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Events

What was happening while Cavriana wrote. Letters are gathered here by date — that they were written around an event is a fact about the calendar, not a claim that they discuss it. Dates follow the Julian reckoning the letters themselves use, which runs ten days behind the Gregorian dates given by Wikidata.

  1. Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

    8 August 1570

    The edict ending the third war of religion, granting the Huguenots four places of safety. Its slow and contested execution is the subject of most of Cavriana's reporting through the autumn of 1570.

    Wikidata Q1067191

  2. Marriage of Charles IX and Elisabeth of Austria

    26 November 1570

    Celebrated at Mézières. Cavriana reports the wedding preparations through November and the new queen's reception at court in January.

  3. Battle of Lepanto

    7 October 1571

    The Holy League's naval victory over the Ottoman fleet.

    Wikidata Q165425

    No letter survives from the weeks around this event.

  4. Election of Gregory XIII

    12 May 1572 – 13 May 1572

    The conclave following the death of Pius V, which elected Ugo Boncompagni.

    Wikidata Q4541853

  5. Marriage of Henri de Navarre and Marguerite de Valois

    18 August 1572

    The match Cavriana had been reporting since 1570, celebrated in Paris six days before the massacre.

  6. Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day

    24 August 1572

    The killing of Coligny and the Huguenot leadership in Paris, and afterwards in the provinces.

    Wikidata Q163891

  7. Siege of La Rochelle

    6 November 1572 – 6 July 1573

    The royal army's assault on the Huguenot stronghold, lifted when Henri d'Anjou left to take the Polish crown.

    Wikidata Q650082

  8. Siege of Sancerre

    9 November 1572 – 19 August 1573

    The eight-month siege of the hilltop town, ended by famine.

    Wikidata Q3486023

  9. Election of Henri d'Anjou as King of Poland

    11 May 1573

    The first free royal election of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

    Wikidata Q3586956

    No letter survives from the weeks around this event.

  10. Conspiracy of Saint-Germain

    1 February 1574 – 8 March 1574

    The plot of the Duke of Alençon and the King of Navarre against Charles IX, discovered at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and reported by Cavriana on 6 March 1574. The precise span is uncertain; the dates given bracket the discovery.