The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

The most romantic royal wedding in French history became the bloodiest massacre of the 16th century.

August 18th, 1572. Paris was celebrating the marriage of Protestant Henry

of Navarre to Catholic Marguerite de Valois. This wasn't just any wedding. This was supposed

to unite a nation torn apart by religious wars. Thousands of Protestant nobles had traveled

to Paris for the festivities, believing they were safe under royal protection.

This wedding was supposed to unite France and end decades of religious civil war between Catholics

and Protestants. But behind the palace walls, Catherine de Medici was plotting something

sinister. She convinced her son, King Charles IX, that the Protestants