Gaspard de Saulx Quotes
Let blood!. Let blood! I consider it as a meritorious action, that will wash away all my sins.
In August of 1572 Catholics in Paris led by the Marshall and his soldiers attacked the homes of all known Huguenots, murdering the inhabitants. Tavannes rode through the streets of Paris on his horse shouting the first quotation to his troops who would murder the helpless Protestants. The frenzy spread to the countryside. When it was over 50,000 innocent, unsuspecting Protestants had been murdered. When asked how he, a military marshal felt about such a one sided action against unarmed civilians he responded with the second quotation. The event came to be known as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew as it commenced on that Saint’s day.
Tavannes, French Marshall, 1572
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Charles was a young man who ruled under the thumb of his mother, Catherine de Medici. She and the leading Catholic political figures had decided to have the army massacre the Huguenots—Protestants—of France. Charles knew the massacre was to begin that night and tried to save his friend Rochefoucault, a Protestant, who was a member of the King’s court. He suggested several times that Rochefoucault not go home that evening but stay at the Louvre. The unsuspecting Rochefoucault felt that he had to get home to his wife and left explaining that to the King. Hence the King’s remark. Rochefoucault and his family were murdered that night. In the end, 50,000 Protestants were massacred in what has come to be known as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. Many of the palace servants were Protestants and were cut to ribbons throughout the palace. The King from a palace window shot a rifle at Protestants trying to swim the River Seine to escape, while his page kept reloading for him.
The letter was in response to the King’s letter commanding him and all the other governors to massacre all the Protestants in his district. Montmorrin, a Catholic, died suddenly and shortly thereafter. It is supposed he and one other objector (Viscount Orthez) were poisoned by order of King Charles. All the other governors obeyed and 50,000 Protestants were murdered in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew.
Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault
Hamilton had studied with Martin Luther at Wittenberg and returned to Scotland where he converted many from the Catholic Church. He was offered a chance to recant and spare his life but he refused. He became the first Protestant Martyr in Scotland and his death brought many new converts.
Anabaptists from all over Germany and Europe had been called with their arms to Munster, where whey gained control of the city, and then by force began to expel all the Catholics and pressure the Protests to be re-Baptized and join the Anabaptists. Some did to keep their homes and property. However Mathias, with this quotation, became as bad as the Roman Catholic Church had been regarding the killing of dissenters. His logic is exactly the same as that of the Catholics and the Protestants who were killing the Anabaptists.
The King Outlawed Protestant Worship.
Gaspard de Saulx, sieur de Tavannes (March 1509–June 1573) was a French Roman Catholic military leader during the Italian Wars and the French Wars of Religion. He served under four kings during his career, participating in the Siege of Calais (1558) and leading the royal army to victory in the third civil war at the Jarnac and Moncontour. A strong Catholic, he founded the confraternity of the holy ghost in 1567 which would be a template for other militant Catholic organisations across France. He died in 1573, shortly after the opening assassinations of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, which he had helped plan.
