3 The story of Boniface de La Mole (or La Molle) is set against the turbulent era of the Wars of Religion, or

3 The story of Boniface de La Mole (or La Molle) is set against the turbulent era of the Wars of Religion, or Wars of the League, in the second half of the sixteenth century. These complicated political circumstances merit some explanation. At the death of Henri II in 1559, Catherine de Médici wielded enormous influence during the reigns of her three sons. Francis II (born 1544, reigned 1559–60), married Mary, Queen of Scots. He was succeeded by Charles IX (born 1550), who at his mother's urging ordered the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre—August 24, 1572—when agents of the king murdered a great number of Huguenot nobles gathered in Paris for the marriage of Marguerite de Valois to Henri, King of Navarre (the future Henri IV of France [ see note for p. 282, l. 1]). This act of calculated mass murder further inflamed the Wars of Religion. Charles died in 1574, and the throne passed to the third brother, Henri III (1551–89), who acknowledged his Protestant cousin Henri de Navarre as his heir presumptive. This enraged many Catholics who, under the leadership of the Duke de Guise, formed the Holy League (Sainte Ligue) to prevent Henri de Navarre's accession. Henri III himself was assassinated in 1589. Henri de Navarre became Henri IV of France, after converting to Catholicism.