Gabriel Bonnot de Mably
1709–1785, French historian, moralist, and political writer. Mably's works exerted a wide influence on political thought in eighteenth-century France, but little is known about his life. He was born ...
Jacques Necker
(1732–1804)Swiss-born banker. He began work as a bank clerk in Switzerland, moving to his firm's headquarters in Paris in 1750. He rose to hold the office of director-general of French finances on ...
Louis XVI
(1754–93)The last King of France (1774–92) before the French Revolution. Weak and vacillating, unwisely advised by his Austrian wife, Marie Antoinette, he could neither avert the Revolution by ...
Philip IV
(1268–1314)King of France (1285–1314). He inherited the throne from his father and strengthened royal control over the nobility as well as improving the law. Pope Boniface VIII resisted his claim to ...
Tennis Court Oath
A dramatic incident that took place at Versailles in the first stage of the French Revolution. On 17 June 1789 the Third Estate of the States‐General under the presidency of Jean Bailly, a ...
