The massacre of Huguenots in a barn at Wassy: men and women are shot by soldiers, slaughtered with swords or forced to jump off the roof. Lithograph by N. Rolin, 1843, after J. Perrissin, ca. 1570.

The edict of Saint-Germain in 1562, which proclaimed toleration of the adherents of the "Reformed religion" (Huguenots) in France, was followed by fierce persecution by the Catholics, resulting in massacres of Huguenots in the towns of Orleans, Tours, and (the event shown in this woodcut) Wassy (Vassy), in the Haute-Marne. François de Lorraine, Duc de Guise and Prince de Joinville, was the leader of the Catholics. The Protestants were meeting in a barn inside the city, whereas they were only authorised to gather outside the city. The ensuing massacre of the Huguenots in the barn is the subject of this print. The interior of the barn is shown in a cutaway view. The Duc de Guise is in the centre, with sword, while his brother, the cardinal de Guise (presumably Charles, 1525-1574, rather than Louis, 1527-1578) watches from behind a wall on the left. At the entrance to the barn, soldiers are robbing the poor box that is fixed to the door. Right, one of the Huguenots escapes by jumping over the city wall and out to the fields: he represents the eye-witnesses who described the event to the artists