WEBVTT - The Wedding Ended in Blood 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.680 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:10.479 and Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised for just a moment. 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.480 When Margot of Valois woke in the darkness to the 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.079 sound of pounding on her door, she thought that it 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.880 might be her new husband. They had been married just 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:25.400 four days earlier. The ceremony was on a platform built 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:29.200 outside of Notre Dame Cathedral because her new husband was 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:33.960 a Protestant heretic, a Huguenot, and he couldn't come inside 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.680 for Mass. They had barely looked at each other through 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.680 the entire ceremony, and they hadn't looked at each other 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.640 afterwards when he had gone off to begin the feastings 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.400 and pantomimes and festivities of their wedding week, surrounded by 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:53.040 his Huguenot friends, and she Margot had gone to sit 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.720 in their palaces at the Louver with her sister. The 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:00.640 marriage hadn't been consummated yet her new husband, and Henry 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.120 of Navarre probably assumed from her stony face at the 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.039 ceremony that she wouldn't be willing and welcoming him to 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.320 her bed. But he should have known that Margot was 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:12.960 a girl who did her duty. That was the only 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.000 reason why she was there in the first place, marrying 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:20.440 a Protestant heretic at all, and so four days after 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:25.120 their wedding, when the festivities still raged on, when Margot 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.280 woke to a knock at her door. She assumed for 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.240 a moment that it was her husband, but the knocking 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:36.399 became more frantic, and then there was the crying, not 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.720 the crying of a woman or child, but the full 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.680 throated weeping of a grown man, like a wounded animal. 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:51.640 Then the shouting began, a stranger's voice screaming, please, Henry, Please, 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:56.200 There was a stranger in the hallway, shouting for her husband. 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.960 Her husband wasn't there, but pulling her white night dress 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:06.000 close to her body, Margo opened the door. A man 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.239 collapsed on to her, hugging her around the waist, sobbing 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.880 into her stomach. When he fell away, she saw that 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.000 her night dress was painted with blood. Before she could 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.480 react to the weeping man, Margot heard the clattering of 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:26.440 heavy footsteps and turned to see four men for archers, 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.919 with their arrows poised for a deadly shot. They began 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.920 to race up the hallway, no doubt, looking for the 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.520 man who was now cowering at her feet. The archers 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.800 were in her house colors. They were royal soldiers, serving 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.520 her brother, King Charles the Ninth, and serving her mother, 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:50.120 the formidable Catherine de Medici. When the soldiers saw Margo, 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.560 they lowered their weapons and gave brief bows. Their chests 0:02:54.840 --> 0:03:00.560 heaved with exhilaration. Their shirts were translucent with sweat. This 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.480 man is under my protection, Margot said. The wounded man 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:09.280 began kissing her feet. The four soldiers hesitated for a moment, 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.760 but then moved on, running back down the hall with 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:17.720 their bows still strung. It's okay, Margot said to the stranger, 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:22.760 the bloody Huguenot, you're safe, but please tell me what's happening. 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.120 He didn't have to answer. At that very moment, the 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:33.040 street outside Margot's window ignited with the sound of misery 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.640 and death. The bells in the church had just rung 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:39.600 three in the morning, and that had been the signal 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.040 to unleash a massacre and the Huguenots that had all 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.880 arrived in Paris to celebrate the wedding of their leader 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:51.000 to a princess of France. It's impossible to know how 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:54.360 many lives were taken but estimates put the death toll 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:59.200 in Paris alone at three thousand. From there, things only 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:03.640 got worse. What Catherine de Medici and her son, Charles 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:07.040 the Ninth unleashed in France was a monster that to 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.840 inspiral out of their control, far beyond what they had 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:15.360 originally intended. But religious hatred isn't a weapon that can 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.880 be harnessed with any control. What should have been a 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:23.200 wedding to cement a religious peace became the catalyst for 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:27.120 an orgy of death and violence that lasted for months. 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.480 Young Margot Valois was caught between loyalty to her family 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.360 and to her husband, and she watched at the center 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:42.640 of a nation as it crumbled into chaos. I'm Dana Schwartz, 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:55.880 and this is noble blood. The monarchy in France was Catholic, 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.240 and the only thing they hated more than Protestants was Spain. 