Changes

====Failure of the Massacre====

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.

The Parisian mob, whipped up by fiery Catholic preachers attacked the Huguenot population of the city.<ref> Sutherland, p 116</ref> This 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. Despite the fact that, their leadership was either killed or imprisoned they were still well-organized and well-led.<ref>Sutherland, p. 117</ref> The Huguenots still have many strongholds and a formidable army. They also had the support of foreign Protestants. The massacres did not fundamentally weaken the French Protestant cause as expected. This was borne out when French Catholic army attacked Huguenot strongholds. They laid siege unsuccessfully to several French Protestant strongholds. 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>