This week marks the anniversary of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in 1572—where the slaughter of French Calvinists (Huguenots) spilled out first into the streets of Paris and then into the French countryside. The slaughter was one of the worst in the 16th century and is seen by many historians as the prelude to the Wars of Religion that spilled into the next century. For French Calvinism, the massacre and ensuing violence against them marked the end of the dream that France would embrace Protestantism. And so were launched Huguenot ships for the New World.
I have an older video telling the story of Reformed influence in France and of the surrounding events of St. Bartholomew’s Day, which is part of my wider course on Church History.
