Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/368

 348 BARTHOLOMEW France between the Catholics and the Hu- guenots, in which both parties committed nu- merous outrages. It took finally the form of a conflict between the houses of Guise and Conde. The feeble Charles IX. was now king, his moth- er Catharine de' Medici being the real sovereign. It being certain that neither Charles nor his brother Henry would have children, Henry of Navarre, afterward Henry IV., was the next heir to the throne. He was by birth and education a Protestant, and had distinguished himself in war. In 1570 a peace had been patched up between the parties, which was to be rendered more secure by the marriage of Henry with Margaret of Valois, the sister of the king. August 18, 1572, was fixed upon for the wedding, and many of the principal Huguenots were gathered in Paris. On the 22d Admiral Coligni, one of the foremost Hu- guenots, was fired upon by an assassin named De Maurevel, known to have been a crea- ture of Catharine, who was jealous of the in- fluence which the admiral had acquired over the king. It has been maintained by many that the marriage between Henry and Mar- garet was a scheme intended only to collect the Huguenot leaders in Paris in order that they might all he put to death at once, and that the assassination of the admiral was to be the signal for a general massacre. Coligni was not killed, but severely wounded. The king visited him, and swore that the assassin should be punished. The Huguenots were alarmed, and uttered violent threats. Catharine per- suaded her son that they were on the point of massacring the Catholics, and that the only thing to he done was to anticipate them. At her urgency, Charles in the night of the 23d gave an order for a general massacre of the Huguenots, the signal to be the tolling of the matin hell of St. Germain 1'Auxerrois. The execution of this measure was intrusted to the duke of Guise and the Italian guards of the palace, supported by the companies of the burghers. Orders were also sent to all the principal provincial cities, directing a simul- taneous massacre throughout France. It is said that the king was reluctant to give these orders, and that at the last moment he counter- manded them ; but the duke of Guise, to whom the counter-order was given, replied that it was too late, and mounting his horse rode off toward the hotel of Coligni, for the completion of the murder of the admiral was the first step 4p he taken. A band of assassins burst into his apartment, ran him through the body, and flung the corpse from the window into the street, where the duke of Guise was waiting on horseback. Ho dismounted and wiped the blood from the face of the victim in order to be sure that there had been no mistake as to the person. At 4 o'clock in the morning the signal was given, and the general massacre commenced. It is said that Charles, with his brother Henry of Anjou and their mother, j was at the time in the tennis court ; that he was at first overcome with horror, but soon began himself to fire from the windows of the Louvre. But this statement rests upon in- sufficient authority, and is inconsistent with his conduct before and after. He died 21 months after the. massacre, not without suspi- cions of having been poisoned by his mother and brother, although the Huguenots ascribed his death to the direct visitation of God. His agony of mind and body was extreme. He "sweat blood," say credible historians, "from every pore," and died exclaiming, "Oh, how much blood ! how many assassinations ! Oh, what evil counsels have I followed ! O Lord God, pardon me, and have mercy upon me ! " The slaughter in Paris lasted for several days. Cond6 and Henry of Navarre escaped by at- tending mass, and pretending to become Cath- olics ; but most of the Huguenots gathered in Paris were killed. But the slaughter was not confined to them. Many who had grudges to avenge, or something to gain by the death of others, took occasion to gratify their malice or cupidity. The orders for the massacre were executed in nearly all the cities and towns of France where Huguenots were to be found as speedily as they could be received from Paris. It occurred at Meaux on Aug. 25 ; at La Charitfi on the 2Cth ; at Orleans on the 27th ; at Saumur and Angers on the 29th ; at Lyons on the 30th ; at Troves on Sept. 2 ; at Bourges on the llth; at Rouen on the 17th; at Tou- louse on the 23d ; at Romans on the 30th ; at Bordeaux on Oct. 3. Many districts and towns, however, were spared, generally through the- opposition of their governors or local author- ities. The number of persons put to death in all France is variously stated at 100,000 to 1,500. The former number is doubtless much too great; the latter much too small. The estimate of De Thou, 30,000, is probably near the truth. The subsequent conduct of the French government throws considerable light upon the origin of the massacre. Lingard states it as follows: "The bloody tragedy had been planned and executed at Paris with so much expedition that its authors had not deter- mined on what ground to justify or palliate their conduct. In the letters written the same evening to the governors of the provinces and to the ambassadors at foreign courts it was attributed to the ancient quarrel and insatiate hatred which existed between the princes of Lorraine and the house of Coligni. But as the duke of Guise refused to take the infamy on himself, the king was obliged to acknowledge in parliament that he had signed the order fof the death of the admiral, and sent in conse- quence to his ambassadors new and more de- tailed instructions. La Motte Ffnelon, the ambassador to England, assured Elizabeth that Charles had conceived no idea of such an event before the preceding evening, when he learned with surprise and astonishment that the confidential advisers of the admiral had formed a plan to avenge the attempt made on