“A violent and difficult personality”. It is in these terms that the historian Lucien Musset defines Robert the Magnificent ,6th Duke of Normandy (1). Violent, quick to draw his sword, the son of Duke Richard II was like all the great lords of his time. An ambiguous personality like that of Robert ,
Robert the Strong (820-866), Count of Anjou and Blois and Marquis of Neustria, is considered the ancestor of the Capetians. Established in the Pays de la Loire and Vieille France, he distinguished himself by defending these regions against Norman incursions and carved out a reputation that would be
Duke Richard I of Normandy (932-996), to whom his contemporaries gave the nickname without Fear is relegated to popular memory in favor of other personalities from the same dynasty, his grandfather Rollo or his great-grandson Guillaume the Conqueror... And yet, Richard I, master of Normandy from 943
Charlemagne (742-814) is a Frankish king then an Emperor of the West who reigned from 768 to 814 and gave his name to the Carolingian dynasty. Eldest son of Pepin the Short, he reigned alone after the death of his brother Carloman in 771 over an area which then covered Gaul and part of Germania. In
The Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) is a war started by the papacy to fight the Cathar heresy. Increasingly powerful in Languedoc, the latter considered that the Church governed by the Pope was corrupt and incapable of combating the Evil that reigns over the terrestrial world. Responding to the call
Following the Norman invasions and urban insecurity, the first medieval cities were of little importance in France, exceeding rarely the 5,000 inhabitants. But with the progressive establishment of peace, from the 11th century onwards, towns and cities multiplied around cathedrals and trade fairs. T
Made famous by Richard Wagner through the epic of the Nibelungs, the Burgundy kingdom and its people, however, appear no less in history as a discreet neighbor in the face of the main barbarian kingdoms. We have few sources on them. Without a chronicler such as Gregory of Tours to relate their facts
The Salic Law , or law of the Salian Franks, is a civil and penal code whose mythical origin goes back to the legendary Frankish king Pharamond. Written between the 6th and 7th centuries, the Salic law has been, except in certain monastic centers, forgotten. A provision of this law, excluding women
During the High Middle Ages, several states were known as the Kingdom of Burgundy . In the second quarter of the VIe century, if the Burgundian kings were definitively defeated by the Franks, the Burgundian people did not disappear. Its laws and its aristocracy, allied to the Gallo-Roman nobility su
The Baptism of Clovis in Reims on December 25 498 (1 ), followed by 3,000 of his Frankish warriors, is a major event in early medieval history. With this conversion to Christianity, he secured not only the support of the Church, but also that of his Latin subjects - mostly Christians - and thus met
Dynasty of Frankish kings descended from Merovée, the Merovingians reigned over Gaul until 751. This matrix dynasty of French royalty was for a long time the victim of a black legend, maintained from the 6th century by Grégoire de Tours, then by their successors, the Carolingians, under the pen of E
Clovis I , king of the Franks from 482 to 511 , is the most illustrious Merovingian . At the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries, this grandson of the legendary king Mérovée seized almost all of Roman Gaul. To consolidate his authority over his immense domain, he cleverly made an alliance with the Rom
The conquest of Gaul by Caesar in 51 BC. J-C leads to their provincialization, and thus to their integration into the Empire, in particular with Auguste who created Lyonnaise, Aquitaine and Belgium, while Transalpine became Narbonnaise. However, what about the Gallic elites ? Did the notables also s
The evocation of our ancestors the Gauls today certainly triggers a controversy, and the teaching of their history (and through them, of ours) is often caricatured. However, we know today that the Gauls were plural, both in their structures and in their relations with Rome, but also among themselves
After the conquest by Julius Caesar, the Pax Romana prevailed in Roman Gaul , which quickly became one of the most prosperous provinces of the Empire. Despite a few recent revolts, the Roman peace settles from the principate of Augustus and in two centuries, the landscape of Gaul is transformed. The
The Celts are Indo-European peoples originating from the Danube valley, who settled in much of Europe from antiquity. These tribes speak the same language, with variations, and have certain religious beliefs in common. They are the spreaders of the iron civilization in Western Europe. Most historian
At the time of Celtic Gaul, the Arverni were a prosperous and influential people occupying the current region of Auvergne. They are mainly known by the general public through the figure of Vercingetorix and the famous Asterix comic strip in which the eponymous hero goes in search of the shield of th
Oppidum is a Latin term which designates the fortified places of the Gauls. Originally used only in case of danger, an oppidum corresponds to a simple fortified refuge:it can be protected by favorable hydrography (Lutèce, on the current site of Paris), by swamps (Alesia) or by a relief in overhang (
Massalia (now Marseille) was founded around 600 BC by Greeks from Phocaea, in Asia Minor. It is for this reason that Marseille is called the “city of Marseille”. This prosperous colony, which then bears the name of Massalia, had a special destiny and a special place in the history of Gaul and the we
Since the Fifth Republic, the President has been the central figure in French political life. But what about the First Lady of France ? This is the title usually worn by the wife of the happy resident of the Elysée Palace. However, these ladies have no official title or status. Before the Fifth Repu
Saint Dahlia Continuing with our endless journey through the biographies of the great characters of history, we stop, so as not to step on him, in front of Dalia , Christian nobleman who lived at the end of the century, beginning of the next. Gregory Gustaf Dalianevof, son of his father and his mo
The Crimean War (1853-1856) pitted the tsarist Russia of Nicholas I against the Ottoman Empire of Sultan Abdul-Mejid I supported by France and the British Empire. The expansionist pretensions of Russia towards the East, camouflaged in questions of a religious nature, triggered a bloody war that many
The Catalan Company was a body of mercenary warriors who fought in the war between the King of Aragon and the King of Sicily. When the war ended these mercenaries found themselves unemployed. Then they offered their services to the emperor Andronicus, who urgently needed troops. In the fall of 13
Intro Shortly after the death of Charlemagne, three major events marked the Carolingian Empire: Succession troubles lead to the break-up of the Empire, from now on the Germanic part is definitively separated from the Romanesque part. These are the first faces of France and Germany that appear. Eur