Lessons from a Massacre Committed 450 Years Ago

[Draggingtree]

Lessons from a Massacre Committed 450 Years Ago

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TAGS World History

08/25/2022James Bovard

On this day in 1572, French Catholics slaughtered thirty thousand Protestants (known as Huguenots) in the streets of Paris. The French king and the pope helped organize the the biggest religious massacre in Europe in the 1500s. Roughly half the Bovards living in Paris were killed in the bloodbath. Three surviving Bovards fled past drunken guards at Paris’s city gates, raced to the coast, hijacked a rowboat, and made it across the English Channel and took refuge in London. Or at least that’s the Bovard family lore I’ve read. (I know not to bet the rent money on that lore’s accuracy.)

Some years ago at a DC reception, I met a cultural attaché from the French embassy. She saw my name tag and asked about my last name.

“Yes, it’s French. My ancestors were Huguenots,” I said.

“Oh—they were victims,” she replied remorsefully.

“Hell no! Getting kicked out of France was the best thing that ever happened to the Bovard family,” I replied with a big grin.

She just stared at me kind of wild-eyed. I fear I shattered her stereotypes of Huguenots.

After fleeing France, my forebearers resettled in northern Ireland. My ancestors were reportedly linen and lace manufacturers in France but became flax growers after resettling in County Donegal. I came by rusticity honestly.     https://mises.org/wire/lessons-massacre-committed-450-years-ago

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

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