338 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

subjected his followers to a stern moral discipline, and Cal-
vinism, with its headquarters at Geneva, "has been asso-
ciated with the most progressive and enterprising peoples of
modern times." Calvin entrusted the management of Church
affairs to presbyters or elders, from whom is derived the
term " -Presbyterian." Both France and Scotland were much
influenced by this reformer.

In France the Reformation had already made inroads in
the shape of heretical sects like the Waldenses.1 Despite
persecutions and massacres, particularly under Henry II
(1547-59), the number of Protestants had increased. By the
direction of Calvin (1555-64) a vigorous reformist church
was brought into existence in France. The inevitable result
was a dreary period of Wars of Religion which lasted from
1559-1598. Under the Guises a regime of intrigue, treason,
and terrorism was established. These were the days of the
persecutions of the Huguenots—St. Bartholomew's Day
(1572)—and the French Protestant alliance with England.
The tide turned, as the reader might know, with the defeat
of the Spanish Armada in 1588: in the following year the
Guises were assassinated, and the Huguenots found a capable
leader in Henry of Navarre, who succeeded to the French
throne. By the famous Edict of Nantes (1598) the
Huguenots, for the time being, secured religious toleration.

In Scotland the leader of the new movement was John
Knox (1505-72), a disciple of Calvin. He was an avowed
enemy of * popery and idolatry/ and the Kirk (church)
which he established held sway for over three centuries.
Migrating into Ireland, together with the English Protestants,
the Scotch Calvinists helped to create there the problem of
Ulster.

1. From Peter Waldo who sought guidance from the reformers
of Germany and Switzerland