Chaillot ( French pronunciation: [ʃajo] ) is a quarter of Paris , France , located in the 16th arrondissement , on the Right Bank . It is adjacent to Passy to the southwest (administratively part of la Muette) and is bound by Avenue de la Grande-Armée to the north.
148-534: It is home to many of the city's wealthiest residents, and many embassies and museums. Chaillot was originally a village on the outskirts of Paris. In the 16th century, Catherine de' Medici built the Château de Chaillot (no longer existing). Chaillot was incorporated into the city of Paris in 1860 by the Law of 16 June 1859. At that time, it was planned that Auteuil and Passy would form a new arrondissement that would be numbered
296-518: A Godless king who had either authorised or permitted the slaughter". Thus, the massacre "marked the beginning of a new form of French Protestantism: one that was openly at war with the crown. This was much more than a war against the policies of the crown, as in the first three civil wars; it was a campaign against the very existence of the Gallican monarchy itself". Tensions were further raised when in May 1572
444-677: A bride for Philip II of Spain . Now she sought a marriage between Margaret and Henry III of Navarre , Jeanne's son, with the aim of uniting Valois and Bourbon interests. Margaret, however, was secretly involved with Henry of Guise , the son of the late Duke of Guise. When Catherine found this out, she had her daughter brought from her bed. Catherine and the king then beat her, ripping her nightclothes and pulling out handfuls of her hair. Catherine pressed Jeanne d'Albret to attend court. Writing that she wanted to see Jeanne's children, she promised not to harm them. Jeanne replied: "Pardon me if, reading that, I want to laugh, because you want to relieve me of
592-458: A chill after a game of tennis, contracted a fever and died shortly after, leaving Henry the heir. Suspicions of poison abounded, from Catherine to Emperor Charles V. Sebastiano de Montecuccoli confessed under torture to poisoning the Dauphin. As dauphine , Catherine was expected to provide a future heir to the throne. According to the court chronicler Brantôme , "many people advised the king and
740-664: A fear that I've never had. I've never thought that, as they say, you eat little children." When Jeanne did come to court, Catherine pressured her hard, playing on Jeanne's hopes for her beloved son. Jeanne finally agreed to the marriage between her son and Margaret, so long as Henry could remain a Huguenot. When Jeanne arrived in Paris to buy clothes for the wedding, she was taken ill and died on 9 June 1572, aged forty-three. Huguenot writers later accused Catherine of murdering her with poisoned gloves. The wedding took place on 18 August 1572 at Notre-Dame , Paris. Three days later, Admiral Coligny
888-481: A group led by Guise in person dragged Admiral Coligny from his bed, killed him, and threw his body out of a window. The terrified Huguenot nobles in the building initially put up a fight, hoping to save the life of their leader, but Coligny himself seemed unperturbed. According to the contemporary French historian Jacques Auguste de Thou , one of Coligny's murderers was struck by how calmly he accepted his fate, and remarked that "he never saw anyone less afraid in so great
1036-524: A group of militants who had already made out lists of Protestants deserving extermination, and the mass of the population, whether approving or disapproving, were not directly involved. The two leading Huguenots, Henry of Navarre and his cousin the Prince of Condé (respectively aged 19 and 20), were spared as they pledged to convert to Catholicism; both would eventually renounce their conversions when they managed to escape Paris. According to some interpretations,
1184-508: A large wooden cross on a stone base. Under the terms of the peace, and after considerable popular resistance, this had been removed in December 1571 (and re-erected in a cemetery), which had already led to about 50 deaths in riots, as well as mob destruction of property. In the massacres of August, the relatives of the Gastines family were among the first to be killed by the mob. The court itself
1332-576: A meeting at the Tuileries Palace with her Italian advisers, including Albert de Gondi , Comte de Retz. On the evening of 23 August, Catherine went to see the king to discuss the crisis. Though no details of the meeting survive, Charles IX and his mother apparently made the decision to eliminate the Protestant leaders. Holt speculated this entailed "between two and three dozen noblemen" who were still in Paris. Other historians are reluctant to speculate on
1480-763: A military colony and a buffer against the Habsburg . This plan also had the added advantage of removing the Huguenots from France, but it failed to interest the Ottomans. On 27 September 1567, in a swoop known as the Surprise of Meaux , Huguenot forces attempted to ambush the king, triggering renewed civil war. Taken unawares, the court fled to Paris in disarray. The war was ended by the Peace of Longjumeau of 22–23 March 1568, but civil unrest and bloodshed continued. The Surprise of Meaux marked
1628-518: A more recent work than his history of the period, Holt concludes: "The ringleaders of the conspiracy appear to have been a group of four men: Henry, duke of Anjou; Chancellor Birague ; the duke of Nevers , and the comte de Retz" (Gondi). Apart from Anjou, the others were all Italian advisors at the French court. According to Denis Crouzet , Charles IX feared a Protestant uprising, and chose to strangle it at birth to protect his power. The execution decision
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#17328523780301776-616: A move that endangered Henry's throne, Francis allied with the Protestant princes against the crown. On 6 May 1576, Catherine gave in to almost all Huguenot demands in the Edict of Beaulieu . The treaty became known as the Peace of Monsieur because it was thought that Francis had forced it on the crown. Francis died of consumption in June 1584, after a disastrous intervention in the Low Countries during which his army had been massacred. Catherine wrote,
1924-599: A pair of scissors. Catherine, who was said to have received the news without emotion, made a tearful visit to Coligny and promised to punish his attacker. Many historians have blamed Catherine for the attack on Coligny. Others point to the Guise family or a Spanish-papal plot to end Coligny's influence on the king. Whatever the truth, the bloodbath that followed was soon beyond the control of Catherine or any other leader. The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre , which began two days later, has stained Catherine's reputation ever since. There
2072-554: A peril, nor die more steadfastly". The tension that had been building since the Peace of St. Germain now exploded in a wave of popular violence. The common people began to hunt Protestants throughout the city, including women and children. Chains were used to block streets so that Protestants could not escape from their houses. The bodies of the dead were collected in carts and thrown into the Seine . The massacre in Paris lasted three days despite
2220-414: A political marriage to a foreign princess. Rumours of Henry's inability to produce children were by that time in wide circulation. The papal nuncio Salviati observed, "it is only with difficulty that we can imagine there will be offspring ... physicians and those who know him well say that he has an extremely weak constitution and will not live long." As time passed and the likelihood of children from
2368-475: A procession, was then held, while the killings continued in parts of the city. Although Charles had dispatched orders to his provincial governors on 24 August to prevent violence and maintain the terms of the 1570 edict, from August to October, similar massacres of Huguenots took place in a total of twelve other cities: Toulouse , Bordeaux , Lyon , Bourges , Rouen , Orléans , Meaux , Angers , La Charité , Saumur , Gaillac and Troyes . In most of them,
2516-548: A scheming Italian, who had acted on Machiavelli 's principles to kill all enemies in one blow. Two years later, Catherine faced a new crisis with the death of Charles IX at the age of twenty-three. His dying words were "oh, my mother ..." The day before he died, he named Catherine regent, since his brother and heir, Henry the Duke of Anjou, was in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , where he had been elected king
