1.
Dordogne (river)
–
The Dordogne is a river in south-central and southwest France. The Dordogne and its watershed were designated Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on July 112012, contrary to appearances, the name of the Dordogne is not a recent word resulting from the frequent names of the Dore and the Dogne. It comes from an ancient Durānius, derived from a Pre-Celtic root dur-, dor-, the medieval forms adopted a redoubled suffix -ononia, Dorononia fluvius, Dornonia that evolves in Dordonia by a phenomenon of dissimilation, giving the impression of an etymology *Dore-Dogne. The Dordogne is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit the phenomenon of a tidal bore, the upper valley of the Dordogne is a series of deep gorges. The cliffs, steep banks, fast flowing water and high bridges attract both walkers and drivers, in several places the river is dammed to form long, deep lakes. Camp sites and holiday homes have proliferated wherever the valley floor is wide enough to accommodate them, below Argentat and around Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, the valley widens to accommodate fertile farmland, well-watered pasture and orchards. In the towns, which are major tourist attractions because of their history and architecture, in Périgord, the valley widens further to encompass one of Frances main gastronomic regions, with vineyards, poultry farms and truffle-rich woodlands. The main season for tourism in the Valley of the Dordogne is from June to September, with July, the lifestyle and culture of the Dordogne valley attract both visitors and incomers from all over France, but also from many other countries, particularly Britain and Germany. The Dordogne at the Sandre database The Dordogne Valley in the Lot department The Dordogne Valley UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
Dordogne (river)
–
The Dordogne in
Périgord, near
Castelnaud-la-Chapelle
Dordogne (river)
–
Location of the Dordogne River in France
Dordogne (river)
–
Canoeing on Dordogne River
Dordogne (river)
–
River Dordogne at
Argentat in
Corrèze, part of the Limousin region
2.
Departments of France
–
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
Departments of France
–
Geometrical proposition rejected
Departments of France
–
The 101 departments of France
Departments of France
–
The three Algerian departments in 1848
3.
Prefectures in France
–
There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
Prefectures in France
–
Petite Couronne
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
5.
Regions of France
–
France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
Regions of France
6.
Subprefectures in France
–
In France, a subprefecture is the administrative center of a departmental arrondissement that does not contain the prefecture for its department. The term also applies to the building houses the administrative headquarters for an arrondissement. The civil servant in charge of a subprefecture is the subprefect, between May 1982 and February 1988, subprefects were known instead by the title commissaire adjoint de la République. Where the administration of an arrondissement is carried out from a prefecture, the municipal arrondissements of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille) are divisions of the city rather than the prefecture, and so are not arrondissements in the same sense
Subprefectures in France
–
A subprefecture in
Verdun,
Meuse
Subprefectures in France
–
A subprefecture in
Langon,
Gironde
7.
Bergerac, Dordogne
–
Bergerac is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Dordogne department in southwestern France. The region is known for wine and tobacco. There are three museums, including the museum, a statue museum and a tobacco museum. The church of Notre Dame is located in the town centre, there is also a wine house by the river which features a small exhibition on the history of wine growing. Bergerac offers some of the finest wines in the Bordeaux region due to the soils excellent drainage - a result of its proximity to the Dordogne River, the Arboretum de Podestat is located near to Bergerac. The town contains two statues of Cyrano de Bergerac, subject of a play of the same name by Edmond Rostand. An old stone statue stands on Place de la Myrpe, facing Place du Docteur Cayla, a newer statue, unusual in that it is painted in colour and stands on a stainless steel pedestal, has been erected on Place Pelissiere. Transavia also flies to Bergerac from Amsterdam, Bergerac has an SNCF station with regular services to Bordeaux and Sarlat-la-Canéda. A weekday bus service operates between Bergerac and Périgueux, mainly serving school commuters, Bergerac is located within the Bordeaux Académie, which covers the entire Aquitaine Region. The main High School is Lycée Maine de Biran
Bergerac, Dordogne
–
Bergerac overlooking the
Dordogne river
Bergerac, Dordogne
Bergerac, Dordogne
–
Old statue of Cyrano de Bergerac
Bergerac, Dordogne
–
Newer statue of Cyrano de Bergerac
8.
Nontron
–
Nontron is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. According to the historian Ribault de Laugardière, the name Nontron derives from the Tyrian language, from Nata, over time, the placename has been spelt Natadun, Nattun, Nantrun and Nontroun, before the current Nontron. The town has existed for around 1100 years and has been invaded or sacked several times, including by Saracens in the seventh century. In the eighth century, a Gallo-Roman castrum was built for the counts of Limoges, over the course of the centuries, the town changed hands several time until, after the French Revolution it became a subprefecture of the department of the Dordogne. The towns railway station served passengers between 1891 and 1946, continuing to handle freight until 1970, communes of the Dordogne department INSEE Lapouge, Herve
Nontron
–
Nontron
Nontron
9.
Socialist Party (France)
–
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France, and the largest party of the French centre-left. The PS is one of the two major political parties in France, along with the Republicans. The Socialist Party replaced the earlier French Section of the Workers International in 1969, the PS is a member of the Party of European Socialists, the Socialist International and the Progressive Alliance. The PS first won power in 1981, when its candidate François Mitterrand was elected President of France in the 1981 presidential election, under Mitterrand, the party achieved a governing majority in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993. In 2007, the candidate for the presidential election, Ségolène Royal, was defeated by conservative UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. Then, the Socialist party won most of regional and local elections, in 2016, the party had 42,300 members. In 2014, the party had 60,000 members, in 2012 the party had 173,486 members. The defeat of the Paris commune greatly reduced the power and influence of socialist movements in France and its leaders were killed or exiled. Frances first socialist party, the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France, was founded in 1879 and it was characterised as possibilist because it promoted gradual reforms. Two parties split off from it, in 1882, the French Workers Party of Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue, at the same time, the heirs of Louis Auguste Blanqui, a symbol of the French revolutionary tradition, created the Central Revolutionary Committee led by Édouard Vaillant. There were also some declared socialist deputies such as Alexandre Millerand, in 1899, the participation of Millerand in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseaus cabinet caused a debate about socialist participation in a bourgeois government. In 1905, during the Globe Congress, the two merged in the French Section of the Workers International. Leader of the group and director of the party paper LHumanité. The party was hemmed in between the liberals of the Radical Party and the revolutionary syndicalists who dominated the trade unions. Together with the Radicals, who wished to install laicism, the SFIO was a component of the Left Block without to sit in the government, in 1906, the General Confederation of Labour trade union claimed its independence from all political parties. The French socialists were strongly anti-war, but following the assassination of Jaurès in 1914 they were unable to resist the wave of militarism which followed the outbreak of World War I and they suffered a severe split over participation in the wartime government of national unity. In 1919 the anti-war socialists were heavily defeated in elections, the right wing, led by Léon Blum, kept the old house and remained in the SFIO. In 1924 and in 1932, the Socialists joined with the Radicals in the Coalition of the Left, the question of the possibility of a government participation with Radicals caused the split of neosocialists at the beginning of the 1930s
Socialist Party (France)
–
From left to right:
Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
Bertrand Delanoë and
Ségolène Royal sitting in the front row at a meeting held on 6 Feb 2007 by the French Socialist Party at the Carpentier Hall in Paris.
