Paris in the 16th century Wars of Religion (1562-1598). Paris was the stronghold of the Catholic League. On the night of August 23–24, 1572, while many prominent Protestants from all over France were in Paris on the occasion of the marriage of Henri of Navarre—the future Henry IV—to Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX, the royal council decided to assassinate the leaders of the Protestants. The targeted killings quickly turned into a general slaughter of Protestants by Catholic mobs, known as St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, and continued through August and September, spreading from Paris to the rest of the country. About three thousand Protestants
Paris in the 16th century of buildings, the city expanded outward past the walls. The social geography of the city was much as it was in the Middle Ages. The commercial center was the port on the right bank, at the Place de Greve, where the City Hall is today. The main market was close by, at Les Halles. The University and several large monasteries were on the left bank; in the 16th century booksellers and printers opened near the university. In the first part of the century, when the King was absent, the center of administration was in the old Palais on the Île-de-la-Cité,