What series of terrible events took place in France throughout the 1500s that pushed French men and women out of their country

One event that pushed quite a few people out of France at this time was the Protestant Reformation. Basically, the Protestants were trying to break up the hold that the Roman Catholic Church had in Europe. France was one of the countries that were heavily affected by this. There were multiple French Wars of Religion, and the Protestants sometimes felt the need to leave the country in order to escape being killed.