History of France

Question 1

600 BC France

Answer 1

Ionian Greeks from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (present-day Marseille) on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, making it the oldest city of France.At the same time, some Celtic tribes penetrated the eastern parts (Germania superior) of the current territory of France, but this occupation spread in the rest of France only between the 5th and 3rd century BC.

Question 2

Gaul

Answer 2

A region of Western Europe during the Iron Age that was inhabited by Celtic tribes, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine.

Question 3

Aquitanian

Answer 3

An archaic language related to Basque

Question 4

Phoceans

Answer 4

Founded important cities such as Massalia (Marseille) and Nikaia (Nice), bringing them in to conflict with the neighboring Celts and Ligurians

Question 5

Founded cities such as Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris) and Burdigala (Bordeaux)

Answer 5

The Celts

Question 6

Pytheas

Answer 6

A Greek geographer and explorer from the Greek colony of Massalia (modern-day Marseille). He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe in about 325 BC, but his description of it, widely known in Antiquity, has not survived.

Question 7

Founded cities such as Lugdunum (Lyon), Narbonensis (Narbonne) and allow in a correspondence between Lucius Munatius Plancus and Cicero to formalize the existence of Cularo (Grenoble)

Answer 7

The Romans

Question 8

Gallia Aquitania

Answer 8

Also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine.

Question 9

Armorica

Answer 9

The name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul between the Seine and Loire rivers

Question 10

Frankish Kingdoms

Answer 10

486–987

Question 11

Ascaric

Answer 11

An early Frankish war leader, who, along with his co-leader, Merogais, are the earliest known leaders explicitly called Frankish.

Question 12

Clovis I

Answer 12

The first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of royal chieftains to rule by a single king and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs. He is considered the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Franks for the next two centuries.

Question 13

Catholicism in 496

Answer 13

Clovis is also extremely significant due to his conversion to Catholicism in 496, largely at the behest of his wife, Clotilde, who would later be venerated as a saint for this act. The adoption of Catholicism by Clovis led to a widespread conversion to Christianity among the Frankish peoples, installing Catholicism all across modern-day France and Germany, and leading Charlemagne’s alliance with the pope and birth of the early Holy Roman Empire.

Question 14

Carolingian Dynasty

Answer 14

A Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name “Carolingian” (Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling, meaning “descendant of Charles”, cf. MHG kerlinc) The family consolidated its power in the late 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the throne.

Question 15

Pippin the Short

Answer 15

c. 714 - September 24, 768. He was a King of the Franks from 751 until his death. He was the first of the Carolingians to become King.

Question 16

Charlemagne

Answer 16

2 April 742/747/748– 28 January 814. Also known as Charles the Great or Charles I, was King of the Franks who united most of Western Europe during the Middle Ages and laid the foundations for modern France and Germany. He took the Frankish throne from 768, became King of Italy from 774, and from 800 was the first recognized Roman emperor in Western Europe since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state he founded is called the Carolingian Empire.

Question 17

Treaty of Verdun

Answer 17

Signed in August 843, was the first of the treaties that divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms among the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty signed in Verdun-sur-Meuse ended the three-year Carolingian Civil War.

Question 18

Capetian Dynasty

Answer 18

Also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, founded by Hugh Capet. It is among the largest and oldest European royal houses, consisting of Hugh Capet’s male-line descendants. It ruled in France as the House of Capet from the ascension of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328.

The dynasty had a crucial role in the formation of the French state. Initially obeyed only in their own demesne, the Île-de-France, the Capetian kings slowly, but steadily, increased their power and influence until it grew to cover the entirety of their realm.

Question 19

House of Valois

Answer 19

was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. They Succeeded the House of Capet (or “Direct Capetians”) to the French throne, and was the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589. Junior members of the family founded cadet branches in Alençon, Anjou, Burgundy and Orléans.

Question 20

Rise of the monarchy

Answer 20

Overcame the powerful barons over ensuing centuries, and established absolute sovereignty over France in the 16th century. The dynasty established by Hugh Capet continued uninterrupted until 1328, and the laws of primogeniture ensured orderly successions of power. Secondly, the successors of Capet came to be recognised as members of an illustrious and ancient royal house and therefore socially superior to their politically and economically superior rivals are all reasons for this. Thirdly, the Capetians had the support of the Church, which favoured a strong central government in France. This alliance with the Church was one of the great enduring legacies of the Capetians. The First Crusade was composed almost entirely of Frankish Princes. As time went on the power of the King was expanded by conquests, seizures and successful feudal political battles.

Question 21

Philip I of France

Answer 21

Was born 23 May 1052 at Champagne-et-Fontaine, the son of Henry I and Anne of Kiev. His reign saw the launch of the First Crusade to regain the Holy Land, which heavily involved his family although he personally did not support the expedition.

Question 22

First Crusade

Answer 22

1096–1099, started as a widespread pilgrimage (France and Germany) and ended as a military expedition by Roman Catholic Europe to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquests of the Levant (632–661), ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099.

Question 23

Louis VII of France

Answer 23

1120 – 18 September 1180. Led the Second Crusade. Married Eleanor of Aquitaine but their marriage was annulled in 1152 as no male heir could be produced.

Question 24

Second Crusade

Answer 24

1145–1149 Was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. Was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other European nobles.

