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SSH104-Western Civilization II
Sooyean Kim
1st Paper
10 May 1572
I am so tired tonight. I have spent too much time at the market. If I had not met
Christian there in the afternoon, I would not be tired now. I do not want to discuss French
any more. However, wherever I am, everybody in my town is talking about France and
the French. If I did not go to the market today in the afternoon, then I could wake up
early tomorrow and make money to buy delicious beef steak and fruits for my wife and
my sweet child, Kelly. What is brutal for me now is that I have to wake up tomorrow
early in the morning and work, although I am so tired and I have a headache.
How thankful I am to my ancestors! If I were born in France, I should have
experienced all brutal French wars. I have gotten to know more about the French than
before. The French are brutal people. Maybe they are the most brutal people in the world.
Since last week, I have been hearing only that some French people killed others who did
not follow their beliefs and accept their power. There should have been a peaceful way to
solve the conflict between them. Yet, they used only the violent way, killing each other.
A few years ago I received news that the Bourbon duc de Conde, the leading
Protestant was executed by the powerful Guise. Now I have heard that the Guises and the
Protestants are raising their armies (P # 283).
They are both only waiting for an
opportunity to kill one other; people know that a war will begin soon. I thank my
grandparents again that they brought my parents to this peaceful and beautiful town in
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Spain, so that I could have been born here. Today, I am very satisfied with my job, as a
peasant and my life.
25 August 1572
I vomited all the food that I ate yesterday at my cousin’s birthday party when I
heard of the brutal massacre in Paris. How thankful I am to God that I did not attend the
celebration of the marriage of Margaret! If I had followed Catherine’s force to come to
Paris, Catholics would have killed me even if I were not a Huguenot. My Friendship with
Catherine was good when I could use her power in France. Yet, if this friendship hurt my
family and me, then I would have to cut off this relationship with her and her relatives. I
just want to keep my peaceful life with my lovely wife and child in this small town until I
die. I do not need to have power to hurt others and take their lives.
As people had guessed before, the Catholics have attacked wealthy Huguenots,
French Protestants. It happened when all Huguenots in France gathered yesterday in Paris
to celebrate the marriage between Catherine’s daughter, Margaret, and Henry of Navarre,
a Huguenot, symbolizing the conciliation between the crown and the Huguenots (P. #
283). The blood has been running in Paris (P. #283). According to my neighbor, Margaret,
who was there to sell her ham, all the streets in Paris were painted with People’s blood.
Then, she said, what should I eat tomorrow morning? I could not eat my favorite French
cheese. She does not think of others’ lives. Although France is not my country and she is
not French, how could she only worry about food? Even though I knew that she is an
egotistical person, I have become extraordinarily skeptical with my relationship with her.
Margaret is more brutal than the killers at the massacre in France. Poor French and poor
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France! Every time I wake up early, somebody comes to me and tells me about the
violent events in France.
For Catholics, it has been the best time to remove the whole power of the
Huguenots; there have been all-powerful Huguenot leaders in the country. If they remove
the heads of the Huguenots, then the power of the city, Paris, and the court will belong to
them. All worries aside, the marriage had been announced by Catherine (P. # 283). It
would have been better for all if Catherine would not have tried to reconcile the Catholics
and the Huguenots. Her intention was great for France, but more consideration was
needed at the time. At least, we did not hear people’s sad cries and see black-red blood on
the streets in Paris. The massacre would not have been if she delayed the marriage or
tried in another way to reconcile the two groups.
The Catholics, who have waited for the moment to assassinate the leading
Huguenots, could have caught the best chance to accomplish their goal (P. #283).
However, their best opportunity disappeared by the escape of the important Huguenots
and Henry of Navarre (P. # 283). Catherine’s intention of reconciliation was a nice but
naive idea. However, it was too far from the citizens’ will. Who couldn’t have felt the
huge black smoke of Paris coming from all the houses and towns in the whole country
before the brutal massacre happened on Saint Bartholomew’s feast day? Catherine’s
reconciliation failed again by the brutal and powerful Catholics, who want to be secure
forever with their belief and power in the court and the Church in France. Anyway, it is
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the problem that France and the French have. Actually, I do not need to concern myself
with the French war and problems.
28 August 1572
I do not want to hear of the massacre in Paris any more, but the Spanish in
Barcelona are talking about the matter wherever you go, on fields, at markets, and parties.
The food that I like eating, spaghetti with Italian tomato sauce cooked with Italian
tomatoes, is not delicious any more. The tomato sauce looks like French blood. It makes
me imagine the bloody streets in Paris. Playing with my sweet dog, Abel, does not make
me feel better. My neighbors who have relatives and friends in France have cried day and
night without any words. Nobody knows whether they are alive or not. My peaceful and
quiet small town looks like a cemetery.
In France, as time went by, all streets, houses, fields and countryside from north
to south from west to east have been filled with citizens’ blood, whose is as valuables as
Margaret’s, Henry of Navarre’s, and Catherine’s (P. #283). Thousands of the Protestants
paid for their beliefs with their lives (P. # 283). All the streets in France have looked as if
butchers came by to kill their cows and pigs there. Poor Margaret still only has the
concern about her favorite French cheese. While most of my neighbors are crying for
their French relatives and friends, Margaret is crying for French cheese. She would be the
top of the killers in France if she were born in France. She is the most brutal person in the
world! I also have concern for French food that we buy every week, but not like her!
Were there any other ways to keep their beliefs and power instead of slaughtering many
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people? My belief is important as much as others’, but I do not want to kill or hurt
anyone to convince them. The massacre will call for another massacre for the Huguenots
soon or later. One could see only more blood from people and revenge in the future. On
the other hand, my life is so calm in Spain that I could not remember my plan for the next
day. Nothing has happened. My wife is pregnant again and my sweet child, Kelly is
growing fast. She is now 3 feet. Next month, I have the contract with the owner of the
land next to my house. I will cultivate his land for five years; I need five more strong men
with me. Will it be alright if I make an advertisement for it at the markets tomorrow? I
hope that nobody is jealous of me tomorrow. Anyway, from next month I could buy
good clothing and food for my family. I will buy some good gifts for my parents and my
wife’s parents tomorrow.
1 September 1572
Today, I went to the market in front of Margaret’s house. I hoped that people do
not talk about blood in France any more. This hope made me desperate. People were still
talking about the massacre in Paris although they did not know exactly what happened.
When could I eat my favorite food, Italian with tomato sauce? I think I should forget it
for this month. What is Catherine doing now? I am very curious. For her extremely naïve
motive, thousands of people paid for her insensible decision. They are planning another
massacre, revenge to kill people who killed their parents, brothers, and sisters; there was
only one reason that they did not have the same belief that the Catholics have.
The poor and inferior French! How could the court not have felt for the citizen’s minds!
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Reference:
Mark Kishlansky, Patrick Geary, Patricia O’Brien.
A Brief History of Western Civilization, The Unfinished Legacy:
Pearson Longman, Fourth Edition, Volume II, Since 1555.