St. Bartholomew's Day massacre St. Bartholomew's Day massacre The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre () in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Queen Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX, the massacre took place a few days after the wedding day (18 August) of the king's sister Margaret to the Protestant Henry III of Navarre (the future Henry IV of France). Many of the most wealthy and prominent Huguenots had gathered in largely Catholic Paris
Paris in the 16th century in the city was that of the Saints-Innocents, near Les Halles, which covered 7000 square meters. Two thousand persons had been buried at the Saint-Innocents, causing serious poisoning of the soil to a depth of two meters or more, and a ghastly aroma in the neighborhood. The residents began demanding its closure as early as 1554, but the Parlement of Paris did not close the city cemeteries to new burials until 1765. The restaurant in its modern form did not appear in Paris until the late 18th century, but Paris had numerous taverns which served drinks and food separately, and