paris

The St.Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

~ huguenothistory ~ Leave a comment

The entire day of Sunday, August 24, was spent killing, raping, and pillaging, such that the number killed on that day in Paris and the faubourgs is believed to be more than ten thousand persons, including lords, gentlemen, presiding magistrates and counselors [in the sovereign courts], lawyers, students, doctors, solicitors, merchants, artisans, women, girls, youths, and preachers. The streets were covered with dead bodies; the river tinted with blood; the doors and entrances to the king’s palace painted the same color. But the killers were not yet sated. (1)

This is an account of one of the bloodiest incidents that occurred during the conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants in France. On August 24, 1572, numerous unarmed Protestants had come to celebrate a royal wedding in Paris. Various events which occurred during the proceedings set off a massacre which took the lives of two to three thousand Protestants. The spread of violence to other towns killed what is believed to be another five to six thousand people. (2)

The following lecture given by Barbara Diefendorf at Boston University, Blood Wedding: The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in History and Memory, is an excellent introduction to this topic and explains the possible reasons for the outbreak of violence:

(3)

I agree with Diefendorf that we must not get bogged down in the religious aspect of these massacres. There are many and conflicting accounts of why and how this event occurred,  and whether it was primarily personality conflicts among the nobility or popular religious fervor the importance of this massacre to the history of the Huguenots can’t be overstated.

Sources

  1. “The Wake-Up Call for the French and Their Neighbors.” In The St.Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: A Brief History with Documents, translated by Barbara B. Diefendorf, 113. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2009.
  2.  Diefendorf, Barbara B. The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: A Brief History with Documents. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009, 1.
  3.  Diefendorf, Barbara B. “Blood Wedding: The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in History and Memory.” Lecture, Boston University, Boston, MA, October 25, 2006. March 30, 2010. Accessed September 10, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UIfXUoEKgo.