Changes

Modern research has shown that up to 10,000 Huguenots were killed during the massacres and that 5,000 of these were killed in Paris. The news of the killings shocked Protestant Europe, on the other hand across Catholic Europe there were widespread celebrations at the news. The Pope ordered the bells to be rung in Rome to commemorate the joyous news of the massacre of heretics in Paris and elsewhere in France.

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.

<dh-ad/>

The Parisian mob, whipped up by fiery Catholic preachers attacked the Huguenot population of the city.<ref> Sutherland, p 116</ref> This result had not been foreseen by the planners and was not wanted by them. The King tried to stop the violence, but it took a full week before the royal guard restored order in the city. The violence spread to other cities and towns, and the Guise faction hoped that the Huguenots would be annihilated. This was not the case. The Huguenots were more determined than ever to fight for their religion.

After two years of fighting, the Catholics had not achieved any of their objectives, and the fourth religious war was another stalemate. By 1594 a peace agreement was thrashed out, and although the Huguenots lost some privileges and rights, they had survived the Catholic onslaught. It could be argued that the French monarchy was weakened by its ill-advised participation in the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre as they had alienated the Huguenots and they became ever more dependent on hardline Catholics.<ref> Dienfendorf, p. 95</ref>

<div class="portal" style='float:right; width:35%'>

====Related Articles====

{{#dpl:category=French History|ordermethod=firstedit|order=descending|count=8}}