An original 16th century German engraving ''St Bartholomew's Day Massacre'' dated 22 August 1572 and including a scene of tennis being played in Paris

An original 16th century German engraving ''St Bartholomew's Day Massacre'' dated 22 August 1572 and including a scene of tennis being played in Paris, by an anonymous German engraver, with hand colouring, probably later, familiar to students of tennis history as depicted in The Ultimate Tennis Book: 500 Years of the Sport (Clerici,1975, p.44), Catalogue Jeu des Rois, Roi des Jeux, le Jeu de Paume en France (Fontainebleau, 2001, p.77) On August 22 1572 there was a failed attempt to murder the leader of the protestants, Admiral Gaspard II de Coligny, who was shot but only wounded, seen in the engraving bottom left. The news of the attempted assassination of the Admiral is brought by a messenger to King Charles IX, who was playing tennis at the time (top left). The King is said to have been outraged, exclaiming ''Will I never have any peace? Always new troubles'', throwing his racquet to the ground and ending his game. On August 24 a massacre takes place, in which several thousand protestants are killed, including Coligny, who is shown (right) being murdered in his bed and his body thrown out of an upstairs window. King Charles IX is reported to have been ''passionately fond of tennis'', and rather more interested in the game than in state affairs. On that 22 August, de Coligny had accompanied Charles to the tennis court at the Louvre Palace, where the King usually played. The Admiral watched the King play for a while, before leaving on his horse. It was then that de Coligny was shot in the streets of Paris, and subsequently he sent a messenger to the tennis court to inform the King of this attempt.