Tag: Louis XIV

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One of France’s Little Secrets

Crop of The Emperor Napoléon in His Study at the Tuileries. Painting by Jacques-Louis David (1812). National Gallery of Art. PD-100+ Wikimedia Commons.
Crop of The Emperor Napoléon in His Study at the Tuileries. Painting by Jacques-Louis David (1812). National Gallery of Art. PD-100+ Wikimedia Commons.

One of the things that France keeps a very low profile about is the fact that French aristocracy did not disappear with the French Revolution. Yes, it was thinned out by Madame Guillotine but enough of them survived so that more than 220 years later, the nobility population (la noblesse) is about the same as before the Revolution.

Contemporary Aristocracy

You don’t hear much about the contemporary nobility today. Many of the families can trace their origins to the Middle Ages. The de Vogues family dates back to the 12th-century and their forefathers were likely members of the king’s court. However, like most of la noblesse, the de Vogues family tries to not attract attention to their historical or hereditary status. Why?

King Louis-Philippe. Map: Painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (2006). PD- 100+ Wikimedia Commons.
King Louis-Philippe. Map: Painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (2006). PD- 100+ Wikimedia Commons.

France is a republic. In fact it’s on its Fifth Republic. Read More One of France’s Little Secrets

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One-Eyed Kate

Kate is one of those stories I couldn’t resist putting in the next book Where Did They Burn the Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar? A Walking Tour of Medieval Paris.   While she lived in the 17th-century—more than 100 years after the end of the Middle Ages—Kate was in the right place at the right time.

Rue François Miron

I learned about Kate while researching one of the streets in the historical district: Rue François Miron.

If you start at the Place de la Bastille and walk due west, you’ll be following Rue Saint-Antoine. Just before the Métro St. Paul, the road splits: Rue Saint-Antoine becomes Rue de Rivoli—the northern split; and Rue François Miron—the southern split. Rue de Rivoli did not exist until Napoléon’s rule and then finished off in the mid-19th century when it was completed by Baron Haussmann. Read More One-Eyed Kate