A History of France

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again I am compelled to state it: I was alone. There hardly existed anything other than political history, government decrees and records, to a slight extent those of institutions. No one took into account that which accompanies, explains, and in part establishes that political history—social, economic, industrial conditions, those of literature and of ideas. had a fine disease which clouded my youth, but which was well suited to an historian. I loved death. I had lived for nine years at the gates of the Père-Lachaise cemetery, which was at that time the only place where I could take a walk. Then I lived near the Bièvre district of Paris, amidst large gardens adjoining convents, another kind of sepulcher. I led a life which the world could have described as a buried one, having no company other than the past, and for friends, entombed peoples. By recreating their legends, I awakened in them a multitude of vanished things. Certain nurses’ songs of which I held the secret had a sure effect. By my tone of voice they believed I was one of them. I was given the gift that Saint Louis requests and does not obtain: “The gift of tears.”

Norwich’s long career as a historian has given him a definite assurance of style, which allows him to present historical detail in a thoroughly engaging manner without sacrificing clarity.” ― Library Journal The Holy Spirit,” says Joachim de Flores, “is the spirit whose reign arrives after the reign of Jesus.”

CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.

until 1830 (even until 1836), none of the remarkable historians of that period had yet felt the need to seek facts outside of printed books, from original sources—for the most part unpublished at the time—and from the manuscripts in our libraries, from documents in our archives. This is the principal point on which I differ from my learned friend, M. Henri Martin. Moreover, this disagreement does not at all diminish my sympathetic esteem for his great and very beautiful History of France, which is so instructive, so enriched by his research and so full of ideas. It would have been infinitely useful, in reviving the all too unrecorded national tradition, for these two histories, which help and compensate for one another, to have appeared simultaneously. powerful, extremely fruitful gift. All those for whom I wept, peoples and gods, lived again. This naïve magic had an almost infallible power of evocation. Egypt, for example, had been spelled out, deciphered, all its tombs excavated, but its soul had not been rediscovered. For some the key lay in the climate, for others in certain symbols of vacuous subtlety. I myself found it in the heart of Isis, in the sufferings of the common people, the eternal mourning and the eternal wound of the fellah’s family, in his insecure life, in the captivities, the razzias of Africa, the great trade in men, from Nubia to Syria. Man seized and carried off far away, bound to hard labor, man made into a tree or tied to a tree, nailed, mutilated, dismembered, that is the universal Agony of so many gods (Osiris, Adonis, Iacchus, Athis, etc.). How many Christs, and how many Calvaries! How many funereal laments! How many tears all along the way! (See my little Bible [ of Humanity] , 1864). has one supreme and very exacting condition. It is genuinely life only when complete. All its organs are interdependent and work only as a whole. Our vital functions are linked, presuppose one another. If one is missing, nothing will live any longer. In the past it was believed possible to isolate by the scalpel, to follow separately each of our systems; this cannot be, for everything influences everything.

world’s greatest artists, the geniuses who examine nature with such tender love, will allow me to make here a humble comparison. Have you sometimes seen the touching seriousness of a young girl, innocent, and yet deeply affected by her future motherhood, who cradles the work of her hands, animates it with her kisses, says to it from her heart: My daughter! ... If you touch her work roughly, she becomes upset and screams. But this does not prevent her from knowing deep down who this being is that she animates, enables to talk and to reason, vivifies with her soul. As the story reaches the 19th century, the author gets a bit more in-depth in his story telling. He does a superb job of telling of the end of the Bourbon dynasty. Surprisingly, the auth This has nothing to do with the honesty of the individuals. There were some admirable men, people (...) As they sniff out death very well, those moments when the wounded soul might weaken, one of them, (...)

10 Best Books on the History of France

I loved the title of this book so much that I had to add it to this list of great books about France. And when it comes to the content this non-fiction book contains? Well, for starters, Jean-Benoît and I have the same last name! Written by two Canadians, the book is a fun and incrediblybrief introduction to French culture, and will definitely leave you wanting more (or maybe to even visit the country for yourself!) How to be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style, and Bad Habits –by Caroline de Maigret, Anne Berest, Sophie Mas, Audrey Diwan In addition to the public lives of the various rulers, the author give a peek at their private ones as well. He gossips about the relationships the Kings had with their Queens as well as their many, many mistresses. In discussing the Royal Mistresses, he tells how being the King’s Mistress almost became an official court position. In many cases they became important and valued advisors. In relating the tales of their personal lives, the author shares some vary salacious tales.

the second volume, having produced a king-priest, a king-abbot, having made a canon of her eldest son, the king of France, the Church is seen crushing her enemies (1200), smothering the free Spirit, bringing about no moral reform. Finally, eclipsed, overtaken by Saint Louis, the Church is (before 1300) subordinated, dominated by the State.was in this respect perhaps the freest man in the world, having had the rare advantage of not having endured the deadly education which catches immature young souls, and immediately chloroforms them. For me the Church was a foreign world, an object of pure curiosity, like the moon. What I knew best about that pale star was that its days were numbered, that it did not have long to live. But who would replace it? Such was the question. The Church was caught up in the moral cholera that so closely followed the July Revolution, the disillusionment, and the loss of high hopes. There was a rapid downward movement. The novel, the theater burst forth with daring ugliness. Talent was plentiful, but the brutality was crude; this was not the fecund orgy of the old cults of nature which had its grandeur, but rather a deliberate intoxication with sterile materialism. Much bombast, and little beneath. Dorinda studied the period as a global phenomenon that touched on how historical interpretations of the Enlightenment continue to transform in response to contemporary socio-economic trends. To the Royalists, a whole world of odd anecdotal facts; for example, the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask and the wisdom of their queen. Franklin′s letters (1863) revealed the secret, according to Richelieu, and have proven that I alone was right. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821): A Corsican by birth, Napoleon trained in the French army and success gained him a reputation, enabling him to get close to the political leaders of late-revolutionary France. Such was Napoleon’s prestige that he was able to seize power and transform the country into an Empire with himself at its head. He was initially successful in European wars, but was beaten and twice forced into exile by a coalition of European nations. all, not very interested in minute details of erudition, where what is most valuable, perhaps, remained buried in unpublished sources.