“St. Bartholomew.” There had been a struggle for many years between the Protestants and Catholics, which finally took the form of a conflict between the houses of Guise and Condé. Henry of Navarre was the successor to the throne—a marriage was arranged between him and the sister of the king, and August 18, 1572, was to be the wedding day. Many of the leading Huguenots were in Paris. It has been said that this wedding was but a scheme to bring them together; at any rate Coligni, a leading Huguenot, was fired upon by an assassin. The Huguenots became excited and threatened revenge. Catherine persuaded her son that they intended massacring the Catholics, and Charles gave an order for a general slaughter of the Protestants. The order was executed in nearly every city and town of France, and nearly 100,000 persons were put to death. “Confederation of the League.” This holy league, or “Catholic Union,” as it was called, was supported by the pope and Philip II., of Spain. Its head was Duke Henry of Guise, who aimed at the French throne. “Guise,” gheez. “Bourbon,” boorˈbon. A French ducal and royal family, different branches of which have ruled Spain, France, Naples and Parma. The civil wars which were carried on between these houses were no less than eight in number. “Richelieu,” reshˈeh-loo. “Mazarin,” măz-a-reenˈ. “Fronde.” A faction which opposed putting all the power of France into the hands of the government, as Richelieu and Mazarin both attempted. The name of _frondeurs_ (slingers) was applied to them because in their sneering and flippant attacks upon Mazarin they were said to resemble boys throwing stones from slings. “Tiers état.” Third estate. Before the reign of Philip the Fair, the people had had no voice in the government; but in his struggle with the papacy, as he desired to have the whole body of citizens on his side, he convened an assembly of the middle class of citizens, beside the clergy and nobility. The third body was called the _third estate_. P. 216, c. 2.—“États Généraux,” States general. An assembly of the nation, which consisted of representatives of the clergy, nobility, and the third estate. “National Assembly.” Upon the meeting of the states general, the nobles and the clergy insisted that the meetings of the body and its deliberations should be conducted according to class distinctions; this met with the opposition of the third estate, who finally declared themselves the only body having a right to act as the legislature of France, and summoned the clergy and nobles to attend their deliberations. They called themselves the National Assembly. “Bastille,” bas-teelˈ. The state prison and citadel of Paris. It was begun in 1366; destroyed in 1789. “Marie Antoinette,” mäˈrēˌ ŏnˌtwäˈnĕtˈ. “Dauphin.” The title given to the eldest son of the king of France, under the Valois and Bourbon lines. It corresponds to “Prince of Wales” in England. It originally belonged to the counts of Dauphiny.