Socialist Party (France)
–
Socialist Party Parti socialiste
10.
List of French departments by population
–
This table lists the 101 French departments in descending order of population, area and population density. The figures include, population without double counting for 1999, municipal population published in decree No, 2010-1723 of 30 December 2010 as amended by Decree No. 2011-343 of 28 March 2011 which corresponds to data compiled as at 1 January 2008, municipal population The total population takes into account double counting. Guadeloupe has seemingly lost population between 1999 and 2008, however, this diminution of the legal population is due to the creation of the overseas communities of Saint Barthelemy and Saint-Martin. In the 1999 census, the population of Guadeloupe without the arrondissement of Saint-Martin-Saint-Barthélemy was 386,566 inhabitants, the departments population has actually increased by more than 15,000 people over the period based on a constant territory
List of French departments by population
–
Population Density by Department
11.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
Daylight saving time
–
Ancient
water clock that lets hour lengths vary with season.
Daylight saving time
–
G. V. Hudson invented modern DST, proposing it first in 1895.
Daylight saving time
–
Retailers generally favor DST.
United Cigar Stores hailed a 1918 DST bill.
Daylight saving time
–
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.
12.
Central European Summer Time
–
It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
Central European Summer Time
–
light blue
13.
Communes of France
–
The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
Communes of France
–
Road sign marking the end of the village of
Y in the
Somme department of
Picardy
Communes of France
–
Map of the 36,569 communes of metropolitan France
Communes of France
–
Mittelhausbergen in
Alsace
Communes of France
–
Vacqueyras in
Provence, showing double French/
Provençal name
14.
Occitan language
–
Occitan, also known as lenga dòc by its native speakers, is a Romance language. It is spoken in southern France, Italys Occitan Valleys, Monaco, and Spains Val dAran, collectively, Occitan is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese. However, there is controversy about the unity of the language, others include Catalan in this family, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. In fact, Catalan was considered an Occitan dialect until the end of the 19th century, today, Occitan is an official language in Catalonia, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val dAran. Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be the preferred language for use in the Val dAran. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish, there is no written standard language called Occitan. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, There are also significant lexical differences, where some dialects have words cognate with French, and others have Catalan and Spanish cognates. Nonetheless, there is a significant amount of mutual intelligibility, the long-term survival of Occitan is in grave doubt. According to the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages, four of the six dialects of Occitan are considered severely endangered. The name Occitan comes from lenga dòc, òc being the Occitan word for yes and this was not, of course, the only defining characteristic of each group. The word òc came from Vulgar Latin hoc, while oïl originated from Latin hoc illud, Old Catalan, and now the Catalan of Northern Catalonia also have hoc. Other Romance languages derive their word for yes from the Latin sic, thus, etc. such as Spanish sí, Eastern Lombard sé, Sicilian and Italian sì, or Portuguese sim. French uses si to answer yes in response to questions that are asked in the negative sense, the name Occitan is sometimes considered a neologism, however, it was attested around 1300 as occitanus, a crossing of oc and aquitanus. For many centuries, the Occitan dialects were referred to as Limousin or Provençal, after Frédéric Mistrals Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition and so became the most popular term for Occitan. The term first came into fashion in Italy, currently, linguists use the terms Provençal and Limousin strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitania, keeping the name Occitan for the language as a whole. Many non-specialists, however, continue to refer to the language as Provençal, NO·L LI TOLRÀ NO·L LI DEVEDARÀ NI NO LEN DECEBRÀ. Nec societatem non AURÀ, si per castellum recuperare NON O FA, et si recuperare potuerit in potestate Froterio et Raimundo LO TORNARÀ, carolingian litanies, both written and sung in Latin, were answered to in Old Occitan by the audience. Occitan was the vehicle for the poetry of the medieval troubadours and trobairises, At that time
Occitan language
–
Main cities of Occitania, written in the Occitan language
Occitan language
–
Occitan
Occitan language
–
"Speak French, Be Clean" written across the wall of a Southern French school
Occitan language
–
This bilingual street sign in
Toulouse, like many such signs found in historical parts of the city, is maintained primarily for its antique charm; it is typical of what little remains of the lenga d'òc in southern French cities.
15.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
16.
Loire Valley
–
The Loire Valley, spanning 280 kilometres, is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France, primarily within the administrative region named Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about 800 square kilometres and it is referred to as the Cradle of the French and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, and asparagus fields, which line the banks of the river. Notable for its towns, architecture, and wines, the valley has been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic period. In 2000, UNESCO added the part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites. The valley includes historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Orléans, Saumur, the climate is favorable most of the year, the river often acting as a line of demarcation in Frances weather between the northern climate and the southern. The river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, the climate can be cool with springtime frost while wine harvest months may have rain. Summers are hot, however, influences from the Atlantic moderate the temperature with breezes, Loire wines tend to exhibit a characteristic fruitiness with fresh, crisp flavors. On December 2,2000, UNESCO added the part of the river valley. When the French kings began constructing their huge châteaux here, the nobility, not wanting or even daring to be far from the seat of power and their presence in the lush, fertile valley began attracting the very best landscape designers. In addition to its many châteaux, the cultural monuments illustrate to a degree the ideals of the Renaissance. Many of the châteaux were designed to be built on the top of hills, many of the châteaux had extremely detailed and expensive churches on the grounds, or within the actual château itself. Loire Valley world heritage site Loire Valley Chateau du Rivau Chinon Fortress Western France Tourist Board
Loire Valley
–
Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
Loire Valley
–
Vineyard in the Loire Valley
Loire Valley
–
Château de Valençay
17.
