up the deficit.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Rising tensions
This suggestion was met with dismay by the judges of Parlement and the holders of benefices residing in the city. While the capitouls discussed the idea in closed session, the judges sent two deputies to the royal court to demand that the seizure and sale of Protestant property be used instead. Some members of the Parlement along with Catholic lawyers, merchants, and "some priests" grouped together as a syndicat to direct the opposition to the alienation of Church property. This newly formed syndicat declared that Protestants were not only a threat to "true religion", but to justice and order, and to the survival of Toulouse itself.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Rising tensions
When the humanist Collège de l'Esquille opened in 1561 with support from city funds, it immediately came under suspicion of spreading Protestantism by the Catholic clergy, members of Parlement, and by members of the pre-existing Dominican theological university (operated by the Catholic Church since 1229). Seeing preaching on Palm Sunday followed by evening prayers in its law school and then people moving about at night to have secret discussions about religion – the outraged Catholic leadership sent some of their notables to act as advisors to the capitouls. The capitouls, annoyed by this interference with their authority, ignored them completely.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Municipal conflicts, Rising tensions
Due to conflicts over political authority with Parlement, in 1562 the capitouls made all municipal jobs open to annual election rather than permanent positions. This resulted in bitter contests for the posts with a large number of these jobs going to Reformed Church members (such as clerks, some sergeants, the town crier, the treasurer, the city's syndic, and the archivist). During the riots they would play a large role in directing the Protestant cause.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion
With the death of the King, and a question of who would be the Regent of the new boy King, political uncertainty rested upon France on top of the ongoing religious conflict. Attempts to address some of the religious tensions were made in a series of royal edicts that would play an important role in leading up to the riots.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Regency issues
With the July 1559 death of King Henry II, quickly followed by the passing of the sixteen-year-old Francis II in December 1560, the ten-year-old Charles IX became king. His mother Catherine de Medici acted as regent. The right of regency had previously belonged to the King of Navarre, but had recently been renounced by Antoine of Navarre in favor of Catherine. This had been done with the condition that the royalty of Navarre be held as second only to Catherine herself.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Regency issues
When Catherine became regent, the Queen of Navarre was Jeanne d'Albret. Queen Jeanne had long expressed a desire for religious reform and in her lands Protestants were given full freedom and their books circulated unhindered.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Regency issues
The staunchly Catholic House of Guise which had controlled the throne when the sickly Francis II was king (side-lining Catherine), was militantly opposed by the French Reformed Church members. This opposition had even led to the Amboise conspiracy which attempted to unseat the Guise with the House of Bourbon, but was brutally put down. As Catherine succeeded in securing the regency without the Guise she sought to end religious tensions in her kingdom. (This was largely out of fear that Catholic Philip II of Spain would use the conflict as an excuse to invade and conquer.)


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Regency issues
With the death of Francis II, the Protestants' numbers were increasing as those that had fled to Geneva and Germany after the Amboise conspiracy came flooding back into the country. Once back in France many returned to publishing pamphlets vilifying the Papacy and the Guise family including its head – Francis, Duke of Guise. The amount and virulence of the publications rose to the degree that the throne of King Charles IX sent an official protest to the Senate of Geneva on January 23, 1561.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Regency issues
With deference due to Navarre, in accord with the regency arrangement, Catherine made the Constable of Navarre chief in her counsels. The vacillating position of King Antoine of Navarre between Protestant and Catholic sympathies continued to play a large role in the uncertainty surrounding France's religion in events leading up to the riots of Toulouse.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
Catherine De Medici called for a meeting of the Estates at Orléans that would address religious issues began on December 13, 1560. For her chancellor, Catherine chose Michel de l'Hôpital, a former client of the Guises. The Chancellor opened proceeding with a speech decrying persecution for religious opinion, urging toleration, and the retirement of abusive nicknames like Papist and Huguenot.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
As the meeting of Estates continued in their deliberations, Navarre's Queen Jeanne declared Calvinism her new religion and the official religion of Navarre on Christmas Day of 1560. She commissioned the translation of the Bible into the native language of Basque and Béarnese. Jeanne would soon banish Catholic priests and nuns from Navarre, destroy Catholic churches and outlaw all Catholic rituals in her land.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
In accord with the discussions at the meeting of Estates, on January 28, 1561, the royal Edict of Orléans was issued ordering every parlement to stop all prosecutions for religion and to release anyone held in prison on account of religious opinions. This edict has been seen as a confirmation of the Edict of Romorantin (which had been championed by Michel de l'Hôpital).


