Louis XIV

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History, part 16: the colour of money

Posted on by Huw Evans 1 Comment
Have you noticed that whenever people start talking about material possessions, whether they are cars, clothes, houses or high-tech gadgets, it doesn’t take long before the conversation turns to their price.  Whether you’ve found a bargain, are outraged by exorbitant prices, or simply curious about how much things cost, it is the universal method of ascribing […]... Read More
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The fertile hybrid theory: the Serin

Posted on by Huw Evans 19 Comments
If you could go back 300 years to the France of Louis XIV, the Sun King, you would discover that the canary (Serinus canaria) was not called le Canari but le Serin de Canarie (the Serin of the Canaries).  This is the name that Hervieux used to differentiate it from the ordinary Serin (Serinus serinus).  […]... Read More
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History, part 8: the oiseleurs of Paris

Posted on by Huw Evans Leave a comment
Anyone who wanted to buy a pet bird in Paris in the late 1600s would have known exactly where to find one: the quai de la Megisserie, a bustling area on the right bank of the Seine (1); or, if it was a Sunday, on the Vallée de Misère and the Pont au Change at […]... Read More
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History, part 4: the Last of France

Posted on by Huw Evans 2 Comments
Before anyone familiar with the Pre-Raphaelites (1) points it out, the illustration above has nothing to with France and was painted in a different era from the great Huguenot exodus, which is the subject of this post. Yet, when you try to understand what emigration meant to real people; their commitment, their emotions, this painting […]... Read More