Pyrenees
–
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain. For the most part, the main crest forms a divide between France and Spain, with the microstate of Andorra sandwiched in between. The Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre have historically extended on both sides of the range, with smaller northern portions now in France and larger southern parts now in Spain. The demonym for the noun Pyrenees in English is Pyrenean, in Greek mythology, Pyrene is a princess who gave her name to the Pyrenees. The Greek historian Herodotus says Pyrene is the name of a town in Celtic Europe, Hercules, characteristically drunk and lustful, violates the sacred code of hospitality and rapes his hosts daughter. Pyrene gives birth to a serpent and runs away to the woods, alone, she pours out her story to the trees, attracting the attention of wild beasts who tear her to pieces. After his victory over Geryon, Hercules passes through the kingdom of Bebryx again, and all the rock-cliffs and wild-beast haunts echo back Pyrene. … The mountains hold on to the name through the ages. Pliny the Elder connects the story of Hercules and Pyrene to Lusitania, the Spanish Pyrenees are part of the following provinces, from east to west, Girona, Barcelona, Lleida, Huesca, Navarra and Gipuzkoa. The French Pyrenees are part of the following départements, from east to west, Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Hautes-Pyrénées, the independent principality of Andorra is sandwiched in the eastern portion of the mountain range between the Spanish Pyrenees and French Pyrenees. Physiographically, the Pyrenees may be divided into three sections, the Atlantic, the Central, and the Eastern Pyrenees, together, they form a distinct physiographic province of the larger Alpine System division. In the Western Pyrenees, from the Basque mountains near the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean, at the eastern end on the southern side lies a distinct area known as the Sub-Pyrenees. On the French side the slopes of the range descend abruptly. The Pyrenees are older than the Alps, their sediments were first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, the intense pressure and uplifting of the Earths crust first affected the eastern part and moved progressively to the entire chain, culminating in the Eocene Epoch. The eastern part of the Pyrenees consists largely of granite and gneissose rocks, the massive and unworn character of the chain comes from its abundance of granite, which is particularly resistant to erosion, as well as weak glacial development. Low passes are lacking, and the roads and the railroads between France and Spain run only in the lowlands at the western and eastern ends of the Pyrenees. A notable visual feature of mountain range is La Brèche de Roland, a gap in the ridge line. Coal deposits capable of being profitably worked are situated chiefly on the Spanish slopes, the open pit of Trimoun close to the commune of Luzenac is one of the greatest sources of talc in Europe
Pyrenees
–
Central Pyrenees
Pyrenees
–
Composite satellite image of the Pyrenees (
NASA)
Pyrenees
–
Pico del Aneto, the highest mountain of the Pyrenees.
Pyrenees
–
Pic de Bugatet in the
Néouvielle massif
18.
Gauls
–
The Gauls were Celtic peoples inhabiting Gaul in the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their Gaulish language forms the branch of the Continental Celtic languages. The Gauls emerged around the 5th century BC as the bearers of the La Tène culture north of the Alps, Gaul was never united under a single ruler or government, but the Gallic tribes were capable of uniting their forces in large-scale military operations. They reached the peak of their power in the early 3rd century BC, after this, Gaul became a province of the Roman Empire, and the Gauls were culturally assimilated into a Gallo-Roman culture, losing their tribal identities by the end of the 1st century AD. The Gauls of Gallia Celtica according to the testimony of Caesar called themselves Celtae in their own language, the name Gaul itself may be derived from Latin Galli, or it may be derived from the Germanic word Walha. Gaulish culture developed out of the Celtic cultures over the first millennia BC, the Urnfield culture represents the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European-speaking people. The spread of iron working led to the Hallstatt culture in the 8th century BC, the Hallstatt culture evolved into the La Tène culture in around the 5th century BC. The Greek and Etruscan civilizations and colonies began to influence the Gauls especially in the Mediterranean area, Gauls under Brennus invaded Rome circa 390 BC. Following the climate deterioration in the late Nordic Bronze Age, Celtic Gaul was invaded in the 5th century BC by tribes later called Gauls originating in the Rhine valley. Gallic invaders settled the Po Valley in the 4th century BC, defeated Roman forces in a battle under Brennus in 390 BC and raided Italy as far as Sicily. A large number of Gauls served in the armies of Carthage during the Punic Wars, in the Aegean world, an invasion of Eastern Gauls appeared in Thrace, north of Greece, in 281 BC. However, according to the Roman legend of the gold of Delphi. One king Cerethrius invaded the Thracians, while another Gallic king Bolgios invaded Macedonia and Illyria where he killed the Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos, in 278 BC Gaulish settlers in the Balkans were invited by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to help him in a dynastic struggle against his brother. They numbered about 10,000 fighting men and about the number of women and children. They were eventually defeated by the Seleucid king Antiochus I, in a battle where the Seleucid war elephants shocked the Galatians. While the momentum of the invasion was broken, the Galatians were by no means exterminated and continued to demand tribute from the Hellenistic states of Anatolia to avoid war,4,000 Galatians were hired as mercenaries by the Ptolemaic Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus in the 270 BC. According to Pausanias, soon after arrival the Celts plotted “to seize Egypt, ”, Galatians also participated at the victorious in 217 BC Battle of Raphia under Ptolemy IV Philopator, and continued to serve as mercenaries for the Ptolemaic Dynasty until its demise in 30 BC. They sided with the renegade Seleucid prince Antiochus Hierax, who reigned in Asia Minor, after the defeat, the Galatians continued to be a serious threat to the states of Asia Minor
Gauls
–
Bronze cuirass, weighing 2.9 kg,
Grenoble, end of 7th century – early 6th century BCE
Gauls
–
A map of
Gaul in the 1st century BC, showing the relative positions of its three tribes: Celtae (Galli), Belgae and Aquitani. The region corresponds to what is now
Belgium,
France,
Switzerland,
Netherlands,
Western Germany and
Northern Italy.
Gauls
–
Celtic sword and
scabbard circa 60 BC
Gauls
–
Agris helmet. Discovered in
Agris,
Charente, France. 350 BC
19.
Sarlat
–
Sarlat-la-Canéda, or simply Sarlat, is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The town of Sarlat is in a known in France as the Périgord Noir. Sarlat is a town that developed around a large Benedictine abbey of Carolingian origin. The medieval Sarlat Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Sacerdos, because modern history has largely passed it by, Sarlat has remained preserved and one of the towns most representative of 14th century France. The centre of the old town consists of impeccably restored stone buildings and is largely car-free, Agriculture, Agriculture has long been of importance in the Dordogne area around Sarlat. Tobacco has been grown around Sarlat since 1857 and has historically been a major commodity for the area, other agricultural commodities include corn, hay, walnuts, walnut oil, cheeses, wine, cèpes and truffles. Tourism, Numerous visitors—especially from northern Europe -- come on holiday to Sarlat, the months of July and August are traditionally the haute saison for visitors, as is true in much of France outside Paris. Foie gras, There are several large foie gras factories as well as a number of producers of geese and ducks in the region that make foie gras. A film festival has held there every November since 1991 Sarlat railway station offers train services to Bergerac. Henry Sanfourche, aide-de-camp to General Hugues Charlot, colonel of infantry in the Napoleonic army, gabriel Tarde, judge and sociologist André Malraux, a square and a gallery of paintings bear the name of the former Minister of Culture. This is explained by the fact that it is considered by many Sarladais as the savior of the district of the city. While visiting Sarlat, he realized that the city was in danger of ruins in certain neighborhoods, the Saved Areas Act was drafted to save the city. Claude Beylie, critic and historian of cinema, born in Sarlat
Sarlat
–
Sarlat-la-Canéda
Sarlat
Sarlat
–
Portable still at Sarlat
Sarlat
–
House of La Boétie, the immortal friend of Montaigne
20.
