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Y308: The Catholic Reformation 1492–1610

Depth study: St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre — motives, the killing and its consequences

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on Coligny’s death, the spread of the killing, the motives of the parties, Catherine de’ Medici’s role, the death toll, the effects on the Huguenots and political thought, European reaction and interpretations.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Process

What was the effect on the Huguenot movement?

Process

How did the rest of Europe react?

Who and when

How did the killing spread beyond its intended targets?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did Coligny die?

    Model answer

    He was murdered in his lodging by the Duke of Guise's men, and his body was thrown into the street and mutilated by the crowd.

  2. 2

    How did the killing spread beyond its intended targets?

    Model answer

    The city militia and armed Parisians turned a limited political purge into a general slaughter of Protestants lasting several days.

  3. 3

    Give the motives of the different parties involved.

    Model answer

    The Guises pursued a vendetta for the killing of Duke Francis, the Crown wanted to remove a faction it could not control and avoid war with Spain, and the Parisians acted from religious hatred and a wish to purge their city.

  4. 4

    How was Catherine de' Medici's role traditionally presented?

    Model answer

    As the schemer who ordered both the attempt on Coligny and the massacre that followed, executing a long-laid design against the Huguenots.

  5. 5

    How do most historians now assess her role?

    Model answer

    As an improvised decision taken in panic after the botched assassination, meant to be confined to the leaders and then lost to the crowd.

  6. 6

    What was the extent of the killing?

    Model answer

    Perhaps two to three thousand died in Paris, and massacres in a dozen provincial cities over the following weeks brought the total to several thousand more.

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