2664-459: A single one alive to reproach me!" The author of the Lettre de Pierre Charpentier (1572) was not only "a Protestant of sorts, and thus, apparently, writing with inside knowledge", but also "an extreme apologist for the massacre ... in his view ... a well-merited punishment for years of civil disobedience [and] secret sedition..." A strand of Catholic writing, especially by Italian authors, broke from
2812-590: A special mission by Gondi, prevented the collapse of her policy of remaining on good terms with them. Elizabeth I of England 's ambassador to France at that time, Sir Francis Walsingham , barely escaped with his life. Even Tsar Ivan the Terrible expressed horror at the carnage in a letter to the Emperor. The massacre "spawned a pullulating mass of polemical literature, bubbling with theories, prejudices and phobias". Many Catholic authors were exultant in their praise of
2960-548: A sword before which are the felled Protestants. Pope Gregory XIII also commissioned the artist Giorgio Vasari to paint three frescos in the Sala Regia depicting the wounding of Coligny, his death, and Charles IX before Parliament, matching those commemorating the defeat of the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). "The massacre was interpreted as an act of divine retribution ; Coligny
3108-599: A turning point in Catherine's policy towards the Huguenots. From that moment, she abandoned compromise for a policy of repression. She told the Venetian ambassador in June 1568 that all one could expect from Huguenots was deceit, and she praised the Duke of Alba's reign of terror in the Netherlands, where Calvinists and rebels were put to death in the thousands. The Huguenots retreated to the fortified stronghold of La Rochelle on
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#17328523780303256-428: A week. It spread to many parts of France, where it persisted into the autumn. In the words of historian Jules Michelet , "St Bartholomew was not a day, but a season". On 29 September, when Navarre knelt before the altar as a Roman Catholic, having converted to avoid being killed, Catherine turned to the ambassadors and laughed. From this time dates the legend of the wicked Italian queen. Huguenot writers branded Catherine
3404-404: A wife; instead, he openly took mistresses. For the first ten years of the marriage, the royal couple failed to produce any children together. In 1537, he had a brief affair with Philippa Duci , who gave birth to a daughter, whom he publicly acknowledged. This proved that Henry was fertile and added to the pressure on Catherine to produce a child. In 1536, Henry's older brother, Francis , caught
3552-535: Is little trace of Machiavelli in French writings before the massacre, and not very much after, until Gentillet's own book, but this concept was seized upon by many contemporaries, and played a crucial part in setting the long-lasting popular concept of Machiavellianism. It also gave added impetus to the strong anti-Italian feelings already present in Huguenot polemic. Christopher Marlowe was one of many Elizabethan writers who were enthusiastic proponents of these ideas. In
3700-509: Is not known; but on Christmas Day, she told a friar, "Oh, wretched man! What has he done? ... Pray for him ... I see him rushing towards his ruin." She visited her old friend Cardinal de Bourbon on 1 January 1589 to tell him she was sure he would soon be freed. He shouted at her, "Your words, Madam, have led us all to this butchery." She left in tears. St. Bartholomew%27s Day massacre The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre ( French : Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy ) in 1572
3848-427: Is reason to believe she was party to the decision when on 23 August Charles IX is said to have ordered, "Then kill them all! Kill them all!" Historians have suggested that Catherine and her advisers expected a Huguenot uprising to avenge the attack on Coligny. They chose therefore to strike first and wipe out the Huguenot leaders while they were still in Paris after the wedding. The slaughter in Paris lasted for almost
3996-681: Is so much treachery about that I die of fear." Henry was unable to fight the Catholics and the Protestants at once, both of whom had stronger armies than his own. In the Treaty of Nemours , signed on 7 July 1585, he was forced to give in to all the League's demands, even that he pay its troops. He went into hiding to fast and pray, surrounded by a bodyguard known as " the Forty-five ", and left Catherine to sort out
4144-461: Is to have the honour of God before my eyes in all things and to preserve my authority, not for myself, but for the conservation of this kingdom and for the good of all your brothers". Charles IX was ten years old at the time of his royal consecration, during which he cried. At first Catherine kept him very close to her, and even slept in his chamber. She presided over his council, decided policy, and controlled state business and patronage. However, she
4292-560: The Jew of Malta (1589–90) "Machievel" in person speaks the Prologue, claiming to not be dead, but to have possessed the soul of the Duke of Guise, "And, now the Guise is dead, is come from France/ To view this land, and frolic with his friends" (Prologue, lines 3–4) His last play, The Massacre at Paris (1593) takes the massacre, and the following years, as its subject, with Guise and Catherine both depicted as Machiavellian plotters, bent on evil from
4440-423: The Château of Chenonceau , which Catherine had wanted for herself, to his mistress Diane de Poitiers instead, who took her place at the center of power, dispensing patronage and accepting favors. The imperial ambassador reported that in the presence of guests, Henry would sit on Diane's lap and play the guitar, chat about politics, or fondle her breasts. Diane never regarded Catherine as a threat. She even encouraged
4588-532: The Dauphin to repudiate her, since it was necessary to continue the line of France". Divorce was discussed. In desperation, Catherine tried every known trick for getting pregnant, such as placing cow dung and ground stags' antlers on her "source of life", and drinking mule's urine. On 19 January 1544, she at last gave birth to a son , named after King Francis. After becoming pregnant once, Catherine had no trouble doing so again. She may have owed her change of fortune to
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4736-556: The Duchy of Urbino to the Papal States , permitting Florence to keep only the Fortress of San Leo . It was only after Leo's death in 1521, that his successor, Adrian VI , restored the duchy to its rightful owner, Francesco Maria I della Rovere . Catherine was first cared for by her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini . After Alfonsina's death in 1520, Catherine joined her cousins and
4884-733: The Duke of Alba to tell Catherine to scrap the Edict of Amboise and to find punitive solutions to the problem of heresy. In 1566, through the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire , Guillaume de Grandchamp de Grantrie , and because of a long-standing Franco-Ottoman alliance , Charles and Catherine proposed to the Ottoman Court a plan to resettle French Huguenots and French and German Lutherans in Ottoman-controlled Moldavia , in order to create
5032-565: The First Prince of the Blood , and then, with more success, to his brother, Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé , who backed a plot to overthrow the Guises by force. When the Guises heard of the plot, they moved the court to the fortified Château of Amboise . The Duke of Guise launched an attack into the woods around the château. His troops surprised the rebels and killed many of them on the spot, including
5180-452: The House of Montmorency . François, Duke of Montmorency and governor of Paris, was unable to control the disturbances in the city. On 20 August, he left the capital and retired to Chantilly . In the years preceding the massacre, Huguenot political rhetoric had for the first time taken a tone against not just the policies of a particular monarch of France, but monarchy in general. In part this
5328-755: The Musée Guimet , the Palais Galliera , and the Palais de Tokyo . Lübeck School is located in Chaillot. Marcel Proust died at his apartment 44 rue Hamelin, in Chaillot, in 1922. The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux is set in a café on Place de l'Alma . Catherine de%27 Medici Catherine de' Medici (Italian: Caterina de' Medici , pronounced [kateˈriːna de ˈmɛːditʃi] ; French: Catherine de Médicis , pronounced [katʁin də medisis] ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589)
