The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre was an event that had followed endless religious disputes and political upheavals between the Roman Catholics and the Huguenots. On that early morning of August 24, 1572 France shook with a religious fever. Though the feud was among the privileged it was the common Catholic people who slaughtered the Huguenots. In France the fourth religious war had begun.

Catherine de Medicis played a pivotal role in the Massacre. Catherine de Medicis for years had dominated the French throne, held by her three sons from Henry II. It was through her son Charles IX that Catherine was involved in both the Massacre's groundwork and its final horrific decision. For years Catherine had worked as a Catholic go-between to help retain peace among the French Protestants and Roman Catholics. Because of this it only seemed natural for her to give her daughter Margaret in marriage to Henry of Navarre, who was known as a substantial leader of the Huguenots, in order to keep the peace. In time, Catherine had begun to see the growing Protestant influence on her son and wished to rid him of such influences directly. Catherine saw another opportunity from this marriage however, for with many of the Huguenots in France for the wedding festivities she could cut the influence off straight at the head. With the House of Guise at her side, Catherine sent out Catholic Swiss mercenaries to murder Gaspard de Coligny. The murder, however, failed and the Huguenots vowed revenge against the Catholics. Charles made a quick decision following persuasion from his mother; Charles IX ordered the massacre and for it to begin with Gaspard de Coligny.

The guard was instructed to kill every group of Protestants that they found. The Catholic masses found the Protestants efficient scapegoats for the rising prices for food, fuel and shelter; they were only too happy to do away with them.

LIST OF CHARACTERS

 

o       Catherine de Medicis (1519-1589)

 

o       Three of her four sons became kings of France:

1.      Francis II (1544-1550; r. 1559-1560)

·       became king at the age of 15

·       he was sickly, and lasted in the throne only for one year

2.      Charles IX (15150-1574; r. 1561-1574)

·       succeeded his brother, Francis II

·       proved to be a weak king, fully influenced by his advisors and mother

·       also known for introducing tobacco

3.      Henri III (1551-1589; r. 1574-1589)

·       was elected king of Poland in 1573 but at the death of Charles IX, he returned to France       

·       Prior to ascending to the throne, he was a leader of the royal army in the French Wars of Religion      While still duke, he aided his mother in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

 

o       Catherine had three daughters, two of which were married to kings:

1.      Elizabeth (b. April 1545), to Philip II of Spain (she is not in the movie)

2.      Marguerite (1553-1615), "Queen Margot", married to Henri of Navarre (later Henri IV of France)

·       Queen of France and Navarre

·       in love with Henri, Duke de Guise

·       believed to have had incestuous relationships with her brothers

·       her marriage to Navarre was to forge a truce between Catholics and Huguenots

 

o       Henri, Duke of Guise

·       Lover of Margot

·       Following the death of his father (Francis, d. 1563), became one leader of the Catholic faction in the French Wars of Religion

·       He was prominent in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

·       In 1584 he formed a league to keep the new heir, the protestant Henri of Navarre, off the throne

 

o       Gaspard de Coligny (1519-1572)

·       admiral of France and Protestant leader

·       On the death of Henry II he placed himself, with Louis (prince of Condé) in the front of his sect

·       demanded religious toleration and certain other reforms

·       believed to have masterminded the assasination of Francis, Duke of Guise.

·       Charles IX’s regard for the him, and the bold front of the Huguenots, alarmed the queen-mother, who commision his assasination and, as consequence, started the Massacre.

·       On August 22, 1572 Coligny was shot in the street by Maurevel, a bravo in the pay of the queen-mother and Guise; the bullets, however, only tore a finger from his right hand and shattered his left elbow. The king visited him, but the queen-mother prevented all private intercourse between them. On the 24th of August, the night of the massacre, he was attacked in his house, and a servant of the duke of Guise, generally known as Besme, slew him and cast him from a window into the courtyard at his master's feet. His papers were seized and burned by the queen-mother.

 

o       La Mole

            Margot’s lover

            a Huguenot soldier