Depth study: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's day

Question 1

Marriage of Mauguerite de Valois to Henry of Navarre

Answer 1

18th August 1572

This was a marriage alliance arranged by Catherine de Medici intended to secure peace after the Edict of Saint Germain.

Question 2

Attempted assassination of Gaspard de Coligny

Answer 2

22nd August 1572

The assassin, Mauvert, fired the shot from a Guise property using a Guise gun while the Admiral Coligny was returning from a meeting with the king.

Question 3

Emergency meeting of the Royal Council

Answer 3

23rd August 1572
Fearing a Huguenot reprisal, the decision was made to carry out a strike on the Huguenot leadership in Paris and to arm the citizenry to create a garrison should Paris be attacked.

Question 4

Murder of the Huguenot leadership

Answer 4

Early morning of 24th August 1572

Coligny was killed and thrown out of a window. Many other senior Huguenots were murdered by the King’s Swiss Guard.

Question 5

The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day

Answer 5

24th - 27th August 1572

After the murder of the Huguenot leadership talk that it was royally sanctioned to murder all the Huguenots in Paris appears to have spread through the city.

Question 6

Death toll of The Massacre in Paris

Answer 6

~2,000

Question 7

Copycat massacres in the Provinces

Answer 7

August - October 1572

Question 8

Death toll of the massacres in the Provinces

Answer 8

~3,000

Question 9

Anti-Huguenot rioting in Paris

Answer 9

December 1571

~50 killed

Question 10

Strength of Huguenot army camped outside Paris

Answer 10

~4,000 strong, led by Coligny’s brother-in-law

Question 11

Who claimed official responsibility for The Massacre?

Answer 11

King Charles IX

Question 12

Anti-Huguenot violence in Rouen

Answer 12

November 1571

~40 killed

Question 13

The murder of Huguenots was brutal and often religiously motivated, what examples are there of this? (3)

Answer 13

• A young girl was baptized in her parents’ blood.
• Many Huguenots were given the choice to die or reconvert.
• A woman was killed, stuck through with a spear like a pig, dragged through the city and thrown into the Seine.

Question 14

What was Coligny’s proposed foreign policy?

Answer 14

He was pushing for an anti-Spanish foreign policy: war with Spain in support of the Protestants in the Netherlands. This was opposed to Catherine de Medeci’s attempts at peace and France was in no shape to fight Spain.

Question 15

King Charles IX was a sickly king who was easily dominated by faction. At the time of the massacre, who had recently become his new closest adviser.

Answer 15

Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (he was like a father figure)

This reduced the sway of Catherine de Medeci and other factions.

Question 16

What were the impacts of The Massacre? (4)

Answer 16

The killing, reconvertion and emigration of Huguenots meant that the Huguenot population in France declined from 10% to 7-8% by 1600.

Many who were killed or left were merchants, this damaged the French economy.

Foreign Protestant powers were horrified. This would lead to increased English and German intervention in the Wars of Religion.

The remaining Huguenots were radicalized against the Crown, spawning the resistance theories and ideas of popular sovereignty.

Question 17

The Huguenot community in Rouen significantly reduced after The Massacre. What was this reduction?

Answer 17

from ~16,500 to < 3,000

Question 18

How did Foreign Catholics react to The Massacre? (2)

Answer 18

Pope Gregory XIII struck a medal for Charles IX, sent him a golden rose and commissioned three frescos.

Phillip II “laughed for the only time on record”