Paris to the past : traveling through French history by train / Ina Caro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Caro, Ina.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Caro, Ina.

Historic sites.

Local history.

Railroad travel.

Travel.

France--Description and travel.

France.

Paris Region (France)--Description and travel.

Paris Region (France).

Caro, Ina--Travel--France.

Railroad travel--France.

France--History, Local.

Historic sites--France.

Physical Description:

xi, 381 pages : maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton & Co., [2011]

Summary:

An American Francophile and authority on medieval French history time-travels chronologically through French history by train from Paris with her biographer husband. Taking day trips to destinations including Tours, Versailles, and Chantilly, Caro (The Road from the Past) describes notable sites and events through eight centuries of French history: from the Renaissance through the French Revolution to the Empire and Restoration period. The book includes maps but no photographs. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Part 1 The Middle Ages: Cathedrals and Fortresses

1 Saint-Denis: The Monarchy and the Gothic Cathedral 23

2 Laon: Early Gothic 48

3 Chartres: The High Gothic Cathedral at Chartres 54

4 The Coronation Ceremony at the Cathedral of Reims 68

5 The Louvre: A Late-Twelfth-Century Fortress 86

6 Angers: Blanche of Castile's Early-Thirteenth-Century Fortress 95

7 Sainte-Chapelle in Paris 111

8 Vincennes: A Fortress of the Hundred Years War 121

9 Joan of Arc: 1429 and the End of the Hundred Years War at Orleans 128

10 Rouen: Joan of Arc and Monet 142

Part 2 The Renaissance Cities and Castles

11 Tours: The Rebirth of Cities After the Hundred Years War 157

12 Blois: A Sixteenth-Century Renaissance Chateau 170

13 Francis I and the Renaissance at Fontainebleau 183

14 Henry IV in Paris: The Hotel de Sens, the Place des Vosges, and the Luxembourg Gardens 200

15 The Siege of La Rochelle and the End of the Reformation in France 213

Part III The Age of Louis XIV Seventeenth-Century France

16 Magical Vaux-le-Vicomte 231

17 Versailles 244

18 The Secret Castle of Maintenon 254

Part IV The Coming of the French Revolution Paris in the Eighteenth Century

19 Parisian Sights: Palais-Royal, Hotel Carnavalet, Hotel de Soubise, École Militaire, the Panthéon, Place de la Concorde 267

20 The Petit Trianon of Madame de Pompadour and Marie-Antoinette 301

21 The Conciergerie 309

Part V The Empire and Restoration The Bourgeois Century

22 Napoleon as Consul at Malmaison 317

23 Napoleon at Compiégne 319

24 The Restoration (1815-1848) at Chantilly 333

Coda: My Favorite Emperor and Me 345.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780393078947

0393078949

OCLC:

668194880