1664 Compagnie des Indes Orientales (French East Indies Company) organized by Colbert and founded to compete with the English and Dutch East India companies in the East Indies. "The initial capital of the revamped Compagnie des Indes Orientales was 15 million livres, divided into shares of 1000 livres apiece. Louis XIV funded the first 3 million livres of investment, against which losses in the first 10 years were to be charged. The initial stock offering quickly sold out, as courtiers of Louis XIV recognized that it was in their interests to support the King’s overseas initiative. The Compagnie des Indes Orientales was granted a 50-year monopoly on French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a region stretching from the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan. The French monarch also granted the Company a concession in perpetuity for the island of Madagascar, as well as any other territories it could conquer."
1661 Cardinal Mazarin dies.
1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees ends the Franco-Spanish War.
1652 Jean-Baptiste Colbert is asked to manage the affairs of Cardinal Mazarin while he was away in exile. "Colbert was recommended to King Louis XIV by Mazarin. While Cardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis' trust in Colbert grew.Colbert's earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of a mémoire to Mazarin, showing that of the taxes paid by the people, not one-half reached the King."
1648 The Fronde."a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The king confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law courts (parlements), and most of the French people, and yet won out in the end."
1642 Louix XIII dies. His son Louis XIV becomes king at age 5. "his mother, Anne of Austria, ruled in his place until he came of age. Mazarin helped Anne expand her power from the more limited power her husband had left her. Mazarin functioned essentially as the co-ruler of France alongside the queen during the regency of Anne, and until his death in 1661 at Vincennes, Mazarin effectively directed French policy alongside the monarch. His modest manner contrasted with the imperiousness of Richelieu, and Anne was so fond of him and so intimate in her manner with him that there were long-standing rumors that they had been secretly married and that the Dauphin was their offspring."
1642 Cardinal Richelieu dies. He is succeeded as Chief Minister by Cardinal Mazarin (born 1602 Pescina, Kingdom of Naples ), who career Richilieu had fostered.
1637 Le Cid, Pierre Corneille, premieres at Théâtre du Marais, Paris. "
Cardinal Richelieu's Académie française acknowledged the play's success, but determined that it was defective, in part because it did not respect the classical unities."
1635–1659 Franco-Spanish War. "military conflict that was the result of French involvement in the Thirty Years' War. After the German allies of Sweden were forced to seek terms with the Holy Roman Empire, the first French minister, Cardinal Richelieu, declared war on Spain because French territory was surrounded by Habsburg territories. The conflict was a continuation of the aims of the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–31) in which France invaded northern Italy to take possession of territory claimed by the Spanish Habsburgs. The Franco-Spanish War ended in 1659 with the Treaty of the Pyrenees."
1635 Médée, Pierre Corneille, premiere
1635 Académie française founded by Cardinal Richelieu. "The Académie had its origins in an informal literary group deriving from the salons held at the Hôtel de Rambouillet during the late 1620s and early 1630s. The group began meeting at Valentin Conrart's house, seeking informality. There were then nine members. Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister of France, made himself protector of the group, and in anticipation of the formal creation of the academy, new members were appointed in 1634. On 22 February 1635, at Richelieu's urging, King Louis XIII granted letters patent formally establishing the council;
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1630 Day of the Dupes (la journée des Dupes). The enemies of Cardinal Richelieu mistakenly believe that they have succeeded in persuading Louis XIII, King of France, to dismiss Richelieu from power.
(1625 opening date of the setting of the 1844 Dumas novel Les Trois Mousquetaires)
1624 Cardinal Richelieu becomes Chief Minister of France to Louis XIII. "Cardinal de Richelieu was often known by the title of the king's "Chief Minister" or "First Minister". He sought to consolidate royal power and crush domestic factions. By restraining the power of the nobility, he transformed France into a strong, centralized state. His chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty, and to ensure French dominance in the Thirty Years' War that engulfed Europe. Although he was a cardinal, he did not hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to achieve his goals. While a powerful political figure, events like the Day of the Dupes show that in fact he very much depended on the king's confidence to keep this power."
1617 Louis XIII takes power from his mother.
1610 Louis XIII crowned King of France and King of Navarre at age 9 (Oct 10), following death of his father. "His mother, Marie de' Medici, acted as regent during his minority. Mismanagement of the kingdom and ceaseless political intrigues by Marie and her Italian favourites led the young king to take power in 1617 by exiling his mother and executing her followers, including Concino Concini, the most influential Italian at the French court."
