Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised for just a moment.
Speaker 1: When Margot of Valois woke in the darkness to the
Speaker 1: sound of pounding on her door, she thought that it
Speaker 1: might be her new husband. They had been married just
Speaker 1: four days earlier. The ceremony was on a platform built
Speaker 1: outside of Notre Dame Cathedral because her new husband was
Speaker 1: a Protestant heretic, a Huguenot, and he couldn't come inside
Speaker 1: for Mass. They had barely looked at each other through
Speaker 1: the entire ceremony, and they hadn't looked at each other
Speaker 1: afterwards when he had gone off to begin the feastings
Speaker 1: and pantomimes and festivities of their wedding week, surrounded by
Speaker 1: his Huguenot friends, and she Margot had gone to sit
Speaker 1: in their palaces at the Louver with her sister. The
Speaker 1: marriage hadn't been consummated yet her new husband, and Henry
Speaker 1: of Navarre probably assumed from her stony face at the
Speaker 1: ceremony that she wouldn't be willing and welcoming him to
Speaker 1: her bed. But he should have known that Margot was
Speaker 1: a girl who did her duty. That was the only
Speaker 1: reason why she was there in the first place, marrying
Speaker 1: a Protestant heretic at all, and so four days after
Speaker 1: their wedding, when the festivities still raged on, when Margot
Speaker 1: woke to a knock at her door. She assumed for
Speaker 1: a moment that it was her husband, but the knocking
Speaker 1: became more frantic, and then there was the crying, not
Speaker 1: the crying of a woman or child, but the full
Speaker 1: throated weeping of a grown man, like a wounded animal.
Speaker 1: Then the shouting began, a stranger's voice screaming, please, Henry, Please,
Speaker 1: There was a stranger in the hallway, shouting for her husband.
Speaker 1: Her husband wasn't there, but pulling her white night dress
Speaker 1: close to her body, Margo opened the door. A man
Speaker 1: collapsed on to her, hugging her around the waist, sobbing
Speaker 1: into her stomach. When he fell away, she saw that
Speaker 1: her night dress was painted with blood. Before she could
Speaker 1: react to the weeping man, Margot heard the clattering of
Speaker 1: heavy footsteps and turned to see four men for archers,
Speaker 1: with their arrows poised for a deadly shot. They began
Speaker 1: to race up the hallway, no doubt, looking for the
Speaker 1: man who was now cowering at her feet. The archers
Speaker 1: were in her house colors. They were royal soldiers, serving
Speaker 1: her brother, King Charles the Ninth, and serving her mother,
Speaker 1: the formidable Catherine de Medici. When the soldiers saw Margo,
Speaker 1: they lowered their weapons and gave brief bows. Their chests
Speaker 1: heaved with exhilaration. Their shirts were translucent with sweat. This
Speaker 1: man is under my protection, Margot said. The wounded man
Speaker 1: began kissing her feet. The four soldiers hesitated for a moment,
Speaker 1: but then moved on, running back down the hall with
Speaker 1: their bows still strung. It's okay, Margot said to the stranger,
Speaker 1: the bloody Huguenot, you're safe, but please tell me what's happening.
Speaker 1: He didn't have to answer. At that very moment, the
Speaker 1: street outside Margot's window ignited with the sound of misery
Speaker 1: and death. The bells in the church had just rung
Speaker 1: three in the morning, and that had been the signal
Speaker 1: to unleash a massacre and the Huguenots that had all
Speaker 1: arrived in Paris to celebrate the wedding of their leader
Speaker 1: to a princess of France. It's impossible to know how
Speaker 1: many lives were taken but estimates put the death toll
Speaker 1: in Paris alone at three thousand. From there, things only
Speaker 1: got worse. What Catherine de Medici and her son, Charles
Speaker 1: the Ninth unleashed in France was a monster that to
Speaker 1: inspiral out of their control, far beyond what they had
Speaker 1: originally intended. But religious hatred isn't a weapon that can
Speaker 1: be harnessed with any control. What should have been a
Speaker 1: wedding to cement a religious peace became the catalyst for
Speaker 1: an orgy of death and violence that lasted for months.
Speaker 1: Young Margot Valois was caught between loyalty to her family
Speaker 1: and to her husband, and she watched at the center
Speaker 1: of a nation as it crumbled into chaos. I'm Dana Schwartz,
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. The monarchy in France was Catholic,
Speaker 1: and the only thing they hated more than Protestants was Spain.
