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Those behind the conspiracy had not premeditated the mass murder of Protestants. They had simply seized an opportunity offered to them by the wedding of Henry of Navarre and Charles X sister <ref>Sutherland. M. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew and the European conflict, 1559-1572 (Longman, London, 1973), p. 134</ref>. The Huguenot community was agitated by the attempted assassination of Coligny and the Guise faction appeared to have used this to persuade the Royal family to participate in their plan. The Guise plan was to kill or arrest the Huguenot leadership not a wholesale massacre of Protestants. If the French Huguenot leaders such as Conde, Coligny and Henry Navarre were eliminated or detained, it was expected that the French Protestant cause would be at least weakened or even fatally wounded.<ref>Dienfendorf, p. 115.</ref> The Duke of Guise persuaded Catherine de Medici, the Queen Mother of the benefits of his plan and she used her considerable influence on her son, the king to agree to the plan. The plan at first went well. The plotters were able to kill or imprison all their targets and it seemed that the Huguenot party was left leaderless.