France

Fenelon’s devout and earnest pupil had the makings of a great king. But for his early death, writes Geoffrey Treasure, he might have changed the history of France and Europe.

Stuart Andrews describes how the founder of Methodism shared the encyclopaedic concern with science that characterizes the eighteenth century.

‘The story of Charles XII,’ wrote Voltaire, ‘was entertaining; that of Peter instructive.’ A. Lentin describes a unique example of early modern Franco-Russian relations.

J.H.M. Salmon portrays two men of letters - François de La Rochefoucauld and Jean François Paul de Gondi - as mirrors to both each other, and to the seventeenth century French society they wrote about.

G.A. Rothrock describes how, at the close of the French Wars of Religion in 1627-8, the Protestant centre of La Rochelle succumbed to royal siege.

G.A. Rothrock describes how, at the close of the French Wars of Religion in 1627-8, the Protestant centre of La Rochelle succumbed to royal siege.

Theodore Besterman describes everyday life for “the polymorphic chameleon, the omniscient polymath.”

For over 150 years, writes Christopher Duffy, generations of Irish gentry sought service in the armies of the European powers.

During the early years of the Thirty Years War, writes Wayland Young, a monk of Paris published a book in which he outlined a peaceful future League of Nations.

George A. Rothrock describes how the age of Enlightenment was eager for secular, rational explanations of the world, and welcomed the scepticism of Diderot’s contributors.