Speaker 1: That's what Admiral Decliny was counting on when he came
Speaker 1: to court to try to convince the young King Charles
Speaker 1: the Ninth to support the Protestants campaign in the Netherlands
Speaker 1: against the Spanish. Charles was only ten when he ascended
Speaker 1: to the throne, and by all accounts He was a
Speaker 1: wish yoshi leader, enfeebled by his dependence on his mother,
Speaker 1: Catherine de Medici, who controlled all of Court with her
Speaker 1: brilliant maneuvering and infinite network of spies. But Catherine was
Speaker 1: not a stranger to bloodshed, and she wasn't above disposing
Speaker 1: of an enemy when it suited her. But she was
Speaker 1: against war in particular. She was against an expensive war
Speaker 1: in the Netherlands to help the Protestants of all people,
Speaker 1: when the real threat to her power was coming from
Speaker 1: much closer to home, from the scheming noble Geese family
Speaker 1: there in France, and from the ever looming presence of
Speaker 1: Elizabeth the First in England. But Charles the Ninth was
Speaker 1: a young man and a young king. Young Men and
Speaker 1: young kings want to prove themselves in war. Peace is
Speaker 1: a far less immediate glory. All Cologny needed to do
Speaker 1: was get Charles the Ninth alone. It wasn't too difficult.
Speaker 1: Charles the Ninth had been so young when his father,
Speaker 1: the King died in a tragic jousting accident, and Coligny
Speaker 1: was Protestant, sure, but he was also charming and patient
Speaker 1: and persuasive. He spent hours with Charles, listening to his
Speaker 1: plans and ideas, goading him on. Colanny even went to
Speaker 1: Mass with him, even if he made a special point
Speaker 1: not to remove his hat. Colony began pulling young Charles
Speaker 1: further away from his mother. He told Charles not to
Speaker 1: share their plans for the Netherlands with Catherine. Those plans,
Speaker 1: he said, are not for the ears of clerks or women.
Speaker 1: Catherine fumed, why did achieving peace need to be such
Speaker 1: a battle? As a dowager queen. One of her most
Speaker 1: important remaining chess pieces was her daughter, Margot. Nineteen year
Speaker 1: old Margot celebrated as one of the most beautiful and
Speaker 1: cultured girls in the world, who spoke four languages with
Speaker 1: ease and impressed all who saw her with her wit
Speaker 1: and the way she danced as if she were gliding.
Speaker 1: The people loved her and loved her even more when
Speaker 1: they heard that she was in love with the equally
Speaker 1: charming Duke of Geese, two shining, beautiful Catholic teenagers to
Speaker 1: represent the future of France. The people were thrilled, except
Speaker 1: there was no way Catherine de Medici would allow her
Speaker 1: daughter to marry a Geese. The Geese family was already
Speaker 1: too powerful, too threatening to her family line. When she
Speaker 1: found a love letter written from Margot to the Duke,
Speaker 1: she had Margot brutally beaten and her lover banished from court.
Speaker 1: He was forced to marry another woman. Margot would also
Speaker 1: be forced to marry a Protestant, which for the devout
Speaker 1: young woman was a fate worse than death. Henry of
Speaker 1: Navarre was the de facto leader of the French Protestants
Speaker 1: or Hugo Nuts, ever since the death of his mother,
Speaker 1: who died while finalizing marriage negotiations with Henry's future mother
Speaker 1: in law, Catherine de Medici. The rumors were that Katherine
Speaker 1: had Henry's mother murdered with a pair of poisoned gloves.
Speaker 1: There were a few reasons Catherine de Medici was forcing
Speaker 1: her daughter to marry the leader of an enemy faction.
Speaker 1: For one, the religious wars between the Catholics and the
Speaker 1: huge Gnats had been raging in France for decades. A
Speaker 1: big wedding between a Catholic and a Protestant, assuming they
Speaker 1: could get the approval of the Pope, would be a
Speaker 1: massive symbolic gesture to signal a unified France. Henry was
Speaker 1: a high ranking noble King of Navarre and not too
Speaker 1: far down the line for the throne of France himself.
Speaker 1: By marrying him, Margot would be uniting two major French houses,
Speaker 1: hers the Valois and his the Bourbons, all the better
Speaker 1: to face off against the third family, the Geezas, and
Speaker 1: claiming Henry was also a defensive move. Rumor was that
Speaker 1: Coligny had sent an envoy to try to arrange a
Speaker 1: marriage between Henry and Queen Elizabeth the First in England,
Speaker 1: two important Protestant monarchs united. It was unthinkable Henry would
Speaker 1: marry Margot. He would have to if he wanted any
Speaker 1: French support at all for that Protestant campaign in the Netherlands.
