Historical Events
- Aug 22 Failed assassination on Gaspard de Coligny, a French nobleman and admiral, a Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion (killed 2 days later)
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Aug 24 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of Protestants by Roman Catholics begins in Paris and later spreads to the French provinces
Famous Weddings
Henry IV of France
Aug 18 Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV of France) marries Margaret of Valois in Notre Dame cathedral, Paris, in attempt to make truce between Catholics and Protestants but prompts St. Bartholomew's Day massacre days later
Famous Deaths
- Aug 20 Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (b. 1502)
- Aug 22 Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland (b. 1528)
- Aug 24 Charles de Téligny, French Huguenot soldier, one of the 1st murdered during St. Bartholomew's day massacre, dies at about 37
- Aug 24 Gaspard de Châtillon, Count the Coligny, French admiral and Huguenot leader, who death ignited the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, beheaded at 53
- Aug 26 Petrus Ramus, French philosopher (b. 1515)
- Aug 29 Claude Goudimel, French composer, music theorist, music editor and publisher, dies between 52 and 58 [birthdate disputed]
