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Massacre Of Saint Bartholomew's Day
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Order to
Massacre
Power Behind The
Throne
In
1572, Catharine de Medici exhorting her son, King Charles IX
of France, to give the order to massacre Huguenots in what
became known as the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which
thousands of Protestant Huguenots were slaughtered by Catholic
mobs.
Original Art (Photo by
Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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The Protestant Reformation began by Martin Luther spread
rapidly in France, and as Protestantism grew and developed
there, it generally abandoned the Lutheran form and took the
shape of Calvinism. The new "Reformed religion"established in
France by John Calvin in about 1555 was practiced by many
members of the French nobility and middle-class which placed
these French Protestants in direct conflict with the Catholic
Church and the King of France.
Followers of this new Protestantism
were soon accused of heresy against the Catholic government
and the established religion of France, and a General Edict
urging the total extermination of these heretics was issued in
1536. Nevertheless, the number and influence of the French
Reformers or Huguenots continued to increase leading to an
escalation in hostility. They numbered at least a million by
1562, and may have peaked to approximately two million,
compared to approximately sixteen million Catholics during the
same period. Finally, in 1562, some 1200 Huguenots were slain
at Vassey, France, thus igniting the French Wars of Religion
which would devastate France for the next thirty five years.
The
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, October 22, 1685
Given at Fontainebleau in the month of
October, in the year of grace 1685, and of our reign the
forty-third. |
In France, the
Protestant persecution reached a height in 1572 at the Massacre of
St. Bartholomew’s Day and an estimated twenty to 110,000 people
perished during that short time. The leaders and countless followers
were murdered. The Edict of Nantes, signed by Henry IV in April,
1598, ended the Wars of Religion, and allowed the Huguenots some
religious freedoms, including free exercise of their religion in
twenty specified towns of France. However, with the Revocation of
the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in October,1685, the persecution of
Huguenots began anew, and hundreds of thousands of Huguenots left
France. Many of then went into the German regions as up to a half
million Huguenots fled to surrounding Protestant
countries.
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Huguenots
Waiting for the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
A Huguenot refuses to wear a Catholic badge to shield
himself from attack.
Painting by Millais |
The murder of French
Protestants, or Huguenots, that began in Paris on August 24, 1572,
was preceded on August 22, by an attempt ordered by Catherine de'
Medici on the life of the Huguenot leader Admiral
Coligny.
 Admiral of France Gaspard de Coligny
The failure of the
attempt led to formulation of the plan for a general massacre. The
opportunity was furnished by the presence in Paris of many of the
Huguenot nobility for the wedding of Henry of Navarre (later King
Henry IV) and Catherine's daughter, Margaret of Valois. Involved in
the scheme were the duc d'Anjou, later King Henry III, Henri, 3d duc
de Guise; and the reluctant King Charles IX.
Coligny was the first
victim; the work of extermination began suddenly in Paris with the
ringing of church bells. Admiral Coligny—the Protestant leader—was
stabbed and his body thrown out the window, his death was followed by
killing of minor leaders and of all Huguenots within reach of the
soldiery and the mob. The massacre continued even after a royal
order to stop, and it spread from Paris into other sections of
France. Massacres continued into October reaching the provinces of
Rouen, Lyons, Bourges, Orleans, and Bourdeaux. An estimated 4,000
were killed in Paris, 70,000 in all of France.
News of the
massacres was welcomed by Pope Gregory XIII and the King of Spain.
Protestants, however, were horrified, and the killings rekindled the
hatred between Protestants and Catholics and resulted in the
resumption of Civil war. |
August 24, 1572, was the date of the
infamous St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in France. On that day, over 400
years ago, began one of the most horrifying holocausts in history in that
time.
French
Protestants were colonizing the New World!!
The Huguenots ignored Pope Alexander's Bull against
colonizing the New World, and as early as 1562, they tried to establish a
colony in the area now known as South Carolina. Queen Elizabeth I
encouraged this colonization as they were her co-religionists and she also
bore the title:Queen of France.
That colony, under
Jean Ribault, was wiped out by brutal Spanish soldiers from their base in
Augustine, Florida.
