The French Assault on American Shipping, 1793-1813 by Greg H. Williams

In 1789 the French Revolution resulted in the end of the monarchy, and a torrent of bloodshed during a turbulent time in the history of France. However, toward the end of the king's reign, the economy of France was spiraling downward into poverty. Louis XIV was crowned king and during his reign, France enjoyed a rebirth of art, music, drama and literature and Italian styles were the rage.įrancis I commissioned DeVinci, Cellini, Fiorentino to name a few artists summoned.įrench artists imitated the Italian styles.įrench chateaus were built with an Italian flair.

It was a time of the philosophers Voltaire and Rousseau, and of poetry and romance. The 18th century was the period in the history of France called the 'Enlightenment,' when France was the envy of Europe. The Hundred Years' War, (1337-1451), fought periodically between France and England for control of French territory, was devastated the country, causing thousands of deaths and wanton destruction.ĭuring the Renaissance, (middle 1400s), France flourished magnificently culturally and economically. In the beginning of the Middle Ages, Eleanor of Aquitaine, French queen, called the duchy of Aquitaine, divorced her husband Louis and married the young English king, Henry (Pantagenet) II, acquiring both large tracts of France, and all of England in her realm.ĭuring the Middle Ages, France grew and prospered until the choking Black Death plague fell upon the population and the Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453) seriously threatened the country. Hundreds of castles were built and thousands of French words introduced to the English language. William the Conqueror indeed conquered his rival Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and for the next 400 years French was the language of the ruling class of England. William had a claim as a relative of the Viking ancestry of the incumbent King of England. In 1066 William the Conqueror, a Norman, set out to invade England. The people who settled in that area became known as the Normans (Norsemen). The French king, the Duchy of Normandy, gave a large territory to the Scandinavian Vikings and made peace with them. The Vikings moved into the northern part of France. Near the end of the 5th century, the Franks (a Germanic civilization), headed by King Clovis, overtook the Romans and conquered the land which was eventually divided into three parts, the western part being “Francia”, which means 'country of the Franks').Īround 1000 A.D., the first French speaking king, Francien, demanded that the ruling class use French, a graduated form of Latin which had evolved through years of dialects, as the official language. ° Napoleon Bonaparte Celts, Romans, Franks, Legions and Artists ° Gironde ° Le Havre ° LeMans ° Limoges ° Lyon Marseilles ° Monaco ° Angers ° Avignon ° Bordeaux ° Boulogne ( ° Eustace the Monk) ° Brest ° Caen

The French Assault on American Shipping, 1793-1813 by Greg H. Williams