The acendancy of France 1598-1715

Henry Offley Wakeman

Summary

The seventeenth century is the period when Europe, shattered in its political and religious ideas by the Reformation, reconstructed its political system upon the principle of territorialism under the rule of absolute monarchs. It opens with Henry iv., it closes with Peter the Great. It reaches its climax in Louis xiv. and the Great Elector. It is therefore the century in which the principal European States took the form, and acquired the position in Europe, which they have held more or less up to the present time. A century, in which France takes the lead in European affairs, and enters on a course of embittered rivalry with Germany, in which England assumes a position of first importance in the affairs of Europe, in which the Emperor, ousted from all effective control over German politics, finds the true centre of his power on the Danube, in which Prussia becomes the dominant state in north Germany, in which Russia begins to drive in the Turkish outposts on the Pruth and the Euxine—a century, in short, which saw the birth of the Franco-German Question and of the Eastern Question—cannot be said to be deficient in modern interest.

Available since: 09/01/2023.

Other books that might interest you

Early Greek Philosophy & Other...

Friedrich Nietzsche

"The essays contained in this volume treat of various subjects. With the exception of perhaps one we must consider all these papers as fragments. Written during the early Seventies, and intended mostly as prefaces, they are extremely interesting, since traces of Nietzsche's later tenets—like Slave and Master morality, the Superman—can be found everywhere. But they are also very valuable on account of the young philosopher's daring and able handling of difficult and abstruse subjects. "Truth and Falsity," and "The Greek Woman" are probably the two essays which will prove most attractive to the average reader."

Show book

3 Stories About - Dead Women...

Rudyard Kipling, H Rider aggard,...

There is something about the number 3.    
 
The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.   
 
Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois.  It seems good things usually come in threes. 
 
Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating. 
 
From their pens to your your ears.

Show book

Nowhere like This Place - Tales...

Marilyn Carr

Marilyn Carr’s family arrived in Deep River, Ontario in 1960 because her dad got a job at a mysterious place called “the plant.” The quirky, isolated, residence for the employees of Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories was impeccably designed by a guy named John Bland. It’s a test-tube baby of a town that sprang, fully formed, from the bush north of Algonquin Park, on the shore of the Ottawa river. Everything has already been decided, including the colours of the houses, inside and out. What could possibly go wrong? 
Nowhere like This Place is a coming-of-age memoir set against the backdrop of the weirdness of an enclave with more PhDs per capita than anywhere else on earth. It’s steeped in thinly veiled sexism and the searing angst of an artsy child trapped in a terrarium full of white-bread nuclear scientists and their nuclear families. Everything happens, and nothing happens, and it all works out in the end. Maybe. 
Marilyn Carr is a class of 2020 MFA graduate from the University of King’s College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, which is her fourth degree, but who’s counting? (She is.) She blogs about the absurdness of everyday life at www.marilyncarr.com, and is currently working on the next installment of her memoirs, How I Invented the Internet.

Show book

A Garland of Earth - From their...

Dorothy Edwards

Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was born on 7th June 1831 in Islington, London. She was educated at home by her mother and showed early promise as a writer, publishing her first poem at the age of 7 and her first story at 12. Thereafter several popular periodicals published her poetry, stories and articles.
In addition she also illustrated some of her own writings and painted scenes from books she had read. This talent was not supported by her parents, who saw an artist’s life as scandalous. Undeterred Amelia took up composing and performing music until a bout of typhus caused throat damage. Other interests soon followed until, early in the 1850s, Amelia focused exclusively on writing. Her early novels were well received, and with ‘Barbara's History’ in 1864, a work revolving around bigamy, her reputation was established.
Amelia’s pen was also the purveyor of ghost stories for magazines and are still anthologized as classic tales to this day.
In January 1851, Amelia became engaged, apparently to please her parents, but she quickly broke it off. In reality her emotional attachments were almost exclusively with women. From the early 1860s she lived with Ellen Drew Braysher, a widow 27 years her senior, until both women died in early 1892. During this relationship other women also entered and left her life. Her frequent travelling companion, Lucy Renshaw, accompanied her to Egypt in the winter of 1873 and there she found a life-changing interest in Egyptology. Aware of increasing threats from tourism and modern development she became an advocate for their research and preservation.
To advance the work Amelia largely abandoned much of her writing in favour of Egyptology and even took on strenuous lecture tours to raise funds.
After catching influenza, Amelia Edwards, ‘the Godmother of Egyptology’ died on 15th April 1892 at Weston-super-Mare. She was 60.

Show book

Famous Men of Rome

John Haaren, A. B. Poland

"Famous Men of Rome" features 29 stories covering the history of Rome from its founding to the last emperor. You will read about the lives of Horatius, Camillus, Caesar, Cicero, and many others. The biographies of "Famous Men of Rome" are in chronological order and the whole book will bring you through the three stages of Ancient Rome: monarchy, republic, and empire. Although women are not the "famous" individuals listed in the book, the notable women of the time definitely play roles in the stories. "Famous Men of Rome" is faithful to this vision of learning history through biography. The chapters cover eleven centuries, from the legendary founding of Rome to its slow unraveling in the early centuries after Christ. Each chapter is a fascinating read.

Show book

The Divine Comedy - Inferno...

Dante Alighieri

The Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) by Dante Alighieri is one of the greatest works of art known to the world, a "comedy", that became a "divine book" for ancestors. It is an encyclopedia of "moral, natural, philosophical and theological" knowledges, a tremendous synthesis of the feudal catholic ideology and the same tremendous epiphany that spread during the new culture times. A great poetic genius of the author put this comedy above the era and made it a legacy of centuries.It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise.

Show book