What is a Walloon?

I Introduced this term in my first post. It's the cultural and ethnic identity of several main characters in my novel, Salt People of the Houses. 

TLDR: Walloons were an ethnic group of French-speaking Protestants living in the Pays-Bas, the Low Countries. Most of the Walloons in my book were born in modern-day northeastern France.

Modern-day Wallonia, a Province of Belgium, is different than the area that was identified as Walloon in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Low Countries comprised of what today is northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Several languages and dialects were spoken. The word Walloon is likely akin to the Anglo-Saxon "weales" (foreigners); and to the German "welsche" (strangers).

The terms Walloon and Huguenot are often erroneously used interchangeably, though it is confusing when borders shifted so much in the 16th-17th century. Walloons were similar to Huguenots, in that they spoke French and were Reformed Protestants, but they were not subjects to the King of France. 

Let’s step further back in time than from where my book starts in 1624. The tragic history of the generations before them helps explain what made Sarah's parents, Joris and Catalyna, refugees of war who were desperate enough to gamble their future and travel to America. 

• Middle Ages- the Low Countries were part of the Burgundian Netherlands. It was known as one of the most wealthy European centers of commerce. The Walloons were known for their textiles, fine craftsmanship, art, fashion, and innovations.

• Around 1530- The Protestant Reformation began. Religious tensions erupted in widespread deadly violence against Protestants in France. Many Huguenots fled France in the 16th century and moved to the Low Countries to escape persecution. Some of Catalyna’s grandparents may have been Huguenots. Calvinism firmly rooted in the Pays-Bas.

John Calvin

• 1506 to 1555- Charles V, a Habsburg, inherited the Low Countries, Spain, Austria, and the Holy Roman Empire (Germany). He allowed the Low Countries to self-govern. Tolerant and pragmatic, he ruled with a light hand, as long as taxes were paid.

Charles V

• 1555- Charles V abdicated in ill health and his son, Phillip II, began ruling Spain, the Americas, and the Pays-Bas. Phillip II was deeply committed to the Catholic church and violently opposed Protestantism. He installed Spanish officials in the Pays-Bas and introduced Inquisitions to quell Protestantism and imposed heavier taxation.

Phillip II

• 1556s- Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands began to riot. They stormed churches, ripping out statues, paintings, and adornments in what was later called the Great Iconoclasm. 

• 1557 to 1563- Phillip II sends military leader, the Duke of Alva, and the full might of the Inquisition to the Spanish Netherlands. 60,000 Walloons and Flemings flee to the German states, England, northern Netherlands, and northern France. One of the most fascinating sources (recommended by Genealogist Sandra Robinson) is a trove of clandestine letters between those who fled and their family left behind. Alva sets up the Council of Troubles (aka the Council of Blood) to investigate heresy and treason of the Iconoclasts. Over 6 years, they condemned 9,000, executed 1,100, and burned 3,000 individuals. All Protestants and even Catholics who were “soft” on Protestantism were condemned. 

• 1562- Joris' hometown of Valenciennes was the location of the first act of resistance against the persecution of Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands. On the "Journée des Mals Brûlés" (Bad Burnings Day) in 1562, a mob freed some Protestants condemned to die at the stake.

• 1579- In opposition to Spanish rule, the northern Netherland Provinces formed an alliance. This kicked off the Dutch Revolt, later known as the 80 Years War. 

• 1581- The Act of Abjuration- The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands declared independence. War still rages on for decades with some stalemates and truces. 

• 1604- Joris, Sarah's father, was born in Valenciennes in the Spanish Netherlands and baptized in the Catholic St. Nicholas Church. Valenciennes was firmly under Spanish control and Catholic baptism would have been mandatory. He was recorded as illegitimate. Some Protestant baptisms were marked illegitimate since the parents were not wed in a Catholic church, however, his siblings were marked legitimate in proceeding years. There were some claims Joris' father escaped to England in 1567 but came back to Valenciennes.

Dutch Revolt 1609

When exactly Joris and Catalyna left their hometowns is hard to say. There was a 12 year truce between 1609-1621, so likely in that time. The city of Leiden welcomed refugees and had economic opportunities in the textile industry, so it makes sense that Joris and Catalyna may have relocated there. Their birthplaces, Valenciennes and Prisches, were about 28 mi (45 km) apart, a few hours by horse. It's unknown if they already knew each other and traveled together or met in the refugee Walloon community of their new city.

In Leiden, they would have known Jessé De Forest, a leader in the Walloon community, who petitioned the West India Company to establish a Walloon colony in America. The last record of them in the Netherlands is their marriage record in Amsterdam four days before their ship left for America.