I thoroughly enjoyed your blaze through a short time of French history. A genealogy tree would most likely look like an untamed vine. Joan of Arc’s ability to unite the French, for a girl so young, was not of this world.
“their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.”
A neighbor high school girl was over for dinner. She is reading Lord of the Flies. She said that it was violent but interesting, and would not recommend reading it to our homeschooled daughter. My reaction was that it's an 0 for 8 on the "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy" scale (yes, I think about such things). So why waste your time?
And then, I came upstairs to my office, and this! If you want "interesting," you've got a madman king set on fire. You want good writing? Look no further than the Librarian! This is a beauty. Thanks!
Not quite. High schools don’t really allow for the kind of granular-level history I wrote about here. At best, the Hundred-Years War gets a few sentences. I dislike the whole concept of “world history,” but it’s what everyone goes with, because even the independent schools lack imagination and vision.
I was lucky enough to have a history teacher in high school who taught at this level. She was a Dominican nun who was especially passionate about French history, which is one reason why much of your material is familiar to me. She also looked like Napoleon in a habit, which I found amusing at the time. (Yes, this was back in the days when nuns still wore habits.)
I get it. Resulted in that iffy Jared Diamond book Guns, Germs, and Steel, being a bestseller. Still, I've enjoyed most of what I read by William McNeil, dean of the approach. Also loved Ecological Imperialism by Crosby--don't let the title fool ya! Not that the schools are going to put any real books from world history scholars into the kiddos' hands.
A great gallop through. Thankyou. Some might enjoy the fictionalised account of the first half of this, Maurice Druon's classic series Les Rois Maudits (The Accursed Kings) (available in english translation).
Wow, French history is BONKERS. Thanks for these pieces, I really enjoy reading them!
And it's always nice to get some perspective against which to compare recent events. No era was perfect, and plenty were really bad, but humanity soldiers on.
I really tried, but I've always found that all the detail of French late medieval dynastic affairs overwhelms me.
'Philippe first married Joan of Normadie-Navarre, daughter of Jean le Mort and Joan of Anjou; but the marriage was barren, so he divorced Joan, later married to his nephew Jean le Puissant, and next took to wife Blanche of Calais-Leon, though once more with no issue; his third union, with Joan, the daughter of Philippe de Valois-Bourgogne de Dordogne, a Picard petty noblewoman of questionable chastity, led the the birth of an heir, Philippe, in 1430; but the heir died unmarried, and his third cousin, the insane Philippe, was burned alive at his coronation celebration in Avignon while attempting to produce an heir for Philippe by engaging simultaneously in wild congress with Joan...'
This is sort of how it reads to me (my fault not yours of course).
I understand your theme though so it's a good article 7/10 from me (maybe an extra 1/2 for a couple particularly funny captions).
I would have given you a round 8 but I had to dock half a point because you included a still from the repellant demoralisation reel 'The King', which forced me to projectile vomit all over computer screen.
Great write up. And nothing is a coincidence(including curses).The Evil eats the Good which in turns defeats Evil. Uroboros. One is the other transforming and changing
Your BBC joke smacked me right upside the head! I see what you did there! But seriously, my mom’s name is Joan and her surname is supposedly an anglicized version of a name of a region in France, suggesting that her grandmother’s family may have fled from France to England for some reason. So this all checks out for me!
I assume that the fire theme is kept up by the pace that you run through this history? Yowzers! I first became acquainted with the story of the Bal des Ardents through Poe's fictionalized account Hop-Frog, which doesn't shed a lot of light on the event but is enjoyable as a revenge tale. However, I can shed some light on the obscure source of Joan the Maid's titular 'd'Arc'. She was, surprisingly for a maid, Noah's wife as proven by Bill S. Preston, Esq. in his monograph on the subject.
I loved this light but learned re-cap of French history. A couple of comments. First, do we have actual evidence of witch burning in the 14th century? As far as I know the earliest church sanctioned accusation and execution for witchcraft occurred around 1420 in Italy (an unfortunate lapse by San Bernardino of Siena). St Joan’s principal offense was heresy, according to her English judges.
That said, have you read Maurice Droun’s magnificent series of novels entitled “The Accursed Kings?” There is a fairly recent and excellent English translation, and the opening scene is the burning of the Templars.
Veenstra (one of the authors I mentioned) noted several cases of witch-burning pre-1420. But it can get a bit tricky ironing out who has the actual jurisdiction to burn someone. I have not read the series you mentioned, but I may, as you’re not the first to note it.
I thoroughly enjoyed your blaze through a short time of French history. A genealogy tree would most likely look like an untamed vine. Joan of Arc’s ability to unite the French, for a girl so young, was not of this world.
“their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.”
Once again, well done!
A neighbor high school girl was over for dinner. She is reading Lord of the Flies. She said that it was violent but interesting, and would not recommend reading it to our homeschooled daughter. My reaction was that it's an 0 for 8 on the "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy" scale (yes, I think about such things). So why waste your time?
