Massacre at Vassy

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The Massacre of Vassy was the trigger for the long brewing French Wars of Religion.

Based on the work of John Calvin, the Huguenots were French Calvinists who were persecuted and forced to leave France. Catherine de' Medici, Regent at that time to François II, in the Edict of January had proposed the co-existence of Calvinism and Catholicism in France, relying upon the idealistic idea that the Catholics and Calvinists would stop fighting. On March 1, 1562 the Duke of Guise stopped in the town of Vassy and found a congregation of Huguenots holding religious ceremonies. Outraged, he ordered his men to fortify the town and set fire to the church, killing just over 30 Huguenots and wounding hundreds of others. The Huguenots then seized control of many towns in the South.