It will run through the beginning of the Capetian dynasty to nowadays and will focus on everything related to France and its history.
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![Villemarie dans l’isle de Montréal [Ville-Marie on the island of Montréal], ca. 1685 FR CAOM 3DFC 466C
@credits
Ville-Marie was founded in 1642, where the waters of the St. Lawrence are at their navigable limit, by a lay missionary organization, the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal, on the initiative of Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière. Although Montréal began as a mission for the evangelization of the Aboriginal inhabitants, its commercial role soon overtook its religious vocation. The town became the trading centre for furs and other goods. It was a supply centre for the posts in the interior of the colony and a departure point for offensive expeditions.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3r0vsIDwG1r4iw2yo1_500.jpg)
Villemarie dans l’isle de Montréal [Ville-Marie on the island of Montréal], ca. 1685
FR CAOM 3DFC 466C
Ville-Marie was founded in 1642, where the waters of the St. Lawrence are at their navigable limit, by a lay missionary organization, the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal, on the initiative of Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière. Although Montréal began as a mission for the evangelization of the Aboriginal inhabitants, its commercial role soon overtook its religious vocation. The town became the trading centre for furs and other goods. It was a supply centre for the posts in the interior of the colony and a departure point for offensive expeditions.
Pierre Mignard, Louise-Marie de Bourbon (1674-1681), vers 1681, Versailles, musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, © Gérard Blot ; RMN
Citadelle de Vauban
The Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 gave the region of Franche-Comté to Louis XIV, who decided to improve significantly the city of Besançon’s defenses. In March 1668 Louis appointed the military architect Vauban to design the Citadel. The initial construction, which took place under the supervision of Ambrose Precipiano, took six years. Work continued over thirty years with the result that by 1711, the Citadel was one of the strongest fortifications of the period.
Armor of Infante Luis, Prince of Asturias, 1712
Made by Drouar (possibly André Drouart)
France (Paris)
Blued and gilt steel; gilt brass; silk; cotton; metallic yarn; paper
This royal armor, possibly the last made in Europe, is believed to have been presented to the five-year-old Infante Luis (1701–1724), prince of Asturias, by his great-grandfather Louis XIV of France (1638–1715, r. from 1643). Luis was the first Spanish-born Bourbon heir to the throne of Spain and ruled briefly as Luis I in 1724.
The armor is signed and dated on the backplate: “Drouar Ordinaire du Roi aux Heaume à Paris 1712” (Drouar, armorer-in-ordinary to the King, at the Sign of the Helm in Paris, 1712). The signature may refer to André Drouart, a royal armorer recorded from 1674 to 1688 who must have been one of the last armorers active in France by 1712.
Remarkable for its state of preservation, the armor retains its lustrous blue and gold surfaces and nearly all its original red-silk lining. The gilt rivet heads are of heraldic design—the lion of León, the castle of Castile, and the fleur-de-lis of France—representing the dynastic claims to which Luis was heir.
Vue intérieure des appartements du Roi : chambre de Louis XIV (Louis XIV’s bedroom in Versailles)(C) RMN (Château de Versailles) / Daniel Arnaudet / Jean Schormans
Jean Boudriot, Maquette de reconstitution de la Belle, l’un des bateaux de l’expédition de Cavalier de La Salle, perdu dans la baie de Matagorda en février 1686 Collection privée
Model of La Belle, one of the ship belonging to the Cavalier de la Salle, lost in Matagorda Bay in February 1686.
Nicolas de LARGILLIERRE
Paris, 1656 - Paris, 1746
Le prévôt des marchands et les échevins de la ville de Paris
1689
The Provost of Merchants (prévôt des marchands), or Dean of Guild, headed the burgh council and the burgh’s merchant company
Commémoration du traité d’Aix la Chapelle, plafond de la Galerie des Glaces, Château de Versailles
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle or Treaty of Aachen was signed on 2 May 1668 in Aachen. It ended the war of Devolution between France and Spain. It was mediated by the Triple Alliance of England, the Dutch Republic and Sweden at the first Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. France gained Lille and other territories in Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands from Spain, but returned the Franche-Comté.
Unmounted fan-leaf, with an allegory on the marriage of Louis XIV with Maria Theresa of Spain.
Ferme seigneuriale et jardins de Bois-RicheuxFerme forte avec son manoir, sa chapelle, sa grange dîmière (12e siècle) et son colombier (1364). En 1674, elle est acquise par Madame de Maintenon et Louis XIVLeroux Jean-Baptiste (né en 1949)
All through the Middle-Ages, the farm belonged to the two Gallardon and Montfort l’Amaury noble families who edified a chapel devoted to Saint Gilles, in memory of the departure harbor to crusades. In 1178, aware of the peasants’ situation, the Lords gave part of their lands to the chapter of Chartres’ Cathedral in order to establish a “frank area”.
The Great Precentor Amaury solemnly settles the first free peasants (Simple contract by Hugues de Boutigny, 1178). By that time, it has become a fortified farm with a seigniorial manor house, a chapel, a barn dedicated to collect the Tithe and a pigeon-house.
In 1679, the manor house and land of Bois Richeux are purchased by Madame de Maintenon. The purchase acts being countersigned by Louvois, in the name of King Louis XIV in 1684.
The niece of Madame de Maintenon receives the property as her marriage portion when she marries the first Duc de Noailles in 1689. Afterward, Bois Richeux will remain attached to the Château de Maintenon during three centuries.
