Charles IX ascended to the throne on the death of his brother, Francis II in 1560. During his reign civil war broke out between Catholics and Protestants after the Massacre of Vassy. Charles arranged a marriage of his sister Margaret to Henry of Navarre, a Protestant nobleman in line to the king of France. But facing popular hostility for his policy of appeasement and at the instigation of his mother, Catherine de’ Medici, he oversaw the massacre of Huguenot leaders who gathered in Paris for the wedding. The event is known as the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Guaranteed authentic by

Poor Richard’s Certified Classic Coins.