After Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, many French protestants fled France. Among the countries welcoming the French religious refugees was Prussia. King Frederick William welcomed the Huguenots to Prussia, offering them safe haven.
In view of the sympathy which we ought to, and do, feel for our brethren of the reformed evangelical religion in France, who have been driven by persecution to leave their homes and settle in other countries, we, Frederick William, etc., desire by this edict to offer them a free and safe refuge in all our lands and possessions and to specify what rights, privileges, and prerogatives we are graciously minded to grant them.
3. ...We particularly specify the towns of Stendal, Werben, Rathenow, Brandenburg, and Frankfurt in the electorate of Brandenburg, Magdeburg, Halle, and Calbe in the duchy of Magdeburg, and Konigsberg in Prussia, as places where living is cheap and opportunities for trade and other means of support abundant; and we command herewith that when any of the said French people of the reformed evangelical religion make their appearance, they shall be well received in the said towns, and that every opportunity and assistance shall be given them in establishing themselves there. They shall, moreover, be free to establish themselves in any other place in our lands and dominions outside the above-mentioned towns which shall seem to them more convenient for the purposes of their trade or calling.
4. They shall be permitted to bring with them any furniture, merchandise, or other moveable property free of all duties or imposts of any kind whatever....
6. In towns or other places where there are unoccupied or waste lands or properties, we ordain that these shall be given over to our said French brethren of the reformed evangelical religion, free all and every encumbrance, to hold and enjoy for themselves and their posterity We further ordain that the necessary materials for the cultivation of these lands shall be furnished them gratis....
7. So soon as any of our said French brethren of the reformed evangelical religion shall have settled themselves in any town or village, they shall be invested, without payment of any kind, with all the rights, benefits, and privileges of citizenship enjoyed or exercised by our subjects who live and were born in said town or village.
8. If any of them shall desire to establish manufactories of cloth, stuffs, hats, or other articles, we will not only bestow on them all the necessary permissions, rights and privileges, but will further aid them, so far as is in our power, with money and requisite materials.
9. Those who wish to settle in the country shall be given a certain amount of land to cultivate, shall be furnished with the requisite utensils and materials and encouraged in every way, as has been done in the case of certain families who have come from Switzerland to settle in our country...
11. In every town where our said French brethren in the faith are established, we will support a special preacher and set apart a proper place where they may hold their services in the French language, and with such usages and ceremonies as are customary in the reformed evangelical churches in France.
12. As for the members of the French nobility who have placed themselves under our protection and entered our service, they enjoy the same honors, dignities, and prerogatives as our own subjects of noble birth, and several of them have been given some of the most important offices at our court as well as in our army; and we are graciously disposed to show like favor to all such of the French nobility as may in future present themselves to us.
Given at Potsdam, the 29th of October, 1685.
Frederick William, Elector.
From: Robinson, James Harvey. Readings in European History. 2 vols. Boston: Ginn and Co., 1904-6. Vol.II, 316-8.