1.
Le Marais
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Le Marais is a historic district in Paris, France. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and it spreads across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris. In 1240 the Order of the Temple built its fortified church just outside the walls of Paris, in the northern part of the Marais. During the mid-13th century, Charles I of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily, in 1361 the King Charles V built a mansion known as the Hôtel Saint-Pol in which the Royal Court settled during his reign as well as his sons. From that time to the 17th century and especially after the Royal Square was designed under King Henri IV in 1605, the Marais was the French nobilitys favorite place of residence. During the late 18th century, the district was no longer the most fashionable district for the nobility, by that time, only minor nobles and a few more powerful nobles, such as the Prince de Soubise, lived there. The Place des Vosges remained a place for nobles to meet, the district fell into despair after the Revolution, and was therefore abandoned by the nobility completely, and would stay that way for ever. After the French Revolution, the district was no more the aristocratic district it once was during the 17th and 18th centuries, because of this, the district became a popular and active commercial area, hosting one of Paris main Jewish communities. During World War II the Jewish community was targeted by the Nazis who were occupying France, as of today the rue des Rosiers remains a major centre of the Paris Jewish community, which has made a comeback since the 1990s. Public notices announce Jewish events, bookshops specialize in Jewish books, the synagogue on 10 rue Pavée is adjacent to the rue des Rosiers. It was designed in 1913 by Art Nouveau architect Hector Guimard, Le Marais houses the Museum of Jewish Art and History, the largest French museum of Jewish art and history. The museum conveys the history and culture of Jews in Europe. In 1982, Palestinan terrorists murdered 6 people and injured 22 at a Jewish restaurant in Le Marais, Chez Jo Goldenberg, by the 1950s, the district had become a working-class area and most of its architectural masterpieces were in a bad state of repair. In 1964, General de Gaulles Culture Minister Andre Malraux made the Marais the first secteur sauvegardé and these were meant to protect and conserve places of special cultural significance. In the following decades the government and the Parisian municipality led a restoration and Rehabilitation Policy. The site of Beaubourg, the part of Marais, was chosen for the Centre Georges Pompidou, Frances national Museum of Modern Art. The building was completed in 1977 with revolutionary architecture by Renzo Piano, the Marais is now one of Paris main localities for art galleries. Following its rehabilitation, the Marais has become a district, home to many trendy restaurants, fashion houses
2.
3rd arrondissement of Paris
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The 3rd arrondissement of Paris, situated on the right bank of the River Seine, is the smallest in area after the 2nd arrondissement. The arrondissement contains the northern, quieter part of the district of Le Marais. The oldest surviving house of Paris, built in 1407, is to be found in the 3rd arrondissement. The ancient Jewish quarter, the Pletzel which dates from the 13th century begins in the part of the 3rd arrondissement. It is home to the Musée dart et dhistoire du judaïsme, although trendy boutiques are now taking up many of the storefronts, there are still landmark stores selling traditional Jewish foods. With a land area of 1.171 km2, the 3rd arrondissement is the second smallest arrondissement in the city, the area now occupied by the third arrondissement attained its peak population in the period preceding the re-organization of Paris in 1860. In 1999, the population was 34,248, while the arrondissement hosted a total of 29,723 jobs, ¹The peak of population actually occurred before 1861, but the arrondissement was created in 1860, so we do not have figures before 1861
3.
House of Montmorency
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Montmorency, pronounced, is one of the oldest and most distinguished noble families in France. The family name Montmorency derived from the city of Montmorency, now in the Val-dOise département, in the neighborhood of Enghien-les-Bains and Saint-Denis. Henry IV of France once said, that if ever the House of Bourbon should fail, bouchard Is son Thibaud of Montmorency was the ancestor of the lords of Montlhéry. Matthieu I of Montmorency received in 1138 the post of constable, matthieu II of Montmorency had an important share in the victory of Bouvines. As he captured 12 enemy flags at Bouvines, he was permitted by the king to display 12 eagles on his coat of arms and he was also made constable in 1218. During the reign of Louis VIII he distinguished himself chiefly in the south of France, on the accession of Louis IX, he was one of the chief supports of the queen-regent Blanche of Castile, and was successful in reducing all the vassals to obedience. His younger son, Guy, in right of his mother, Anne de Montmorency, so named, it is said, after his godmother Anne of Brittany, was the first to attain the ducal title. His eldest son, François de Montmorency, was married to Diane, another son, Henri I de Montmorency, who became duc de Montmorency on his brothers death in 1579, had been governor of Languedoc since 1563. As a leader of the party called the Politiques he took a prominent part in the French Wars of Religion, in 1593 he was made constable, but Henry IV showed some anxiety to keep him away from Languedoc, which he ruled like a sovereign prince. Henri II de Montmorency, son of duke Henry I, succeeded to the title in 1614 and he also was governor of Languedoc. In 1625 he defeated the French Protestant fleet under Soubise, and seized the islands of Ré and Oleron, but the jealousy of Richelieu deprived him of the means of following up these advantages. In 1628-1629 he was allowed to command against the duke of Rohan in Languedoc, in 1630 he defeated the Piedmontese, and captured Carlo Doria, at Avigliana, in the same year he was created marshal. The title passed to his sister Charlotte-Marguerite, princess of Condé, charles François Frédéric, the son of the marshal, was created Duc de Beaufort in 1688 and duke of Montmorency in 1689. In 1767 the title of duke of Beaufort-Montmorency passed by marriage to another branch of the Montmorency-Fosseux and this branch becoming extinct in 1862, the title was taken by the duc de Valencay, who belonged to the Talleyrand-Périgord family and married one of the two heiresses of this branch. There were many branches of the Montmorency family, among others that of the seigneurs of Laval
4.
Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
5.
Montmorency, Val-d'Oise
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Montmorency is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 15.3 km from the center of Paris, Montmorency was the fief of the Montmorency family, one of the oldest and most distinguished families of the French nobility. It is now a suburb of Paris. The name Montmorency was recorded for the first time in Medieval Latin as Mons Maurentiacus, Mons Maurentiacus, literally Mount Maurentiacus, was the name given to the promontory over which a castle was built in the Early Middle Ages. Maurentiacus, the name of the surrounding the promontory, meant estate of Maurentius. In 1689 Montmorency was officially renamed Enghien, but the village on the slopes of the promontory was still referred to as Montmorency by most people, indeed, during the French Revolution, at the creation of French communes in 1790, the newly born commune was named Montmorency. In 1813 the commune was renamed Montmorency, in 1815, at the Restoration of monarchy, the commune was renamed Enghien. Throughout these troubled years, however, the village was referred to as Montmorency by the locals. In other words, the place called Enghien was not located within the commune of Enghien and this confusing situation was ended on 27 November 1832, when the commune of Enghien was definitely renamed Montmorency. In 1850, the area of Enghien, which had developed as a spa resort, was incorporated as a commune by detaching its territory from the territory of four communes neighboring Montmorency. The commune of Montmorency did not lose territory and as such was not affected by the incorporation of the commune of Enghien-les-Bains, the castle of Montmorency was destroyed by the English during the Hundred Years War and was not rebuilt. After the Hundred Years War, the Montmorency moved their residence to the Château dÉcouen in Écouen,5.6 km to the northeast of Montmorency, montmorency/Enghien was the fief of the Princes of Condé until the French Revolution. In addition, the Montmorency cherry, a sour cherry variety. The closest station to Montmorency is Enghien-les-Bains station on the Transilien Paris – Nord suburban rail line and this station is located in the neighboring commune of Enghien-les-Bains,2.1 km from the town center of Montmorency. From there you can take the buses 15M or 13 to get into the city center
6.
Val-d'Oise
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Val-dOise is a French department, created in 1968 after the split of the Seine-et-Oise department and located in the Île-de-France region. In local slang, it is known as quatre-vingt quinze or neuf cinq and it gets its name from the Oise River, a major tributary of the Seine, which crosses the region after having started in Belgium and flowed through north-eastern France. Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Frances main international airport is located in Roissy-en-France. The original departments of France were established in 1790 when the French National Assembly split the country into 83 departments of roughly the same size and they were designed as sets of communes, and when better maps became available, certain revisions had to be made. After defeat by the Prussians in 1871, certain territories were ceded to them, in 1955 and 1957, some departments changed their names. In 1964, it was determined to divide up the departments of Seine, Val-dOise was one of the new departments so formed, and was created entirely from the previous department of Seine-et-Oise. Val-dOise is a department in north central France and is part of the region of Île-de-France, the River Oise is a right tributary of the River Seine, and flows through the province from northeast to southwest. The eastern part of the department is part of the Pays de France and this part is progressively diminishing in size as Paris expands. Part of Charles de Gaulle Airport falls in this region, while other parts are in the departments of Seine-et-Marne. The southernmost region of the department forms part of the Seine Valley and these parts are heavily urbanised, but the ancient Roman road, the Chaussée Jules César, which linked Paris and Rouen, passes through the latter. The central and southwestern parts of the department are also largely urbanised, the western part of the department forms part of the historic county of Vexin français, a verdant, largely agricultural plateau. Its capital was Pontoise on the extremity of the county. This commune is now combining with the commune of Cergy to form the new town of Cergy-Pontoise. The Vexin area remains rural, and across the whole department. The economy of Val-dOise relies on two different themes, the northern, eastern and western parts are fertile areas of agricultural land producing large quantities of corn, sugar beet, and other crops. The urban parts to the south are dormitory towns, used by working in the greater metropolitan area of Paris. The presence of Charles de Gaulle Airport and its associated TGV station provides access by rail to all parts of France, the department has nine business zones designated for high-tech industries. The department has an archaeological and historical heritage, but is not a region visited much by tourists
7.
Departments of France
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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
8.
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
9.
