Images

François-Noël "Gracchus" Babeuf (1760-1797), French political agitator and journalist best known for the Conspiracy of Equals, engraving by François Bonneville, 1794. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

Jacobin marchers fight French soldiers at the camp of Grenelle in September 1796, after trying to recruit the army for an attack on the French Directory. Engraving by Pierre-Gabriel Berthault, 1802. National Library of France, Paris.

Filippo Buonarotti (1761-1837), best known for his participation in the Conspiracy of Equals and for his 1828 book that made the Conspiracy famous. Portrait by Philippe-Auguste Jeanron, c. 19th century. Louvre, Paris.

A French political cartoon disparaging the Conspiracy of Equals, 1796. National Library of France, Paris.

Gracchus Babeuf and Augustin Darthé stab themselves at their trial, after the verdict of death was announced, 26 May 1797. Both survived their injuries only to be guillotined the next day, 27 May. They were thereafter remembered as Jacobin...

A map depicting the rise and expansion of the Merovingians, a powerful Frankish dynasty that, at the end of the 5th century, was the first to unify the fragmented tribes and petty kingdoms in the territory of present-day Germany, France...

An 1804 painting by Thomas Lawrence of Caroline of Brunswick-Wolferbüttel (d. 1821) who married George IV of Great Britain (r. 1820-1830) in April 1795 when he was the Prince of Wales. The couple became estranged and Caroline was never crowned...

A 1792 cartoon by James Gillray showing the future George IV of Great Britain (r. 1820-30). George was fond of over-eating and drinking and his obesity here is in stark contrast to his official portraits. (Library of Congress)

The Royal Pavilion of Brighton. It was built from 1787 when regular visits by Prince George, future George IV of Great Britain (r. 1820-1830) made the resort highly fashionable.

Fragment of a Neo-Assyrian clay tablet, with 8 lines of bilingual text, including proverbs and riddles, from the Library of Ashurbanipal, Kouyunjik, Iraq. The British Museum, London.