Curated Video
Napoleon & Josephine: Faces & History Revealed.
Napoleon is truly one of the most outstanding men of all time - his life includes so much vivid detail. He went from bullied Corsican outsider to Emperor of the French, all in under 35 years. He instilled fear in the heart of Europe -...
Amor Sciendi
A Message in a Garden
We visit the Gardens of Versailles to look at the extraordinary work of Andre Le Nortre, and Absolute Monarchy through the lens of Garden designing.
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 8: Aftermath of the Rebellion and Death of the Henrys
Fighting among Eleanor and Henry II's sons continues, this time against each other rather than united against their father. Eleanor remaines in prison, only emerging ocassionally when her presence is politically convenient to Henry II....
Weird History
From Prostitute to Princess to Murderer | Marguerite Alibert
Marguerite Alibert’s story is one of gritty survival followed by a lucrative life of sex work. Alibert was a formidable woman who pulled herself up from a world of poverty to mingle among France’s elite, accomplishing her goal of turning...
Amor Sciendi
How We See Art
The Art and Science of "Seeing" La Rue Montorgueil by Claude Monet "If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes." Pablo Picasso
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 10: King John
John again challenges the rule of his brother Richard I but is quickly defeated by his mother's forces. Richard is captured on his way back through Europe but Eleanor secures his release. Eventually, Eleanor is able to convince her two...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 9: Eleanor Calms Tensions Between John and Richard I
Richard I appoints Eleanor to rule in his stead while he quells a revolt in Normandy. Unlike the tentative authority Eleanor had as Queen of France and England, this time she is given the same power to rule as Richard has. Eleanor...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 6: Who Will Inherit Angevin?
Despite the annimosity between Eleanor and her ex-husband, Louis VII, the daughters of Eleanor and Louis VII are betrothed to the elder sons of Eleanor and Henry II. Their eldest surviving son is raised with his father in England while...
Curated Video
Francisco Goya's Third of May Painting
On May 2nd, 1808, Spanish citizens rose up against the occupying French forces. The next day, the French struck back at dawn. Hundreds of Spanish citizens were rounded up and shot. When Ferdinand VII regained power, Goya requested...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 4: Annulment of Louis VII and Eleanor's Marriage
The marriage between Elearnor and Louis VII falls apart. Eleanor wants to join her uncle Raymond, Prince of Antioch's crusade to Aleppo while Louis wants to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Raymond is beheaded by Nur ad-Din and Eleanor...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 7: Eleanor and Her Sons Rebel Against Henry II
As Henry, the eldest son of Eleanor and Henry II reaches his late teen years, he becomes increasingly incensed that his father is not allowing him to rule the lands of his inheritance. When Henry II promises castles in Anjou to his...
Curated Video
Madame du Barry part 2: Rise from Commoner to Nobility
Madame du Barry, the mistress of the French King Louis XV, divided opinion in the court at the Palace of Versailles during the later 18th century. In part two of this four-part series, learners will hear about her first time at royal...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 11: Final Years
John I and Phillip II of France continue to battle on and off. Arthur, Duke of Brittany and Geoffrey's son, rebels and attempts to take more territory. Eleanor is captured but John's forces set her free and capture Arthur and Hugh IX of...
Curated Video
Overview of the Disasters of War Series by Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya's series of aquatint prints, The Disasters of War are hard to look at. Rather than focus on the bombastics of usual war art, he depicts the suffering of regular people - the starving, assaults, executions. He does not...
Curated Video
Madame du Barry part 4: Banishment and Death
Madame du Barry, the mistress of the French King Louis XV, divided opinion in the court at the Palace of Versailles during the later 18th century. In part four of this four-part series, learners will hear about life after her banishment...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 1: Early Life and Marriage to Louis VII
In the 1100s, Aquitaine (now a region in western France) was a lively and highly covetted area for the French crown. In 1137, the Duke of Aquitaine dies, leaving his teenage daughters in control. A marriage between his eldest daughter,...
Curated Video
Madame du Barry part 1: Childhood
Madame du Barry, the mistress of the French King Louis XV, divided opinion in the court at the Palace of Versailles during the later 18th century. In part one of this four-part series, learners will hear about the future Madame du...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 3: Crusade to Odessa
On Christmas day, 1145, Louis VII announces his intent to start a crusade to return the town of Odessa to Christianity and Eleanor decides to join him. A lack of competant and organized leadership from Louis VII and Eleanor along with...
Curated Video
Madame du Barry part 3: New Life in the Royal Court
Madame du Barry, the mistress of the French King Louis XV, divided opinion in the court at the Palace of Versailles during the later 18th century. In part three of this four-part series, learners will hear about how her kindness won her...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 5: the Angevin Empire
Eleanor and her second husband, Henry II combine their territories to become what is known today as the Angevin Empire, stretching from the Carcassonne in the South of France to Northumbria in the North of England. Eleanor has more...
Curated Video
Eleanor of Aquitaine part 2: Petronilla and Raoul I's Marriage and the Burning of Vitry
A marriage between Eleanor's sister, Petronilla and the already married Raoul I of Vermandois triggers hostilities between Louis VII's and Theobault II, the brother of Raoul's first wife. This tension culminates in Louis VII burning of...
Curated Video
Bessie Coleman: the First African American Pilot
Bessie Coleman was one of 13 children born to Susan and George Coleman, who both worked as sharecroppers. In 1915, at 23 years old, Coleman moved to Chicago, where she lived with her brothers and worked as a manicurist. It was there she...
Weird History
Things You Didn't Know About the Tortured Life of Vincent van Gogh
Although it resulted in some of the most remarkable artwork ever created, the life of Vincent van Gogh was marked by poverty, loneliness, rejection, and mental illness. Vincent van Gogh's biography is sad enough on its own; that his...
Weird History
11 Ways Corruption Led To French Revolution
Though historians have been right to point to a variety of French Revolution causes - ranging from economic and social issues to questions of political representation - it is also true that French royal excess played no small role in...