Nicolas Fouquet
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Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a career, and acquired enormous wealth. He fell out of favor, accused of peculation and lèse-majesté, the king had him imprisoned from 1661 until his death in 1680. While still in his teens, he held positions of responsibility. In 1640, he married the rich Louise Fourché, who died a year later, during Mazarins exile, Fouquet remained loyal to him, protecting his property and keeping him informed of the situation at court. Fouquet received around 160,000 Livres from the marriage dowry, as minister of finance, he soon had Mazarin almost in the position of a supplicant. His closest friend, and maybe mistress, was Suzanne de Rougé, Colbert, perhaps seeking to succeed Fouquet, fed the kings displeasure with adverse reports upon the deficit and made the worst of the case against Fouquet. The extravagant expenditures and displays of the superintendents wealth served to intensify the ill will of the king, Fouquet had bought the port of Belle-Île-en-Mer and strengthened the fortifications with a view to taking refuge there in case of disgrace. Here he gathered the rarest manuscripts, paintings, jewels and antiques in profusion, the table was open to all people of quality, and the kitchen was presided over by François Vatel. Jean de La Fontaine, Pierre Corneille and Paul Scarron were a few of the artists who enjoyed his patronage. The coat of arms of Fouquets family traditionally showed a squirrel, the symbol can be found in many rooms and decorations at Vaux-le-Vicomte. The choice of this animal derives from the name foucquet, which in the dialect of Angers means squirrel, by August 1661, Louis XIV was already set upon Fouquets destruction. Louis was entertained at Vaux with a fête rivaled in magnificence by only one or two others in French history, at which Molières Les Fâcheux was produced for the first time, the splendour of the entertainment sealed Fouquets fate. But the king, then only 22 years old, was afraid to act openly against so powerful a minister, as Superintendent, Fouquet headed the enormously wealthy and influential corps of partisans, who, if challenged as a group, could have caused the king serious trouble. By crafty devices, Fouquet was induced to sell his office of procureur général, thus losing the protection of its privileges, after his visit to Vaux, the king announced that he was going to Nantes for the opening of the meeting of the provincial estates of Brittany. He required his ministers, including Fouquet, to go with him, when Fouquet was leaving the council chamber, flattered with the assurance of the kings esteem, he was arrested by Charles de Batz-Castelmore dArtagnan, lieutenant of the kings musketeers. The trial lasted almost three years, and its violation of the forms of justice is still the subject of frequent monographs by members of the French bar, Louis acted throughout as though he were conducting a campaign, evidently fearing that Fouquet would play the part of a Richelieu. A report of his trial was published in the Netherlands, in 15 volumes, in 1665-67, a second edition under the title of Oeuvres de M. Fouquet appeared in 1696
10.
Anne of Austria
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Anne of Austria was queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish and Portuguese Infanta by birth. During her regency, Cardinal Mazarin served as Frances chief minister, born at Benavente Palace in Valladolid, Spain, and baptised Ana María Mauricia, she was the eldest daughter of King Philip III of Spain and his wife Margaret of Austria. She held the titles of Infanta of Spain and of Portugal, in spite of her birth in Spain, she was referred to as Anne of Austria because the rulers of Spain belonged to the House of Austria. Anne was raised mainly at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid, exceptionally for a royal princess, Anne grew up close to her parents, who were very religious. She was raised to be too, and was often taken to visit monasteries during her childhood. In 1611, she lost her mother, who died in childbirth, despite her grief, Anne did her best to take care of her younger siblings, who referred to her with affection as their mother. Anne was betrothed at age eleven to King Louis XIII of France and her father gave her a dowry of 500,000 crowns and many beautiful jewels. For fear that Louis XIII would die early, the Spanish court stipulated that she would return to Spain with her dowry, jewels, and wardrobe if he did die. On 24 November 1615, Louis and Anne were married by proxy in Burgos while Louiss sister, Elisabeth of France, Anne and Elisabeth were exchanged on the Isle of Pheasants between Hendaye and Fuenterrabía. She was lively and beautiful during her youth and she was also a noted equestrian, a taste her son, Louis, would inherit. At the time, Anne had many admirers, including the handsome Duke of Buckingham, Anne and Louis, both fourteen years old, were pressured to consummate their marriage in order to forestall any possibility of future annulment, but Louis ignored his bride. Louiss mother, Marie de Medici, continued to conduct herself as queen of France, Anne, surrounded by her entourage of high-born Spanish ladies-in-waiting, continued to live according to Spanish etiquette and failed to improve her French. During the years he was in the ascendancy, the Duke of Luynes attempted to remedy the formal distance between Louis and his queen, Anne began to dress in the French manner, and in 1619 Luynes pressed the king to bed his queen. Some affection developed, to the point where it was noted that Louis was distracted during an illness of the queen. A series of stillbirths disenchanted the king and served to chill their relations, on 14 March 1622, while playing with her ladies, Anne fell on a staircase and suffered her second stillbirth. Louis blamed her for the incident and was angry with the Duchess of Luynes for having encouraged the queen in what was seen as negligence. Henceforth, the king had less tolerance for the influence that the duchess had over Anne, Louis turned now to Cardinal Richelieu as his advisor. Under the influence of Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, the queen let herself be drawn into political opposition to Richelieu, in 1635, France declared war on Spain, placing the queen in an untenable position
