In August of 1572, Paris celebrated the marriage of Marguerite de Valois, sister of King Charles IX and daughter of Catherine de Medicis, to Henri de Bourbon, the young king from Navarre. But court intrigues would soon undermine this political reconcilliation of Catholics and Protestants; Catherine

In August of 1572, Paris celebrated the marriage of Marguerite de Valois, sister of King Charles IX and daughter of Catherine de Medicis, to Henri de Bourbon, the young king from Navarre. But court intrigues would soon undermine this political reconcilliation of Catholics and Protestants; Catherine ordered the massacre of the Huguenots and devised a plot to poison her son Charles IX who, before his death, named Henri de Navarre as his successor. Joseph de la Mole, a former suitor of Marguerite's (now Queen Margot), and his friend Coconas were among those to die on the gallows. Henri and Margot then exiled themselves for several years to escape Catherine's schemes.