Historical Figures

• Jean Moulin

  Born in Béziers in 1899, Jean Moulin studies law and leaves for the front in 1918, he will not participate in the fight, because the armistice is proclaimed. He joined the prefectural body in 1922. Successively chief of staff, sub-prefect of Albertville, ministerial chief of staff, he was appointed

• Jean Jaurès

  He was born in Castres into a bourgeois family and went on to pursue brilliant literary studies. Normalien, associate professor of philosophy, he was elected deputy of Carmaux, in the Tarn, in 1885 at the age of 26. A moderate republican deputy, he gradually evolved towards socialism by supporting t

• John Calvin

  Jean Calvin studied literature and philosophy in Paris, law in Orléans and Bourges, then Hebrew, Greek and theology again in Paris. Coming from a humanist background, he adhered to the Reformation in 1533. Following the Affair of the Placards in 1534, during which Protestants plastered writings atta

• John Calas

  Born in the Tarn, and established as a fabric merchant in Toulouse, Jean Calas and his family are of the Protestant faith.In October 1791, Jean Calas finds his son hanged in his shop. To avoid family dishonour, he initially conceals Marc-Antoines suicide. The trial takes place against a background o

• Jacques Massu

  He was born in Châlons-sur-Marne into a military family:his father was an artillery officer. He also embraced a military career and joined Saint-Cyr, from which he graduated as a second lieutenant in 1930 with the colonial infantry as his choice. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1932. He distinguish

• Jacques Chirac

  President of the Republic from 1995 to 2007, Jacques Chirac marked half a century of French political life. After major studies in Paris, he became Prime Minister of Valéry Giscard dEstaing in 1974 but resigned in 1976 due to political disagreements. Founder of the “Rassemblement pour la République”

• Isabella of Castile

  Isabella of Castile is the daughter of King John II of Castile. In 1469 she married King Ferdinand of Aragon of Spain. On the death of Henry IV, Isabella proclaimed herself queen of Castile in 1474. The war of succession that followed, and in which Isabella won the victory, lasted from 1475 to 1479.

• Ignatius of Loyola

  Of Basque origin, Ignace de Loyola, who lost his mother young, became a page at the Spanish Court of Ferdinand the Catholic in 1506, then was treasurer to the queen. He lives to the worldly rhythm of the Court. He joins the army, but is wounded during the siege of Pamplona. During his convalescence,

• Hugues Capet

  Son of Hedwig of Saxony, niece of Otton 1st, and of Hugh the Great, Frank Hugh is nicknamed Capet, in reference to the mantle of Saint Martin preserved in the abbey of the same name where he was a lay abbot (i.e. say a layman running an abbey). Supported by the Archbishop of Reims, Adalbéron, he was

• Homer

  There is no certainty that attests to the historical existence of Homer. Many still dispute it today. His name is surrounded by the craziest legends. He is said to be a bard (singer/poet) declaiming his verses throughout the world although blind. He would have been born in the VIIIe century BC in th

• Henry VIII

  Generally known for his taste for women, Henry VIII was nevertheless a monarch whose reign was marked by religious and political conflicts, like his contemporaries Charles V and François Ist . Apart from the interview at the Cloth of Gold camp in 1520, England was little involved in their quarrel, H

• Henry IV

  The future Henri IV spent his childhood in Béarnais. Under the influence of his mother, although a Catholic by baptism, he embraced the Protestant religion. He thus fights against the Holy League and the great Europeans who refuse that a Protestant becomes the sovereign of France. But with the assas

• Harry Truman

  Born into a farming family, Truman served in World War I and opened a business upon his return before entering politics and becoming a senator from Missouri in 1934. He was vice-president during Roosevelts second term, and on his death in April 1945 he replaced him as president; it is he who will d

• Hammurabi

  In -1792, Hammurabi inherited Babylon by his father Sin-Muballit, which at the time was only a medium-sized town. Mesopotamia is indeed a territory torn apart by internal wars between the various city-states. But the sixth king of Babylon, a fine political strategist, succeeded in concluding allianc

• Gutenberg

  Trained as a goldsmith, Gutenberg is known as the inventor of the printing press. After leaving Mainz in 1428, he settled in Strasbourg around 1434. He associated with several bourgeois and designed stone cutting and mirror manufacturing processes using an alloy of lead, tin and copper. enriched wit

• Giorgio Vasari

  Vasari, son of a Tuscan potter, was a pupil of the painter Andrea del Sarto; he notably met the great Michelangelo, who influenced his painting. He works for the Medici, the Farnese... He is known for the speed of his execution. He has great architectural qualities, we owe him the magnificent loggia

• Georges Pompidou

  Born in 1911 from a family of scholars, Georges Pompidou pursued brilliant studies at the École Normale Supérieure. He received first in the aggregation of letters and also graduated from the Free School of Political Science (future Sciences Po). Mobilized during the Second World War, professor in p

• Georges Jacques Danton

  A historical figure of the French Revolution, Danton entered the revolutionary movement not only by being one of the founders of the Cordeliers club in 1790, but above all by participating in the insurrectionary Commune of Paris on August 10, 1792. Thus, he put pressure on the Assembly in order to o

• Georges Clemenceau

  A doctor, he entered politics at the fall of the Second Empire in 1870. First elected mayor of Paris, he became a member of the National Assembly on February 8, 1871. Having resigned during the Commune (March 18-May 27, 1871), he took the head of the municipal council of Paris in 1875 before becomin

• George Bush

  Born in Milton, Massachusetts in 1924, George Herbert Walker Bush continued his studies at Phillips Academy before enlisting in the army after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Decorated for war, he joined the prestigious Yale University and became a businessman in the oil industry. He was electe