The night of 23–24 August 1572 saw one of the bloodiest massacres in the history of the Wars of Religion: the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. This tragic episode took place against the turbulent backdrop of the Wars of Religion, which pitted Catholics against Protestants in the second half of the 16th century. The marriage between King Charles IX’s sister, Marguerite de Valois, and the Protestant prince Henri de Navarre, was intended to reconcile the two sides, but this event quickly turned into a large-scale political and religious bloodbath.
Triggered in Paris by an assassination attempt on Admiral de Coligny, a military leader and major figure in the Protestant party, the massacre quickly spiralled out of control and spread through the streets of Paris. It claimed several thousand lives, mainly among the Protestants who had come to attend the royal wedding, and rapidly spread to several provinces of the kingdom.
The MIR is offering a special tour on 22, 23 and 26 August on the theme of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. This tour will explore the root causes of the massacre – religious tensions, political manipulation, collective fears – its implications for relations between Catholics and Protestants, and its symbolic significance in the history of the Reformation.