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.360 That's what Admiral Decliny was counting on when he came 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.279 to court to try to convince the young King Charles 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.680 the Ninth to support the Protestants campaign in the Netherlands 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:16.560 against the Spanish. Charles was only ten when he ascended 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.960 to the throne, and by all accounts He was a 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:23.240 wish yoshi leader, enfeebled by his dependence on his mother, 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.280 Catherine de Medici, who controlled all of Court with her 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:33.120 brilliant maneuvering and infinite network of spies. But Catherine was 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.320 not a stranger to bloodshed, and she wasn't above disposing 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.440 of an enemy when it suited her. But she was 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.920 against war in particular. She was against an expensive war 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.120 in the Netherlands to help the Protestants of all people, 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.720 when the real threat to her power was coming from 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:56.080 much closer to home, from the scheming noble Geese family 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.919 there in France, and from the ever looming presence of 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.560 Elizabeth the First in England. But Charles the Ninth was 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.000 a young man and a young king. Young Men and 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:12.279 young kings want to prove themselves in war. Peace is 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:16.720 a far less immediate glory. All Cologny needed to do 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:21.839 was get Charles the Ninth alone. It wasn't too difficult. 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.159 Charles the Ninth had been so young when his father, 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:29.320 the King died in a tragic jousting accident, and Coligny 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.080 was Protestant, sure, but he was also charming and patient 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.719 and persuasive. He spent hours with Charles, listening to his 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.400 plans and ideas, goading him on. Colanny even went to 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.040 Mass with him, even if he made a special point 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.880 not to remove his hat. Colony began pulling young Charles 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.640 further away from his mother. He told Charles not to 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:58.280 share their plans for the Netherlands with Catherine. Those plans, 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.240 he said, are not for the ears of clerks or women. 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:07.279 Catherine fumed, why did achieving peace need to be such 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:15.920 a battle? As a dowager queen. One of her most 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:21.640 important remaining chess pieces was her daughter, Margot. Nineteen year 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:25.040 old Margot celebrated as one of the most beautiful and 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:29.120 cultured girls in the world, who spoke four languages with 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.400 ease and impressed all who saw her with her wit 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.440 and the way she danced as if she were gliding. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.000 The people loved her and loved her even more when 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.280 they heard that she was in love with the equally 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:48.720 charming Duke of Geese, two shining, beautiful Catholic teenagers to 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:54.520 represent the future of France. The people were thrilled, except 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.560 there was no way Catherine de Medici would allow her 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:02.480 daughter to marry a Geese. The Geese family was already 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.400 too powerful, too threatening to her family line. When she 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.920 found a love letter written from Margot to the Duke, 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:14.480 she had Margot brutally beaten and her lover banished from court. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.920 He was forced to marry another woman. Margot would also 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.720 be forced to marry a Protestant, which for the devout 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:28.880 young woman was a fate worse than death. Henry of 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.200 Navarre was the de facto leader of the French Protestants 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.320 or Hugo Nuts, ever since the death of his mother, 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:40.160 who died while finalizing marriage negotiations with Henry's future mother 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.320 in law, Catherine de Medici. The rumors were that Katherine 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.560 had Henry's mother murdered with a pair of poisoned gloves. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.120 There were a few reasons Catherine de Medici was forcing 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.760 her daughter to marry the leader of an enemy faction. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.760 For one, the religious wars between the Catholics and the 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.720 huge Gnats had been raging in France for decades. A 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.120 big wedding between a Catholic and a Protestant, assuming they 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.719 could get the approval of the Pope, would be a 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:14.840 massive symbolic gesture to signal a unified France. Henry was 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.760 a high ranking noble King of Navarre and not too 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.280 far down the line for the throne of France himself. 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:25.120 By marrying him, Margot would be uniting two major French houses, 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:30.120 hers the Valois and his the Bourbons, all the better 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.319 to face off against the third family, the Geezas, and 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:38.360 claiming Henry was also a defensive move. Rumor was that 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.360 Coligny had sent an envoy to try to arrange a 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.920 marriage between Henry and Queen Elizabeth the First in England, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:51.840 two important Protestant monarchs united. It was unthinkable Henry would 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.960 marry Margot. He would have to if he wanted any 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.880 French support at all for that Protestant campaign in the Netherlands. