Massacres during the wars of religion.

Source : The massacre at Vassy the first day of March 1562 »,print by Jacques Tortorel and Jean Jacques Perrissin, Premier volume contenant quarante tableaux ou histoire diverses qui sont mémorables touchant les guerres, massacres et troubles advenus en France ces dernières années, 1569-1570. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8400505v

The spectator finds himself plunged into the heart of the farm where the massacre took place. The composition of the scene and the image of the tortured victims evokes contemporary representations of the 'massacre of the holy innocents'. In the centre, the raising of the sword by the duc de Guise makes it clear beyond doubt who was responsible. The text('Monsieur de Guise qui commandoit') confirms what the image suggests, while other versions of the incident make the massacre a result of an escalation tensions present at the time. This print, like others from the same series of engravings from Lyons Protestant Tortorel et Perrissin, is therefore an image indicting the Catholics.