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  • The Encyclopédie

    • March 17, 2018
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    • Category: Venice and Paris
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      A fascinating Melvyn Bragg BBC podcast on the Encyclopédie, that embodiment of the Enlightenment and product of the intellectual hothouse that was Paris at the time (and which supposedly inspired Robert Damiens to attempt to assassinate Louis XV). However, good as it is, the podcast was broadcast in 2006 and does contain comments on
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  • The curious case of Louis-le-Grand

    • February 28, 2018
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    • Category: Venice and Paris
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      What do Abbé de Bernis, Voltaire and Robert Damiens all have in common, as well as being characters in ‘Casanova in Paris: The Shadows of the King’?  Well, all three either studied at, or were employed by, Louis-le-Grand, one of the most prestigious schools in Paris.  De Bernis and Voltaire were students and Robert
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  • The day Robert Damiens tried to kill Louis XV

    • January 5, 2018
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    • Category: Casanova
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    Two months after his escape from 'Il Piombi' Casanova arrives in Paris in the company of the family of Madame Riviere, on the day that Robert Damiens attempted to kill Louis XV.  Here's his account of that day: We reached Paris on the 5th of January, 1757, and I went to the house of my
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