Question 25

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Answer 25

1122 or 1124 – 1 April 1204 was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages and a member of the Ramnulfid dynasty of rulers in southwestern France. She became Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right while she was still a child, then later Queen consort of France (1137–1152) and of England (1154–1189). She was the patron of literary figures such as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, and Bernart de Ventadorn.

Eleanor’s succession to the duchy of Aquitaine in 1137 made her the most eligible bride in Europe. Three months after she became duchess, she married King Louis VII of France, son of her guardian, King Louis VI. As Queen of France, she participated in the unsuccessful Second Crusade. Soon after, Eleanor sought an annulment of her marriage,[1] but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III.[2] However, after the birth of her second daughter Alix, Louis agreed to an annulment in consideration of her failure to bear a son after fifteen years of marriage.[3] The marriage was annulled on 11 March 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Their daughters were declared legitimate and custody was awarded to Louis, while Eleanor’s lands were restored to her.

As soon as the annulment was granted, Eleanor became engaged to Henry, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, who became King Henry II of England in 1154. Henry was her third cousin (cousin of the third degree), and nine years younger. The couple married on 18 May 1152 (Whit Sunday), eight weeks after the annulment of Eleanor’s first marriage, in a cathedral in Poitiers, France. Over the next thirteen years, she bore Henry eight children: five sons, three of whom would become kings; and three daughters. However, Henry and Eleanor eventually became estranged. Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting her son Henry’s revolt against her husband, and she was not released until 6 July 1189 when Henry died, and their son ascended the English throne as Richard I.

Question 26

Henry II of England

Answer 26

5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189 also known as Henry Curtmantle (French: Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress or Henry Plantagenet, ruled as Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Nantes, King of England (1154–89) and Lord of Ireland; at various times, he also controlled Wales, Scotland and Brittany. Henry was the son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mother’s efforts to claim the throne of England, then occupied by Stephen of Blois, and was made Duke of Normandy at 17. He inherited Anjou in 1151 and shortly afterwards married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Louis VII of France had recently been annulled.

Question 27

Philip II Augustus

Answer 27

Junior king 1179–1180, senior king 1180–1223 His reign marked an important step in the history of French monarchy. His reign saw the French royal domain and influence greatly expanded. He set the context for the rise of power to much more powerful monarchs like Saint Louis and Philip the Fair.

He spent an important part of his reign fighting the so-called Angevin Empire, which was probably the greatest threat to the King of France since the rise of the Capetian dynasty. During the first part of his reign he tried using Henry II of England’s son against him. He allied himself with the Duke of Aquitaine and son of Henry II — Richard Lionheart — and together they launched a decisive attack on Henry’s castle and home of Chinon and removed him from power.

Question 28

Third Crusade

Answer 28

1189–1192 also known as the Kings’ Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin.. The campaign was largely successful, capturing the important cities of Acre and Jaffa, and reversing most of Saladin’s conquests, but it failed to capture Jerusalem, the emotional and spiritual motivation of the Crusade.

Question 29

Angevin Empire

Answer 29

A modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevins of the House of Plantagenet.

The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries, located north of the kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon. This “empire”, originally established by Henry II of England, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, extended over roughly half of medieval France, all of England, and some of Ireland.

Question 30

House of Plantagenet

Answer 30

A family originally from the former French county of Anjou, whose members held the English throne from the accession of Henry II in 1154 to the death of Richard III in 1485. Within that period, some historians identify four distinct royal houses: Angevins, Plantagenet, Lancaster, and York. In the 10 years from 1144, two successive French counts of Anjou won control of a vast assemblage of lands that would last for 80 years and would retrospectively be referred to as the Angevin Empire. The first of these counts—Geoffrey—became duke of Normandy in 1144 and his successor—Henry—added Aquitaine by virtue of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 and became king of England in 1154 by successfully pursuing a claim derived from his maternal grandfather, Henry I of England. From Henry’s fourth son—John—the dynasty produced a long line of 14 English kings. The name of Plantagenet, which historians use for the entire dynasty, dates from the 15th century and comes from a 12th-century nickname of Geoffrey.

Question 31

Hundred Years’ War

Answer 31

A series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 between the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the House of Valois, rulers of the Kingdom of France, for control of the latter kingdom. Each side drew many allies into the war.

Question 32

Black Death

Answer 32

One of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–53. Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011 indicates that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium, probably causing several forms of plague.

Question 33

Treaty of Troyes

Answer 33

An agreement that Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of Henry’s successful military campaign in France. It forms a part of the backdrop of the latter phase of the Hundred Years’ War, in which various English kings tried to establish their claims to the French throne.

Question 34

Battle of Baugé

Answer 34

Fought between the English and a Franco-Scots army on 22 March 1421. France, east of Angers, was a major defeat for the English in the Hundred Years’ War. The English army was led by the king’s brother Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, while the Franco-Scots were led by both John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan, and Gilbert de Lafayette, the Constable of France. English strength was 4,000 men, although only 1,500 deployed, against 5,000 Scots.

Question 35

Joan of Arc

Answer 35

1412–1431. She was considered a heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to a peasant family at Domrémy in north-east France.She said she received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years’ War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission.

Question 36

House of Bourbon

Answer 36

A European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. They first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of this dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have monarchs from this house.

Question 37

Ancien Régime

Answer 37

Was the monarchic, aristocratic, social and political system established in the Kingdom of France from approximately the 15th century until the later 18th century (“early modern France”) under the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties. More generally, the term can also be used to refer to the feudal social and political order, which typified the French Ancien Régime, elsewhere Europe.