![]() ![]() Based on how much the crown paid gravediggers in the aftermath to clean up the mess, the number in Pairs was at least 2000. (It didn't help that the cease and desist was contradicted, then reissued several times, showing the vacillation of Charles IX.) Even today, no-one knows how many died, because Protestant and Catholic sources give wildly different numbers. Killings continued into the autumn despite a royal cease-and-desist being issued on August 25th. Commoner and noble suffered alike: Huguenot shops were looted and burned, mostly by their fellow civilians roused to mob violence and Coligny's family and servants, and Henry de Navarre's attendants staying within the Louvre were killed by Catholic nobles, Swiss mercenaries, and the royal guard! The spark caught and the fire spread outside the city, into the countryside as well. De Guise, who had a grudge against Coligny, went with the Royal guards to finish him off, but was also heard to say "Kill them all-it is the King's command!" Was he just talking to his men about the other assassinations on their list? Regardless, excitable crowds took this as an order to murder their hated neighbors. At dawn on August 24th, the murders began, and quickly got out of hand. ![]()
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