MASSACRES & ATROCITIES
“THE KILLING SOON SPIRALLED OUT OF CONTROL AND THOUSANDS WERE SLAUGHTERED IN WEEKS OF UNBRIDLED BLOODLETTING”
The French Wars of Religion opened with a massacre of Calvinist worshippers, at Wassy-sur-blaise (or Vassy) in March 1562. There, the retainers of the Duke of Guise first insulted and then attacked a group of Calvinist Protestant Huguenots worshipping. This was the ignition point of the wars but conflict had been building for some time.
Religious tensions between Catholics and
