Historical men and women

  King Louis IX was the only king of France to be declared a saint, a status that he earned through his excessive piety and participation in...

King Charles IX of France died on 30 th May 1574 at the age of 23, probably from tuberculosis. However, the stories that arose shortly ...

Cardinal Mazarin was a fascinating figure from the history of France in the 17 th century. Despite not being French, he was that count...

The “Universal Spider” was the nickname given to King Louis XI of France, based on his ability to spin plots and entrap his enemies. H...

14 th July is the National Day of France, chosen because of the outbreak of the French Revolution on that date in 1789. However, it w...

Olympe de Gouges lost her head to the guillotine on 3 rd November 1793. Her mistake had been to question whether the French Revolutio...

Close to the centre of the city of Beauvais, 50 miles north of Paris, is a bronze statue of a young woman who holds a captured stand...

These days we take instant communications for granted, but in the days before the telephone and the telegraph a well-placed, but fa...

Charles VII (1403-61) was the French king who could have saved Joan of Arc from being burned at the stake but refused to do so. C...

Clovis, the first king of a united France, died on 27 th November 511. Born in about 466, he was 15 or thereabouts when his father, ...

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) is a somewhat controversial historical character, particularly when he is regarded from a British perspectiv...

It is a mistake to think of the politics of the Middle Ages as being entirely dominated by men. There were a number of strong-minded ...

On 6 th March 1429 Joan of Arc finally achieved her ambition of being accepted as the person who would serve her king and lead him ...

29 th January 1853 was the wedding day of Emperor Napoleon III of France and Princess Eugenie. It was hardly a love-match, but it fi...

28 th October 1533 was the wedding day of the future King Henri II of France and Catherine de Medici, the great-granddaughter of Loren...

28 th January 814 was the day on which a great European emperor died. He is generally known to history as Charlemagne, which points ...

27 th March 1204 was the day of which Eleanor of Aquitaine died, at the advanced age, for the time, of 82. She was a very remark...

On 23 rd November 1407 the Queen of France was part of the plot that led to the murder of her brother-in-law, Louis Duke of Orleans,...

Although everyone knows about the French Revolution of 1789, in which the French middle class declared a republic, not so many are a...

On 22nd December 1793 a young captain of artillery named Napoleon Bonaparte received an early Christmas present, namely promotion to b...