BARTHOLOMEW, Saint, Massacre of, the slaughter of French Protestants in Paris and other cities in France on various dates be tween 24 Aug. and 3 Oct. 1572. After the death of Francis II, Catherine de' Medici had assumed the regency for her son, Charles IX, then only 10 years old, and in spite of the, opposition of the Guises she issued an edict of toleration in favor of the Protestant party, 1562, which she had favored in many ways. The party of the Guises now persuaded the nation that the Roman Catholic religion. was in the greatest danger. Religious dissension grew rife, and each party, Roman Catholic and Huguenot, under pretext of religion, treated. the other with cruelty. Prince Conde took up arms; the Guises had recourse to the Span iards, Conde to the English, for assistance. Both parties were guilty of the most atrocious. cruelties, but finally a peace was patched up. The Queen-mother caused the King, who had entered his 14th year, to be declared of age, that she might govern more absolutely under his name. Duke Francis de Guise had been assassinated by a Huguenot at the. siege of Orleans; but his spirit continued in his family, which considered the Admiral Coligny as the author of his murder. The King had been per suaded that the Huguenots had designs on his life, and had conceived an implacable hatred. against them. Meanwhile the court endeavored to gain time, in order to seize the persons of the prince and the admiral by stratagem, but was disappointed, and hostilities were renewed in 1565, and still again after the Peace of Lon jumeau, 1568, this time with greater cnielty than ever. In the battle of Jarnac, 1569, Conde was made prisoner and shot by Captain de Montesquieu. Coligny collected the remains of the routed army; the young Prince Henry de Barn (afterward Henry IV, King. of Navarre and France), the head of the Protes tant party after the death of Conde, was ap pointed commander-in-chief, and Coligny com manded in the name of the Prince Henry de Conde, who swore to avenge the murder of his fattier. The advantageous offers of peace at Saint Germain-en-Laye (8 Aug. 1570) satisfied the chiefs of the Huguenotst particularly Ad miral Coligny, who was weaned with civil war. The King appeared to have entirely disengaged himself from the influence of the Guises and his mother; he invited the old Colipiy, the main support of the Huguenots, to his court, and honored him as a father. The sister of
the King was married to the Prince de Beam (18 Aug. 1572) ; this union opened up a field for the most distinguished Huguenots in Paris. Meanwhile the Queen had allied herself to the Guise family, and jealous of the influence of Coligny with the King, determined to have him assassinated. On 22 August a shot from a window wounded the admiral. The King has tened to visit him and swore to punish the author of the villainy; but on the same day he was induced by his mother to believe that the admiral had designs on his life, °God's death!" he exclaimed: "kill the Admiral; and not only him, but all the Huguenots; let none remain to disturb us!" The following night Cather7 ine held the bloody council which fixed the execution for the. night of Saint Bartholomew, 24 Aug. 1572. After the assassination of Coligny a bell from the tower of the royal pal ace at midnight gave to the assembled com panies of 2,000 burghers the signal for the gen eral massacre of the Huguenots. The Prince of Conde and the King of Navarre saved their lives by choosing the mass rather than death, and pretending to embrace the Roman Catholic religion. Roman Catholics as well as Hugue nots fell victims to the political and personal hatred of the slayers. By the King's orders the massacre was extended through the whole kingdom; and if, in some provinces, the offi cers had honor and humanity enough to dis obey the orders to butcher their innocent fel low citizens, yet instruments were always found to continue the bloody work. This horrible slaughter continued over 40 days; the victims are calculated at from 10,000 to 100,000. The Calvinist martyrology cites 786 names; 2,000 is the number computed by late historians. At Rome the massacre was given. out as a victory over a great Huguenot conspiracy against the King; it was for this reason the Pope ordered the °Te Deum" to be chanted and a medal struck commemorating the event. Those of the Huguenots who esc-aped fled into the mountains and to Rochelle. The Duke of Anjou laid siege to that city but, during the siege, received the news that the Poles had elected him their Icing. He concluded a treaty, 6 July 1573, and the King granted to the Huguenots the exer cise of their religion in certain towns. (See also Humnsicrrs). Consult Lavisse, (Histoire de France' (Vol. VI, Paris 1904) ; Loughnan, (The Month' (1f392) ; (The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew) (1867).