On July 5, 1589 members of the Paris friary marched into the friary church and executed their monarch. The friars did not actually assault Henry III, just his portrait. Even so, Pierre de l'Estoile was not amused. His trademark sarcasm well on display, L'Estoile remarked that such work was “a fine occupation and amusement for those who have nothing to do, and work, as they say, worthy of monks.” L'Estoile's irritation with the friars is understandable because the mock execution was, to say the least, seditious. The portrait of the king that hung over the central altar of the church depicted Henry III kneeling before God like a good Catholic—a powerful symbol of the spiritual and political authority of the French monarch. In removing Henry III's head, the friars showed symbolically that they no longer recognized his authority. The solemn procession of the friars into the church and the ritualized “beheading” make it clear, furthermore, that the mock execution was carefully staged for public consumption. As a political statement, the event was symptomatic of its time, for France in July 1589 was awash in political agitation. In the months following the assassinations of the Guise brothers at Blois in December 1588, Catholics plastered the walls of their cities with placards and gathered in large crowds to hear sermons denouncing Henry III. Accustomed to sophisticated spectacles as political vehicles, French subjects organized religious processions in atonement for the sins of their king, and destroyed statues and paintings bearing his image.