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 beams. The facades were covered with white plaster to prevent fires. A few examples of houses from the period, restored to their original appearance, still remain in the Marais; the houses at 13-15 rue Francois Miron (15th-16th centuries) and at 29-31 rue Galand (5th arrondissement), from the first half of the 16th century. The "hôtel particular", or large private residence, began to appear in the Marais, after the French court returned to Paris. They numbered about twenty, and, unlike ordinary houses, they were made of stone. They were built around a courtyard, and separated from the street. The residence was