Louis the Pious: Did you mean...?

Louise-Antoine, Compte de Bougainville (1729-1811) was a French explorer and former army colonel, who was also a brilliant mathematician. He was a contemporary of Captain James Cook (1728-1779) and a protegée of Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764...

The Albigensian Crusade (aka Cathars' Crusade, 1209-1229 CE), was the first crusade to specifically target heretic Christians - the Cathars of southern France. Not successful in repressing the heresy, the on-off campaigns over two decades...

The meeting of the Assembly of Notables in 1787 was a last-ditch effort by the ministers of King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) to fix the disastrous condition of French finances. The assembly failed to agree on a series of radical financial...

The Coronation of Napoleon I as Emperor of the French took place on Sunday 2 December 1804, in the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. A sacred ceremony held to legitimize Napoleon's reign, the coronation signaled the birth of the First French...

Charlemagne (Charles the Great, also known as Charles I, l. 742-814) was King of the Franks (r. 768-814), King of the Franks and Lombards (r. 774-814), and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 800-814). He is among the best-known and most influential figures...

A 1767 oil on canvas portrait by Louis-Michel van Loo of the French author and philosopher Diderot (1713-1784). (Louvre Museum, Paris)

Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just (1767-1794), a leader of the Jacobin Club and of the Mountain political faction, oil on canvas portrait by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1793. Only 25 when he was elected to the National Convention, Saint-Just soon became...

A 15th century CE painting depicting the death of French king Louis IX in 1270 CE during the Eighth Crusade at Tunis.

A 14th century CE illustration of Louis IX of France (r. 1226-1270 CE) departing Aigues Mortes for Egypt on the Seventh Crusade (1248-1254 CE).

A 19th century CE illustration by Gustav Doré showing the French king Louis IX (r. 1226-1270 CE) and his capture by the army of the Ayyubid Empire during the Seventh Crusade (1248-1254 CE).