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.679 Margot was one of the most cultured women in Europe 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.200 in the world. She was the sister to a king, 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.160 the daughter of a king, but she was above all 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.240 a daughter, and so her purpose was to serve as 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.920 a pawn through a strategic marriage. But as it turned out, 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.040 Marco was going to be more than just upon. She 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:30.280 was going to be bait. Margot of Valois and Henry, 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:34.160 King of Navarre arrived at their wedding in all of 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:38.600 this splendor that could be expected for their status Margot 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.800 wore a blue gown with a train ten ft long. 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.440 Henry was in a yellow cape embroidered with diamonds and pearls. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.920 The two of them, beautiful and nineteen years old, glittered 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.880 like gems themselves in the crowded Parisian street. The capital 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.200 was filled with people. There were citizens who came from 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.440 all over the country to see their beloved Margot married. 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.680 There were protesters furious she wasn't marrying the dashing Duke 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.400 of Geese that everyone knew she was secretly in love with, 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.360 and Henry's followers, the Huguenots, came from all over as well, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:19.440 wearing their customary black and white, carrying bags heavy with 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.400 armor and weaponry so they could go straight from the 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.480 festivities in Paris to the battlefield against the Spanish in 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:31.440 Flanders and the Netherlands. The marriage took place on a 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:36.360 hastily erected wooden platform outside of Notre Dame Cathedral, out 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.640 in the air, where everyone could see. During the ceremony, 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.559 when the bishop asked Margot if she took this man 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:51.079 to be her lawfully wedded husband, she stood completely still, unmoving, unspeaking. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.520 Her brother, King Charles the Ninth, was standing behind her, 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.040 he forced her head down in a nod of assent. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:04.760 The wedding ceremony was complete, at least the ceremony that 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.840 involved Henry was complete. Margot and the rest of her 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:12.840 Catholic family went inside the cathedral for Catholic Mass, where 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:17.960 the roll of Margot's groom was symbolically occupied by Margot's brother, Anjou. 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.440 As massive as a royal wedding between a Catholic and 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:27.400 a Protestant king should have been, something even more consequential 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:32.840 happened the very next afternoon. Admiral de Colgny, in Paris 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:37.240 for the wedding, decided to take an afternoon walk, and 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.400 while Colanny was walking, he happened to notice that a 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.000 buckle on his shoe was undone. Colonny bent down to 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:48.079 adjust his shoe when an arrow came whizzing past him, 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.440 severing a finger and breaking his elbow. Had he not 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.520 been bending down at that very moment, it would have 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.960 hit him directly in the heart. There would be assassin 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:04.600 fled and went uncaptured. If you were to ask Catherine 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:08.200 de Medici who was behind the failed assassination, she would 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.600 tell you that, no doubt it was the Geese family. 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.960 After all, everyone knew the geese As had a long 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:18.480 held grudge against Colony for personal reasons. They held Colony 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.360 responsible for the death of their family patriarch during one 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.240 of the many religious wars that had plagued France over 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.920 the decades. But maybe the Gheese family had come to 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:34.359 Catherine to inquire about a possible assassination of the admiral. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.679 And if they had, not, saying they did. But if 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:42.280 they had, well, why wouldn't she say, yes, an assassination 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.080 of Colony you would solve two of her problems at once. First, 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.959 it would rid her of that pesky Protestant who had 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:53.680 so much undue influence over her son. And since everyone 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:57.640 knew the Gheese family hated Colony, everyone would assume they 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:02.040 were the ones responsible for it. Win win. But after 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:07.120 the assassination failed, the Huguenots were furious. They had come 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:10.720 into the city to celebrate a marriage meant to cement peace, 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.079 only to suffer an assassination attempt on one of their 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:19.640 most prominent leaders. It was a disgrace. Colony went to 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.160 King Charles the Ninth himself in order to demand that 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.360 he got to the bottom of it. Charles promised a 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.840 full investigation and the full force of his justice wherever 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.920 it led. As it turns out, it led to his mother. 