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
The new edict declared freedom of conscience, but not of open worship, to all peaceful dissidents in hope of their conversion to what it declared as the truth of Roman Catholicism along with the hope that the Catholic hierarchy would accept the reforms asked for by the Protestant Estates General of Orleans.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
The edict also demanded that any Protestants who had taken possession of church buildings and ecclesiastical property had to restore them immediately. It also forbade Protestants from destroying Catholic religious imagery and crucifixes, outlawed them from meeting within the walls of cities (but thereby allowed them to meet outside the walls), and made it a crime for Protestants to go armed to any meeting unless they were of the privileged classes.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
Despite the toleration within the edict it was opposed by John Calvin.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
In addition to having to face the extension of toleration to Protestants by the Edict of Orléans, the Catholic Church's position also seemed shaken by the abolishment of the arrangement made between the papacy and the French crown, the Concordat of Bologna (though this outcome was motivated by the Third Estate's fiscal concerns). Without the Concordat's rules in effect, Bishops were to be elected by a mixture of laymen and ecclesiastics who would submit three names for the King to choose from. Another reform was the requirement that any holder of a benefice must reside there.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
On January 31, after the Estates had dispersed, the council met at Fontainebleau and reviewed petitions presented by Gaspard II de Coligny, "in which Protestants demanded temples." These requests were referred to a commission of the estates which had remained behind to prepare for the assembly's scheduled May 1 meeting on finance.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
On March 10, the second Reformed Church synod met at Poitiers and drew up a memorandum to present the estates general set to meet on May 1. They asked that a suitable royal council be composed that would enforce the Edict of Orléans, which many strongly Catholic regions still resisted. The also wanted a Protestant representative for each province to reside at court in order to protect the interests of the Reformed churches in their areas. These deputies would act together as a body and present a confession of faith along with a petition. They would also work closely with the seigneurs at court who were sympathetic to their cause. They would act as a knowledgeable pressure group and have the backing of an efficient provincial organization.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of Orléans
As news of the toleration under the edict spread, Paris's Protestant population grew exponentially – all relying on divisions in the council or the protection of sympathetic nobles to keep the edict in effect.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
In early 1561 Catherine de' Medici and the boy king stayed at the Palace of Fontainebleau and the confusion of where France was headed regarding religion continued.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
On the one hand, claiming economic concerns, the king's council (ignoring the complaints of Gaspard II de Coligny) dismissed the Scotch guard because they were almost all Protestants including Hamilton, Earl of Arran. On the other hand, Catherine's Court was so tolerant of Protestants that it was technically in violation of the law. She allowed Protestant preachers to hold prayers and preaching daily within the apartments of any prince who sided with them (even allowing large groups to attend). While some Catholic bishops, like Moulin and Marillac, ignored the situation; others Catholic prelates (such as the papal legate) complained loudly.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
A Jesuit at the Court named Maimbourg listed what he saw as abuses, "not only did she [Catherine] allow the ministers to preach in the princes' apartments, where crowds gathered to hear them, while a poor Jacobin [French term for Dominican], who was preaching the Lent sermons in Fontainebleau, was deserted; but she even was present herself with all the Court ladies at the sermons of the Bishop of Valence, who preached openly, in one of the halls in the castle, the new heretical doctrines of Luther and Calvin.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
So sudden and complete was the change that had come over the scene that it seemed the whole Court had become Calvinist. Though it was Lent, meat was publicly sold and served on tables. No one spoke of going to hear mass, and the young king, who was taken to save appearances, went almost alone. The authority of the pope, the worship of saints and images, indulgences, and the ceremonies of the Church were all lightly spoken of as mere superstitions."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
Both Francis, Duke of Guise and Anne de Montmorency were worried that the Royalty were converting to Protestantism. They were also faced with demands from the provincial states of the Isle of France that lavish sums which had been given to them by Henry II (who had died in 1559) be returned to help offset national debt. Drawn together by these mutual concerns they ended their traditional bitter rivalry, and on Easter, April 6, 1561, attended Catholic Mass together. Together they formed an alliance with leading military commander Jacques Dalbon, Seigneur de Saint Andre. Protestants would later give this partnership the name Triumvirate (likening their violent actions to those of the triumvirs Mark Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus in Ancient Rome).


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
On April 19, advised by Michel L'Hospital, the King continued to strive for peace between the faiths by issuing the 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau (not to be confused with similarly named edicts from 1540, and 1685). This edict forbid injuring or denouncing anyone on matters of faith, of damaging or seizing property of those of a different denomination, and of any provocation of others over religion. It outlawed the use of epithets like "Papist" or "Huguenot".


