For those of you who have read and enjoyed the adventures of Nicholas de Bresancourt… child refugee from the French Revolution, aristocratic Duke nicknamed Le Lion de Valenciennes, but also a secret agent working for the British in the latter stages of the Napoleonic Wars… I thought I’d write a little about a somewhat forgotten major…
Madame la Guillotine… or if you’d rather, Le Rasoir National (the National Razor)
More fascinating facts about the guillotine I’ve recently come across, so thought I’d share with you! We all know that during the Reign of Terror fervent French ‘citoyens’ came to the Place de la Revolution in central Paris in droves to watch the guillotine do its grisly work, and the machine was mentioned in all…
The Men Who Would Be King of France…
As the anniversary of the start of the French Revolution comes round again, 14 July 1789, two hundred and thirty-four years ago, one wonders who would be governing France today if they hadn’t chopped of Louis XVI’s head….. Louis, and his wife, Marie Antoinette, had 4 children. Princess Sophie died at 11 months old in…
The Battle of Waterloo… the human cost
If you’ve read Fighting Lion, Part 4 of The Pride of Lions, and my description of the aftermath of the famous battle where the book’s central character and hero, Nicky, got injured, that was a just a glimpse of the reality of the terrible cost in both human and horses’ lives. As the Duke of…
The Guillotine… some fascinating and gruesome facts
The Guillotine… it gives most people the shivers just thinking about it. Countless victims, young and old, had their heads chopped off during the years of the French Revolution, mainly because they had a title, wealth or were against social change. No one knows the number of deaths across France during that time, not just…
It’s July… that means Bastille Day in France
July 14th is Bastille Day in France, and the most famous French national holiday. It celebrates the storming of the Bastille—a military fortress and prison in Paris — on July 14, 1789, in a violent uprising that people generally consider to be the flashpoint which heralded the start of the French Revolution. At the time,…
Christmas nibbles…
Did you know… that traditional Christmas nibble we love to have with our tea, coffee, or glass of sherry or two… in other words: mince pies… were originally filled with meat, such as lamb, rather than the dried fruit and spices (and brandy!) mix we’re more familiar with today? They were also first made in…
