# Canonical recap data for St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572)
# Source: https://recap.at/1572/st-bartholomew-massacre
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: st-bartholomew-massacre
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1572/st-bartholomew-massacre"
title: St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
aliases:
- Massacre of St. Bartholomew
- Michelade
- Huguenot massacre
subtitle: The coordinated slaughter of thousands of Huguenots across France exposed the brutal depths of religious sectarianism in early modern Europe.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1572-08-24
endDate: 1572-10-05
datePrecision: day
year: 1572
decade: 1570
country:
name: France
slug: france
geo:
lat: 48.8567
lng: 2.3522
place: France
significance: 50
geos:
- lat: 48.8567
  lng: 2.3522
  place: France
  significance: 50
summaryShort: The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence directed against the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Queen Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX, the massacre started a f
summaryLong: The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence directed against the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Queen Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX, the massacre started a few days after the marriage on 18 August of the king's sister Margaret to the Protestant King Henry III of Navarre. Many of the wealthiest and most prominent Huguenots had gathered in largely Catholic Paris to attend the wedding.
lede: On August 24, 1572, Catholic mobs in Paris began systematically hunting and killing Huguenots-French Protestants-in a massacre that spread to other cities over weeks. Queen Catherine de' Medici, mother of King Charles IX, was widely believed to have orchestrated the violence, though her exact role remains debated by historians. The bloodshed killed somewhere between 5,000 and 30,000 people and hardened the religious fault lines that would fracture France for decades.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/La_masacre_de_San_Bartolom%C3%A9%2C_por_Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois.jpg/1280px-La_masacre_de_San_Bartolom%C3%A9%2C_por_Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "St. Bartholomew's Day massacre"
importance: 78
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Date
  value: August 24-25, 1572 (initial killings in Paris)
- label: Geographic scope
  value: Paris, then Lyon, Orleans, Rouen, and other French cities over subsequent weeks
- label: Estimated death toll
  value: 5,000 to 30,000 (historians disagree; Paris alone likely 2,000-4,000)
- label: King of France
  value: Charles IX (reigned 1560-1574)
- label: Queen Mother
  value: Catherine de' Medici
- label: Duration of violence
  value: Initiated August 24; spread to provinces over following weeks
- label: Primary targets
  value: Huguenots (French Calvinists)
- label: Documented participation
  value: Catholic mobs, royal guards, and militia
timeline:
- date: 1572-08-18
  title: Wedding of Margaret of Valois and Henry of Navarre
  description: The Catholic-Protestant wedding meant to heal religious divisions brings Huguenot nobility to Paris. Henry of Navarre would later become King Henry IV.
- date: 1572-08-22
  title: Gaspard de Coligny shot and wounded
  description: Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, a Huguenot leader, is shot in the street. The assassination attempt fails but panics the Huguenot community.
- date: 1572-08-23
  title: Royal council meets
  description: King Charles IX, Catherine de' Medici, and advisors hold emergency meetings. The decision is made to strike at Huguenot leaders; debate continues over whether the massacre was planned or an authorized killing that spiraled.
- date: 1572-08-24
  title: Massacre begins in Paris
  description: At dawn, the bell of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois rings. Catholic mobs and royal guards begin killing Huguenots throughout the capital. Gaspard de Coligny is murdered in his home.
- date: 1572-08-25
  title: Violence continues and spreads
  description: Killing continues in Paris. Royal couriers carry orders to other cities. The massacre spreads to Lyon, Orleans, Rouen, and provincial towns.
- date: 1572-10-01
  title: Violence subsides across France
  description: After weeks of killings, mob violence ebbs. Final death toll remains uncertain but clearly exceeds thousands.
- date: 1572-10-26
  title: Charles IX addresses Parliament
  description: The king claims the massacre was a necessary police action against sedition. Public justifications begin; Catherine de' Medici's role remains opaque.
- date: 1598-04-13
  title: Edict of Nantes issued
  description: King Henry IV (the Protestant groom from 1572) issues the Edict of Nantes, granting Huguenots limited religious freedom and ending the Wars of Religion-26 years after the massacre.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew's_Day_massacre"
  title: St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: Mercure de France
  publisherSlug: mercure-de-france
  headline: Terrible Massacre of Huguenots in Paris on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew
  publishedAt: 1572-08-26
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - The night of August 23-24 saw the streets of Paris run with Protestant blood as Catholic mobs, allegedly at the command of the Queen Mother, fell upon sleeping Huguenots throughout the city. Estimates place the dead in the thousands.
  significance: 92
  type: newspaper
  region: France
- publisher: Avvisi di Roma
  publisherSlug: avvisi-di-roma
  headline: La Strage degli Ugonotti a Parigi - Grande Vittoria della Fede Cattolica
  publishedAt: 1572-09-02
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record
  excerpt: "IT: 'La Strage degli Ugonotti a Parigi - Grande Vittoria della Fede Cattolica' / EN: 'The Slaughter of Huguenots in Paris - Great Victory for the Catholic Faith'. Rome's papal newssheet celebrated the massacre as divine retribution against heretics, with Cardinal reports confirming the death toll exceeded ten thousand souls."
