Rouen

Located in the northwestern province of Normandy, Rouen was the leading port of Renaissance France and the country's second-largest city. The city's population grew from about 40,000 in 1500 to a peak of 75,000 in 1550. During these years, Rouen served as a major commercial hub, a seat of regional government, and a center of religious reform.

Rouen's ability to handle ocean-going ships made trade a key part of the economy. Local merchants had contacts with England, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Africa, and South America. Major industries included woolens and hosiery. However, restrictive guild* regulations eventually drove many wool and hosiery makers out of the urban area.

Rouen was an important administrative city as well. It had many royal courts and its archbishop oversaw more than 1300 parish churches. Yet, despite its commercial and political prominence, Rouen did not develop a large artistic or intellectual community. The city's main cultural event was an annual poetry contest in honor of the Virgin Mary.

Normandy emerged as a center of religious reform during the Protestant Reformation*. In 1557 Protestants founded a Reformed church in Rouen. Five years later, they took over the city and held it for six months. When Catholic troops regained control, they executed several of Rouen's Protestant leaders. Although the Reformed church reestablished itself and grew steadily, relations between Catholics and Protestants remained tense. In September 1572, a large massacre of Protestants occurred in Rouen. But after this the city escaped much of the religious violence that raged across France in the 1570s and 1580s. However, in 1589 Catholic activists took over Rouen, and three years later the city endured a five-month siege* by Protestant forces. Finally, in 1594 Rouen accepted the Catholic convert Henry of Navarre as king Henry IV, ending the civil wars in the region.

(See alsoEconomy and Trade; France; Wars of Religion. )

* guild

association of craft and trade owners and workers that set standards for and represented the interests of its members

* Protestant Reformation

religious movement that began in the 1500s as a protest against certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church and eventually led to the establishment of a variety of Protestant churches

* siege

prolonged effort to force a surrender by surrounding a fortress or town with armed troops, cutting the area off from aid