Speaker 1: Margot was one of the most cultured women in Europe
Speaker 1: in the world. She was the sister to a king,
Speaker 1: the daughter of a king, but she was above all
Speaker 1: a daughter, and so her purpose was to serve as
Speaker 1: a pawn through a strategic marriage. But as it turned out,
Speaker 1: Marco was going to be more than just upon. She
Speaker 1: was going to be bait. Margot of Valois and Henry,
Speaker 1: King of Navarre arrived at their wedding in all of
Speaker 1: this splendor that could be expected for their status Margot
Speaker 1: wore a blue gown with a train ten ft long.
Speaker 1: Henry was in a yellow cape embroidered with diamonds and pearls.
Speaker 1: The two of them, beautiful and nineteen years old, glittered
Speaker 1: like gems themselves in the crowded Parisian street. The capital
Speaker 1: was filled with people. There were citizens who came from
Speaker 1: all over the country to see their beloved Margot married.
Speaker 1: There were protesters furious she wasn't marrying the dashing Duke
Speaker 1: of Geese that everyone knew she was secretly in love with,
Speaker 1: and Henry's followers, the Huguenots, came from all over as well,
Speaker 1: wearing their customary black and white, carrying bags heavy with
Speaker 1: armor and weaponry so they could go straight from the
Speaker 1: festivities in Paris to the battlefield against the Spanish in
Speaker 1: Flanders and the Netherlands. The marriage took place on a
Speaker 1: hastily erected wooden platform outside of Notre Dame Cathedral, out
Speaker 1: in the air, where everyone could see. During the ceremony,
Speaker 1: when the bishop asked Margot if she took this man
Speaker 1: to be her lawfully wedded husband, she stood completely still, unmoving, unspeaking.
Speaker 1: Her brother, King Charles the Ninth, was standing behind her,
Speaker 1: he forced her head down in a nod of assent.
Speaker 1: The wedding ceremony was complete, at least the ceremony that
Speaker 1: involved Henry was complete. Margot and the rest of her
Speaker 1: Catholic family went inside the cathedral for Catholic Mass, where
Speaker 1: the roll of Margot's groom was symbolically occupied by Margot's brother, Anjou.
Speaker 1: As massive as a royal wedding between a Catholic and
Speaker 1: a Protestant king should have been, something even more consequential
Speaker 1: happened the very next afternoon. Admiral de Colgny, in Paris
Speaker 1: for the wedding, decided to take an afternoon walk, and
Speaker 1: while Colanny was walking, he happened to notice that a
Speaker 1: buckle on his shoe was undone. Colonny bent down to
Speaker 1: adjust his shoe when an arrow came whizzing past him,
Speaker 1: severing a finger and breaking his elbow. Had he not
Speaker 1: been bending down at that very moment, it would have
Speaker 1: hit him directly in the heart. There would be assassin
Speaker 1: fled and went uncaptured. If you were to ask Catherine
Speaker 1: de Medici who was behind the failed assassination, she would
Speaker 1: tell you that, no doubt it was the Geese family.
Speaker 1: After all, everyone knew the geese As had a long
Speaker 1: held grudge against Colony for personal reasons. They held Colony
Speaker 1: responsible for the death of their family patriarch during one
Speaker 1: of the many religious wars that had plagued France over
Speaker 1: the decades. But maybe the Gheese family had come to
Speaker 1: Catherine to inquire about a possible assassination of the admiral.
Speaker 1: And if they had, not, saying they did. But if
Speaker 1: they had, well, why wouldn't she say, yes, an assassination
Speaker 1: of Colony you would solve two of her problems at once. First,
Speaker 1: it would rid her of that pesky Protestant who had
Speaker 1: so much undue influence over her son. And since everyone
Speaker 1: knew the Gheese family hated Colony, everyone would assume they
Speaker 1: were the ones responsible for it. Win win. But after
Speaker 1: the assassination failed, the Huguenots were furious. They had come
Speaker 1: into the city to celebrate a marriage meant to cement peace,
Speaker 1: only to suffer an assassination attempt on one of their
Speaker 1: most prominent leaders. It was a disgrace. Colony went to
Speaker 1: King Charles the Ninth himself in order to demand that
Speaker 1: he got to the bottom of it. Charles promised a
Speaker 1: full investigation and the full force of his justice wherever
Speaker 1: it led. As it turns out, it led to his mother.