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: Papal States
- publisher: Gazette de Cologne
  publisherSlug: gazette-de-cologne
  headline: "Bericht aus Paris: Blutige Nacht der Bartholomaeus"
  publishedAt: 1572-09-08
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record
  excerpt: "DE: 'Bericht aus Paris: Blutige Nacht der Bartholomaeus' / EN: 'Report from Paris: Bloody Night of Saint Bartholomew'. German Protestant cities recoil at dispatches detailing the coordinated pogrom that has left Paris a charnel house and set the French Wars of Religion ablaze anew."
  significance: 85
  type: newspaper
  region: Holy Roman Empire
- publisher: News from France (English Broadside)
  publisherSlug: english-broadside-france
  headline: A Most Lamentable and Terrible Massacre Committed Upon the Protestants in France
  publishedAt: 1572-09-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - English newsmongers distributed broadside accounts of the slaughter in Paris, where the French King's hand in the butchery of innocent Huguenots raised Protestant alarm across the Channel and threatened diplomatic rupture.
  significance: 80
  type: newspaper
  region: England
peoplesVoice:
- source: Pope Gregory XIII, Head of the Catholic Church
  voiceType: official
  context: The Vatican's immediate response to news of the massacre reaching Rome in late August 1572, celebrating the elimination of Protestant heresy.
  excerpt: "FR: 'Nous nous réjouissons que le roi ait pris les mesures nécessaires contre les hérétiques' / EN: 'We rejoice that the king has taken necessary measures against the heretics'"
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Papal correspondence and Vatican records, circulated throughout Catholic Europe
  publishedAt: 1572-09-01
  originalLanguage: fr
- source: Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, Huguenot leader (killed in massacre)
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Coligny's final reported words on the morning of August 24, 1572, moments before his assassination during the pre-dawn violence in Paris.
  excerpt: I see now that I am betrayed. The king promised me safe passage, yet armed men come for me in darkness. France will rue this day.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - contemporary Huguenot testimonies and Catholic chronicles
  publishedAt: 1572-08-24
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Jean de Serres, Protestant historian and eyewitness
  voiceType: media
  context: De Serres documented the unfolding massacre as a participant-observer, later publishing an account that challenged official narratives.
  excerpt: The streets ran red with innocent blood. Families were torn from their homes and slaughtered like beasts. This was no political act - it was pure butchery.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 78
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Jean de Serres' 'Commentaries on the State of Religion'
  publishedAt: 1572-12-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Catherine de' Medici, Queen Mother of France
  voiceType: official
  context: Catherine's reported justification circulated through court correspondence weeks after the massacre, denying orchestration while framing it as necessary security.
  excerpt: The king acted to protect the crown from sedition. I merely counseled prudence. These events, however regrettable, were the work of zealots beyond our control.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 82
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - court correspondence and diplomatic dispatches
  publishedAt: 1572-09-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: William of Orange, Dutch Protestant leader
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: William's condemnation of the massacre as a watershed moment for Protestant resistance across Europe, issued within weeks of the violence.
  excerpt: This treachery reveals the true face of Catholic tyranny. No treaty, no oath binds a king who permits such massacre. Protestants must now prepare to defend themselves by force.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 80
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - correspondence with German and English Protestant allies
  publishedAt: 1572-10-05
  originalLanguage: en
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/La_masacre_de_San_Bartolom%C3%A9%2C_por_Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois.jpg/1280px-La_masacre_de_San_Bartolom%C3%A9%2C_por_Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/La_masacre_de_San_Bartolom%C3%A9%2C_por_Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois.jpg/800px-La_masacre_de_San_Bartolom%C3%A9%2C_por_Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois.jpg"
  caption: La masacre de San Bartolomé, por François Dubois
  credit: François Dubois 1529-1584
  width: 2304
  height: 1398
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois_-_Massacre_de_la_Saint-Barth%C3%A9lemy_%28d%C3%A9tail%29.jpg/1280px-Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois_-_Massacre_de_la_Saint-Barth%C3%A9lemy_%28d%C3%A9tail%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois_-_Massacre_de_la_Saint-Barth%C3%A9lemy_%28d%C3%A9tail%29.jpg/800px-Fran%C3%A7ois_Dubois_-_Massacre_de_la_Saint-Barth%C3%A9lemy_%28d%C3%A9tail%29.jpg"
  caption: François Dubois - Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy (détail)
  credit: François Dubois
  width: 1200
  height: 1714
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Frans_Hogenberg%2C_The_St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre%2C_circa_1572.jpg/1280px-Frans_Hogenberg%2C_The_St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre%2C_circa_1572.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Frans_Hogenberg%2C_The_St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre%2C_circa_1572.jpg/800px-Frans_Hogenberg%2C_The_St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre%2C_circa_1572.jpg"
  caption: Frans Hogenberg, The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, circa 1572
  credit: Frans Hogenberg
  width: 2201
  height: 1462
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Francois_Dubois_001.jpg/1280px-Francois_Dubois_001.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Francois_Dubois_001.jpg/800px-Francois_Dubois_001.jpg"
  caption: Francois Dubois 001
  credit: François Dubois
  width: 1331
  height: 800
impactStatement: The massacre transformed the French Wars of Religion from political struggle into sectarian slaughter. It shattered any remaining trust between Catholics and Protestants in France, radicalized both communities, and demonstrated that the crown could neither protect religious minorities nor enforce order-a credibility fracture that would haunt the monarchy for a generation.
categories:
- disaster
taxonomy:
domain: religious
eventTypes:
- crusade_or_jihad
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- collapse
impactRadius: national
velocity: cascading
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: conflict
metaDescription: The 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre killed thousands of French Huguenots, transforming religious conflict into open sectarian war.
wikidataQid: Q163891
