Protestants were granted full civil rights and protection, entry into all universities, schools, and hospitals, and admission to all public offices. The _Parlement_ of Paris admitted six Protestant councillors. And Protestant ministers were granted the exemptions from military service and such charges as the Romanist clergy enjoyed. Special Chambers (_Chambres d'Édit_) were established in the _Parlements_ to try cases in which Protestants were interested. In the _Parlement_ of Paris this Chamber consisted of six specially chosen Roman Catholics and one Protestant; in other _Parlements_, the Chambers were composed of equal numbers of Romanists and Protestants (_mi-parties_). The Protestants were permitted to hold their ecclesiastical assemblies--consistories, colloquies, and synods, national and provincial; they were even allowed to meet to discuss political questions, provided they first secured the permission of the King. They remained in complete control of two hundred towns, including La Rochelle, Montauban, and Montpellier, strongholds of exceptional strength. They were to retain these places until 1607, but the right was prolonged for five years more. The State paid the expenses of the troops which garrisoned these Protestant fortified places; it paid the governors, who were always Protestants. When it is remembered that the royal army in time of peace did not exceed ten thousand men, and that the Huguenots could raise twenty-five thousand troops, it will be seen that Henry IV. did his utmost to provide guarantees against a return to a reign of intolerance. Protected in this way, the Huguenot Church of France speedily took a foremost place among the Protestant Churches of Europe. Theological colleges were established at Sedan, Montauban, and Saumur. Learning and piety flourished, and French theology was always a counterpoise to the narrow Reformed Scholastic of Switzerland and of Holland. CHAPTER V. THE REFORMATION IN THE NETHERLANDS.[230] § 1. _The Political Situation._ It was not until 1581 that the _United Provinces_ took rank as a Protestant nation, notwithstanding the fact that the Netherlands furnished the first martyrs of the Reformation in the persons of Henry Voes and John Esch, Augustinian monks, who were burnt at Antwerp (July 31st, 1523). "As they were led to the stake they cried with a loud voice that they were Christians; and when they were fastened to it, and the fire was kindled, they rehearsed the twelve articles of the Creed, and after that the hymn _Te Deum laudamus_, which each of them sang verse by verse alternately until the flames deprived them both of voice and life."[231] The struggle for religious liberty, combined latterly with one for national independence from Spain, lasted therefore for almost sixty years.