5. The Wedding That Turned Into A Massacre
Margaret of France, raised Catholic married King Henry of Navarre, who was Protestant, on August 18, 1572. This was during the darkest days of Reformation when there were wars of Religion going on. Many people on both sides were highly against this marriage. In fact, it angered so many people who it literally divided Paris. However, many Catholics did not view the wedding as a wholly adverse event because they began to realize that there were thousands of Protestants who went to the wedding and saw an opportunity.
The Catholics were able to act on the opportunity when the Queen gave some orders. A couple of days after the wedding, many Catholics were sent to raise havoc on the Protestants who were still in the area due to the public ceremony. Once the raid was over, about 3,000 people had been murdered. Today, this is known as one of the worst massacres in the history of France and is called St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Fortunately, at least for some, the killings did not end the marriage.