R. J. Knecht suggests that the 'Black Legend' may not be quite as unfair to Catherine as her defenders have argued. Few historical figures have aroused as much passionate controversy as Catherine de’ Medici who was queen of France from 1547 until 1559 and several times regent before her death in 1589. In the sixteenth century she came under attack from Protestant propagandists who accused her of a whole series of crimes, culminating in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day in August 1572. Probably the most vicious of these attacks was the Marvellous discourse on the life, deeds and conduct of Catherine de’ Medici, queen-mother, which claimed to be a strictly factual account of her life.