Dordogne River
–
The Dordogne is a river in south-central and southwest France. The Dordogne and its watershed were designated Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on July 112012, contrary to appearances, the name of the Dordogne is not a recent word resulting from the frequent names of the Dore and the Dogne. It comes from an ancient Durānius, derived from a Pre-Celtic root dur-, dor-, the medieval forms adopted a redoubled suffix -ononia, Dorononia fluvius, Dornonia that evolves in Dordonia by a phenomenon of dissimilation, giving the impression of an etymology *Dore-Dogne. The Dordogne is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit the phenomenon of a tidal bore, the upper valley of the Dordogne is a series of deep gorges. The cliffs, steep banks, fast flowing water and high bridges attract both walkers and drivers, in several places the river is dammed to form long, deep lakes. Camp sites and holiday homes have proliferated wherever the valley floor is wide enough to accommodate them, below Argentat and around Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, the valley widens to accommodate fertile farmland, well-watered pasture and orchards. In the towns, which are major tourist attractions because of their history and architecture, in Périgord, the valley widens further to encompass one of Frances main gastronomic regions, with vineyards, poultry farms and truffle-rich woodlands. The main season for tourism in the Valley of the Dordogne is from June to September, with July, the lifestyle and culture of the Dordogne valley attract both visitors and incomers from all over France, but also from many other countries, particularly Britain and Germany. The Dordogne at the Sandre database The Dordogne Valley in the Lot department The Dordogne Valley UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
Dordogne River
–
The Dordogne in
Périgord, near
Castelnaud-la-Chapelle
Dordogne River
–
Location of the Dordogne River in France
Dordogne River
–
Canoeing on Dordogne River
Dordogne River
–
River Dordogne at
Argentat in
Corrèze, part of the Limousin region
21.
Castelnaud-la-Chapelle
–
Castelnaud-la-Chapelle is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle is located in the commune, the river Céou flows northward through the western part of the commune, then flows into the Dordogne, which forms all of the communes northern border. The village is located above the confluence of the two rivers, communes of the Dordogne department INSEE English Website of the Château de Castelnaud Château de Castelnaud Camping de Castelnaud
Castelnaud-la-Chapelle
–
View of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and
its castle
Castelnaud-la-Chapelle
22.
Villetoureix
–
Villetoureix is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Villetoureix is situated on a hill on the bank of the river Dronne, near Ribérac. The commune consists of the village Villetoureix and the settlements of la Pouyade, la Borie, Mayac. Neighbouring communes are Ribérac and Saint-Méard-de-Drône to the south, Celles to the east, Bertric-Burée to the north, the first traces of inhabitants date back to the Gallo-Roman era, but development of the village started in the 17th century, when the château de la Rigale was built. Communes of the Dordogne department INSEE Villetoureix on the Quid site Villetoureix on the map of France
Villetoureix
–
Villetoureix
Villetoureix
23.
Julius Caesar
–
Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
Julius Caesar
–
The
Tusculum portrait, perhaps the only surviving statue created during Caesar's lifetime.
Julius Caesar
–
Gaius Marius, Caesar's uncle
Julius Caesar
–
Dictator
Lucius Cornelius Sulla stripped Caesar of the priesthood.
Julius Caesar
–
The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests.
24.
Guienne
–
Guyenne or Guienne was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Aquitania Secunda of the Romans and the archdiocese of Bordeaux. The name Guyenne comes from Aguyenne, a deformation of Aquitania. In the 12th century, it formed with the Gascony the duchy of Aquitaine which passed under the dominion of the kings of England by the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II. In the 13th century, through the conquests of Philip II, Louis VIII and Louis IX and it is at this point that Guyenne became distinct from Aquitaine. It then comprised the Bordelais, the Bazadais, part of Périgord, Limousin, Quercy and Rouergue, still united with Gascony, it formed a duchy extending from the Charentes to the Pyrenees. At the treaty of Brétigny, King Edward III of England acquired the sovereignty of the duchy of Guyenne, together with Aunis, Saintonge, Angoumois. The victories of Bertrand du Guesclin and Gaston III, Count of Foix, in 1451, it was conquered and finally united to the French crown by Charles VII. In 1469, Louis XI gave it in exchange for Champagne and Brie to his brother Charles, Duke of Berry, after death in 1472. Guyenne then formed a government which from the 17th century onwards was united with Gascony, the government of Guyenne and Gascony, with its capital at Bordeaux, lasted till the end of the Ancien Régime. Under the French Revolution, the formed from Guyenne proper were those of Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne, Lot, Aveyron
Guienne
–
The gouvernement général of Guienne and Gascogne in 1733
25.
House of Plantagenet
–
The House of Plantagenet was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154, with the accession of Henry II, until 1485, under the Plantagenets, England was transformed, although this was only partly intentional. The Plantagenet kings were forced to negotiate compromises such as Magna Carta. These constrained royal power in return for financial and military support, the king was no longer just the most powerful man in the nation, holding the prerogative of judgement, feudal tribute and warfare. He now had defined duties to the realm, underpinned by a justice system. A distinct national identity was shaped by conflict with the French, Scots, Welsh and Irish, in the 15th century, the Plantagenets were defeated in the Hundred Years War and beset with social, political and economic problems. Popular revolts were commonplace, triggered by the denial of numerous freedoms, the Tudors worked to centralise English royal power, which allowed them to avoid some of the problems that had plagued the last Plantagenet rulers. The resulting stability allowed for the English Renaissance, and the advent of early modern Britain, Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, adopted Plantagenet as his family name in the 15th century. Plantegenest had been a 12th-century nickname for his ancestor Geoffrey, count of Anjou, one of many popular theories suggests the common broom, planta genista in medieval Latin, as the source of the nickname. It is uncertain why Richard chose this name, although during the Wars of the Roses it emphasised Richards status as Geoffreys patrilineal descendant. It was only in the late 17th century that it passed into common usage among historians, the three Angevin kings were Henry II, Richard I and John, Angevin can also refer to the period of history in which they reigned. Many historians identify the Angevins as a distinct English royal house, Angevin is also used in reference to any sovereign or government derived from Anjou. The term Angevin Empire was coined by Kate Norgate in 1887, the Empire portion of Angevin Empire has been controversial. In 1986 a convention of historians concluded that there had not been an Angevin state, and therefore no Angevin Empire, nonetheless, historians have continued to use Angevin Empire. The later counts of Anjou, including the Plantagenets, descended from Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais, in 1060 the couple inherited the title via cognatic kinship from an Angevin family that was descended from a noble named Ingelger, whose recorded history dates from 870. During the 10th and 11th centuries, power struggles occurred between rulers in northern and western France including those of Anjou, Normandy, Brittany, Poitou, Blois, Maine, and the kings of France. In the early 12th century Geoffrey of Anjou married Empress Matilda, King Henry Is only surviving legitimate child and heir to the English throne. As a result of marriage, Geoffreys son Henry II inherited the English throne as well as Norman and Angevin titles, thus marking the beginning of the Angevin
House of Plantagenet
–
Henry II is considered by some to be the first Plantagenet king of England.
