The Edict of Fontainebleau (or the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes) of Louis IV in 1685 drove the huguenots into the long painful journey of the faith. Those who did not flee abroad but stayed in France led double lives: as a Catholic during the day but as a Protestant in the evening. They were forbidden to read the Bible and forced to gather in clandestine meetings. The Catholic powers undertook searches even in the homes to punish the Bible-readers by prosecution. Thus the huguenots had to hide their Bibles in various places as like behind a mirror, under a stool, and in the wall. Women hid a very tiny Bible, called a “chignon Bible”, in their buns. The huguenots loved, read, and learned the Bible at the cost of life.
