St Bartholomew's Day massacre

The St Bartholomew's Day massacre was a massacre of Huguenots by Catholics in France in August 1572 during the French Wars of Religion. 10,000 Huguenots were killed in Paris alone.

The First Doctor and Steven Taylor visited Paris before the massacre took place, and escaped as it began. The Doctor refused to interfere with the event lest he change the course of history, much to Steven's disgust. (TV: The Massacre)

The massacre began on 23 August 1572, when Catherine de Medici persuaded her son Charles IX to give orders for the Huguenot leaders to be killed, following an attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny on 22 August 1572.

Things soon got out of hand, and it bacame a general massacre of Huguenots which continued until October of that year. Thousands - possible tens of thousands - died. (PROSE: A History of Humankind)