House of Plantagenet
–
Armorial of Plantagenet
House of Plantagenet
–
13th century depiction of Henry II and his legitimate children:
William,
Henry,
Richard,
Matilda,
Geoffrey,
Eleanor,
Joan and
John
House of Plantagenet
–
Miniature from an English psalter presenting a spirited account of the murder of Archbishop Becket, c. 1250,
Walters Art Museum
26.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
–
Eleanor of Aquitaine was a Queen consort of France and England. As a member of the Ramnulfids rulers in southwestern France, she was one of the most powerful and she inherited the Duchy of Aquitaine from her father, William X, in 1137, and by successive marriages became Queen of France and then of England. She was patron of literary figures such as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-Maure and she led armies several times in her life and was a leader of the Second Crusade. As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor was the most eligible bride in Europe, three months after she became duchess, she married King Louis VII of France, son of her guardian, King Louis VI. As Queen of France, she participated in the unsuccessful Second Crusade, soon afterwards, Eleanor sought an annulment of her marriage, but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III. However, after the birth of her second daughter Alix, Louis agreed to an annulment, the marriage was annulled on 11 March 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Their daughters were declared legitimate and custody was awarded to Louis, as soon as the annulment was granted, Eleanor became engaged to the Duke of Normandy, who became King Henry II of England in 1154. Henry was her cousin and eleven years younger. The couple married on Whitsun,18 May 1152, eight weeks after the annulment of Eleanors first marriage, in a cathedral in Poitiers, over the next thirteen years, she bore Henry eight children, five sons, three of whom would become kings, and three daughters. However, Henry and Eleanor eventually became estranged, Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting their son Henrys revolt against him. She was not released until 6 July 1189, when Henry died and their son, Richard the Lionheart. Now Queen dowager, Eleanor acted as regent while Richard went on the Third Crusade, on his return Richard was captured, Eleanor lived well into the reign of her youngest son, John. She outlived all her children except for John and Eleanor, on the other hand, some chronicles mention a fidelity oath of some lords of Aquitaine on the occasion of Eleanors fourteenth birthday in 1136. This, and her age of 82 at her death. Her parents almost certainly married in 1121 and her birthplace may have been Poitiers, Bordeaux, or Nieul-sur-lAutise, where her mother and brother died when Eleanor was 6 or 8. It became Eléanor in the langues doïl of northern France and Eleanor in English, there was, however, another prominent Eleanor before her, Eleanor of Normandy, an aunt of William the Conqueror, who lived a century earlier than Eleanor of Aquitaine. In Paris as the Queen of France she was called Helienordis, by all accounts, Eleanors father ensured that she had the best possible education. Eleanor came to learn arithmetic, the constellations, and history and she also learned domestic skills such as household management and the needle arts of embroidery, needlepoint, sewing, spinning, and weaving
Eleanor of Aquitaine
–
Eleanor's effigy at
Fontevraud Abbey
Eleanor of Aquitaine
–
At left, a 14th-century representation of the wedding of Louis and Eleanor; at right, Louis leaving on Crusade.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
–
Eleanor's grandfather,
William IX of Aquitaine, gave her this rock crystal vase, which she gave to Louis as a wedding gift. He later donated it to the
Abbey of Saint-Denis. This is the only surviving artifact known to have belonged to Eleanor.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
–
Second Crusade council:
Conrad III of Germany, Eleanor's husband
Louis VII of France, and
Baldwin III of Jerusalem
27.
La Rochelle
–
La Rochelle is a city in southwestern France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department, the city is connected to the Île de Ré by a 2. 9-kilometre bridge completed on 19 May 1988. Its harbour opens into a protected strait, the Pertuis dAntioche, the area of La Rochelle was occupied in antiquity by the Gallic tribe of the Santones, who gave their name to the nearby region of Saintonge and the city of Saintes. The Romans subsequently occupied the area, where they developed salt production along the coast as well as wine production, roman villas have been found at Saint-Éloi and at Les Minimes, as well as salt evaporation ponds dating from the same period. La Rochelle was founded during the 10th century and became an important harbour in the 12th century, in 1137, Guillaume X to all intents and purposes made La Rochelle a free port and gave it the right to establish itself as a commune. Fifty years later Eleanor of Aquitaine upheld the communal charter promulgated by her father, and for the first time in France, Guillaume was assisted in his responsibilities by 24 municipal magistrates, and 75 notables who had jurisdiction over the inhabitants. During the Plantagenet control of the city in 1185, Henry II had the Vauclair castle built, the main activities of the city were in the areas of maritime commerce and trade, especially with England, the Netherlands and Spain. In 1196, a wealthy bourgeois named Alexandre Auffredi sent a fleet of seven ships to Africa to tap the riches of the continent. He went bankrupt and went into poverty as he waited for the return of his ships, the Knights Templar had a strong presence in La Rochelle since before the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who exempted them from duties and gave them mills in her 1139 Charter. La Rochelle was for the Templars their largest base on the Atlantic Ocean, from La Rochelle, they were able to act as intermediaries in trade between England and the Mediterranean. The fleet allegedly left laden with knights and treasures just before the issue of the warrant for the arrest of the Order in October 1307, during the Hundred Years War in 1360, following the Treaty of Bretigny La Rochelle again came under the rule of the English monarch. La Rochelle however expelled the English in June 1372, following the naval Battle of La Rochelle, the French and Spanish decisively defeated the English, securing French control of the Channel for the first time since the Battle of Sluys in 1340. The naval battle of La Rochelle was one of the first cases of the use of handguns on warships, having recovered freedom, La Rochelle refused entry to Du Guesclin, until Charles V recognized the privileges of the city in November 1372. In 1402, the French adventurer Jean de Béthencourt left La Rochelle, until the 15th century, La Rochelle was to be the largest French harbour on the Atlantic coast, dealing mainly in wine, salt and cheese. During the Renaissance, La Rochelle adopted Protestant ideas, calvinism started to be propagated in the region of La Rochelle, resulting in its suppression through the establishment of Cours présidiaux tribunals by Henry II. An early result of this was the burning at the stake of two heretics in La Rochelle in 1552. On the initiative of Gaspard de Coligny, the Calvinists attempted to colonize the New World to find a new home for their religion, with the likes of Pierre Richier and Jean de Léry. After the short-lived attempt of France Antarctique, they failed to establish a colony in Brazil and he has been described, by Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière, as le père de léglise de La Rochelle
La Rochelle
–
La Rochelle
La Rochelle
–
Coastline around La Rochelle in
Roman times.
