2-889-359 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The "Massacre of St. Bartholomew" Medal, 1850. Gold medal '..struck by order of the Sacred Convocation of Prelates, held at Bayonne, in 1565, in commemoration of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and the resolution of the Convocation further to exterminate heresy by the sword throughout Christendom. The crowned figure in the centre represents Charles IX. preparing to destroy Heresy, which lies chained at his feet, while the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medicis, at whose instigation that fearful butchery was perpetrated, appears as Minerva, her favourite impersonation, and offers the alternative of conversion: to her likewise refers the legend at the foot of the medal, "Nil nisi consil", so often to be observed on French coins of that date. The...illustration is taken from Mezeray's work...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.