1610 Henry IV assassinated (May 14). Reigned since Aug. 2, 1589.
1604 Henry IV authorises the first Compagnie des Indes Orientales, with a 15-year monopoly of the Indies trade. "was not a joint-stock corporation, and was funded by the Crown." " It was formed by a Dieppe shipowner, Jean Ango, although the real spirit behind the company was a Fleming, Gérard de Roy. Things moved slowly, but by 1610 a small fleet had been bought, and prepared for sailing from St. Malo. Much of the investment and crewing was organised in Holland and Flanders, and this annoyed the Netherlands East India Co., which threatened to capture the French vessels, and hang any Flemings they found on board. Little more was heard of the company. Two further attempts were made to establish a further company, in 1615 and 1635, but although a few vessels were despatched in the 1640s, they amounted to very little. No shares or bonds have been seen."
1603 James I, King of England.
1603 First French voyage to the East Indies, by Paulmier de Gonneville, of Honfleur.
1600 Peter Paul Rubens travels to Italy, stopping first in Venice, where he saw paintings by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, before settling in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga.
1598 Edict of Nantes promulgated by Henry IV. Guarantees religious liberties to Protestants in France, thereby effectively ending the Wars of Religion
1589 (-1593), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare
1589 Henry IV, King of France (Aug. 2). First of the House of Bourbon.
1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada.
1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre begins (Aug 22)." a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX, the massacre took place five days after the wedding of the king's sister Margaret to the Protestant Henry III of Navarre (the future Henry IV of France). This marriage was an occasion for which many of the most wealthy and prominent Huguenots had gathered in largely Catholic Paris. The massacre began in the night of 23–24 August 1572 (the eve of the feast of Bartholomew the Apostle), two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the military and political leader of the Huguenots. The king ordered the killing of a group of Huguenot leaders, including Coligny, and the slaughter spread throughout Paris. Lasting several weeks, the massacre expanded outward to other urban centres and the countryside. Modern estimates for the number of dead across France vary widely, from 5,000 to 30,000.
1564 French attempt at settlement at Fort Caroline (present-day Jacksonville, Florida). "Intended as a haven for Huguenots, Caroline was founded under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière and Jean Ribault. It was sacked by the Spanish led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés who then established the settlement of St. Augustine on 20 September 1565."
1564 John Calvin dies in Geneva (May 27).
1559 The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis puts an end to the Italian Wars, had mixed results: France renounced its claims to territories in Italy, but gained certain other territories, including the Pale of Calais and the Three Bishoprics. France failed to change the balance of power in Europe, as Spain remained the sole dominant power, but it did benefit from the division of the holdings of its ruler, Charles V, and from the weakening of the Holy Roman Empire, which Charles also ruled.
1551-1559 The Italin Wars. begin "when Henry II of France, who had succeeded Francis I to the throne, declared war against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. The war was the last of a series of wars between the same parties since 1521. Historians have emphasized the importance of gun powder technology, new styles of fortification to resist cannon fire, and the increased professionalization of the soldiers."
1547 Francis I dies. Henry II coronated (July 25). "The second son of Francis I, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis III, Duke of Brittany, in 1536."
1541 The council of Geneva passed the Ordonnances ecclésiastiques (Ecclesiastical Ordinances), In supporting John Calvin's proposals for reforms (Nov. 20),
1534 Exploration of the St. Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier. Cartier plants a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis ---the first province of New France.
1524 Verrazzano anchors in the Narrows of New York Bay (April 17). First European captain to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River.
1523 King Francis I agrees to commission an expedition of the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano to find a western route to Cathay (China). Late that year, Verrazzano sails from Dieppe on a small caravel with 50 men. He crosses the Atlantic and early explores the coast of the present-day Carolinas and sails north along the coast.
1519 Leonardo da Vinci dies (May 2).
1519–1547 Construction of Chauteau de Chambord. "built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences at the châteaux of Blois and Amboise."
1515 Francis I, King of France (Jan. 1). First of the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois. "A prodigious patron of the arts, he initiated the French Renaissance by attracting many Italian artists to work on the Château de Chambord, including Leonardo da Vinci, who brought the Mona Lisa with him, which Francis had acquired. Francis' reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, and the beginning of French exploration of the New World."
1503-1506 Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, Florence.
1268 Origin of the House of Bourbon as cadet line of the ruling house of France. "the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon married a younger son of King Louis IX."
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