Protestantism in France 10% of the French population on the eve of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, declining to 7-8% by the end of the 16th century, and further after heavy persecution began once again with the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV of France. Protestants were granted a degree of religious freedom following the Edict of Nantes, but it ceased with the Edict of Fontainebleau. Protestant minority has been persecuted, and a majority of Huguenots fled the country, leaving isolated communities like the one in the Cevennes region, which survives to this day. Today Protestants in France number over
Paris in the 16th century religious conflicts between Catholics and the new Protestant sects grew over the course of the century, culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and the wars of religion. The College of Sorbonne of the University of Paris, the city's major school of theology, took the lead in condemning heresies and Protestantism. In 1534 a Spanish student at the University, Ignatius of Loyola, gathered together five other students, who were Spanish, French and Portuguese, at the chapel of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre and formed a new society, the Society of Jesus, which became known as the Jesuits. His order became one of