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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 1d

(Guizot was, of course, definitely austere, whether or not he was an intriguer.)

The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 1d

The Doctrinaire leader Pierre Paul Royer-Collard was once asked whether he had called his erstwhile disciple François Guizot an "austere intriguer."

"I did not say austere," Royer-Collard replied.

Louis-Léopold Boilly, "Pierre Paul Royer-Collard (1763-1845), homme d'État, philosophe, membre de l'Académie française," 1819.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 1d

I ordered a print version of Remusat’s (pages uncut!). Trying to track down De Vigny’s now.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 1d

Both Charles de Rémusat and Alfred de Vigny — figures of some note — had memoirs that remained unpublished until the mid-20th Century.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 1d

My great bane: 19th Century memoirs that weren't published until the 1950s and so are not public domain.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 1d

It is that most glorious of days: *I* am off work, but the child’s day care is still open. So all day for writing!

A picture of a laptop, a mug of tea, and several books on a sunny counter.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 1d

"Both Thiers and Guizot claimed that Louis-Philippe preferred himself to the other: the truth is probably that the King was more at ease with the former and had more respect for the latter, and was able to convince both that this was a preference." — Hugh Collingham, "The July Monarchy"

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 4d

Good news, everyone! My new friend is about to make The Siècle "top ranking in its own category and top ranking in all the categories" and I'm going to be a top podcaster in the world and earn a lot of money.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 6d

I asked whether Polignac thought he was receiving divine visions, or if he was just incompetent.

One listener suggests another interpretation: What if Polignac was getting real visions but was just too stupid to follow them? 😂

The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 15d

"Jules has seen the Holy Virgin again last night. She ordered him to persevere, and promised that all would end well."

All did NOT end well for Jules de Polignac. But is it true he was seeing visions of the Virgin Mary?

Find out in a NEW EPISODE:

Fact Check 3: Polignac's visions

French prime minister Jules de Polignac believed he was receiving visions of the Virgin Mary during France's 1830 July Revolution — or so many sources claim....

thesiecle.com

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 15d

"Jules has seen the Holy Virgin again last night. She ordered him to persevere, and promised that all would end well."

All did NOT end well for Jules de Polignac. But is it true he was seeing visions of the Virgin Mary?

Find out in a NEW EPISODE:

Fact Check 3: Polignac's visions

French prime minister Jules de Polignac believed he was receiving visions of the Virgin Mary during France's 1830 July Revolution — or so many sources claim....

thesiecle.com

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 15d

Oh, I think you'll find today had a different visitor from on high...

The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 15d

Merry Sièclemas!

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 15d

Are you on Instagram? I'm trying to expand The Siècle's social media reach there — a like on the latest reel would be a great way to help boost us in the algorithm: www.instagram.com/p/DPJ9dzpCb2W/

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 16d

Coming Monday morning to your feeds: this guy.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 27d

“He was no tyrant, but a strongly principled mediocrity.” — Historian Hugh Collingham on Charles X

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 28d

You can see the mix of secondary and primary sources I have used on The Siècle in my show bibliography:

Bibliography

thesiecle.com

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 28d

A helpful breakdown from @askhistorians.bsky.social of the value of primary and secondary sources in public history.

Someone who doesn't use primary sources may be merely repeating. But not using secondary sources means you miss expert insight & debate. Both are key!

From the AskHistorians community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the AskHistorians community

reddit.com

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · 29d

Suggestions for translating this? "La main de Dieu roule les siècles devant lui, mais sa sagesse préside au mouvement
qu'il leur imprime."

I have: "The hand of God rolls the centuries before him, but his wisdom guides the movement he gives them" but welcome improvements.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · Sep 14

Context: @histphilosophy.bsky.social recently completed a 24-episode series on Counter-Reformation philosophy that included extensive discussion of several of the figures my source, René Laurentin, identifies as instrumental in popularizing belief in the Immaculate Conception:

The Catholic Reformation | History of Philosophy without any gaps

In this final series covering the 15-16th centuries, we turn our attention to philosophy shaped by the Catholic response to the Reformation, often called the "Counter-Reformation." We'll mostly find o...

historyofphilosophy.net

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · Sep 14

Doing a little background reading on 19th Century apparitions of the Virgin Mary, and it once again turns out to pay to stay up to date with @histphilosophy.bsky.social:

An excerpt from René Laurentin's "A Short Treatise on the Virgin Mary," tr. Charles Neumann (Washington, New Jersey: AMI Press, 1991)

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · Sep 11

Episode 15: "The Miracle Child"

The shocking assassination of the Duc de Berry swings France to the right. New laws suspend habeas corpus, censor the press, & give extra seats in parliament to wealthy royalists.

With protests in the streets, opposition leaders debate how far they'll go to resist.

Episode 15: The Miracle Child

France swings hard to the right, as the government passes new repressive laws and the nation celebrates the birth of a Bourbon 'miracle child.' Pushed back o...

thesiecle.com

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · Sep 11

The relatively recent biographies by Andrew Roberts and Adam Zamoyski both use up-to-date scholarship and sources, but with somewhat different conclusions — Roberts is a little more pro-Napoleon, Zamoyski a little more anti-. Take your pick or read both for a fuller picture.

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · Sep 9

You can tell The Siècle is authentic human work because an AI would have reached the Franco-Prussian War by now. 😂

bnacker @bnacker.bsky.social · Sep 9

Starting to regret inventing the podcast

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · Sep 3

Exhausting, mind you, as I sit here at midnight with four different conflicting French-language memoirs open on my computer, trying to figure out how reliable each account is (and what important details AREN'T included — like that two of these memoirists were lovers!) — but satisfying!

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The Siècle history podcast @thesiecle.com · Sep 3

Most of what I do with is pure popular history — telling a historical story, based primarily on secondary sources with a dash of primary sources for extra details or flavor.

But every now & then sources fall short & I have to do serious textual analysis to sort stuff out, and it's VERY satisfying.

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