Speaker 1: When he came to her, Catherine de Medici closed the
Speaker 1: doors of the meeting. The fact of the matter was
Speaker 1: whoever planned the assassination attempt. The Huguenots were angry, and
Speaker 1: the Huguenots ready to leave for battle were armed. They
Speaker 1: were probably planning their revenge, now a plot to overthrow
Speaker 1: the monarchy, to kill the king and put their own
Speaker 1: Henry of Navarre in charge. King Charles and his entire
Speaker 1: family was in danger, but there was one thing he
Speaker 1: could do. Katherine de Medici coud he could strike a
Speaker 1: preemptive attack. She and her ministers had made up a
Speaker 1: list of all of the most prominent Huguenot officials all
Speaker 1: in the city for the wedding. All they had to
Speaker 1: do was strike while they still had the advantage. The
Speaker 1: weak king weighed his options. He looked into the smiling
Speaker 1: faces of his mother and his brother and their advisers,
Speaker 1: and then he looked back down at the list. Okay,
Speaker 1: King Charles the Ninth said kill them all. The night
Speaker 1: before the massacre was scheduled to begin Margot spent the
Speaker 1: evening with her sister Claude in the side of the
Speaker 1: palace where their family and the rest of the Catholic
Speaker 1: wedding guests were staying, segregated from the Protestant Huguenot visitors,
Speaker 1: where Margot was supposed to be sleeping with her new husband.
Speaker 1: Since the wedding ceremony, Margot's new chambers were on the
Speaker 1: Huguenot side. Claude had been in rooms where the Catholics
Speaker 1: had been making their furtive plans, rooms where they discussed
Speaker 1: daggers and ways into bedrooms where they had agreed upon
Speaker 1: the three a m Church bell as their starting signal.
Speaker 1: Margot knew nothing. Their mother had made that very clear.
Speaker 1: Margot could not know anything, so now here she was
Speaker 1: in Claude's room while Claude stroked and brushed her hair,
Speaker 1: completely oblivious to the fact that in five hours Hell
Speaker 1: would be unleashed upon her new husband's clan. Claude looked
Speaker 1: down at her younger sister. Margot's head was on Claude's
Speaker 1: lap and her eyes were closed. Claude tried to attract
Speaker 1: their mother's attention without rousing marg Go. Claude made her
Speaker 1: eyes wide. Katherine de Medici looked away. Mom Claude said, finally, Camp, Margot,
Speaker 1: sleep in our rooms tonight, just for tonight. Catherine, doing
Speaker 1: her sewing, barely seemed to register what her daughter was saying.
Speaker 1: Whatever four she responded, mom Claude said again, her voice
Speaker 1: beginning to strain around the edges. Who knew how violent
Speaker 1: the morning's assassins would be, Who knew the extent of
Speaker 1: the chaos and anarchy that could put beautiful Margot in danger?
Speaker 1: She can just stay in our rooms just tonight. Don't
Speaker 1: send her back. By now Margot was awake and concerned
Speaker 1: by the urgency and her sister's voice. Catherine continued sewing.
Speaker 1: Margot has to go back to the Huguenot rooms, otherwise
Speaker 1: it would arouse suspicion, arouse suspicions about what. Margot asked,
Speaker 1: what's going going on? Neither Catherine nor Claude answered her,
Speaker 1: and neither made eye contact with Margot as she wrapped
Speaker 1: herself in her gown and made her way down the
Speaker 1: long hallway back to the rooms on the other side
Speaker 1: of the palace, rooms that in only a few hours
Speaker 1: would be tripping in blood. The three am Church bells
Speaker 1: echoed through the moonless night. The first target was Admiral
Speaker 1: de Cologne, who had survived one assassination attempt but would
Speaker 1: not survive another. Half a dozen of the King's men,
Speaker 1: Swiss mercenaries, came into Colonny's room and beat him to
Speaker 1: death before they threw his body out the window. The
Speaker 1: soldiers were shaking with fear and adrenaline when they came
Speaker 1: to kill Colangnye, but Colonny himself was remarkably calm. Hours later,
Speaker 1: when all of the killing was over, one of the
Speaker 1: mercenaries would remark that he had never seen a man
Speaker 1: less afraid of death. Perhaps he would have been afraid
Speaker 1: if he had known what was to come. The dozen
Speaker 1: or so names of the Huguenot leadership on the list
Speaker 1: were murdered in under two hours, and yet the killing
Speaker 1: did not stop. Soon it became dreadfully apparent that the
Speaker 1: King's mercenaries were no longer the only ones doing the killing.