5476-461: The sovereignty of the people , ideas to which Catholic writers and preachers responded fiercely. Nevertheless, it was only in the aftermath of the massacre that anti-monarchical ideas found widespread support from Huguenots, among the " Monarchomachs " and others. "Huguenot writers, who had previously, for the most part, paraded their loyalty to the Crown, now called for the deposition or assassination of
5624-557: The 13th arrondissement, but "The rich and powerful moving in did not like the number. They pulled strings and became the 16th, the unlucky association and postmark being transferred to the blameless but less influential folks around Porte d'Italie." Among the landmarks of Chaillot are the Palais de Chaillot and the Jardins du Trocadéro at the Trocadéro , the Saint-Pierre de Chaillot church,
5772-494: The 16th century. Catherine de' Medici was born Caterina Maria Romula de' Medici on 13 April 1519 in Florence , Republic of Florence , the only child of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino , and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne , the countess of Boulogne. The young couple had been married the year before at Amboise as part of the alliance between King Francis I of France and Lorenzo's uncle Pope Leo X against
5920-540: The 38-year-old Diane de Poitiers , whom he adored for the rest of his life. Even so, he respected Catherine's status as his consort. When King Francis I died on 31 March 1547, Catherine became queen consort of France. She was crowned in the Basilica of Saint-Denis on 10 June 1549. Henry allowed Catherine almost no political influence as queen. Although she sometimes acted as regent during his absences from France, her formal powers were strictly nominal. Henry even gave
6068-533: The Act of Union, which gave in to all the League's latest demands. On 8 September 1588 at Blois, where the court had assembled for a meeting of the Estates, Henry dismissed all his ministers without warning. Catherine, in bed with a lung infection, had been kept in the dark. The king's actions effectively ended her days of power. At the meeting of the Estates, Henry thanked Catherine for all she had done. He called her not only
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6216-458: The Catholic world. Philip II of Spain prepared for an invasion of England. The League took control of much of northern France to secure French ports for his armada . Henry hired Swiss troops to help him defend himself in Paris. The Parisians, however, claimed the right to defend the city themselves. On 12 May 1588, they set up barricades in the streets and refused to take orders from anyone except
6364-422: The Duke of Guise's brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise , whom Henry's men hacked to death the next day in the palace dungeons. Immediately after the murder of Guise, Henry entered Catherine's bedroom on the floor below and announced, "Please forgive me. Monsieur de Guise is dead. He will not be spoken of again. I have had him killed. I have done to him what he was going to do to me." Catherine's immediate reaction
6512-482: The Duke of Guise. When Catherine tried to go to Mass, she found her way barred, though she was allowed through the barricades. The chronicler L'Estoile reported that she cried all through her lunch that day. She wrote to Bellièvre, "Never have I seen myself in such trouble or with so little light by which to escape." As usual, Catherine advised the king, who had fled the city in the nick of time, to compromise and live to fight another day. On 15 June 1588, Henry duly signed
6660-484: The French court, while Mary of Guise governed Scotland as her daughter's regent . On 3–4 April 1559, Henry signed the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis with the Holy Roman Empire and England, ending a long period of Italian Wars . The treaty was sealed by the betrothal of Catherine's teenage daughter Elisabeth , aged 13, to Philip II of Spain . Their proxy wedding was celebrated in Paris on 22 June 1559. As part of
6808-589: The French crown. Catherine had at least taken the precaution of marrying Margaret, her youngest daughter, to Navarre. Margaret, however, became almost as much of a thorn in Catherine's side as Francis, and in 1582, she returned to the French court without her husband. Catherine was heard yelling at her for taking lovers. Catherine sent Pomponne de Bellièvre to Navarre to arrange Margaret's return. In 1585, Margaret fled Navarre again. She retreated to her property at Agen and begged her mother for money. Catherine sent her only enough "to put food on her table". Moving on to
6956-595: The French king". For the moment, Catherine worked with the Guises out of necessity. She was not strictly entitled to a role in Francis's government, because he was deemed old enough to rule for himself. Nevertheless, all his official acts began with the words: "This being the good pleasure of the Queen, my lady-mother, and I also approving of every opinion that she holdeth, am content and command that ...". Catherine did not hesitate to exploit her new authority. One of her first acts
7104-535: The French people. On her return to Paris in 1579, she was greeted outside the city by the Parlement and crowds. The Venetian ambassador, Gerolamo Lipomanno, wrote: "She is an indefatigable princess, born to tame and govern a people as unruly as the French: they now recognize her merits, her concern for unity and are sorry not to have appreciated her sooner." She was under no illusions, however. On 25 November 1579, she wrote to
7252-536: The Guises, the city militia and the common people. According to Thierry Wanegffelen , the member of the royal family with the most responsibility in this affair is Henry, Duke of Anjou, the king's ambitious younger brother. Following the failed assassination attack against the Admiral de Coligny (which Wanegffelen attributes to the Guise family and Spain), the Italian advisers of Catherine de' Medici undoubtedly recommended in
7400-583: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian ;I . According to a contemporary chronicler, when Catherine was born, her parents were "as pleased as if it had been a boy". Within a month of Catherine's birth, both her parents were dead: Madeleine died on 28 April of puerperal fever , and Lorenzo died on 4 May. King Francis wanted Catherine to be raised at the French court, but Pope Leo refused, claiming he wanted her to marry Ippolito de' Medici . Leo made Catherine Duchess of Urbino but annexed most of
7548-465: The Huguenot community shrank from 16,500 to fewer than 3,000 mainly as a result of conversions and emigration to safer cities or countries. Some cities unaffected by the violence nevertheless witnessed a sharp decline in their Huguenot population. It has been claimed that the Huguenot community represented as much as 10% of the French population on the eve of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, declining to 7–8% by
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#17328523780307696-725: The Louvre, which was the parish church of the kings of France. The Swiss mercenaries expelled the Protestant nobles from the Louvre Castle and then slaughtered them in the streets. In the Holy Innocents' Cemetery , on 24 August at noon, a hawthorn bush , that had withered for months, began to green again near an image of the Virgin. That was interpreted by the Parisians as a sign of divine blessing and approval to these multiple murders, and that night,
7844-634: The Medici were overthrown in Florence by a faction opposed to the regime of Clement's representative, Cardinal Silvio Passerini , and Catherine was taken hostage and placed in a series of convents. The final one, the Santissima Annuziata delle Murate was her home for three years. Mark Strage described these years as "the happiest of her entire life". Clement had no choice but to crown Charles of Austria as Holy Roman Emperor in return for his help in retaking
7992-418: The Peace of St. Germain with the king. An attempt was made on Coligny's life a few days later on 22 August as he made his way back to his house from the Louvre. He was shot from an upstairs window, and seriously wounded. The would-be assassin, most likely Charles de Louviers , Lord of Maurevert ( c. 1505 –1583), escaped in the ensuing confusion. Other theories about who was ultimately responsible for
