Antoine Court

1696-1760. Minister of the French Reformed Church. He succeeded in reorganizing his fellow Protestants after their church had been broken and scattered by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes* (1685). Fanaticism, disorder, and apostasy were strong, and Court began to preach and organize, insisting on order and restraint. In 1715 he called together at Monobet the first provincial synod of the Reformed Church of France since 1685, whose wise and responsible decisions did much to stabilize Protestant attitudes. In 1718 he was ordained. Other synods were arranged and attracted increased persecution. Court continued to counsel restraint and withdrew several times to Switzerland where, in Lausanne, he founded and directed a seminary for the training of ministers. He wrote Histoire des troubles des Cevennes ou de la guerredes Camisards (1760) and left considerable material in manuscript now in the public library in Geneva.