Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day

Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day, Saint Bartholomew’s Day, Massacre ofHulton Archive/Getty Images(August 24/25, 1572), massacre of French Huguenots (Protestants) in Paris plotted by Catherine de Médicis and carried out by Roman Catholic nobles and other citizens. It was one event in the series of civil wars between Roman Catholics and Huguenots that beset France in the late 16th century.

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day had for its background the political and religious rivalries of the court of France. Admiral Gaspard II de Coligny, a Huguenot leader, supported a war in the Low Countries against Spain as a means to prevent a resumption of civil war, a plan that the French ... (100 of 594 words)