CONSPIRACY OF AMBOISE
MARCH 19, 1560

The Huguenots were persecuted by the Catholics, headed by the powerful de Guise brothers.

How did the de Guise family could become that powerful? They managed to get their niece, Mary Queen of Scots, married to the young French King Francis II.

So in order to get a break from the harassment, the Huguenots figured they had to a) march to Amboise Castle, b) force Francis II to abdicate, and c) lock up Francois and Charles de Guise. Mastermind behind the plan was Louis I de Bourbon.

Great idea that was, but someone snitched.

It followed the ambush for the ambushers, featuring a degree of brutality that would become the trade mark of the de Guise boys. People were hung from the trees by the hundreds and the leftover bodies and body parts were dumped into the Loire River.

Louis I de Bourbon was sentenced to death but King Francis II died just in time for the power in France to shift from the de Guise folks to Francis' mother, Catherine de Medicis.