The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
dragonnades
or dragonades (both: drgndz´) (KEY) , name given to a form of persecution of French Protestants, or Huguenots, before and after the revocation (1685) of the Edict of Nantes (see Nantes, Edict of) by Louis XIV. It consisted of harassing the Huguenots by billeting soldiers (particularly the rowdy dragoons) in their houses and in disregarding the soldiers misconduct. The outrages committed against the persons and property of the Huguenots contributedat least as much as the legal enforcement of the revocation of the edictto the conversion but also to the mass emigration of Huguenots, so that entire cities and regions were ruined and depopulated.