Conspiracy or Communication

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews two articles by Mack P. Holt and Philip Benedict that explore the causes and effects of a series of events occurring in the weeks after August the 23rd, 1572. Those events would become known as The Saint Bartholomew?s Day Massacre. The paper contends that there are different views on the reasons, responsibilities and consequences of this massacre, but one thing that can be agreed upon is that the massacre eventually claimed the lives of as many as 3000 French Protestants. The paper examines the two authors' similar yet different ideas.

From the Paper:

"Both authors also confirm that most of the killing of Huguenots and Calvinists was carried out by civilians under mob mentality; often the mob consisted of assisted members of the militia. Holt and Benedict's reasons for why the mob decided to kill the Protestants differ from each other. Holt believes that theological beliefs were the main cause. The Catholics felt the need to dehumanize the Huguenots, as they felt they were not worthy of human-status in the world- they must therefore be treated as animals. He uses one example, "The rights of violence", where "many participants in the massacre saw themselves as carrying out clerical roles of priests and purifies and magisterial roles of judges and executioner." He discusses how the mob dehumanized their victims and performed what he sees as catholic "rights", like the dumping of bodies into the river, which Holt interprets as the mob's version of baptism. Also the burning of the Protestant's houses was believed to "invoke additional purification" of all heretics." Benedict however; believes that the mob was driven by the desire for revenge. He feels that the revenge was for the Protestant's actions during the previous decade- during the civil wars of religion. The authors discuss how the massacre spread from Paris to other towns later on, sharing some of the same views and characteristics."

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