I was chatting with a French woman, but I only know bits of French history. I’ve read French, English, American, and European history books – and a few others on World History – but what I retain more often comes from novels, and then relating certain periods and monarchs to one another. I asked ChatGPT for a list of books to span this history . Here’s the list. Additional commentary follows.
| Historical slot | Work | What to hang on it |
|---|---|---|
| 778 / Carolingian myth | La Chanson de Roland | Charlemagne, Franks, Christian heroic culture, the legendary France before France |
| early 1300s | Maurice Druon, Les Rois maudits / The Accursed Kings | Philip IV, dynastic succession, England-France entanglement, road towards the Hundred Years’ War |
| 1482 | Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris | Louis XI, late-medieval Paris, Church, crown, urban society |
| 1572 | Dumas, La Reine Margot | Catherine de’ Medici, Wars of Religion, St Bartholomew’s Day massacre |
| 1625 onward | Dumas, The Three Musketeers* | Louis XIII, Richelieu, Anne of Austria, court politics |
| 1660s | Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask | transition into Louis XIV’s personal rule |
| 1789–94 | Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, then Hugo’s Ninety-Three | Revolution first as cultural myth, then 1793, Terror, Vendée and counter-revolution |
| 1815–1830s | Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo*,** | Napoleon’s return, Bourbon Restoration, Louis-Philippe |
| late 1820s / 1830 | Stendhal, The Red and the Black | Restoration society, Napoleon nostalgia, aristocracy versus bourgeois France |
| 1815–1832 | Hugo, Les Misérables** | Waterloo aftermath, poverty, policing, July Monarchy, June Rebellion |
| 1860s | Zola, Germinal | Second Empire, industrialisation, mines, labour and class |
| 1870–71 | Zola, La Débâcle | Franco-Prussian War, Sedan, fall of Napoleon III, emergence of Third Republic |
| 1914–18 | Henri Barbusse, Le Feu / Under Fire | French soldiers and trench experience in the First World War |
| 1940–occupation | Irène Némirovsky, Suite française | collapse of 1940, exodus from Paris, German occupation |
It’s difficult for me to keep all of the Rois Louis in check. As the ‘What to hang it on’ suggests, the Three Musketeers reminds me of Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, which leads to Louis XIV. The good thing about XIV is the geezer rules for 70 years, building the palace of Versailles in his tenure. It may not be high scholarship, but the Netflix show Versailles is my historical source for the middle of Louis XIV’s reign. Quite obviously, his son was Louis XV, the penultimate king, as Louis XIV, found his end at the guillotine in 1793, a few years after the start of the French Revolution in 1789.
As I write, I decided a film/small screen version would be nice, too. Here it is.
| Approximate slot | Film / series | Mental hook |
|---|---|---|
| 1572 | La Reine Margot (1994) | Wars of Religion, Catherine de MĂ©dicis, Henri de Navarre, St Bartholomew’s Day massacre |
| 1620s | The Three Musketeers adaptations *,** | Louis XIII, Richelieu |
| 1640-ish | Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)*,** | seventeenth-century France, literary/cultural rather than political anchor |
| 1660s–70s | Versailles** | Louis XIV, court, absolutism |
| 1671 | Vatel (2000) | Louis XIV’s aristocratic court culture |
| 1780s | Ridicule | Louis XVI’s Versailles, wit and patronage |
| 1780s | Dangerous Liaisons ** | aristocratic libertinism, late ancien régime |
| 1770s–1789 | Marie Antoinette (2006) | Versailles immediately before the Revolution |
| 1789–94 | La Révolution française (1989) | broad Revolution narrative |
| Napoleonic era | Napoleon (2023) | huge visual hook; history treated rather elastically |
| 1815 onward | The Count of Monte Cristo *,** | Restoration France, post-Napoleonic world |
| 1832 | Les Misérables ** | June Rebellion, July Monarchy |
| Second Empire | Germinal (1993) | industrialisation, miners, labour/class conflict |
| 1870–71 | La Débâcle, where available, or documentaries | Franco-Prussian War, fall of Napoleon III |
| 1914–18 | A Very Long Engagement | First World War France |
| 1940–44 | Army of Shadows | Resistance and occupation |
| 1940–45 | Un village français / A French Village | occupied France at civilian scale |
Please note that I can’t vouch for these, as I haven’t read or seen most of them – hence the ChatGPT inquiry. I liked the older version of Les MisĂ©rables film and The Count of Monte Cristo; The Three Musketeers wasn’t bad. I read Cyrano de Bergerac when I was 11 or 12 for school. I think it was fine. I think I watched Dangerous Liaisons in the late ’80s or early ’90s. I don’t recall that is was bad, so… Finally, there’s Versailles. I think it was on Netflix. It’s not particularly historically accurate, but it was decent enough.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. If you’ve got anything to add, including opinions, share them in comments.
* I’ve read these titles, Le comte de Monte Cristo in French
** I’ve watched this on video.
Philosophics 