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From: Garth Swanson <>
Subject: [HWE] Re: Flight of the Vaudois
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 07:41:21 +0100
In-Reply-To: <200309241107.h8OB7j0e027322@lists2.rootsweb.com>


Herman

Thank you for a vivid account. We lived for a year in Lyons and were
fortunate to have been able to explore the Dauphine and Provence and know
what the country is like. To have crossed the mountains into Switzerland
must have been a terrible ordeal. I remember being in a village near
Chamonix, France, during an alpine festival and in the parade were mountain
guides from Italy who had just come for the day, presumably through the
Mont Blanc tunnel. Nevertheless, I think this emphasises how close mountain
people were, even though they lived in different countries.

My starting point in all this is an ancestor names Hessel who it is said
were Huguenots who came to England from Italy and settled here in the late
16th Cent.

Firstly Hessel does not sound Italian and I was not aware that there were
Italian Huguenots anyway. I would not have thought of catholic Italy as a
safe refuge for protestant migrants. My hunch is that Hessel is German,
Swiss, Dutch, Flemish or Austrian.

Gwynn's book on the Huguenots and the benefits brought to England refers to
the flight of the Vaudois into Piedmont. I have since learned that
protestants in Italy were most likely to have been concentrated in the
north so that seems consistent.

A Swiss friend has been able to clarify some of the history of the Vaud
which is a canton of modern Switzerland.

"As to the history of the Canton of Vaud: It was Roman, as was all of
Switzerland, then in the 5th century belonged to Burgundy, thus belonging
to the
Holy Roman Empire. Conquered in the 13./14. century by Savoy, then from 1536
subject to Berne, which at that time was a powerful city state. Berne
introduced
Protestantism. Under Napoleon it became the "Canton Léman" in the Helvetian
Republic, then joined the Swiss Federation as an independent Canton de Vaud
in 1803. The Swiss Federation had been founded in 1291 by 3 central cantons,
declaring itself independent from the Austrian Hapsburg dynasty, but still
belonging to the H.R. Empire. Berne (and with it later on Vaud) has been a
member since 1353."

Apparently catholic domination ended in 1536 when it became subject to the
Bernese. It follows that the flight of the Vaudois to Piedmont must have
been before that date.

What puzzles me is that Hessel is not a Swiss or French name so I wonder if
they were Vaudois at all.

It would be very interesting if listers could look in their local phone
books to see whether there are significant entries for Hessel(l) or similar.

I look forward to learning more.

Regards

Garth - Surrey




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