I.2. THE PLAYERS, LEGENDARY OR UNSUNG

MENU: 1.2. Players: legendary or unsung

 

THE STARS ARE KINGS AND REBELS

 Portrait équestre de Louis XIV (cropped) by René-Antoine Houasse, toward 1670 / zoom

La Liberté guide le peuple (cropped) by Eugène Delacroix, 1831 / zoom

Women of the court, men of the Church, peasants who bought land the Revolution confiscated, foreign refugees and artists, imperialists and immigrants play grand secondary roles.

The curtain rises

• Kings, at the heart of French civilization

• Women of the court who bequeathed their refinement

• The Church, inseparable from the monarchy

• Small farms: ferocious repressions and "art de vivre"

• Rebels and their demand for social justice

• Exiles and expats

• The French language, imperialists' explosive gift

• Immigrants, source of new energies

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Kings, at the heart of French civilization