8140-590: 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. The massacre began in the night of 23–24 August 1572, the eve of the Feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny , the military and political leader of the Huguenots. King Charles IX ordered
8288-467: The Queen". For the next ten days, Henry's state fluctuated. At times he even felt well enough to dictate letters and listen to music. Slowly, however, he lost his sight, speech, and reason, and on 10 July 1559, he died, aged 40. From that day, Catherine took a broken lance as her emblem, inscribed with the words " lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor " ("from this come my tears and my pain"), and wore black mourning in memory of Henry. Francis II became king at
8436-571: The Spanish. This intervention threatened to involve France in that war; many Catholics believed that Coligny had again persuaded the king to intervene on the side of the Dutch, as he had managed to do the previous October, before Catherine had got the decision reversed. After the wedding of Catholic Marguerite de Valois and Huguenot Henry de Navarre on 18 August 1572, Coligny and the leading Huguenots remained in Paris to discuss some outstanding grievances about
8584-522: The age of fifteen. In what has been called a coup d'état , the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise —whose niece, Mary, Queen of Scots , had married Francis II the year before—seized power the day after Henry II's death and quickly moved themselves into the Louvre Palace with the young couple. The English ambassador reported a few days later that "the house of Guise ruleth and doth all about
8732-412: The attack centre on three candidates: The attempted assassination of Coligny triggered the crisis that led to the massacre. Admiral de Coligny was the most respected Huguenot leader and enjoyed a close relationship with the king, although he was distrusted by the king's mother. Aware of the danger of reprisals from the Protestants, the king and his court visited Coligny on his sickbed and promised him that
8880-435: The bedroom with King Francis, who is said to have stayed until the marriage was consummated. He noted that "each had shown valour in the joust". Clement visited the newlyweds in bed the next morning and added his blessings to the night's proceedings. Catherine saw little of her husband in their first year of marriage, but the ladies of the court, impressed with her intelligence and keenness to please, treated her well. However,
9028-557: The business of finding her a husband. On her visit to Rome, the Venetian envoy described Catherine as "small of stature, and thin, and without delicate features, but having the protruding eyes peculiar to the Medici family". Suitors, however, lined up for her hand, including James V of Scotland who sent the Duke of Albany to Clement to conclude a marriage in April and November 1530. When Francis I of France proposed his second son, Henry, Duke of Orléans , in early 1533, Clement jumped at
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#17328523780309176-412: The celebrations, a jousting tournament was held on 30 June 1559. King Henry took part in the jousting, sporting Diane's black-and-white colours. He defeated the dukes of Guise and Nemours, but the young Gabriel, comte de Montgomery , knocked him half out of the saddle. Henry insisted on riding against Montgomery again, and this time, Montgomery's lance shattered in the king's face. Henry reeled out of
9324-484: The chancellor advocated this policy to an Assembly of Notables at Fontainebleau . Historians regard the occasion as an early example of Catherine's statesmanship. Meanwhile, Condé raised an army and in autumn 1560 began attacking towns in the south. Catherine ordered him to court and had him imprisoned as soon as he arrived. He was tried in November, found guilty of offences against the crown, and sentenced to death. His life
9472-445: The city gates and arm the citizenry to prevent any attempt at a Protestant uprising. The king's Swiss mercenaries were given the task of killing a list of leading Protestants. It is difficult today to determine the exact chronology of events, or to know the precise moment the killing began. It seems probable that a signal was given by ringing bells for matins (between midnight and dawn) at the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois , near
9620-501: The city. In October 1529, Charles's troops laid siege to Florence . As the siege dragged on, voices called for Catherine to be killed and exposed naked and chained to the city walls. Some even suggested that she be handed over to the troops to be raped. The city finally surrendered on 12 August 1530. Clement summoned Catherine from her beloved convent to join him in Rome where he greeted her with open arms and tears in his eyes. Then he set about
9768-472: The clash, his face pouring blood, with splinters "of a good bigness" sticking out of his eye and head. Catherine, Diane, and Prince Francis all fainted. Henry was carried to the Château de Tournelles, where five splinters of wood were extracted from his head, one of which had pierced his eye and brain. Catherine stayed by his bedside, but Diane kept away, "for fear", in the words of a chronicler, "of being expelled by
9916-622: The clear-sighted Charles, cardinal of Lorraine, was then detained in Rome). The Parisian St. Bartholomew's Day massacre resulted from this conjunction of interests, and this offers a much better explanation as to why the men of the Duke of Anjou acted in the name of the Lieutenant General of the Kingdom, consistent with the thinking of the time, rather than in the name of the King. One can also understand why,
10064-486: The commander, La Renaudie. Others they drowned in the river or strung up around the battlements while Catherine and the court watched. In June 1560, Michel de l'Hôpital was appointed Chancellor of France . He sought the support of France's constitutional bodies and worked closely with Catherine to defend the law in the face of the growing anarchy. Neither saw the need to punish Protestants who worshipped in private and did not take up arms. On 20 August 1560, Catherine and
10212-423: The composition or size of the group of leaders targeted at this point, beyond the few obvious heads. Like Coligny, most potential candidates for elimination were accompanied by groups of gentlemen who served as staff and bodyguards, so murdering them would also have involved killing their retainers as a necessity. Shortly after this decision, the municipal authorities of Paris were summoned. They were ordered to shut
10360-512: The contemporary Huguenot Maximilien de Béthune , who himself barely escaped death. Accurate figures for casualties have never been compiled, and even in writings by modern historians there is a considerable range, though the more specialised the historian, the lower they tend to be. At the low end are figures of about 2,000 in Paris and 3,000 in the provinces, the latter figure an estimate by Philip Benedict in 1978. Other estimates are about 10,000 in total, with about 3,000 in Paris and 7,000 in
10508-405: The court on a progress around France that lasted from January 1564 until May 1565. Catherine held talks with Jeanne d'Albret , the Protestant queen regnant of Navarre (and the wife of Antoine de Bourbon ) at Mâcon and Nérac . She also met her daughter Elisabeth at Bayonne near the Spanish border, amidst lavish court festivities . Philip II excused himself from the occasion. He sent
10656-405: The critical and incendiary role that militant preachers played in shaping ordinary lay beliefs, both Catholic and Protestant. Historian Barbara B. Diefendorf, Professor of History at Boston University , wrote that Simon Vigor had "said if the King ordered the Admiral (Coligny) killed, 'it would be wicked not to kill him'. With these words, the most popular preacher in Paris legitimised in advance
10804-498: The culprits would be punished. While the Queen Mother was eating dinner, Protestants burst in to demand justice, some talking in menacing terms. Fears of Huguenot reprisals grew. Coligny's brother-in-law led a 4,000-strong army camped just outside Paris and, although there is no evidence it was planning to attack, Catholics in the city feared it might take revenge on the Guises or the city populace itself. That evening, Catherine held
