1-157-147 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Paris, August 1572. The massacre occurred after a failed attempt by the powerful Catholic Guise family to murder the Huguenot (Protestant) leader Gaspard de Coligny (1519-1572). On 22 August 1572, Coligny was shot but only wounded (bottom left). Fearing that her part in approving the plot would be discovered, Catherine de Medici, mother of King Charles IX, who is shown playing tennis (top left), ordered the killing of the Huguenot leaders, who were gathered in Paris for the wedding of the future King Henry IV. The massacre began on 24 August 1572, and the Huguenot leaders, including Coligny, shown (right) being murdered in bed and his body thrown out of a window, were killed. Afterwards, the massacre spread to ordinary Huguenots, initially in Paris, but later across much of the country, with Catholic mobs murdering tens of thousands of Protestants.