La Rochelle
–
Left image:
Vauclair castle was built by the English in 1185. Right image: Remnants of Vauclair castle, Place de Verdun, La Rochelle.
La Rochelle
28.
Arnaut Daniel
–
Arnaut Daniel was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as a the best smith and called a grand master of love by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lauded by Ezra Pound in the The Spirit of Romance as the greatest poet to have ever lived, raimon de Durfort calls him a student, ruined by dice and shut-the-box. He was the inventor of the sestina, a song of six stanzas of six each, with the same end words repeated in every stanza, though arranged in a different. In Dantes The Divine Comedy, Arnaut Daniel appears as a character doing penance in Purgatory for lust and he responds in Old Occitan to the narrators question about who he is, «Tan mabellis vostre cortes deman, quieu no me puesc ni voill a vos cobrire. Ieu sui Arnaut, que plor e vau cantan, consiros vei la passada folor, e vei jausen lo joi quesper, denan. Ara vos prec, per aquella valor que vos guida al som de lescalina, sovenha vos a temps de ma dolor» Translation, Your courteous question pleases me so, that I cannot and will not hide from you. I am Arnaut, who weeping and singing go, Contrite I see the folly of the past, And, joyous, therefore do I implore you, by that power Which guides you to the summit of the stairs, Remember my suffering, in the right time. In homage to these lines which Dante gave to Daniel, the European edition of T. S. Eliots second volume of poetry was titled Ara Vos Prec, in addition, Eliots poem The Waste Land opens and closes with references to Dante and Daniel. The Waste Land is dedicated to Pound as il miglior fabbro which is what Dante had called Daniel. The poem also contains a reference to Canto XXVI in its line Poi sascose nel foco che gli affina which appears in Eliots closing section of The Waste Land as it does to end Dantes canto. There are sixteen extant lyrics of Arnaut Daniel, there is music for at least one of them, but it was composed at least a century after the poets death by an anonymous author
Arnaut Daniel
–
Arnaut Daniel.
29.
Bertran de Born
–
Bertran de Born was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the twelfth century. Bertran de Born was the eldest son of Bertran de Born, lord of Hautefort and he had two younger brothers, Constantine and Itier. His father died in 1178, and Bertran succeeded him as lord of Hautefort, by this time, he was already married to his first wife, Raimonda, and had two sons. Hautefort lies at the border between the Limousin and Périgord, as a result, Bertran became involved in the conflicts of the sons of Henry II Plantagenet. He was also fighting for control of Hautefort, according to the feudal custom of his region, he was not the only lord of Hautefort, but held it jointly with his brothers. Bertrans struggle, especially with his brother Constantine, is at the heart of his poetry and his first datable work is a sirventes of 1181, but it is clear from this he already had a reputation as a poet. In 1182, he was present at his overlord Henry II of Englands court at Argentan and that same year, he had joined in Henry the Young Kings revolt against his younger brother, Richard, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine. He wrote songs encouraging Aimar V of Limoges and others to rebel and his brother Constantine took the opposing side, and Bertran drove him out of the castle in July. Henry the Young King, whom Bertran had praised and criticised in his poems, Bertran wrote a planh, in his memory, Mon chan fenisc ab dol et ab maltraire. In his punitive campaign against the rebels, Richard, aided by Alfonso II of Aragon, besieged Autafort, Henry II, however, is reported to have been moved by Bertrans lament for his son, and returned the castle to the poet. Constantine seems to have become a mercenary, Bertran was reconciled also with Richard, whom he supported in turn against Philip II of France. At various times, he sought to exploit the dissensions among the Angevins in order to keep his independence and he gave them senhals, Henry the Young King was Mariniers, Geoffrey of Brittany was Rassa, and Richard, Oc-e-Non. He commemorated Geoffreys death in the planh, A totz dic que ja mais non voil and he had contact with a number of other troubadours and also with the Northern French trouvère, Conon de Béthune, whom he addressed as Mon Ysombart. Although he composed a few cansos, Bertran de Born was predominantly a master of the sirventes, when Richard was released from captivity after being suspected of Conrads murder, Bertran welcomed his return with Ar ven la coindeta sazos. Ironically, one of Bertrans sources of income was from the market of Châlus-Cabrol, widowed for the second time c. 1196, Bertran became a monk and entered the Cistercian abbey of Dalon at Sainte-Trie in the Dordogne region and he had made numerous grants to the abbey over the years. His last datable song was written in 1198 and he ceases to appear in charters after 1202, and was certainly dead by 1215, when there is a record of a payment for a candle for his tomb. His œuvre consists of about 47 works,36 unambiguously attributed to him in the manuscripts, by his first wife, Raimonda, he had two sons and a daughter, Bertran, also a troubadour, still living in 1223
Bertran de Born
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Bertran as a knight, from a 13th-century chansonnier
Bertran de Born
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Bertran jousting, from a 13th-century manuscript
Bertran de Born
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Doré's illustration of Bertran in Hell, from Dante's L'Inferno
30.
Michel de Montaigne
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Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Lord of Montaigne was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight, in his own lifetime, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman than as an author. In time, however, Montaigne would come to be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time and he is most famously known for his skeptical remark, Que sçay-je. Much of modern literary non-fiction has found inspiration in Montaigne and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his balance of intellectual knowledge. Montaigne was born in the Aquitaine region of France, on the family estate Château de Montaigne, in a town now called Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne, close to Bordeaux. The family was wealthy, his great-grandfather, Ramon Felipe Eyquem, had made a fortune as a herring merchant and had bought the estate in 1477. His father, Pierre Eyquem, Seigneur of Montaigne, was a French Catholic soldier in Italy for a time and had also been the mayor of Bordeaux. Although there were several families bearing the patronym Eyquem in Guyenne and his mother, Antoinette López de Villanueva, was a convert to Protestantism. His maternal grandfather, Pedro Lopez, from Zaragoza, was from a wealthy Marrano family who had converted to Catholicism and his maternal grandmother, Honorette Dupuy, was from a Catholic family in Gascony, France. His mother lived a part of Montaignes life near him, and even survived him. Montaignes relationship with his father, however, is reflected upon. Montaignes education began in childhood and followed a pedagogical plan that his father had developed, refined by the advice of the latters humanist friends. After these first spartan years, Montaigne was brought back to the château, the objective was for Latin to become his first language. The intellectual education of Montaigne was assigned to a German tutor and his father hired only servants who could speak Latin, and they also were given strict orders always to speak to the boy in Latin. The same rule applied to his mother, father, and servants, who were obliged to use only Latin words he himself employed, Montaignes Latin education was accompanied by constant intellectual and spiritual stimulation. He was familiarized with Greek by a method that employed games, conversation. The atmosphere of the upbringing, although designed by highly refined rules taken under advisement by his father, created in the boys life the spirit of liberty. Duty by an unforced will, and of my own voluntary motion. without any severity or constraint and he then began his study of law at the University of Toulouse in 1546 and entered a career in the local legal system
Michel de Montaigne
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Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
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Château de Montaigne, a house built on the land once owned by Montaigne's family. His original family home no longer exists, though the
tower in which he wrote still stands.
