Francois Dubois, St Bartolomew's Day Massacre (24 August 1572)

St Bartholomew's Day massacre took place on 24 August 1572 in Paris. It occurred in the immediate aftermath of the wedding of Marguerite de Valois, the sister of King Charles IX, to prince Henry III of Navarre, a prominent Protestant, on 18 August. 

The massacre marked the culmination of the French Wars of Religion, which took place between 1562 and 1598. The wars pitted the Catholic party, led by the Guise family, against the Protestant Huguenots, led by the Bourbon-Conde family. Initially, the Valois monarchy attempted to mediate between the two warring factions. In 1570, an peace was signed at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, whereby the Huguenots were allowed to hold public office in France and Marguerite was promised to prince Henry III. Staunch Catholics were however irated by this peace, and pressured the Valois in denouncing it.

On 20 August, an attempt was made to assassinate the most prominent Huguenot leader, Admiral de Coligny, who was left seriously wounded. In the crisis that ensued, King Charles IX and his mother, Catherine de' Medici, apparently decided to get rid of the leaders of the Protestant faction, who were still in Paris for the wedding. The massacre was led by the Swiss Guard of the King and the Guise party, which assassinated most of the Protestant leaders, including the wounded Coligny. The murdering spree soon degenerated into mob violence as Paris Catholics hunted down Huguenots and killed them. The massacre ended in Paris after a few days but continued across France for weeks and even months to come. 

The massacre led to a resumption of the hostilities between Catholics and Huguenots, which continued after Charles IX's death (1574) and the crowning of his brother Henry as Henry III. As the Catholic faction of the Guise family became hugely powerful, Henry III decided to assassinate its leader, Henry de Guise (1588) and was himself promptly murdered (1589). On his deathbed, and with no male descendants, Henry III named prince Henry de Navarre as his heir. Henry attempted to impose his rule by conquest, but when it became obvious that he could never rule a Catholic Paris, he accepted to convert to Catholicism and was crowned Henry IV. The new King eventually gained control of his kingdom and passed the celebrated Edict of Nantes (1598), an act that ensured freedom of religion in France. Henry IV was himself eventually assassinated in 1610. His policy of religious toleration survived his heir, Louis XIII, but in 1685 Louis XIV formally revoked the Edict, leading to mass migrations of Huguenot Protestants from France. 
 
Credit: Georgiana Hedesan (June 2018).