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
The new edict forbid officers of the king from entering Protestant homes "under pretext of former edicts forbidding illicit assemblies." It ordered the release of any Protestant arrested on these grounds were to go free "provided, however, that they lived henceforth as Catholics and without creating any scandal."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
The Parlement of Paris refused to register the edict, holding that its tendency would increase the number of Protestants. This was the same reaction by many other parts of France when examined by governors and tribunes and it was widely condemned from Catholic pulpits. The idea that the Crown would command that Protestants' personal safety and that of their homes (where they practiced their rites) had to be respected was so new and in such contrast to every royal edict before it, that many rejected it outright.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
Most of the Catholic clergy decried the edict, such as a priest at Provins who refused to obey the command against denouncing anyone on matters of faith, saying "And now, gentlemen of Provins, what ought I, what ought the other preachers of France to do? Ought we to obey this edict? What will you say to us? What shall we preach? ' The Gospel,' says the Huguenot. To say that the error [of the Protestants]...is damnable heresy, is not this to preach the Gospel?


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
To say that the Huguenots of France are wicked apostates, who have forsaken the true Catholic Church to follow heresy, is not this to preach the Gospel? To warn men against their doctrine, against hearing them of reading their books; to tell men that these doctrines tend and aim only to incite to sedition, robbery, and murder as they have already begun to do in the city of Paris and in numberless other places in the land, is not this to preach the Gospel? But does anyone say to me, 'Brother, what say you?


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
You are not obeying the king's edict: you are speaking of Calvin and his companions, and you call them, and those who hold their opinions, heretics and Huguenots; you will be brought to trial; you will be put in prison; you will be hanged as a traitor.' I reply that it is possible it may be so, for Ahab and Jezebel put to death the prophets of God in their day, and granted liberty to the prophets of Baal. ' Now, brother, you are going too far; you will get yourself hanged.' Well, be it so; there will be one Franciscan friar hanged, and they will have to hang many more, for god by His Holy Spirit will inspire the pillars of His Church to uphold to the end the building which can never be destroyed."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
The measures towards toleration emboldened the Protestants who began to actively resist all policies trying to limit their faith. There were riots at Bavais, the Cardinal of Chatillon's episcopal residence, and severe riots in Paris. In the suburb of St Germain, an assembly of worshipping Protestants was attacked by an angry Catholic mob (mostly students). Several of the attending noblemen were armed and met the attack with swords drawn, the fight ended with many of the Catholics slain. The Catholic mob dispersed but returned the next day – only to meet the same results.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
In some places (such as Issigeac on February 24, 1561) Protestants took over Catholic churches by force and in some occasions Catholic churches were broken into and church property destroyed (actions referred to as Iconoclasm). An example of such incidents occurred on May 18, 1561, when "marauding Protestant bands attacked and pillaged the satellite parish churches of St Pardoux, Monsaguel, Montaut, and Monmarvés, breaking and burning altars, images and relics, books and habits."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, 1561 Edict of Fontainebleau
Historian Mark Greengrass notes that this kind of activity happened in small towns around Toulouse "where there had been innumerable incidents involving image-breaking, ridiculing priests, profaning altars and mocking at Catholic services." He also notes "Some of the image-smashing in surrounding towns had been engineered by Catholics in order to create Catholic animosities." All these types of behavior would be repeated when the riots broke out in Toulouse.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
The violent unrest of Protestants demanding religious freedom and Catholics demanding the state not permit the nation to allow what they saw as a wicked corruption, created an opportunity for Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine (the brother of Francis, Duke of Guise), to come forward as the head of the Catholic Church in France. Earlier (on April 25, 1557) the Cardinal had secured a brief from Pope Paul IV appointing him and the Cardinals of Bourbon and Châtillon as Grand Inquisitors of France to begin an Inquisition modeled after the Spanish Inquisition to eliminate Protestantism. (This was only derailed by popular outcry from the majority of the French population.) Gaining authority in the religious chaos of 1561, the Cardinal insisted that the laws establishing Catholicism as the official religion be enforced by the secular arm.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
On 23 June 1561 to address the continuing unrest a Royal Council and the spiritual and temporal peers met the Parlement of Paris at the Palais de Justice. Hoping that an upcoming session of the Council of Trent or a proposed National Council of French Catholic bishops would resolve the issue for them, they tried to determine what should be done until then. They debated the issue for three weeks.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
One faction demanded that all Protestants (deemed heretics) without conditions should be executed by the state. An opposing faction called for all penal proceedings to be suspended until the issue was determined by the Council of Trent. The vote to accept the policy of toleration was defeated eighty votes to seventy-two.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
In the end, the policy that gained the most support called for a sentence of death for anyone who attended a Protestant conventicle, but that any case of simple heresy be decided only by an ecclesiastical court and those condemned should be pardoned if they agreed to live as a Catholic, and those who refused would receive no punishment greater than banishment – the Edict of July was drawn up on July 11, 1561, following this majority opinion (though it was mitigated in some places by the chancellor).


