The Defence of Acre, 1799
Christopher Lloyd describes how, trying to fight his way from Egypt to Constantinople, Bonaparte was checked by Sidney Smith’s defence.
France
The British and Irish in Paris
Impressions of the social and literary scene in the French capital, as recorded by nineteenth-century visitors.
Protecting Animals in Paris: 1851-1870
The Emperor Napoleon III, writes Robert E. Zegger, was a leading patron of the French Society for animal welfare.
Orsini and the Fall of Palmerston
Robert Woodall describes how Palmerston lost office in February 1858 during the Anglo-French controversy over Orsini’s bomb plot.
Mercenaries under Henry VIII, 1544-46
Gilbert John Millar describes how the foreign contingents employed by Henry VIII eventually became the mainstay of his military establishment.
Madame: Elisabeth Charlotte of Orleans
The ungainly princess from the Palatinate was an unlikely bride for Louis XIV’s brother, writes Nis A. Petersen, but her frank nature and resourceful intelligence commended her to the King.
King Edward’s Vineyard: Aquitaine under the Plantagenet Crown
Anthony Dent describes how this rich French province remained a royal English vineyard for a good three centuries.
Jean Baptiste Oudry: Painter to the Hunt of Louis XV
R.B. Fountain introduces an influential French artist of wild animals and the chase.
History in Stone: Impressions of Paris
Joanna Richardson takes readers on a mid twentieth century architectural tour of Paris; the French capital, she writes, bears the signature of successive rulers.
Cyrano de Bergerac: Poet, Philosopher and Swordsman
Mildred Allen Butler offers a profile of a renowned swordsman, student of philosophy, literary critic, social satirist and story-teller; Cyrano de Bergerac expressed his views of life in his ingenious account of expeditions to the Empires of the Sun and Moon.