Did you know? For an example of pragmatic brutality and logical cruelty, it is hard to beat today’s mass execution of Huguenots sanctioned by one of the Renaissance’s most vicious characters, Catherine de’Medici, Queen Mother (and de facto ruler) of France. The Protestant Huguenots has made the fatal error of attacking the castle at Amboise on the Loire, where the French royal family were in residence. Defeated, the Huguenot leaders were rounded up, and today, 15th March 1560, was set for the execution of 57 of them in the castle courtyard. Chief among the spectators was Catherine herself. In order to demonstrate how the traitorous are punished, she had placed her son, the sixteen year old King Francois II, beside her with his equally impressionable wife, young Mary of Guise, better known to us as Mary, Queen of Scots. Catherine also brought along her second son, Charles d’Orléans, age ten. As the 57 were beheaded or hanged in turn, so the younger generation learned.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 09:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015