How did pamphlets and religious arguments shape Catherine de’ Medici’s reputation after the massacre?

The reputation of Catherine de’ Medici as a "wicked Italian queen" was largely constructed through the influence of contemporary pamphleteers and polemical historiography following the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day.1

While Catherine is traditionally blamed for the massacre, historians note that this interpretation is heavily shaped by the political climate of the time. After the crown assumed responsibility for the event via a declaration in the Parlement of Paris, the public and subsequent writers conflated the monarchy's actions with Catherine’s personal authority.1

Pamphleteers exploited the violence to frame her career through the lens of this single event, often ignoring her earlier efforts to distinguish faith from allegiance and her attempts to maintain a moderate political stance against religious extremists. By casting her as the architect of the massacre, these polemical works successfully established a lasting, negative myth that obscured the complex political pressures—such as the threat of Huguenot retaliation—that actually influenced the court's decisions during that crisis.12