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
The edict forbade "under penalty of confiscation of person and goods, all conventicles and public assemblies, with or without arms, together with private assemblies in which there should be preaching or the administration of the sacraments in forms other than those received and observed by the Catholic Church." It prohibited "all enrollings, signatures, or other things tending to sedition." Any cases mixing heresy with sedition would be tried by presidial judges instead of Catholic clergy. It reiterated all the previous injunctions against disturbing the peace, using religious based insults, slandering or making false charges, and commanded all preachers to abstain from inciting violent passions in their congregations, - declaring death by hanging for breaking any of these laws.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
In the end neither faith was pleased by the Edict of July, Protestants held that they had been deceived, Parlement held that the mitigations of the chancellor had weakened the wording they had supported. This resulted in the edict being only provisionally registered. Because of the vigorous opposition of Protestant leaders during the crafting of the edict it largely remained a dead letter, Gaspard II de Coligny was particularly outspoken in his opposition, saying that "to attempt thus to constrain the reformed to accept the Romans religion against their conscience was a great absurdity amounting to an impossibility." Despite general dislike for the edict, Catholic Duke of Guise stated his support declaring that his "sword would never rest in its scabbard when the execution of this decision was in question."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
Though the Council edict was not viewed as a success, they did decide that there would be conference between Catholic bishops and reformed ministers (who would be granted safe conduct) to meet at Poissy. Originally scheduled for August 18 the Colloquy at Poissy would be postponed until October due to a meeting of the Estates General on the state of French finances.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
At the meeting of General Estates on August 26 the third estate continued to deride the cost the upkeep of the Catholic clergy was having on the merchants and bourgeoisie. Their representative Jacques de Bretagne, magistrate of Autun demanded ecclesiastical property face alienation. They held that of the 120 million livres the clergy were taking out of the economy if 48 million were set aside the clergy could live off the 4 million in interest per year that such a move would still provide, leaving 72 million for France to use to clear up its debts and stimulate the economy.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
The representative of the nobility took similar grounds and even demanded for the Protestants the right to assembly (totally dismissing the Edict of July out of hand). The Catholic clergy went absent from these debates, marking their opposition by meeting by themselves at St. Germain.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
L'Hospital met them there still seeking liberty for the Protestants, telling the Catholic clergy "As to the Protestant assemblies, they cannot be separated from their religion; for they believe that the Word of God strictly enjoins them to assemble themselves to hear the preaching of the Gospel and to partake of the sacraments, and this they hold as an article of their faith."


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Edict of July
Having set forth their grievances, the Estates deputies left, and the focus fell on the upcoming Colloquy of Poissy.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Effect on Toulouse
When the lettres de cachet announcing the Edict of Orléans (with its toleration of Protestants) arrived in Toulouse, the Parlement registered it tardily and interpreted it harshly only releasing prisoners suspected of heresy if they abjured their faith first. The 1561 Edict of Foutainebleau was received by the Parlement with even greater disdain. In contrast the capitouls arrested three Catholic preachers (including a Jesuit priest and a monk) for traitorous remarks regarding Catherine de Médicis for her feebleness towards members of the Reformed Church.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Effect on Toulouse
During 1561's season of Lent, university students (many of them sons of Toulouse's magistrates)  who had accepted the doctrine of the Reformed Church began to riot against Catholic authority. When met with a response many of them fled during the Easter period to nearby towns along the Garonne river to escape.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Effect on Toulouse
By the summer of 1561 the conventicles began to meet at nighttime in the city squares. All the while, religious disturbances continued to flare up throughout the region and cartloads of people arrested on charges of heresy continued to be brought into the city.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Effect on Toulouse
With the toleration imposed by the edicts official persecution of the Protestants ceased and their worship services were unaccosted. In early 1562 Toulouse's Reformed Church members started meeting outside the walls of the city. The number of Reformed Church members in Toulouse had grown to one-seventh of the total population which is estimated at between 35,000 and 60,000. They were  "for the most part, burghers, merchants, professors of the university, men of letters, students, and magistrates." They had even elected a Protestant majority among the eight capitouls.


1562 Riots of Toulouse, Background, Edicts on religion, Effect on Toulouse
The numbers of the Reformed Church members of Toulouse were great enough to require five pastors to serve them. Seeing the toleration edicts as a license to worship openly, the Reformed Church members built a wooden church outside the town gates with an occupancy between five and six thousand worshippers. Their first wooden "temple" was structured like a large elaborately fashioned covered barn or town market and was built outside the Porte Villeneuve (one of the gates in the city's defensive wall).