Michel de Montaigne
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Portrait of Michel de Montaigne by
Dumonstier around 1578.
Michel de Montaigne
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The Tour de Montaigne (
Montaigne's tower), mostly unchanged since the 16th century, where Montaigne's library was located
31.
Fenelon
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François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, more commonly known as François Fénelon, was a French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. He today is remembered mostly as the author of The Adventures of Telemachus, reduced to the status of impecunious old nobility by François time, the La Mothe-Fénelons had produced leaders in both Church and state. His uncle Antoine currently served as bishop of nearby Sarlat, a see in which fifteen generations of the Fénelon family had filled the episcopal chair. In 1663, at age 12, he was sent to the University of Cahors, while there, he became friends with Antoine de Noailles, who later became a cardinal and the Archbishop of Paris. Fénelon demonstrated so much talent at the Collège du Plessis that at age 15, about 1672, Fénelons uncle managed to get him enrolled in the Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice, the Sulpician seminary in Paris. In about 1675, Fénelon was ordained as a priest, upon Bossuets suggestion, Fénelon was included in this group, alongside such oratorical greats as Louis Bourdaloue and Esprit Fléchier. He consequently spent the three years in the Saintonge region of France preaching to Protestants. During this period, Fénelon assisted Bossuet during his lectures on the Bible at Versailles, the Duchesse de Beauvilliers, who was the mother of eight daughters, asked Fénelon his advice on raising children, as a result, he wrote his Traité de leducation des filles. He also wrote a Treatise on the Existence of God, in 1688, Fénelon first met Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, usually known simply as Mme Guyon or simply Madame Guyon. At that time, she was being received in the social circle of the Beauvilliers. Fénelon and Guyon were cousins, Fénelon was deeply impressed by her piety and he would later become a devotee and defended her brand of Quietism. In 1689, Louis XIV named Fénelons friend the Duc de Beauvilliers as governor of the royal grandchildren, upon Beauvilliers recommendation, Fénelon was named the tutor of the Dauphins eldest son, the 7-year-old Duke of Burgundy, who was second in line for the throne. As tutor, Fénelon was charged with guiding the character formation of a future King of France and he wrote several important works specifically to guide his young charge. These include his Fables and his Dialogues des Morts, but by far the most lasting of his works that Fénelon composed for the duke was his Les Aventures de Télémaque, written in 1693–94. On its surface, The Adventures of Telemachus was a novel about Ulysses son Telemachus, on another level, it became a biting attack on the divine right absolute monarchy which was the dominant ideology of Louis XIVs France. French literary historian Jean-Claude Bonnet calls Télémaque the true key to the museum of the eighteenth century imagination and it inspired numerous imitations, such as the Abbé Jean Terrassons novel Sethos, which in turn inspired Mozarts Magic Flute. It also more directly supplied the plot for Mozarts opera, Idomeneo, most believed Fénelons tutorship resulted in a dramatic improvement in the young dukes behaviour. In 1693, Fénelon was elected to Seat 34 of the Académie française, in 1694, the king named Fénelon Abbot of Saint-Valéry, a lucrative post worth 14,000 livres a year
Fenelon
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Fenelon and the Duke of Burgundy by Neuville
Fenelon
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François Fénelon
32.
Maine de Biran
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François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran, usually known simply as Maine de Biran, was a French philosopher. Maine de Biran was born at Bergerac, the name Maine he assumed from an estate called Le Maine, near Mouleydier. After studying with distinction at Périgueux, he entered the guards of King Louis XVI of France. He entered politics and was part of the Conseil des Cinq Cents, on the breaking up of the gardes du corps Biran retired to his patrimonial inheritance of Grateloup, near Bergerac, where he avoided the excesses of the French Revolution. It was at this period that, to use his own words and he began with psychology, which he made the study of his life. After the Reign of Terror, Maine de Biran took part in politics, after the restoration of the monarchy, he became treasurer to the chamber of deputies, retiring during each autumn recess to study at home. The exact date of his death is uncertain, a treatise on the analysis of thought was never printed. But the publication by Édouard Naville of the Œuvres inédites de Maine de Biran, at first a sensualist, like Condillac and John Locke, next an intellectualist, he finally became a mystical theosophist. The Essai sur les fondements de la psychologie represents the stage of his philosophy. Maine de Birans early essays in philosophy were written from the point of view of Locke and Condillac, dealing with the formation of habits, he is compelled to note that passive impressions do not furnish a complete or adequate explanation. For it he proposed to substitute the genetic method, whereby human conscious experience might be exhibited as growing or developing from its basis in connection with external conditions. In the last stage of his philosophy, Biran distinguished the animal existence from the human, and both from the life of the spirit, in which human thought is brought into relation with the supersensible, divine system of things. Altogether Birans work presents a remarkable specimen of deep metaphysical thinking directed by preference to the psychological aspect of experience. This confusion of force of nature and cause occurred often throughout the book, “hen he speaks of causes, he hardly ever puts cause alone, but almost always says cause ou force…. ”Schopenhauer believed that the confusion was intentional. Biran was conscious of identifying two disparate concepts in order to be able to use of either of them according to the circumstances. Therefore, he purposely equated cause with force in order to keep the present in the reader’s mind. Œuvres de Maine de Biran Vol. I, philipp Albert Stapfer James Mark Baldwin Implicit cognition References Maine de Biran, The British Quarterly Review, Vol.44, October 1866, pp. 301–346. Maine de Biran and his Philosophy, The Methodist Review, Vol.44,1862, hallie, Philip P. Maine de Biran, Reformer of Empiricism, 1766–1824
Maine de Biran
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Maine de Biran
33.