10952-403: The day after the start of the massacre, Catherine de' Medici, through royal declaration of Charles IX, condemned the crimes, and threatened the Guise family with royal justice. However, when Charles IX and his mother learned of the involvement of the duke of Anjou, and being so dependent on his support, they issued a second royal declaration, which, while asking for an end to the massacres, credited
11100-457: The death of her uncle Clement on 25 September 1534 undermined Catherine's standing in the French court. The next pope, Alessandro Farnese, was elected on 13 October and took the title Paul III . As a Farnese he felt no obligation to keep Clement's promises, broke the alliance with Francis and refused to continue paying her huge dowry. King Francis lamented, "The girl has come to me stark naked." Prince Henry showed no interest in Catherine as
11248-403: The deathbed of Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre , after he was fatally wounded by an arquebus shot. Catherine insisted on visiting the field herself and when warned of the dangers laughed, "My courage is as great as yours". The Catholics took Rouen, but their triumph was short-lived. On 18 February 1563, a spy called Poltrot de Méré fired an arquebus into the back of the Duke of Guise , at
11396-451: The end of the 16th century, and further after heavy persecution began once again during the reign of Louis XIV , culminating with the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes . Soon afterward both sides prepared for a fourth civil war , which began before the end of the year. Estimates of the number that perished in the massacres have varied from 2,000 by a Roman Catholic apologist to 70,000 by
11544-419: The events of St. Bartholomew's Day". Diefendorf says that when the head of the murdered Coligny was shown to the Paris mob by a member of the nobility, with the claim that it was the King's will, the die was cast. Another historian Mack P. Holt, Professor at George Mason University , agrees that Vigor, "the best known preacher in Paris", preached sermons that were full of references to the evils that would befall
11692-456: The first three civil wars... Moreover seven of them shared a previous experience ... [they] had actually been taken over by Protestant minorities during the first civil war..." In several cases the Catholic party in the city believed they had received orders from the king to begin the massacre, some conveyed by visitors to the city, and in other cases apparently coming from a local nobleman or his agent. It seems unlikely any such orders came from
11840-473: The following years by witnesses to the events at court, including the famous Memoirs of Margaret of Valois , the only eye-witness account of the massacre from a member of the royal family. There is also a dramatic and influential account by Henry, duke of Anjou that was not recognised as fake until the 19th century. Anjou's supposed account was the source of the quotation attributed to Charles IX: "Well then, so be it! Kill them! But kill them all! Don't leave
11988-407: The fortress of Carlat, Margaret took a lover called d'Aubiac. Catherine asked Henry to act before Margaret brought shame on them again. In October 1586, therefore, he had Margaret locked up in the Château d'Usson . D'Aubiac was executed, though not, despite Catherine's wish, in front of Margaret. Catherine cut Margaret out of her will and never saw her again. Catherine was unable to control Henry in
12136-667: The fuse that sparked the French Wars of Religion . For the next thirty years, France found itself in a state of either civil war or armed truce. Within a month Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé , and Admiral Gaspard de Coligny had raised an army of 1,800. They formed an alliance with England and seized town after town in France. Catherine met Coligny, but he refused to back down. She therefore told him: "Since you rely on your forces, we will show you ours". The royal army struck back quickly and laid siege to Huguenot-held Rouen . Catherine visited
12284-471: The future Henry III (born 19 September 1551); and Francis, Duke of Anjou (born 18 March 1555), Claude (born 12 November 1547) and Margaret (born 14 May 1553). The long-term future of the Valois dynasty , which had ruled France since the 14th century, seemed assured. However, Catherine's ability to bear children failed to improve her marriage. About 1538, at the age of 19, Henry had taken as his mistress
12432-448: The gathering of a large number of well-born Protestants in Paris, but Paris was a violently anti-Huguenot city, and Parisians, who tended to be extreme Catholics, found their presence unacceptable. Encouraged by Catholic preachers, they were horrified at the marriage of a princess of France to a Protestant. The Parlement 's opposition and the court's absence from the wedding led to increased political tension. Compounding this bad feeling
12580-431: The harrowing details of violence, expounded various conspiracy theories that the royal court had long planned the massacres, and often showed extravagant anti-Italian feelings directed at Catherine, Gondi, and other Italians at court. Diplomatic correspondence was readier than published polemics to recognise the unplanned and chaotic nature of the events, which also emerged from several accounts in memoirs published over
12728-461: The inflammatory sermon on 29 September of a Jesuit , Edmond Auger, encouraged the massacre that was to occur a few days later. In the cities affected, the loss to the Huguenot communities after the massacres was numerically far larger than those actually killed; in the following weeks there were mass conversions to Catholicism, apparently in response to the threatening atmosphere for Huguenots in these cities. In Rouen, where some hundreds were killed,
12876-537: The initiative with the desire of Charles IX to prevent a Protestant plot. Initially the coup d'état of the duke of Anjou was a success, but Catherine de' Medici went out of her way to deprive him from any power in France: she sent him with the royal army to remain in front of La Rochelle and then had him elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Traditional histories have tended to focus more on
13024-522: The killer of Coligny, on the ground that he was a murderer. On hearing of the slaughter, Philip II of Spain supposedly "laughed, for almost the only time on record". In Paris, the poet Jean-Antoine de Baïf , founder of the Academie de Musique et de Poésie , wrote a sonnet extravagantly praising the killings. On the other hand, the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II , King Charles's father-in-law,
13172-402: The killing of a group of Huguenot leaders, including Coligny, and the slaughter spread throughout Paris. Lasting several weeks in all, the massacre expanded outward to the countryside and other urban centres. Modern estimates for the number of dead across France vary widely, from 5,000 to 30,000. The massacre marked a turning point in the French Wars of Religion . The Huguenot political movement
13320-435: The killings swiftly followed the arrival of the news of the Paris massacre, but in some places there was a delay of more than a month. According to Mack P. Holt: "All twelve cities where provincial massacres occurred had one striking feature in common; they were all cities with Catholic majorities where there had once been significant Protestant minorities.... All of them had also experienced serious religious division... during
13468-451: The king for his bold and decisive action (after regretfully abandoning a policy of meeting Huguenot demands as far as he could) against the supposed Huguenot coup, whose details were now fleshed out in officially sponsored works, though the larger mob massacres were somewhat deprecated: "[one] must excuse the people's fury moved by a laudable zeal which is difficult to restrain once it has been stirred up". Huguenot works understandably dwelt on
13616-476: The king lived to take responsibility or stabilise the country. Therefore, her policies may be seen as desperate measures to keep the House of Valois on the throne at all costs and her patronage of the arts as an attempt to glorify a monarchy whose prestige was in steep decline. Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power. Catherine has been called "the most important woman in Europe" in
