St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
- St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
The massacre of some 20,000 Protestants during the week following August 24, 1572, St. Bartholomew's Day, affected Protestant-Roman Catholic relationships for centuries afterward.
The prior generation had seen a civil war between Catholic and Protestants in FRANCE, but by 1572, a peace had been ostensibly negotiated. The massacre was instituted by the French king's mother, Catherine de Medici (1519-89), shortly after a peace-sealing wedding between the king's sister and Henry of Navarre, a prominent Huguenot. The first victims were Henry of Navarre's wedding party and the household of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (1517-72), a statesman who had championed the Protestant cause.
The massacre caught the Protestant community unprepared to defend itself, especially as the first deaths led to rioting and more indiscriminate killing. More than 8,000 people died in Paris, and within a week almost twice that many more were killed in the countryside. In Rome, Pope Gregory XIII struck a medal and ordered a mural painted to commemorate the occasion.
Further reading:
■ Robert M. Kingdon, Myths about the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacres, 1572-1576. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988)
■ Robert Jean Knecht, The French Wars of Religion 1559-1598 (New York: Longman, 1996)
■ N. M. Sutherland, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew and the European Conflict 1559-1572 (London: Macmillan, 1973).
Encyclopedia of Protestantism.
Gordon Melton.
2005.
Look at other dictionaries:
Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Saint — • This massacre of which Protestants were the victims occurred in Paris on 24 August, 1572 (the feast of St. Bartholomew), and in the provinces of France during the ensuing weeks, and it has been the subject of knotty historical disputes Catholic … Catholic encyclopedia
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre — Painting by François Dubois, a Huguenot painter born circa 1529 in Amiens, who settled in Switzerland. Although Dubois did not witness the massacre, he depicts Admiral Coligny s body hanging out of a window at the rear to the right. To the left… … Wikipedia
Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre — • This massacre of which Protestants were the victims occurred in Paris on 24 August, 1572 (the feast of St. Bartholomew), and in the provinces of France during the ensuing weeks, and it has been the subject of knotty historical disputes Catholic … Catholic encyclopedia
Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre — The Saint Bartholomew s Day Massacre was a massacre of the Huguenot leaders in paris on August 23 24, 1572. To increase her power, Queen Catherine de medici intrigued with the Catholic faction, led by the House of guise, against the… … France. A reference guide from Renaissance to the Present
Saint Bartholomew's Day, Massacre of — (Aug. 24–25, 1572) Murder of French Huguenots in Paris by Catholics. As part of the ongoing Wars of Religion, Catherine de Médicis agreed to a plot by the Guise family (see house of Guise) to assassinate the Huguenot Gaspard II de Coligny. When… … Universalium
Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre — Fr. Hist. a massacre of over 3000 Huguenots, instigated by Catherine de Médicis and begun in Paris on St. Bartholomew s Day, August 24, 1572. * * * … Universalium
Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre — Fr. Hist. a massacre of over 3000 Huguenots, instigated by Catherine de Médicis and begun in Paris on St. Bartholomew s Day, August 24, 1572 … Useful english dictionary
BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY MASSACRE — on the 23rd of August 1572, over 10,000 French HUGUENOTS in Paris and other cities were slaughtered on the orders of CATHERINE DE MEDICI. The event left a lasting impression on PROTESTANTS and greatly contributed to ANTI ROMAN CATHOLIC feeling … Concise dictionary of Religion
Massacre, Saint Bartholomew's Day — • This massacre of which Protestants were the victims occurred in Paris on 24 August, 1572 (the feast of St. Bartholomew), and in the provinces of France during the ensuing weeks, and it has been the subject of knotty historical disputes Catholic … Catholic encyclopedia
St Bartholomew's Day massacre — noun the mass killing of French Protestants (Huguenots) begun in Paris on 24 August 1572, in the reign of Charles IX …
