Christianity in the 16th century intermittent conflicts, known as the Wars of Religion. The civil wars were helped along by the sudden death of Henry II in 1559, which saw the beginning of a prolonged period of weakness for the French crown. and outrage became the defining characteristic of the time, illustrated at its most intense in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of August 1572, when the Catholic Church annihilated between 30,000 and 100,000 Huguenots across France. The wars only concluded when Henry IV, a former Huguenot, issued the Edict of Nantes, promising official toleration of the Protestant minority but under highly restricted conditions. Catholicism
Paris in the 16th century with prostitutes. It was located across the street from the modern cabaret which has the same name. The textile industry, dominant in the Paris economy until the 15th century, was greatly reduced by foreign competition in the 15th century. New industries took its place, particularly the dyeing of fabrics. The dyeing workshops in the faubourg Saint-Marcel, along the Bievre River, produced six hundred thousand pieces of dyed cloth a year, and made the fortunes of some Paris families, including Gobelin, Canaye and Peultre. However, production fell to one hundred thousand by the end of the sixteenth century, due to the