13764-616: The king to spend more time with Catherine and sire more children. In 1556, Catherine nearly died giving birth to twin daughters, Jeanne and Victoire . Surgeons saved her life by breaking the legs of Jeanne, who died in her womb. The surviving daughter, Victoire, died seven weeks later. Because their birth very nearly cost Catherine her life, the king's physician advised the king that there should be no more children; therefore, Henry II stopped visiting his wife's bedroom and spent all his time with his longtime mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Catherine had no more children. Henry's reign enabled
13912-416: The king's attempts to stop it. Holt concludes that "while the general massacre might have been prevented, there is no evidence that it was intended by any of the elites at court", listing a number of cases where Catholic courtiers intervened to save individual Protestants who were not in the leadership. Recent research by Jérémie Foa, investigating the prosopography suggests that the massacres were carried by
14060-582: The king, "You are on the eve of a general revolt. Anyone who tells you differently is a liar." Many leading Roman Catholics were appalled by Catherine's attempts to appease the Huguenots. After the Edict of Beaulieu, they had started forming local leagues to protect their religion. The death of the heir to the throne in 1584 prompted the Duke of Guise to assume the leadership of the Catholic League . He planned to block Henry of Navarre's succession and place Henry's Catholic uncle Cardinal Charles de Bourbon on
14208-606: The king, although the Guise faction may have desired the massacres. Apparently genuine letters from the Duke of Anjou , the king's younger brother, did urge massacres in the king's name; in Nantes the mayor fortunately held on to his without publicising it until a week later when contrary orders from the king had arrived. In some cities the massacres were led by the mob, while the city authorities tried to suppress them, and in others small groups of soldiers and officials began rounding up Protestants with little mob involvement. In Bordeaux
14356-499: The marriage receded, Catherine's youngest son, Francis, Duke of Alençon , known as "Monsieur", played upon his role as heir to the throne, repeatedly exploiting the anarchy of the civil wars, which were by now as much about noble power struggles as religion. Catherine did all in her power to bring Francis back into the fold. On one occasion, in March 1578, she lectured him for six hours about his dangerously subversive behaviour. In 1576, in
14504-414: The massacre had been premeditated twice, finally concluding that it was not. The question of whether the massacre had long been premeditated was not entirely settled until the late 19th century by which time a consensus was reached that it was not. Over the centuries, the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre has aroused a great deal of controversy. Modern historians are still divided over the responsibility of
14652-408: The mess. The monarchy had lost control of the country, and was in no position to assist England in the face of the coming Spanish attack. The Spanish ambassador told Philip II that the abscess was about to burst. By 1587, the Catholic backlash against the Protestants had become a campaign across Europe. Elizabeth I of England 's execution of Mary, Queen of Scots , on 8 February 1587 outraged
14800-434: The monarchy were complex and daunting. However, Catherine kept the monarchy and state institutions functioning, if at a minimal level. At first, Catherine compromised and made concessions to the rebelling Calvinist Protestants known as Huguenots . However, she failed to fully grasp the theological issues that drove their movement. Later, she resorted in frustration and anger to hardline policies against them. In return, she
14948-428: The mother of the king but the mother of the state. Henry did not tell Catherine of his plan for a solution to his problems. On 23 December 1588, he asked the Duke of Guise to call on him at the Château de Blois . As Guise entered the king's chamber, the Forty-five plunged their blades into his body, and he died at the foot of the king's bed. At the same moment, eight members of the Guise family were rounded up, including
15096-676: The news reached Paris that a French Huguenot army under Louis of Nassau had crossed from France to the Netherlandish province of Hainaut and captured the Catholic strongholds of Mons and Valenciennes (now in Belgium and France, respectively). Louis governed the Principality of Orange around Avignon in southern France for his brother William the Silent , who was leading the Dutch Revolt against
15244-507: The next day: "I am so wretched to live long enough to see so many people die before me, although I realize that God's will must be obeyed, that He owns everything, and that He lends us only for as long as He likes the children whom He gives us." The death of her youngest son was a calamity for Catherine's dynastic dreams. Under Salic law , by which only males could ascend the throne, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre now became heir presumptive to
15392-531: The next four years. Gentillet held, quite wrongly according to Sydney Anglo, that Machiavelli 's "books [were] held most dear and precious by our Italian and Italionized courtiers" (in the words of his first English translation), and so (in Anglo's paraphrase) "at the root of France's present degradation, which has culminated not only in the St Bartholemew massacre but the glee of its perverted admirers". In fact there
15540-480: The offer. Henry was a prize catch for Catherine, who, despite her wealth, was of common origin. The wedding, a grand affair marked by extravagant display and gift-giving, took place in the Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins in Marseille on 28 October 1533. Prince Henry danced and jousted for Catherine. The fourteen-year-old couple left their wedding ball at midnight to perform their nuptial duties. Henry arrived in
15688-463: The official French line to applaud the massacre as precisely a brilliant stratagem, deliberately planned from various points beforehand. The most extreme of these writers was Camilo Capilupi, a papal secretary, whose work insisted that the whole series of events since 1570 had been a masterly plan conceived by Charles IX, and carried through by frequently misleading his mother and ministers as to his true intentions. The Venetian government refused to allow
15836-418: The physician Jean Fernel , who may have noticed slight abnormalities in the couple's sexual organs and advised them how to solve the problem. However, he denied ever providing such advice. Catherine quickly conceived again and on 2 April 1545 she bore a daughter, Elisabeth . She went on to bear Henry a further eight children, seven of whom survived infancy, including the future Charles IX (born 27 June 1550);
15984-540: The political arena as mother of the frail 15-year-old Francis II. When Francis II died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her 10-year-old son Charles IX and thus gained sweeping powers. After Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her advice only in the last months of her life but outlived her by just seven months. Catherine's three sons reigned in an age of almost constant civil and religious war in France . The problems facing
16132-510: The provinces. At the higher end are total figures of up to 20,000, or 30,000 in total, from "a contemporary, non-partisan guesstimate" quoted by the historians Felipe Fernández-Armesto and D. Wilson. For Paris, the only hard figure is a payment by the city to workmen for collecting and burying 1,100 bodies washed up on the banks of the Seine downstream from the city in one week. Body counts relating to other payments are computed from this. Among
16280-410: The resulting Colloquy of Poissy ended in failure on 13 October 1561, dissolving itself without her permission. Catherine failed because she saw the religious divide only in political terms. In the words of historian R. J. Knecht, "she underestimated the strength of religious conviction, imagining that all would be well if only she could get the party leaders to agree". In January 1562, Catherine issued
16428-410: The return of Protestants to the court, but the queen mother, Catherine de' Medici , and her son, Charles IX , were practical in their support of peace and Coligny, as they were conscious of the kingdom's financial difficulties and the Huguenots' strong defensive position: they controlled the fortified towns of La Rochelle , La Charité-sur-Loire , Cognac , and Montauban . To cement the peace between
