1-157-883 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Gaspard de Coligny, 16th century French Huguenot admiral, 1851. Already wounded by a previous attempt on his life, Coligny (1517-1572) was murdered in his room in the presence of the Catholic Duc de Guise in the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre on 23 August 1572. 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.