Like every good Italian, Queen Catherine de’ Medici was superstitious. She frequently sought to have her fortune told by her personal seer, Nostradamus, and her astrologist, Ruggieri. “When will I die?” “I do not know when you will die, but what I do know is that you will die near Saint Germain.” It was a…
Among the employees at the Palais-Royal in Paris, working for the Duke of Orléans, the future King Louis-Philippe, was a young, petty accountant, supposedly in charge of adding up various monthly expenses. In fact, he spent his time writing poetry in secret, which he hoped to one day transform into a stage play. One day,…
Ferdinand of Orleans, the eldest son and heir of Louis-Philippe, died in his prime in an accident. When the horses of his carriage ran out of control, he threw himself to the ground to avoid disaster, but his head struck a stone and he died from a fractured skull. …
A few years ago, the mayor of Salon-en-Provence in southern France decided to move an ancient cemetary in order to enable a motorway to be built. A specialist company was entrusted with moving the graves, one by one, to the new location. Finally, just one was left. It belonged to the famous physician and seer,…
Antoine d’Oléans, the Duke of Montpensier, married Maria Louisa Fernanda of Bourbon, the Infanta of Spain, sister of Isabelle II. It was a marriage that provoked intrigue, plots, and revolution. One of their daughters, the Infanta Isabelle, married Philippe, the Count of Paris, head of the House of France. The Montpensiers, after decades of turmoil,…
King Murat had a brother who was made count, Count Murat. His descendants still live in Lot, the ancestral home of the lineage. In the 19th century, one of the most impressive, rich, and vast caves in all of Europe was discovered on their land, the cave of Pech Merle. A distance niece of King…
I’ve heard the stories about the Iron Mask ever since my adolescence. Being an admirer of historical mysteries, I set off researching the subject. I have never been convinced of the importance of this mystery, or why it is such a mystery at all. During the reign of Louis XIV, there was a prisoner in…
My friend Eric told me the following story, which he heard directly from one of the two heroines. The Countess of Somewhere lived with her husband in an enormous apartment near the Champs de Mars. She was charming, intelligent, and open-minded. Her husband was an old, unpleasant scrooge, and an anti-Semite. A new couple moved…
I was familiar with the general outline of this 12th century tragic love story, but it was our painter friend Jean who brought to my attention the truly extraordinary nature of these two characters. Abelard is one of the most important intellectuals of the Middle Ages, a true giant of Medieval thought. A philosopher and…
I was a student during the Indochina War. I trembled with all of France during the siege of Dien Bien Phu. The French army was stuck in a basin surrounded by hills occupied by Viet Cong “rebels” who could attack at their pleasure. The siege seemed to last forever, it was heroic. France was anxious,…