Week 7: The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacres

 

Were the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacres the result of royal intrigue or international conspiracy? Were they political or popular? What was their impact on the Huguenots?

 

General reading

A. Jouanna, The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre: the mysteries of a crime of state (24 August 1572) (2013)

R.J. Knecht, The French Wars of Religion, 1559-1598 (1996), chap. 6

 The French Civil Wars, 1562-1598 (2000), chap. 8

Mack P. Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 1562-1629 (1995), chap. 3

N.M. Sutherland, The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew and the European Conflict, 1559-72 (1973)

A. Soman (ed.), The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew: Reappraisals and Documents (1974)

R.M. Kingdon, Myths about the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacres, 1572-76 (1988)

Barbara Diefendorf (ed.), The St Bartholomew's Day Massacre: a Brief History with Documents (2009)

Further reading

Barbara Diefendorf, Beneath the Cross (1991), chap. 6

'Prologue to a Massacre: Popular Unrest in Paris, 1557-1572', American Historical Review, 90 (1985), 1076-91

'Simon Vigor, a Radical Preacher in Sixteenth-Century Paris', Sixteenth Century Journal, 18 (1987), 399-410

Mark Greengrass, 'Hidden Transcripts: Secret Histories and Personal Testimonies of Religious Violence in the French Wars of Religion', in Mark Levene and Penny Roberts (eds), The Massacre in History (1999)

Philip Benedict, 'The Saint Bartholomew's Massacres in the Provinces', Historical Journal, 21 (1978), 205-25

 Rouen during the Wars of Religion (1981), chap. 5

Penny Roberts, A City in Conflict (1996), chap. 7

'Calvinists in Troyes, 1562-72: the Legacy of Vassy and the Background to Saint Bartholomew', in A. Pettegree et al (eds), Calvinism in Europe, 1540-1620 (1994), pp. 100-18

Janine Estèbe, Tocsin pour un massacre: la saison des Saint-Barthélemy (1968)

Denis Crouzet, Les Guerriers de Dieu: La violence au temps des troubles de religion (vers 1525-vers 1610) (1990), chaps. 11 & 12

  La nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy: un rêve perdu de la Renaissance (1994)

'Aux origines de la Saint-Barthélemy', L'Information historique, 57 (1995)

Jean-Louis Bourgeon, L'assassinat de Coligny (1992)

 Charles IX devant la Saint-Barthélemy (1995)

'Les légendes ont la vie dure: à propos de la Saint-Barthélemy et de quelques livres récents', Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, 34 (1987), 102-16

'Pour une histoire enfin de la Saint-Barthélemy', Revue historique, 282 (1989)

N.M. Sutherland, 'Le massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy: la valeur des témoignages et leur interprétation', Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, 38 (1991), 529-54

Marc Venard, 'Arretez le massacre!', Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, 39 (1992), 645-61

 
Documents: Potter: Chap. 5
Documents: 25-29
Figures: 4, 17-19
Websites: BBC Radio 4, 'In Our Time' archive, religious topics, 'The St Bartholomew's Day Massacre', November 2003 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/barth.htm

Film: 'La Reine Margot'