Bartholomew's Night

Who among us has not heard the phrase "Bartholomew's Night"? The meaning of this phraseology is also known to many, this expression has become synonymous with meaningless and ruthless massacres, and in general senseless cruelty. But the reason why these words got such a value is, unfortunately, not known to everyone.

The events, which later became known as the Bartholomew's Night, occurred in 1572, the night of August 24. On this day the day of St. Bartholomew is celebrated, his name was later named this tragic event. But before describing the immediate incident, it is necessary to say a couple of words about what caused the cause.

For the 16th century Europe, the formation and dissemination of various religious movements based on Christianity, but rejecting the traditional Catholicism for these places, is characteristic. New directions and the truth was quite a lot, including Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Calvinism, etc. However, they differed from each other a little. At the heart of all Protestant movements is the simplification of service to God: the rejection of most of the Church's sacraments, only baptism and communion were left, as well as the refusal of veneration of holy relics and icons, etc. From the prayer houses removed the altar and, of course, all the statues, icons and icons, and indeed all the magnificent furnishings. In addition, all sermons and hymns, as well as the Bible, which was considered the only source of teaching, were translated into the flock languages. In addition, there was no such thing as a vow of celibacy, and any member of the community could become a priest. The latter particularly outraged the Pope and all Catholics.

In connection with the growing popularity of Protestant movements, religious wars began on the territory of Europe. Most of them took place on the territory of France, since it was there that the movement of Calvinism was actively developing. The French jokingly called them Huguenots, and eventually this nickname settled down in the ranks of the Calvinists.

As a result of several bloody wars, the Saint Germain Peace Treaty was concluded, according to which the Huguenots received quite a few rights, including partial freedom of religion. In addition, the leader of the Calvinist movement, Admiral Coligny, was admitted to the royal council. This allowed him to soon gain a great influence on Charles IX. To further strengthen such a fragile peace, it was decided to extradite Marguerite Valois to one of the leaders of the Calvinists, Henry of Navarre.

But the Queen Mother, Catherine de 'Medici, did not like this state of affairs. Particularly because she was afraid of losing influence over the king. And the fact that Coligny tried to convince Carl to start a war with Catholic Spain.

During the preparation for the wedding in Paris came a lot of noble and influential Protestants, which caused discontent of the Paris Catholics. The priests only intensified this discontent. Including by spreading rumors that the Huguenots are plotting to overthrow the king.

The noisy and magnificent wedding that took place on August 18, 1572 further angered the townspeople. In an atmosphere of growing discontent, the events developed very rapidly. The Duke de Guise on August 22 committed an attempt on Coligny. Accordingly, the Huguenots demanded to punish the criminal. All this provoked rumors among Calvinists that a new war with the Catholics could not be avoided. Some of them hurried to leave the city.

Naturally, Catherine de Medici took advantage of the situation and persuaded Carl that physical destruction of Huguenots was necessary. Now Bartholomew's night was inevitable.

August 23, by order of the king, all the gates on the exit from Paris were closed, and the houses of the Huguenots were marked with chalk. That same night the conspirators broke into the shelter of the wounded admiral and killed him. After that, the people of the city, incited by the clergy, began to break into the houses and kill everyone who came across them on the way. Those who considered such measures too cruel, in every way convinced of their necessity and even threatened with excommunication from the church.

The same targeted massacre began in other cities of France. In total, St. Bartholomew's Night claimed the lives of more than 10,000 Calvinists, of whom about 3 thousand were killed in Paris. It is not difficult to guess that such cruelty not only did not solve the problem, but also aggravated it. After that, the war with the Huguenots really became inevitable. And the defeat in this war again suffered the Catholics. Charles IX was again forced to make concessions.

However, the event itself received many positive responses from Catholics around the world, including the Pope. Only after 425 years did the Roman Pope John Paul II recognize that the St. Bartholomew's Night in France was a mistake, and sharply condemned it.

However, it is worth noting that such actions were conducted not only by Catholics. So in the city of Nimes, six years before the events described, something similar was arranged by the Huguenots themselves. However, Bartholomew's Night surpasses all such events in scale several times.