France

Louis XIV, illustration, French, c.1869. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

The Roman Catholic War on Wigs

The Catholic Church’s ban on wigs in the 18th century was as revealing of attitudes towards disability as vanity and sanctity.

Crowds gathered at the Arc de Triomphe celebrating the liberation of Paris, 26 August 1944. Heritage Images/Topfoto.

The French Resistance: Fantasy and Failure

The French Resistance sought liberation above all else. But what should the postwar nation look like? The question was as old as the Fall of France itself.

An attack by the Lorraine squadron on the Mûr-de-Bretagne transformer station near Guerlédan, Brittany, 26 August 1943. Mirrorpix.

Free French Bombers Over France

What happened to the French airmen in the Second World War who bombed France to help liberate it?

Frontispiece from Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes, Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, 1686. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

Aliens and the Enlightenment

In the 18th century the existence of extraterrestrial life went from debatable hypothesis to fundamental tenet of Enlightenment thought.

Portrait of the widowed Catherine de’ Medici, by François Clouet,c. 1565. Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. Public Domain.

‘Catherine de’ Medici’ by Mary Hollingsworth review

In Catherine de’ Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen, Mary Hollingsworth helps the pragmatic queen escape her ‘black legend’.

Barbarossa’s fleet wintering in Toulon harbour, 1543, by Matrakçı Nasuh, mid-16th century. Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo.

An Ottoman Winter in Toulon

The unholy alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire in 1530 caused great concern but had little military success.

Ballooning at the Paris Olympics, 1900. National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Public Domain.

National Spirit and the 1900 Olympics

The Paris Olympics of 1900 celebrated not just sporting excellence, but France’s might.

Portrait of Juliette Récamier, by François Gérard, c. 1802-5. Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. Public Domain.

‘Liberty, Equality, Fashion’ by Anne Higonnet review

In Liberty, Equality, Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution, Anne Higonnet brings three dedicated followers of fashion to the fore.

Constitution Angleterre, showing William Pitt standing on the British crown, French response to Gillray, c.1795. Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

Britons Caught in the French Revolution

As Revolution broke out and turned to Terror, British citizens living in France found themselves transformed from friends of liberty to an enemy within.