French Revolution Guide

This musical guide to the French Revolution may be of interest, especially to AS students!

Henry IV's head

The embalmed head of King Henry IV of France has been rediscovered and confirmed as genuine after a series of scientific tests. After Henry was assassinated in 1610 his head was kept in the royal chapel in Paris until it was ransacked in 1793. The head was then kept in private hands before reappearing in public. One piece of evidence which assisted the scientists was a healed facial wound, left from a previous assassination attempt. Henry played a significant role in French history as he converted to Catholicism when he became King and enacted the Edict of Nantes in 1598, guaranteeing religious freedom and effectively the 36 year long French Wars of Religion. He was given the nickname "Le Vert Galant" or "The Green Galant" which (according to Wikipedia) "is a reference to both his dashing character and his attractiveness to women."

PS: Here are articles on the subject (in French!) from Le Monde and Le Figaro.

De Gaulle's broadcast

President Sarkozy is in the UK today to commemmorate the 70th anniversary of General De Gaulle's broadcast from the BBC studios in London to the French just before France's surrender to the Germans in 1940. The French resistance was inspired by his words - "Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished" - and De Gaulle's leadership was an important feature of the Second World War. See the BBC's report and the Guardian's report at the weekend of a new biography which uncovers Britain's suspicion of De Gaulle. France's celebrations of events during the Second World War tend to be more muted than Britain's due to its Nazi occupation so it is particularly important for it to promote De Gaulle's and the French Resistance's activities.

PS: Here is a fascinating comment from the head of BBC History on the significance of the speech - it is a really important event for the French and Nicolas Sarkozy himself has said 'We are all the children of the 18 June' Here is further comment (in French) from L'Express.

PPS: June 18 also marks the 70th Anniversary of Churchill's "Finest Hour" speech, the third of 3 famous speeches given during his first month as Prime Minister. The Sun have made the most of this occasion as you can see below...

Good King Henri

Today marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Henry IV of France, murdered by a fanatical Catholic angry at his attempts to promote harmony between Protestants and Catholics after the disastrous French Wars of Religion. He remains a popular figure in France, both for his achievements as King and his impressive string of romantic contests, made apparently while "smelling strongly of garlic and feet". Here is an article from the Guardian and here is one (in French!) from the Nouvel Observateur.

Updates: Haiti and Relics

Two interesting recent articles provide further information on topics discussed recently on Nonsuch HP. This quite provocative article in the Times argues that many of Haiti's troubles stem from the legacy of French imperialism. Haiti declared independence in 1804 (it is the second oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere) but was forced to pay a massive fine for the next 122 years. This crippled the economy and left the country vulnerable to weak governments and despotic regimes. In 2004 Jacques Chirac set up a Commission of Reflection to examine France’s historical relations with Haiti. It concluded blandly that the demand for restitution was “non-pertinent in both legal and historical terms".

This article by Simon Jenkins in the Guardian explores the current obsession with historical relics, as seen in the Radio 4 series and David Dimbleby's programme on BBC1. There is even a CBBC programme called Relic where children from Hounslow have to unlock the secrets of historical objects to avoid getting trapped inside the British Museum (has anyone seen this?). Jenkins says, "We once derived mental comfort, uplift and local pride from worshipping saintly relics in church. Now we are supposed to find them in a museum. (Museums) have made the relic more important than themselves, yet requiring their priestly interpretation." What are your thoughts?

Anarchists and Terrorists

Here's an interesting article from the BBC about Emile Henry, an intellectual anarchist who, according to the author, became the first "modern terrorist" when he deliberately targeted innocent members of the public with a bomb in 1894 because they happened to be members of the bourgeoisie. It then goes on to discuss the nature of terrorism and whether even governments can be accused of acting as terrorists. Your thoughts on this, as always, are welcome.

Catching Up.

So it was Amy Rose, my astute sister-in-law, who finally confronted me over it. What kind of sorry excure for a Blogger am I to not have entered a single Post in over a month and a half? My last one was March 26 -- seven weeks ago. Use it or lose it!! That was the message.

So here I am today, tail between my legs, trying to make amends. Yes, there's been an ocean of water under the bridge since my last Post, lots having to do with me -- good, bad, and indifferent, all mixed together.

Here are a few headlines:

-- On the personal level, yes, my new book Young J. Edgar is finally out, with very respectable pre-pub reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, a nice segment on The Bob Edwards Show on XM radio, good, solid opening events in NYC at the NY Historical Society (James Risen of the NY Times shared the stage with me, a real kick) and in Washington, DC, at the best bookstore around, Politics and Prose. C-Span Booknotes has invited me to tape a segment for "Afterwords," and I'm still waiting to hear from the major book reviews and media. So on all these many fronts, so far so good.

Yes, mine is one of the books tangled up in the Perseus-Avalon-Carroll and Graf denoument that was making big headlines in publishing circles late last week. How it will affect Young J. Edgar, I still don't really know. Best I can tell, it's cause to worry, but not to panic. The new owners seem ready to stand behind it. What will happen next, stay tuned....

-- As for the world at large, there has been politics galore since my last Post, good grist for cynics of all stripes. Yes, Alberto Gonzales is still Attorney General of the USA seven weeks after I last weighed in on it, long after most Washington cognoscenti had pronounced him all washed up. I guess, if you're going to have just one friend in the world, it's good to have it be that fellow in the White House with all the power and the heavy stubborn streak.

My own personal favorite moment in politics over the past month was the one that came during that debate of the ten Republican presidential candidates when Chris Mathews asked if any of them actually did not believe in evolution, and three raised their hands -- including a sitting US Senator and two former governors. It is tempting to make a snide joke here about ignorance in high places. But don't we all feel a wee bit embarrassed as a country that three contenders for the White House would consider it good politics to deny the validity of the last 150 years of science because it contradicts the book of Genesis? Now don't get me wrong. I happen to consider Genesis to be a very fine book, wonderfully written, rich in imagery, bursting with noble themes, and well deserving its first-in-the-Bible status. But in a day and age when jihadists are murdering people over the Koran and religion is dividing the planet into warring tribes, isn't this a good time to stand up for science and secular government? Even Turkey and France seem to get this point better than we do, based on recent events there.

In any event, that's my rant for today. My coffee is cold now, so I'll stop. Don't be a stranger, and I'll try to post more often as well so my sister-in-law Amy will stay off my case over this. Meanwhile, here's to good caffeine. All the best. --KenA