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Constans II
Constans II (aka Konstans II) was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 641 to 668 CE. Sometimes known as Constans Pogonatos (“the Bearded”), he came to the throne by a series of unlikely events and his empire was immediately challenged almost...

Definition
Anastasios I
Anastasios I ruled the Byzantine empire from 491 to 518 CE. Although his tax and monetary reforms were both popular and successful, the emperor could not repair the damaging split in the Christian Church created by his predecessors. He faced...

Definition
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici (l. 1519-1589) was the queen of France, mother of three kings and two queens and, between 1559 and c. 1576, the most powerful woman in France and, possibly, all of Europe. She was the strength behind the French throne...

Definition
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. A leading figure of the Scientific Revolution, Huygens combined research into mathematical-based theories, such as the movement of light waves, with practical...

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Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed in July 1790 during the French Revolution (1789-1799), which caused the immediate subordination of the Catholic Church in France to the French government. An attempt to modernize the Church...

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Richard I the Lionheart
Face reconstruction of Richard I of England (the Lionheart, r. 1189-1199), based on the funerary effigy in Rouen Cathedral. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and...

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The Assassination of Marat
The Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, oil on canvas by Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry, 1860.
Nantes Museum of Arts.

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Jacques Cathelineau
Portrait of Jacques Cathelineau (1759-1793), generalissimo of the Catholic and Royal Army during the War in the Vendee (1793-1796). Also known as the "Saint of Anjou", Cathelineau liked to lead his men from the front, a habit that cost him...

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Château de Goulaine
Château de Goulaine, Haute-Goulaine, Loire-Atlantique, France. In the 12th century, Jean de Goulaine, Captain of the city of Nantes, reinforced the property to protect it from attack, and it is still surrounded by marshes today. Since then...

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Meeting of the Deputies on the Evening of 19 Brumaire
In the aftermath of the Coup of 18 Brumaire, Lucien Bonaparte convenes a meeting of 25 deputies from each of the two councils of the French Directory, to finalize the abolition of the Constitution of Year III and to form the French Consulate...