Conclusion
The massacre, far from being a senseless and inexplicable act, thus obeyed military and political logic. Beyond sectarian hatred, it was equally based on awaiting the fulfilment of prophecy and on aspects of the community and the carnavalesque of popular culture pushed to extremes. It is still relevant to try to understand why massacres come about. In fact, violence in the form of massacre was not a constant presence in the wars of religion.
St Bartholomew's Day appears to have been the apogee of the incidence of massacre. Between the end of August 1572 and the beginning of October, there were perhaps 10 000 victims, including the crisis in Paris which precipitated the massacre and its echoes in the provinces. On the Protestant side, the massacre immediately created a visceral memory which reinforced Huguenot identity: the Protestants constituted the real 'people of God', while their executioner, Charles IX[1], was a contemporary reincarnation of the Pharaoh[2]. The massacre also accelerated the political maturation of monarchomach[3] ideas and the notion of the right of resistance.
On the Catholic side, violence underwent a change in register. On the one hand, it turned in on itself towards the faithful Catholics themselves with great penitential processions through the towns supporting the League[4], the 'white processions' (especially in 1583-1584). On the other hand, there was a reaction in the form of a more coherent political project to attack the bad king; the regicides of Henri III[5] in 1589 and then Henri IV[6] in 1610 were committed in the name of God and were not a punishment of the anonymous mass of Huguenots, but of those 'politiques[7]' who had put into action a policy of civil tolerance.
