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An attempt by François, Duke of Guise, to disperse a church service by Huguenots in Wassy, France, turned into a massacre, resulting in 50 dead, and starting the French Wars of Religion.
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François, Duke of Guise
French soldier and politician (1519–1563)
François de Lorraine, 2nd Duke of Guise, 1st Prince of Joinville, and 1st Duke of Aumale, was a French general and statesman. A prominent leader during the Italian War of 1551–1559 and French Wars of Religion, he was assassinated during the siege of Orleans in 1563.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Huguenots
Historical religious group of French Protestants
The Huguenots are a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Besançon Hugues, was in common use by the mid-16th…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Wassy
Commune in Grand Est, France
Wassy is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France. Its population, as of 2019, is 2,819. Wassy has been twinned with the German town of Eppingen in north-west Baden-Württemberg since 1967.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Massacre of Vassy
1562 killing of Huguenots in Wassy, France
The Massacre of Vassy was the murder of Huguenot worshippers and citizens in an armed action by troops of the Duke of Guise, in Wassy, France on 1 March 1562. The massacre is identified as the first major event in the French Wars of Religion. The series of battles that followed…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
French Wars of Religion
1562–1598 Catholic-Protestant conflicts
The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholics and Protestants from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease directly caused by the conflict, and it severely damaged the power of the French…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)