Dragonnades, the name applied to the persecution of French Protestants, begun by Louis
XIV. in 1681, by quartering dragoons in Protestant villages and houses, and giving up the inhabitants to the outrage and plunder of the soldiery, until they should abjure their faith. Armed expeditions marched through the provinces, and by their prompt measures many heretics were restored to the bosom of the church; and in consequence, on the 22d October 1685, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes (q.v.), that the good work might be fully accomplished. See CAMISARDS, and HUGUENOTS.