 However, enforcement of the Edict grew increasingly irregular over time, making life so intolerable that many fled the country.The Huguenot population of France dropped to 856,000 by the mid-1660s, of which a plurality lived in rural areas.The greatest concentrations of Huguenots at this time resided in the regions of Guienne, Saintonge-Aunis-Angoumois and Poitou.<ref></ref>

Montpellier was among the most important of the 66 "villes de sûreté" ("cities of protection/protected cities") that the Edict of 1598 granted to the Huguenots.