Speaker 1: The assassinations of the Huguenot leaders unleashed a volcano of
Speaker 1: simmering religious resentment, and before long, Catholic citizens in the
Speaker 1: streets were murdering the visiting Huguenots indiscriminately. It wasn't just
Speaker 1: the men who were killed. Women young and old were
Speaker 1: pulled into the street by their hair and drained of blood.
Speaker 1: Children were slaughtered. Bodies were flung into the sin, which
Speaker 1: began to bubble red. Chains had been strung across the
Speaker 1: streets to prevent Huguenot from escaping. They were trapped, and
Speaker 1: the massacre was only beginning. The next afternoon, the king
Speaker 1: himself rode out onto the streets and demanded that the
Speaker 1: violence cease, that no more lives be taken. His words
Speaker 1: went completely ignored. Margo managed to save a few lives
Speaker 1: by allowing them refuge in her room, and her husband,
Speaker 1: Henry of Navar, survived by making a quick pledge to
Speaker 1: convert to Catholicism in order to make it out of
Speaker 1: Paris and escape. The killing kept going for days. Estimates
Speaker 1: put the number of victims at three thousand in Paris alone.
Speaker 1: I say Paris alone, because as soon as word traveled
Speaker 1: that the king had allowed killing of Protestants, the massacre
Speaker 1: spread to the provinces. In at least twelve other major cities.
Speaker 1: Protestants were slaughtered a blood bat that lasted all the
Speaker 1: way from the summer until October. The number of deaths
Speaker 1: changes depending on whether you ask the Protestants or the Catholics,
Speaker 1: but estimator as high as thirty thousand souls. The wedding
Speaker 1: that was meant to end the religious warfare in France
Speaker 1: lead to its bloodiest chapter. That's the story of the St.
Speaker 1: Bartholomew's Day massacre. Peace would eventually come to France, but
Speaker 1: it would take just a little bit longer. Keep listening
Speaker 1: after this brief sponsor break to hear about what Henry
Speaker 1: of Navarre did next. The throne in France operated under
Speaker 1: Salak law, which meant that only men linked through a
Speaker 1: patrol in old bloodline were eligible to become king. After
Speaker 1: the death of King Charles the Ninth at fourteen from tuberculosis,
Speaker 1: his brother Henry the Third became king. But Henry didn't
Speaker 1: have any children, and so when the family's final son, Anjou, died,
Speaker 1: the next man in line for the French throne became
Speaker 1: Henry of Navarre, a Protestant. The thought of a Protestant
Speaker 1: taking the throne launched what became known as the War
Speaker 1: of the Three Henry's, with King Henry the Third facing
Speaker 1: off against Henry of Navarre, while a third, Henry, the
Speaker 1: Duke of Gus, tried to establish his own claim to
Speaker 1: the throne with the help of his many Catholic supporters.
Speaker 1: Margot's brother, her husband, and her first love were waging war.
Speaker 1: Henry the third had the Duke of Guy's murdered, thinking
Speaker 1: that if he were the only Catholic Henry left, he
Speaker 1: surely would have support of the people. Unfortunately, the Duke
Speaker 1: of Gus was beloved, and so the move utterly backfired,
Speaker 1: with Henry's populace rising up against him. The kingdom was fractured,
Speaker 1: threatened both internally and externally by Catholics who hated Henry
Speaker 1: the Third and hated Henry of Navarre, but for different reasons.
Speaker 1: When Henry the Third died, assassinated by a fanatical monk,
Speaker 1: Henry of Navarre became King of France, but in name only.
Speaker 1: He had not been able to take Paris militarily. But finally,
Speaker 1: in fifteen ninety three, Henry of Navarre did something unbelievable,
Speaker 1: something the royal court had been hoping that he would
Speaker 1: do since back when he first became engaged to their
Speaker 1: beautiful Margot. He converted to Catholicism. Famously. He's thought to
Speaker 1: have said Paris is well worth a mass. The French
Speaker 1: population accepted him as their king. The Pope undid his excommunication,
Speaker 1: and in Henry of Navarre signed the Edict of Nant,
Speaker 1: which offered religious freedom, of conscience and basic civil rights
Speaker 1: for the Protestants. He had once led, well, he still
Speaker 1: led them now he was after all, they're king. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Mankey.
Speaker 1: The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz and
Speaker 1: produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Trevor Young.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales,
Speaker 1: and you can learn more about the show over at
Speaker 1: Noble blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.