Like simultaneous claimants to heavyweight boxing titles, each one has some semblance of legitimacy. Each one also partakes in a history that casts doubt on the claim. It lies in the attitude of the Presbyterians toward the independents. The difficulty lies in the unanimous and uniform advice of Calvin and his epigones, who demanded intervention of the government in the matter of religion. First, a brief history of events.
Estimates indicate a death toll in the neighborhood of fifty thousand.
While the events of 1572 are in themselves momentous, the mythological characterization and propogandist use of them that followed is even more significant. The assassination of Admiral Coligny and the massacre that ensued became one of the chief cornerstones of Protestant martyrology. As the weight of Protestant martyrological interpretation grew, a response from the Catholic side did also. And that brings us back to Kuyper and Acton, both of whom wrote substantive essays on the massacre, focusing on the changing Catholic historiography. Lord Acton was a scrupulous historian whose passion for honesty in dealing with historical sources and evidence got him into trouble with ecclesiastical authorities on several occasions.