16576-427: The rise of the Guise brothers, Charles , who became a cardinal , and Henry's boyhood friend Francis , both of whom became Duke of Guise . Their sister Mary of Guise had married James V of Scotland in 1538 and was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots . At the age of five and a half, Mary was brought to the French court, where she was promised to the Dauphin, Francis. Catherine brought her up with her own children at
16724-530: The roles of the political notables whose machinations began the massacre than the mindset of those who actually did the killing. Ordinary lay Catholics were involved in the mass killings; they believed they were executing the wishes of the king and of God. At this time, in an age before mass media, "the pulpit remained probably the most effective means of mass communication". Despite the large numbers of pamphlets and broadsheets in circulation, literacy rates were still poor. Thus, some modern historians have stressed
16872-491: The royal army ran out of cash, conceded wider toleration to the Huguenots than ever before. Catherine looked to further Valois interests by grand dynastic marriages. In 1570, Charles IX married Elisabeth of Austria , daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor . Catherine was also eager for a match between one of her two youngest sons and Elizabeth I of England . After Catherine's daughter Elisabeth died in childbirth in 1568, she had touted her youngest daughter Margaret as
17020-562: The royal council the execution of about fifty Protestant leaders. These Italians stood to benefit from the occasion by eliminating the Huguenot danger. Despite the firm opposition of the Queen Mother and the King, Anjou, Lieutenant General of the Kingdom, present at this meeting of the council, could see a good occasion to make a name for himself with the government. He contacted the Parisian authorities and another ambitious young man, running out of authority and power, Duke Henri de Guise (whose uncle,
17168-420: The royal family: The traditional interpretation makes Catherine de' Medici and her Catholic advisers the principal culprits in the execution of the principal military leaders. They forced the hand of a hesitant and weak-willed king in the decision of that particular execution. This traditional interpretation has been largely abandoned by some modern historians including, among others, Janine Garrisson. However, in
17316-407: The siege of Orléans. The murder triggered an aristocratic blood feud that complicated the French civil wars for years to come. Catherine, however, was delighted with the death of her ally. "If Monsieur de Guise had perished sooner", she told the Venetian ambassador, "peace would have been achieved more quickly". On 19 March 1563, the Edict of Amboise , also known as the Edict of Pacification, ended
17464-584: The slain were the philosopher Petrus Ramus , and in Lyon the composer Claude Goudimel . The corpses floating down the Rhône from Lyon are said to have put the people of Arles off drinking the water for three months. The Politiques , those Catholics who placed national unity above sectarian interests, were horrified, but many Catholics inside and outside France initially regarded the massacres as deliverance from an imminent Huguenot coup d'etat . The severed head of Coligny
17612-432: The start. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 was still ready to endorse a version of this view, describing the massacres as "an entirely political act committed in the name of the immoral principles of Machiavellianism" and blaming "the pagan theories of a certain raison d'état according to which the end justified the means ". The French 18th-century historian Louis-Pierre Anquetil , in his Esprit de la Ligue of 1767,
17760-529: The survival of these Huguenots was a key point in Catherine's overall scheme, to prevent the House of Guise from becoming too powerful. On 26 August, the king and court established the official version of events by going to the Paris Parlement . "Holding a lit de justice , Charles declared that he had ordered the massacre in order to thwart a Huguenot plot against the royal family." A jubilee celebration, including
17908-411: The throne instead. In this cause, he recruited the great Catholic princes, nobles and prelates, signed the treaty of Joinville with Spain, and prepared to make war on the "heretics". By 1585, Henry III had no choice but to go to war against the League. As Catherine put it, "peace is carried on a stick" ( bâton porte paix ). "Take care", she wrote to the king, "especially about your person. There
18056-496: The tolerant Edict of Saint-Germain in a further attempt to build bridges with the Protestants. On 1 March 1562, however, in an incident known as the Massacre of Vassy , the Duke of Guise and his men attacked worshipping Huguenots in a barn at Vassy , killing 74 and wounding 104. Guise, who called the massacre "a regrettable accident", was cheered as a hero in the streets of Paris while the Huguenots called for revenge. The massacre lit
18204-597: The two religious parties, Catherine planned to marry her daughter Margaret to the Protestant Henry of Navarre (the future King Henry IV ), son of the Huguenot leader Queen Jeanne d'Albret . The royal marriage was arranged for 18 August 1572. It was not accepted by traditionalist Catholics or by the Pope . Both the Pope and King Philip II of Spain strongly condemned Catherine's Huguenot policy as well. The impending marriage led to
18352-514: The war. Catherine now rallied both Huguenot and Catholic forces to retake Le Havre from the English. On 17 August 1563, Charles IX was declared of age at the Parlement of Rouen, but he was never able to rule on his own and showed little interest in government. Catherine decided to launch a drive to enforce the Edict of Amboise and revive loyalty to the crown. To this end, she set out with Charles and
18500-440: The way she had Francis and Charles. Her role in his government became that of chief executive and roving diplomat. She travelled widely across the kingdom, enforcing his authority and trying to head off war. In 1578, she took on the task of pacifying the south. At the age of fifty-nine, she embarked on an eighteen-month journey around the south of France to meet Huguenot leaders face to face. Her efforts won Catherine new respect from
18648-495: The west coast, where Jeanne d'Albret and her fifteen-year-old son, Henry of Bourbon , joined them. "We have come to the determination to die, all of us", Jeanne wrote to Catherine, "rather than abandon our God, and our religion." Catherine called Jeanne, whose decision to rebel posed a dynastic threat to the Valois, "the most shameless woman in the world". Nevertheless, the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , signed on 8 August 1570 because
18796-569: The work to be printed there, and it was eventually published in Rome in 1574, and in the same year quickly reprinted in Geneva in the original Italian and a French translation. It was in this context that the massacre came to be seen as a product of Machiavellianism , a view greatly influenced by the Huguenot Innocent Gentillet , who published his Discours contre Machievel in 1576, which was printed in ten editions in three languages over
18944-490: The year before. However, three months after his coronation at Wawel Cathedral , Henry abandoned that throne and returned to France in order to become King of France. Catherine wrote to Henry of Charles IX's death: "I am grief-stricken to have witnessed such a scene and the love which he showed me at the end ... My only consolation is to see you here soon, as your kingdom requires, and in good health, for if I were to lose you, I would have myself buried alive with you." Henry
19092-626: Was Catherine's favourite son. Unlike his brothers, he came to the throne as a grown man. He was also healthier, though he suffered from weak lungs and constant fatigue. His interest in the tasks of government, however, proved fitful. He depended on Catherine and her team of secretaries until the last few weeks of her life. He often hid from state affairs, immersing himself in acts of piety, such as pilgrimages and flagellation . Henry married Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont in February 1575, two days after his coronation. His choice thwarted Catherine's plans for