The Huguenots were also sending help to their
suffering brethren in Holland, who were defying overwhelming odds in order
to throw off the Spanish yoke.
Spain
replaced France as the mainstay of the Vatican
All during the Dark
Ages, France was known as the eldest daughter and main pillar of the Papacy.
King Pepin of the
Franks (the father of Charlemagne) had given the Papal States to the Pope
almost 1000 years earlier. Almost half of the real estate in the country
was owned by the clergy.
With the
establishment of the Jesuit Order, the Papacy became a totally Spanish
owned and controlled institution.
Their
two mains goals were: fight the Huguenots and keep all but Spanish away
from the New World.
The 3
masterminds behind the massacre!!
The 3 masterminds
behind the massacre of the French Huguenots were: King Philip II, Pope Gregory
XIII and Francis Borgia.
Between these three,
it is hard to say which had the most zeal in shedding the blood of the
saints.
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King Philip II
(1527-1598).
King from 1556 to 1598. |
Gregory XIII
(1572 to 1585) |
Francis Borgia
(1510 -1572).
Jesuit general from 1565 to 1572.
| The future Pope Gregory served as a
legate to Philip II of Spain, being sent by Pope Pius V to investigate the
Cardinal of Toledo. It was there that he formed a lasting and close
relationship with the Spanish king, and the groundwork was laid for the
extermination of the French Huguenots.
Don Francis Borgia
was the great-grandson of Pope Alexander VI and co-founder of the Jesuits
with Ignatius LIEola. On his mother's side he was descended from King
Ferdinand of Aragon.
King Philip II was the
most bigoted fanatic that ever counted beads or crossed himself before a
crucifix. It was said that the only time he ever laughed was when he heard
the report of the infamous massacre:
"But nothing could
exceed the satisfaction which the event occasioned in the mind of Philip
the Second. There was an end now of all assistance from the French
Government to the Netherlands Protestants. "The news of the events upon
St. Bartholomew's Day," wrote the French envoy at Madrid, St. Goard, to
Charles IX., "arrived on the 7th September. The King, on receiving the
intelligence, showed, contrary to his natural custom, so much gaiety,
that he seemed more delighted than with all the good fortune or happy
incidents which had ever before occurred to him. He called all his
familiars about him in order to assure them that your Majesty was his
good brother, and that no one else deserved the title of Most Christian.
He sent his secretary Cayas to me with his felicitations upon the event,
and with the information that he was just going to St. Jerome to render
thanks to God, and to offer his prayers that your Majesty might receive
Divine support in this great affair. I went to see him next morning, and
as soon as I came into his presence he began to laugh, and,
with demonstrations of extreme contentment, to praise your Majesty as
deserving your title of Most Christian, telling me there was no King
worthy to be your Majesty's companion, either for valour or prudence. He
praised the steadfast resolution and the long dissimulation of so great
an enterprise, which all the world would not be able to
comprehend..."
"I thanked him," continued the ambassador, "and I
said that I thanked God for enabling your Majesty to prove to his Master
that his apprentice had learned his trade, and deserved his title of Most
Christian King. I added, that he ought to confess that he owed the
preservation of the Netherlands to your Majesty." (The Rise of the Dutch
Republic, vol. II, p. 483.George Allen & Unwin Ltd.,
London, 1889.)
French
soldiers and the Roman Catholic clergy fell upon the people, and blood flowed like a river throughout the
entire country.
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Men,
women, and children fell in heaps before the mobs and the
bloodthirsty troops. In one week, almost 100,000 Huguenots perished. The rivers of France were so
filled with corpses that for many months no fish were eaten. In the
valley of the Loire, wolves came down from the hills to feed upon
the decaying bodies of Frenchmen. The list of massacres was as
endless as the list of the dead! |
Many were
imprisoned and sent to the arena. The story of Perpetua
and Felicitas is that of martyrs among the many who resisted forced
conversion to Catholisim.