Talleyrand
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Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a laicized French bishop, politician, and diplomat. After theology studies, he became in 1780 Agent-General of the Clergy and he worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. His career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII and those he served often distrusted Talleyrand but, like Napoleon, found him extremely useful. The name Talleyrand has become a byword for crafty, cynical diplomacy and he was Napoleons chief diplomat during the years when French military victories brought one European state after another under French hegemony. However, most of the time, Talleyrand worked for peace so as to consolidate Frances gains and he succeeded in obtaining peace with Austria through the 1801 Treaty of Luneville and with Britain in the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. He could not prevent the renewal of war in 1803 but by 1805, he opposed his emperors renewed wars against Austria, Prussia, Talleyrand sought a negotiated secure peace so as to perpetuate the gains of the French revolution. Napoleon rejected peace and when he fell in 1814, Talleyrand took charge of the Bourbon restoration based on the principle of legitimacy and he played a major role at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815, where he negotiated a favourable settlement for France while undoing Napoleons conquests. Talleyrand was born into an aristocratic family in Paris. His father, Count Daniel de Talleyrand-Périgord, was 20 years of age when Charles was born and his mother was Alexandrine de Damas dAntigny. Both his parents held positions at court, but as cadets of their families, had no important income. From childhood, Talleyrand walked with a limp, however, recent research has shown that his limp was in fact congenital. Talleyrands father had a career in the Army, reaching the rank of lieutenant general, as did his uncle, Gabriel Marie de Périgord. It would appear that the family, though ancient and illustrious, was not particularly prosperous, Talleyrand attended the Collège dHarcourt, the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, while studying theology at the Sorbonne until the age of 21. He was ordained a priest in 1779, at the age of 25, in 1780, he became Agent-General of the Clergy, a representative of the Catholic Church to the French Crown. In 1789, the influence of Talleyrands father and family overcame the Kings dislike, the undoubtedly able Talleyrand, though free-thinking in the Enlightenment mould, appears at the time to have been outwardly respectful of religious observance. In the course of the Revolution, however, he was to manifest his cynicism, in 1801, Pope Pius VII laicized Talleyrand, an event most uncommon at the time in the history of the Church. Shortly after he was ordained as Bishop of Autun, Talleyrand attended the Estates-General of 1789, representing the clergy, during the French Revolution, Talleyrand strongly supported the anti-clericalism of the revolutionaries. He assisted Mirabeau in the appropriation of Church properties, during the Fête de la Fédération on 14 July 1790, Talleyrand celebrated Mass
Talleyrand
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Portrait of Talleyrand, by
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1809).
Talleyrand
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The
oath of
La Fayette at the
Fête de la Fédération, 14 July 1790. Talleyrand, then Bishop of
Autun, can be seen at the extreme right. French School, 18th century.
Musée Carnavalet.
Talleyrand
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Portrait of Talleyrand by
François Gérard, 1808.
Talleyrand
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Elderly Talleyrand, 1828.
34.
Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron
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Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron was a celebrated French soldier of the 16th century. As a page of Queen Marguerite de Navarre, Biron attracted the notice of the marshal de Brissac, a wound he received in his early years made him lame for life, and gave him the nickname Armand Le Boiteux. But he did not withdraw from the career, and he held a command in Guises regiment of light horse in 1557. A little later he became chief of a regiment. He commanded the forces at the siege of La Rochelle in 1572. From 1576 to 1588 he was almost continuously employed in high command, after the assassination of Henry III in 1589, he was among the first to support the cause of Henry of Navarre, but he was suspected of prolonging the civil wars in his own interest. He brought a part of Normandy under subjection, and dissuaded Henry from going into England and he distinguished himself in the battles of Arques and Ivry against the Catholic League. Gontaud was killed by a cannonball at the siege of Épernay on July 26,1592, in 1585 he was chosen a godfather for Armand-Jean du Plessis, future cardinal Richelieu. He was a man of considerable attainments, and used to carry a pocketbook. Some of his letters are preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale and in the British Museum and his son, Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron, also became Marshal of France in 1594. A grandson of his son, Henry, was Charles-Armand de Gontaut. Thurston, H. T. Colby, F. M. eds
Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron
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Portrait Armand de Gontaut-Biron
35.
Issigeac
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Issigeac is a small medieval village that dates back to Roman times, located in the Périgord and is approximately 20 km southwest of Bergerac in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a commune of the Dordogne department, a village with roots in antiquity, today it is a quaint village with timbered houses circling the church and Bishops Palace. The village is circular in plan with most buildings of medieval half-timbered style, in 1438 it was pillaged by Rodrigo de Villandrando. The village is set in the midst of wine country, close to the famous Chateau de Monbazillac, many other wineries can be visited including Chateau Jaubertie. Communes of the Dordogne department INSEE
Issigeac
–
Issigeac
Issigeac
36.
Eymet
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Eymet is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is notable as a popular location amongst British expatriates, who account for a third of the local population, Eymet is situated in the Périgord region, on the river Dropt. The Bastide was founded in 1270, by Alphonse de Poitiers, Count of Toulouse, during the summer of 2011, a TV production company filmed a series of reality TV programmes describing the life of various British expatriates now living in the Dordogne, with an emphasis on Eymet. The series was first shown in autumn 2011, on Monday evenings on ITV1, although it explored much of the region, some commentators found it less than exciting. Despite that, a series was filmed in summer 2012, mainly in the area north of the Dordogne river. Eymet is twinned with, Grumello del Monte, Italy North Hatley, Quebec, Canada Communes of the Dordogne department English Guide to Eymet INSEE
Eymet
–
The central square and arcades, Eymet
Eymet
37.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
French Revolution
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The
August Insurrection in 1792 precipitated the last days of the monarchy.
French Revolution
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The French government faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s, and King Louis XVI was blamed for mishandling these affairs.
French Revolution
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Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.
French Revolution
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The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 at Versailles.
38.
Provinces of France
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The Kingdom of France was organized into provinces until March 4,1790, when the establishment of the department system superseded provinces. The provinces of France were roughly equivalent to the counties of England. In some cases, several regions or departments share names with the historic provinces. The list below shows the provinces of France at the time of their dissolution during the French Revolution. Capital cities are shown in parentheses, bold indicates a city that was also the seat of a judicial and quasi-legislative body called either a parlement or a conseil souverain. In some cases, this body met in a different city than the capital, comtat Venaissin, a Papal fief 36. Imperial Free City of Mulhouse 37, montbéliard, a fief of Württemberg Partial display of historical provincial arms, Ancien Régime in France Gallery of French coats of arms Coat of arms Heraldry
Provinces of France
–
Map showing former provinces (in colours), with modern department boundaries in black
39.
Saint-Mesmin, Dordogne
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Saint-Mesmin is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The commune is located in the north-east corner of the Dordogne department, the village is located 42 km north-east of Périgueux. The area consists of forests and farmland, from the creation of the departments in 1790 Saint-Mesmin was first included in the Corrèze department. Three years later in 1793 it joined the Dordogne department, the largest population that the census recorded was 1,168 in 1886. Since World War I, the population has gradually been declining, the Auvézère has eroded a more than 100 meter deep gorge in limestone rock. There are footpaths through the gorge, offering access to the cascades, the Puy des Ages is a 1.5 km long rocky ridge on the border of the communes of Saint-Cyr-les-Champagnes and St-Mesmin. Its maximum elevation is 415 m above sea level, communes of the Dordogne department INSEE Saint-Mesmin on the Quid site Saint-Mesmin on the map of France Official site Moulin-Mesmin site
Saint-Mesmin, Dordogne
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Saint-Mesmin
Saint-Mesmin, Dordogne
.JPG)