19240-453: Was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants ) 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
19388-491: Was among the first to begin impartial historical investigation, emphasising the lack of premeditation (before the attempt on Coligny) in the massacre and that Catholic mob violence had a history of uncontrollable escalation. By this period the Massacre was being widely used by Voltaire (in his Henriade ) and other Enlightenment writers in polemics against organised religion in general. Lord Acton changed his mind on whether
19536-488: Was an Italian ( Florentine ) noblewoman born into the Medici family . She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II and the mother of French kings Francis II , Charles IX , and Henry III . The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, albeit at times varying, influence on the political life of France. Catherine
19684-400: Was apparently dispatched to Pope Gregory XIII , though it got no further than Lyon, and the pope sent the king a Golden Rose . The pope ordered a Te Deum to be sung as a special thanksgiving (a practice continued for many years after) and had a medal struck with the motto Ugonottorum strages 1572 (Latin: "Overthrow (or slaughter) of the Huguenots 1572") showing an angel bearing a cross and
19832-526: Was blamed for the persecutions carried out under her sons' rules, in particular the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572, during which thousands of Huguenots were killed in France. Some historians have excused Catherine from blame for the worst decisions of the crown, but evidence for her ruthlessness can be found in her letters. In practice, her authority was limited by the effects of the civil wars, and she suffers in comparison to what might have been had her husband
19980-692: Was born in Florence to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino , and Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne . In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine married Henry, the second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France , who would become Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536. Catherine's marriage was arranged by her cousin Pope Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici). During his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from state affairs, instead showering favours on his chief mistress, Diane de Poitiers , who wielded much influence over him. Henry's sudden accidental death in 1559 thrust Catherine into
20128-483: Was considered a threat to Christendom and thus Pope Gregory XIII designated 11 September 1572 as a joint commemoration of the Battle of Lepanto and the massacre of the Huguenots." Although these formal acts of rejoicing in Rome were not repudiated publicly, misgivings in the papal curia grew as the true story of the killings gradually became known. Pope Gregory XIII himself refused to receive Charles de Maurevert, said to be
20276-453: Was crippled by the loss of many of its prominent aristocratic leaders, and many rank-and-file members subsequently converted. Those who remained became increasingly radicalised. Though by no means unique, the bloodletting "was the worst of the century's religious massacres". Throughout Europe, it "printed on Protestant minds the indelible conviction that Catholicism was a bloody and treacherous religion". The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day
20424-540: Was extremely divided. Catherine had not obtained Pope Gregory XIII's permission to celebrate this irregular marriage; consequently, the French prelates hesitated over which attitude to adopt. It took all the queen mother's skill to convince the Cardinal de Bourbon (paternal uncle of the Protestant groom, but himself a Catholic clergyman) to marry the couple. Beside this, the rivalries between the leading families re-emerged. The Guises were not prepared to make way for their rivals,
20572-465: Was led by an apparent change in stance by John Calvin in his Readings on the Prophet Daniel , a book of 1561, in which he had argued that when kings disobey God, they "automatically abdicate their worldly power" – a change from his views in earlier works that even ungodly kings should be obeyed. This change was soon picked up by Huguenot writers, who began to expand on Calvin and promote the idea of
20720-408: Was never in a position to control the country as a whole, which was on the brink of civil war. In many parts of France the rule of nobles held sway rather than that of the crown. The challenges Catherine faced were complex and, in some ways, difficult for her to comprehend as a foreigner. She summoned church leaders from both sides to attempt to solve their doctrinal differences. Despite her optimism,
20868-541: Was raised by her aunt, Clarice de' Medici . The death of Pope Leo in 1521 briefly interrupted Medici power until Cardinal Giulio de' Medici was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523. Clement housed Catherine in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, where she lived in state. The Florentine people called her duchessina ("the little duchess"), in deference to her unrecognised claim to the Duchy of Urbino. In 1527,
21016-602: Was saved by the illness and death of the king, as a result of an infection or an abscess in his ear. When Catherine realized Francis was going to die, she made a pact with Antoine de Bourbon by which he would renounce his right to the regency of the future king, Charles IX , in return for the release of his brother Condé. As a result, when Francis died on 5 December 1560, the Privy Council appointed Catherine as governor of France ( gouvernante de France ), with sweeping powers. She wrote to her daughter Elisabeth: "My principal aim
21164-458: Was sickened, describing the massacre as a "shameful bloodbath". Moderate French Catholics also began to wonder whether religious uniformity was worth the price of such bloodshed and the ranks of the Politiques began to swell. The massacre caused a "major international crisis". Protestant countries were horrified at the events, and only the concentrated efforts of Catherine's ambassadors, including
21312-515: Was the culmination of a series of events: The Peace of Saint-Germain put an end to three years of civil war between Catholics and Protestants. This peace, however, was precarious, since the more intransigent Catholics refused to accept it. The strongly Catholic Guise family was out of favour at the French court; the Huguenot leader, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny , was readmitted into the king's council in September 1571. Staunch Catholics were shocked by
21460-415: Was the fact that the harvests had been poor and taxes had risen. The rise in food prices and the luxury displayed on the occasion of the royal wedding increased tensions among the common people. A particular point of tension was an open-air cross erected on the site of the house of Philippe de Gastine [ fr ] , a Huguenot who had been executed in 1569. The mob had torn down his house and erected
21608-407: Was therefore his own, and not Catherine de' Medici's. According to Jean-Louis Bourgeon , the violently anti-Huguenot city of Paris was really responsible. He stresses that the city was on the verge of revolt. The Guises, who were highly popular, exploited this situation to put pressure on the King and the Queen Mother. Charles IX was thus forced to head off the potential riot, which was the work of
21756-509: Was to force Diane de Poitiers to hand over the crown jewels and return the Château de Chenonceau to the crown. She later did her best to efface or outdo Diane's building work there. The Guise brothers set about persecuting the Protestants with zeal. Catherine adopted a moderate stance and spoke against the Guise persecutions, though she had no particular sympathy for the Huguenots, whose beliefs she never shared. The Protestants looked for leadership first to Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre ,
21904-462: Was walking back to his rooms from the Louvre when a shot rang out from a house and wounded him in the hand and arm. A smoking arquebus was discovered in a window, but the culprit had made his escape from the rear of the building on a waiting horse. Coligny was carried to his lodgings at the Hôtel de Béthisy, where the surgeon Ambroise Paré removed a bullet from his elbow and amputated a damaged finger with
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