Kingdom of FranceThe Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from the High Middle Ages to 1848 during its dissolution. It was also an early colonial power, with colonies in Asia and Africa, and the largest being New France in North America geographically centred on the Great Lakes. In the 16th to the 18th centuries, the French colonial empire stretched from a total area ...
House of BourbonThe House of Bourbon (English: , also UK: ; French: [buʁbɔ̃]) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from the French Bourbons came to rule Spain in the 18th century and is the current Spanish royal family. Other branches, descended from the Spanish Bourbons, held thrones in Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Today, Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs from t...
French nobilityThe French nobility (French: la noblesse française) is an aristocraticsocial class in France dating from the Middle Ages. From 1808 to 1815 during the First Empire the Emperor Napoléon bestowed titles that were recognized as a new nobility by the Charter of 4 June 1814 granted by KingLouis XVIII. From 1814 to 1848 (Bourbon Restoration in France and July Monarchy) and from 1852 to 1870 (Second French Empire) the French nobility was restored as a hereditary distinction without any privileges and new hereditary t...
House of ValoisCadet branch of the Capetian dynasty House of ValoisParent houseCapetian dynastyCountry Kingdom of France (1328–1589) Duchy of Burgundy (1363–1482) Kingdom of Naples (1389–1399, 1435–1442, 1501–1504) Duchy of Milan (1499–1512, 1515–1521) Duchy of Brittany (1514–1547) Principality of Neuchâtel (1543–1707 through illegitimate branch) Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1573–1575) Founded1284; 742 years ago (1284)FounderCharles, Count of ValoisFinal rulerHenry III of France in France Marie de Nemou...
French Wars of ReligionThe French Wars of Religion (French: Guerres de Religion en France) were a series of civil wars between French Catholics and Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease directly caused by the conflict, and it severely damaged the power of the French monarchy. The fighting ended with a compromise in 1598, when Henry of Navarre, who converted to Catholicism in 1593, was proclaimed King Henry IV of France and issued the Edict of Nantes,...
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse. It was caused by a combination of social, political, and economic factors which the existing regime proved unable to manage. Financial crisis and widespread social distress led ...
Political systemIn political science, a political system means the form of political organization that can be observed, recognised or otherwise declared by a society or state. It defines the process for making official government decisions. It usually comprizes the governmentallegal and economic system, social and cultural system, and other state and government specific systems. However, this is a very simplified view of a much more complex system of categories involving the questions of who should have authority and what the g...
Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchyDuring the French Revolution, the National Convention proclaimed that it had abolished the French monarchy on 21 September 1792, giving rise to the French First Republic. PreludeThe convention's députés were instructed to put an end to the crisis that had broken out since the prevented flight to Varennes of Louis XVI in June 1791 and the bloody capture of the Tuileries Palace (10 August 1792). Their middle-class origin and their political activity meant that most of them bore no sympathy for the monarchy, and ...
FeudalismFeudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of various generally cohesive and convergent legal, economic, military, cultural, religious, and political institutions and customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour. The classic definition, by François Louis Ganshof (1944), describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obliga...
Social systemIn sociology, a social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. An individual may belong to multiple social systems at once; examples of social systems include nuclear family units, communities, cities, nations, college campuses, religions, corporations, and industries. The organization and definition of groups within a social system...
Ordinance of Villers-CotterêtsThe Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (French: Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts, pronounced) is an extensive piece of reform legislation signed into law by Francis I of France on August 10, 1539, in the city of Villers-Cotterêts and the oldest French legislation still used partly by French courts. Largely the work of Chancellor Guillaume Poyet, the legislative edict had 192 articles and dealt with a number of government, judicial and ecclesiastical matters (ordonnance générale en matière de police et de justic...
Execution of Louis XVILouis XVI, the deposed king of France, was publicly executed on 21 January 1793 during the French Revolution at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. At his trial four days prior, the National Convention had convicted Louis of high treason in a near-unanimous vote; while no one voted "not guilty", several deputies abstained. Ultimately, they condemned him to death by a simple majority of one vote. The execution by guillotine was performed by Charles-Henri Sanson, then high executioner of the French First Republi...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.