Tudor History with Claire Ridgway18 Aug 2025

A Wedding and a Massacre

A royal wedding meant to bring peace… instead ended in one of the bloodiest massacres of the 16th century.

On 18th August 1572, Henry of Navarre—leader of the French Huguenots and future King Henry IV—married Margaret of Valois, daughter of King Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici, at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

This marriage was supposed to heal France’s religious divisions between Protestants and Catholics. But just six days later, the streets of Paris ran red with blood in the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

- Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the Huguenot leader, was shot in an attempted assassination… - Before dawn on 24th August, he was murdered and thrown from a window…
- What followed was three days of brutal killings in Paris, spreading to towns and cities across France.

Between 10,000 and 30,000 Protestants were slaughtered in one of the darkest chapters of the Reformation.

In today’s episode of On This Day in Tudor History, I explore:

- The political and religious stakes behind the marriage
- The attempted assassination that sparked panic - The horrific wave of violence that shocked Europe - What became of Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois

Have you heard of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre before? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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