In “The Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX,” Merimee turned to depicting significant social upheavals that were turning point in nature. The action of his novel takes place during the years of religious and civil wars that engulfed France in the second half of the 16th century. The culminating moment in the development of this action is St. Bartholomew's Night, a terrible massacre of the Huguenots committed by Catholics. The originality of the artistic manner in which the “Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX” was written is determined by the concept of the work: the desire to comprehensively and objectively characterize the social atmosphere that prevailed in the country during the years of religious wars , highlight the image of the morals and sentiments of ordinary people.