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.120 When he came to her, Catherine de Medici closed the 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.080 doors of the meeting. The fact of the matter was 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:47.200 whoever planned the assassination attempt. The Huguenots were angry, and 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.280 the Huguenots ready to leave for battle were armed. They 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:55.000 were probably planning their revenge, now a plot to overthrow 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.280 the monarchy, to kill the king and put their own 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:02.320 Henry of Navarre in charge. King Charles and his entire 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:06.200 family was in danger, but there was one thing he 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:10.280 could do. Katherine de Medici coud he could strike a 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.320 preemptive attack. She and her ministers had made up a 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:18.280 list of all of the most prominent Huguenot officials all 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.920 in the city for the wedding. All they had to 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:24.640 do was strike while they still had the advantage. The 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:29.239 weak king weighed his options. He looked into the smiling 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.200 faces of his mother and his brother and their advisers, 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:37.560 and then he looked back down at the list. Okay, 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:47.560 King Charles the Ninth said kill them all. The night 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:51.480 before the massacre was scheduled to begin Margot spent the 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.480 evening with her sister Claude in the side of the 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.560 palace where their family and the rest of the Catholic 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:03.120 wedding guests were staying, segregated from the Protestant Huguenot visitors, 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.320 where Margot was supposed to be sleeping with her new husband. 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.200 Since the wedding ceremony, Margot's new chambers were on the 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:16.680 Huguenot side. Claude had been in rooms where the Catholics 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.320 had been making their furtive plans, rooms where they discussed 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.360 daggers and ways into bedrooms where they had agreed upon 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.360 the three a m Church bell as their starting signal. 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:32.160 Margot knew nothing. Their mother had made that very clear. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:37.120 Margot could not know anything, so now here she was 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.920 in Claude's room while Claude stroked and brushed her hair, 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.440 completely oblivious to the fact that in five hours Hell 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:50.200 would be unleashed upon her new husband's clan. Claude looked 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.840 down at her younger sister. Margot's head was on Claude's 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.680 lap and her eyes were closed. Claude tried to attract 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:02.000 their mother's attention without rousing marg Go. Claude made her 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:09.240 eyes wide. Katherine de Medici looked away. Mom Claude said, finally, Camp, Margot, 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:14.639 sleep in our rooms tonight, just for tonight. Catherine, doing 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:18.399 her sewing, barely seemed to register what her daughter was saying. 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:25.240 Whatever four she responded, mom Claude said again, her voice 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:29.040 beginning to strain around the edges. Who knew how violent 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.639 the morning's assassins would be, Who knew the extent of 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.119 the chaos and anarchy that could put beautiful Margot in danger? 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:40.440 She can just stay in our rooms just tonight. Don't 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:45.280 send her back. By now Margot was awake and concerned 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:49.960 by the urgency and her sister's voice. Catherine continued sewing. 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.280 Margot has to go back to the Huguenot rooms, otherwise 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:59.199 it would arouse suspicion, arouse suspicions about what. Margot asked, 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.760 what's going going on? Neither Catherine nor Claude answered her, 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.719 and neither made eye contact with Margot as she wrapped 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:09.919 herself in her gown and made her way down the 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:13.200 long hallway back to the rooms on the other side 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.760 of the palace, rooms that in only a few hours 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:24.560 would be tripping in blood. The three am Church bells 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:29.760 echoed through the moonless night. The first target was Admiral 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.080 de Cologne, who had survived one assassination attempt but would 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:38.200 not survive another. Half a dozen of the King's men, 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:42.679 Swiss mercenaries, came into Colonny's room and beat him to 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:47.000 death before they threw his body out the window. The 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.160 soldiers were shaking with fear and adrenaline when they came 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:56.520 to kill Colangnye, but Colonny himself was remarkably calm. Hours later, 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.040 when all of the killing was over, one of the 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.360 mercenaries would remark that he had never seen a man 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.000 less afraid of death. Perhaps he would have been afraid 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:09.480 if he had known what was to come. The dozen 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.280 or so names of the Huguenot leadership on the list 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.720 were murdered in under two hours, and yet the killing 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:20.439 did not stop. Soon it became dreadfully apparent that the 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:24.399 King's mercenaries were no longer the only ones doing the killing. 