 Elector Friedrich
Wilhelm |
Aside from
those who went to Germany, some went to the Netherlands and England,
and eventually to places as remote as South Africa. Considerable
numbers of Huguenots migrated to North America, especially to
Virginia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and New York. Nearly 44,000
Huguenots establishing themselves in Germany, particularly in
Prussia where they were welcomed heartily by Elector Friedrich
Wilhelm, as represented in the picture. |
In France, the
Protestant persecution reached a height in 1572 at the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew’s
Day and an estimated twenty to 110,000 people perished
during that short time.
The leaders and
countless followers were murdered. With the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes by
Louis XIV in October,1685, the persecution of Huguenots
began anew, and hundreds of thousands of Huguenots left France. Many of
then went into the German regions as up to a half million Huguenots fled
to surrounding Protestant countries.
France was ruined. . .
. Wars, famine, disease and poverty finally led to the French
Revolution—the guillotine—the Reign of Terror—the
fall of the Roman Catholic monarchy.
Scene from the massacre of the
Huguenots in Paris
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 Blood flowed like a river on the
streets of
Paris
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Pope
Gregory was jubilant when news of the massacre reached the
Vatican!!
When news of the
Massacre reached the Vatican, there was jubilation! Cannons roared—bells rung—and a special
commemorative medal was struck—to honor the
occasion! The Pope commissioned Italian artist Vasari to paint
a mural of the massacre—which still
hangs in the Vatican!!
Medal struck by
Pope Gregory XIII to commemorate the slaughter of over
100,000 French Christians!! |
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Pope Gregory
XIII had the great red dragon of Satan as his heraldic
symbol!
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This is the same Pope Gregory
XIII who changed the calendar
on 24 February 1582, the calendar lost eleven days. To synchronise the
calendar of Dionysius with the movement of the sun, October 4 became
October 15, and to avoid having to make further adjustments a leap year
was introduced. Pope Gregory XIII from 1572 to 1585, carried out the
reform of the Julian calendar, and produced the system currently in use.
Editor's
Note
The Huguenots won a
short period of relief from persecution with the ascension of Henry IV to
the throne.
Henry IV, detail of a
manuscript illumination from Jean Froissart's Chronicles, 15th
century; in the British Library (Harleian MS. 4380).
By
permission of the British Library |
Henry (Henri) IV
(1553-1610)
King of Navarre
(as Henri III., 1572-1589)
First
Bourbon King of France (1589-1610)
~~~~~~~~~
born Dec. 13, 1553, Pau, Béarn, Navarre
[France]
died May 14, 1610, Paris, France
Henri IV (Henri de Navarre, Henri de
Bourbon), 1553-1610, first Bourbon king of France, was the son of
Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret. On his mother's death he
succeeded to the kingdom of Navarre (1572). He took leadership of
the Huguenot (Protestant) party in 1569. His marriage in 1572 with
Marguerite de Valois was the occasion for the massacre of St.
Bartholomew's Day.
King of Navarre (as
Henry III, 1572–89) and first Bourbon king of France (1589–1610),
who, at the end of the Wars of Religion, recanted Protestantism and
converted to Roman Catholicism in order to save his life. In 1576 he
escaped from his virtual imprisonment at court and returned to
Protestantism |
Henry
IV - King of France
The Edict of
Nantes gave full freedom to his Protestants subjects. The signing of
this Edict inaugurated an era of peace and great prosperity for France.
However, for granting his subjects liberty of conscience, the king
was assassinated in Paris on May 14, 1610, by a fanatical Roman Catholic
Jesuit named François Ravaillac. This Edict of Toleration was revoked
in 1685, and a new storm of persecution ensued. The exodus began again
with over a million Huguenots fleeing France to avoid certain torture and
death.
The descendants of the
survivors that reached the New World were determined that this tragedy
should not occur here. Many of them were prominent in the founding of the
country. They knew that an armed citizenry in France would have prevented
this tragedy from ever happening.
They
knew that freedom of religion and an armed citizenry go hand in
hand
America's Founding Fathers on way to church with
Bibles and GUNS!!
Amendment
1
Congress shall make no law
respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,
or the right of the PEOPLE peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment 2
A well
regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the
right of the PEOPLE to KEEP and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
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