The Devil's Acre was a notorious slum near a large, mainly Gothic abbey church that between 1540 and 1556 had the status of what?
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey nor a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The building itself is the original abbey church.
Battle of Besançon The Battle of Besançon (21 June 1575) was a sectarian conflict between the Protestants and Catholics in the French city of Besançon in the region of Franche-Comté. Prior to the battle, the Huguenots, accused of heresy, had been expelled from the city and fled to the County of Montbéliard and Switzerland; the outcasts formed an army and planned an attempt to retake Besançon and turn the city into a stronghold of the Protestant Reformation. By the time the armed Protestants had reached the city of Besançon however, their army had dwindled because of several mishaps. Nonetheless, the battle began and raged for several hours; the outcome was an overwhelming Catholic victory. The majority of the Protestant army managed to escape, but those who were captured were hanged as traitors. For over two centuries after the battle, Protestantism in Besançon was repressed.