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.600 The assassinations of the Huguenot leaders unleashed a volcano of 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:34.879 simmering religious resentment, and before long, Catholic citizens in the 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:40.800 streets were murdering the visiting Huguenots indiscriminately. It wasn't just 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.320 the men who were killed. Women young and old were 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:48.120 pulled into the street by their hair and drained of blood. 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.639 Children were slaughtered. Bodies were flung into the sin, which 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.919 began to bubble red. Chains had been strung across the 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:03.399 streets to prevent Huguenot from escaping. They were trapped, and 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:08.680 the massacre was only beginning. The next afternoon, the king 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.480 himself rode out onto the streets and demanded that the 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:17.240 violence cease, that no more lives be taken. His words 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:22.080 went completely ignored. Margo managed to save a few lives 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:25.000 by allowing them refuge in her room, and her husband, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.480 Henry of Navar, survived by making a quick pledge to 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.159 convert to Catholicism in order to make it out of 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:37.600 Paris and escape. The killing kept going for days. Estimates 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.040 put the number of victims at three thousand in Paris alone. 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.480 I say Paris alone, because as soon as word traveled 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.480 that the king had allowed killing of Protestants, the massacre 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:54.639 spread to the provinces. In at least twelve other major cities. 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.080 Protestants were slaughtered a blood bat that lasted all the 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:03.800 way from the summer until October. The number of deaths 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:08.160 changes depending on whether you ask the Protestants or the Catholics, 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:13.480 but estimator as high as thirty thousand souls. The wedding 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.200 that was meant to end the religious warfare in France 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:30.800 lead to its bloodiest chapter. That's the story of the St. 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:35.520 Bartholomew's Day massacre. Peace would eventually come to France, but 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:39.240 it would take just a little bit longer. Keep listening 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.480 after this brief sponsor break to hear about what Henry 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:55.840 of Navarre did next. The throne in France operated under 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.240 Salak law, which meant that only men linked through a 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:03.720 patrol in old bloodline were eligible to become king. After 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:08.800 the death of King Charles the Ninth at fourteen from tuberculosis, 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:12.680 his brother Henry the Third became king. But Henry didn't 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:16.920 have any children, and so when the family's final son, Anjou, died, 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:20.080 the next man in line for the French throne became 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:25.520 Henry of Navarre, a Protestant. The thought of a Protestant 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:28.680 taking the throne launched what became known as the War 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.360 of the Three Henry's, with King Henry the Third facing 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.679 off against Henry of Navarre, while a third, Henry, the 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:38.840 Duke of Gus, tried to establish his own claim to 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:42.200 the throne with the help of his many Catholic supporters. 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:47.680 Margot's brother, her husband, and her first love were waging war. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.679 Henry the third had the Duke of Guy's murdered, thinking 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:54.040 that if he were the only Catholic Henry left, he 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:58.440 surely would have support of the people. Unfortunately, the Duke 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:02.920 of Gus was beloved, and so the move utterly backfired, 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:07.920 with Henry's populace rising up against him. The kingdom was fractured, 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:12.479 threatened both internally and externally by Catholics who hated Henry 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:16.080 the Third and hated Henry of Navarre, but for different reasons. 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:20.920 When Henry the Third died, assassinated by a fanatical monk, 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:25.719 Henry of Navarre became King of France, but in name only. 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:30.800 He had not been able to take Paris militarily. But finally, 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:35.400 in fifteen ninety three, Henry of Navarre did something unbelievable, 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:38.640 something the royal court had been hoping that he would 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:42.320 do since back when he first became engaged to their 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:48.720 beautiful Margot. He converted to Catholicism. Famously. He's thought to 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:53.359 have said Paris is well worth a mass. The French 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:58.720 population accepted him as their king. The Pope undid his excommunication, 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:04.480 and in Henry of Navarre signed the Edict of Nant, 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:09.840 which offered religious freedom, of conscience and basic civil rights 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:14.080 for the Protestants. He had once led, well, he still 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:24.919 led them now he was after all, they're king. Noble 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:28.440 Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Mankey. 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:31.119 The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz and 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:35.920 produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Trevor Young. 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:39.560 Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:41.800 and you can learn more about the show over at 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:44.879 Noble blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.640 heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:50.919 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.