Protestant refugees in Switzerland were religious migrants who fled to the Reformed cantons of Switzerland between the 16th and 18th centuries due to persecution in their home countries. The confessional division of Europe in the 16th century led Protestant refugees, primarily Reformed but also Lutheran and Anglican, to seek refuge in Swiss territories from various countries including France, Italy, Germany, England, Hungary, and Spain, where their worship and access to civil and political offices were prohibited.[1]
This migration flow, though of variable intensity, continued uninterrupted throughout the Ancien Régime and experienced two major peaks: the first following the Protestant Reformation and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 (known as the first Refuge), and the second triggered by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and preceding measures (the second or great Refuge).[1]