And then, I came upstairs to my office, and this! If you want "interesting," you've got a madman king set on fire. You want good writing? Look no further than the Librarian! This is a beauty. Thanks!
OK, I'm like, how in heck are you a monarchist?
The French are too uncivilized for any form of government to work, even monarchy
Well written! I admit I was wondering if you cribbed it from a set of European history lecture notes you were perhaps teaching.
I can easily picture a roomfull of sophomore boys so enraptured by the blood, gore and more that not one spitball crossed the aisles!
Not quite. High schools don’t really allow for the kind of granular-level history I wrote about here. At best, the Hundred-Years War gets a few sentences. I dislike the whole concept of “world history,” but it’s what everyone goes with, because even the independent schools lack imagination and vision.
I was lucky enough to have a history teacher in high school who taught at this level. She was a Dominican nun who was especially passionate about French history, which is one reason why much of your material is familiar to me. She also looked like Napoleon in a habit, which I found amusing at the time. (Yes, this was back in the days when nuns still wore habits.)
Enjoyed this essay very much!
I get it. Resulted in that iffy Jared Diamond book Guns, Germs, and Steel, being a bestseller. Still, I've enjoyed most of what I read by William McNeil, dean of the approach. Also loved Ecological Imperialism by Crosby--don't let the title fool ya! Not that the schools are going to put any real books from world history scholars into the kiddos' hands.
Superb ❤️💯❤️
Fantastic read, thank you
A great gallop through. Thankyou. Some might enjoy the fictionalised account of the first half of this, Maurice Druon's classic series Les Rois Maudits (The Accursed Kings) (available in english translation).
There's also a TV mini-series adaptation of Les Rois Maudits.
Wow, French history is BONKERS. Thanks for these pieces, I really enjoy reading them!
And it's always nice to get some perspective against which to compare recent events. No era was perfect, and plenty were really bad, but humanity soldiers on.
I loved this!
Thank you. My history work is generally my favorite to write.
I mean... I leaned a lot and I also enjoyed it :D
I really tried, but I've always found that all the detail of French late medieval dynastic affairs overwhelms me.
'Philippe first married Joan of Normadie-Navarre, daughter of Jean le Mort and Joan of Anjou; but the marriage was barren, so he divorced Joan, later married to his nephew Jean le Puissant, and next took to wife Blanche of Calais-Leon, though once more with no issue; his third union, with Joan, the daughter of Philippe de Valois-Bourgogne de Dordogne, a Picard petty noblewoman of questionable chastity, led the the birth of an heir, Philippe, in 1430; but the heir died unmarried, and his third cousin, the insane Philippe, was burned alive at his coronation celebration in Avignon while attempting to produce an heir for Philippe by engaging simultaneously in wild congress with Joan...'
This is sort of how it reads to me (my fault not yours of course).
I understand your theme though so it's a good article 7/10 from me (maybe an extra 1/2 for a couple particularly funny captions).
I would have given you a round 8 but I had to dock half a point because you included a still from the repellant demoralisation reel 'The King', which forced me to projectile vomit all over computer screen.
Great write up. And nothing is a coincidence(including curses).The Evil eats the Good which in turns defeats Evil. Uroboros. One is the other transforming and changing
Your BBC joke smacked me right upside the head! I see what you did there! But seriously, my mom’s name is Joan and her surname is supposedly an anglicized version of a name of a region in France, suggesting that her grandmother’s family may have fled from France to England for some reason. So this all checks out for me!
I appreciate the TL;DR for The Accursed Kings novels!
Those books are great! I was going to mention them too, but you beat me to the punch. Highly recommend them.
I assume that the fire theme is kept up by the pace that you run through this history? Yowzers! I first became acquainted with the story of the Bal des Ardents through Poe's fictionalized account Hop-Frog, which doesn't shed a lot of light on the event but is enjoyable as a revenge tale. However, I can shed some light on the obscure source of Joan the Maid's titular 'd'Arc'. She was, surprisingly for a maid, Noah's wife as proven by Bill S. Preston, Esq. in his monograph on the subject.
This is an amazing article. Im poor but when Im not I will subscribe
Thank you so much. I’d be just as grateful for a recommendation.
I loved this light but learned re-cap of French history. A couple of comments. First, do we have actual evidence of witch burning in the 14th century? As far as I know the earliest church sanctioned accusation and execution for witchcraft occurred around 1420 in Italy (an unfortunate lapse by San Bernardino of Siena). St Joan’s principal offense was heresy, according to her English judges.
That said, have you read Maurice Droun’s magnificent series of novels entitled “The Accursed Kings?” There is a fairly recent and excellent English translation, and the opening scene is the burning of the Templars.
Veenstra (one of the authors I mentioned) noted several cases of witch-burning pre-1420. But it can get a bit tricky ironing out who has the actual jurisdiction to burn someone. I have not read the series you mentioned, but I may, as you’re not the first to note it.