#dauphin françois

[histoireettralala]

Claude de France

Claude de France (1499-1524) Queen of France, duchess of Brittany, countess of Blois, first consort of King Francis I

The "good queen" Claude- today overshadowed by her husband King Francis I- was born in 1499 to Queen Anne de Bretagne and her second husband Louis XII. Bonfires signaled rejoicing throughout the realm for, with the help of Saint Claude, a viable child had been born. The princess, although not the desired son, was fashioned in her mother's pious image to become both sovereign duchess of Brittany and empress (she was engaged to the future Charles V at age two) or queen (of France, as her father, before her first birthday, had secretly declared). A decade later, her sole sibling, Renée de France, the remarkable future Protestant Duchess of Ferrara, would again owe her name to another saintly protector of women in search of a child. Thus if Queen Claude inherited Queen Anne's limp, her ability to bear relatively healthy offspring was entirely her own. Her engagement in 1506 and her marriage in 1514 consolidated the first prince of the blood's claim to the throne, but after seven debilitating pregnancies in ten years (Louise, Charlotte, François, Henri, Madeleine, Charles, Marguerite), the tired body of this honored "daughter, wife and mother" of kings collapsed at the tender age of 24.

The canonization of Francis of Paola (1519) promoted by Claude and her mother-in-law Louise de Savoie in gratitude for protection from illness and the births of namesake male heirs, betrays the inextricable intertwining of the two sides of the royal family, programmed from 1498. Claude's parents willfully empowered their female progeny; thus when King Francis I descended into Italy the first year of their respective reigns, the pageantry in Lyon depicted him entering Milan to "defend the rights of the two daughters of France." Although a princess raised to be queen, Claude learned to share her husband with other women, and her power and its public expression with strong female kin, especially Louise de Savoie, named regent in her stead, and her sister-in-law Marguerite de Navarre. Legend and neglect have imposed the image of an ever-with-child, sweet, and submissive queen. Yet this eloquent and cultivated bearer of legitimacy commanded respect and carved out a space of her own in the cities of the realm (the townspeople cast her as Justice and Wise Counsel), in her duchy of Brittany and in her Loire Valley territories, especially at the castle of Blois. Shortly after his accession, her husband flaunted his monogram "F" and his emblem, the salamander, on the spectacular new façades of the castle of Blois's "wing of Francis I"; but on the cornice and ceremonial staircase and over the fireplaces, these cohabitated with his consort's at what was in fact her regal home. Here and elsewhere, her emblems- the ermine, occasionally on a leash with the motto A ma vie (To my life), her knotted rope, her swan pierced by an arrow, and her full moon with the device Candida candidis (candid for the candid)- called attention to the queen.

A primer made for this daughter of privilege stages her with her sister Renée, as children tutored by Saint Anne and under the protection of Saint Claude, while learning to read and write; and learning came to be a feature at the heart of the queen's persona. Following her accession in 1515, Claude became mistress of the castle of Blois with its royal library, her mother's manuscripts probably among its precious volumes, to which the king, in an incident of 1516, did not have a key. Her Book of Prayers, by the "Master of Queen Claude", returns to the then commonly depicted theme of Saint Anne as educator, but its pages are uncommonly packed with illuminations in which books form an insistent leitmotiv [..] Tapestries depicting scenes from Christine de Pizan's City of Ladies, these too inherited from her mother, hung into the rooms of the castles of Amboise and/or Blois, frequented by her twelve ladies-in-waiting (including Anne Boleyn and Diane de Poitiers). The writer Anne de Graville commissioned a picture of herself offering her mistress Claude one of the works she dedicated to her, thereby providing us with a rare inside vision of the city of ladies surrounding Claude.

In a final act of independence, the queen bequeathed Brittany not to her husband but to her son, the dauphin. Rather than willfulness, though, sensitivity to the plight of her subjects had colored numerous episodes of her life. During her entry into Nantes in 1518, when the town offered her a costly heart of gold flanked with ermine, she promptly gave it back. Shortly before her death she endowed the building of a cemetary in a suburb of Blois for those who had succumbed to the plague. Such symbolic gestures, combining strength and humility, help us to comprehend why the memory of the short-lived Claude lingered on. Miracles were said to occur around her body, laid to rest in her parents' chapel of Saint Calais in 1524. Subsequently, her second son, King Henri II (of the seven siblings, only he and his sister Marguerite, future duchesse de Savoie, outlived their father) immortalized her on a monumental tomb at Saint-Denis. And in her Book of Hours, Catherine de Médicis inserted Claude's portrait near that of Eleonora of Austria, Francis I's second wife, forging an unexpected double embodiment of a powerful queenly ideal.

Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier- Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance

#xvi #kathleen wilson chevalier #encyclopedia of women in the renaissance #claude de france #princesses of france #queens of france #duchesse de bretagne #anne de bretagne #louis xii #renée de france #françois i #dauphin françois #françois iii de bretagne #henri ii #marguerite de france duchesse de savoie #catherine de medicis #éléonore d'autriche

[fredericbrumby]

Décor urbain.

#photographie urbaine #urban photography #couleurs urbaines #urban colors #décor urbain #urban decor #reflet #reflection #rue françois dauphin #ainay #69002 #lyon #rhône #auvergne rhône alpes #france #photographers on tumblr #poltredlyon #monlyon #onlylyon #igerslyon #lyonurb #brumpicts #frédéric brumby

[roehenstart]

Louis-Antoine de Bourbon, Duc d'Angoulême. By François Kinson.

#François Kinson #royaume de france #maison de bourbon #maison d'artois #bourbon artois #louis antoine de bourbon #duc d'Angoulême #kingdom of france #house of bourbon #dauphin de france

[francepittoresque]

10 août 1536 : mort du dauphin François, fils de François Ier ➽ https://bit.ly/39Irecm L’hypothèse aujourd’hui retenue pour expliquer son décès est que, pris d’un malaise après avoir bu un verre d’eau glacée, il meurt quelques jours plus tard, au château de Tournon, à l’âge de 18 ans. Il n’avait contracté aucun mariage et n’avait aucune descendance

#CeJourLà #10Août #dauphin #François #Bretagne #fils #roi #FrançoisIer #biographie #histoire #france #history #passé #past #français #french #news #événement #newsfromthepast

[anneeeboleyn]

renée de noailles from vying from versailles is the cuntiest woman to ever exist. she removed louise de la valliere from court and became the maîtresse-en-titre in her debut season at the ripe age of twenty.

then she proceeded to single handedly save the dauphin of france, frame and execute françois-athénaïs, madame de montespan and chevalier lou de rohan at the ripe age of twenty one.

now at twenty three, she's a duchess with her own retinue, with a new found relationship with hunger for power and corruption, a pro supporter of war.

truly serving cunt.

#romance club #vying for versailles #rc vying for versailles #renée de noailles #rc renée #rc VFV #Louis xiv #rc king louis #alexandre bontemps #rc alexandre #madame de montespan #Louise de la valliere #madame de maintenon watch out #mother of cunts #cunty behaviour #best mc

[natequarter]

you wonder why the scots were so unstable, then you look at their monarchy and realise they had seven child monarchs in a row. oh your king's a twelve-year-old? that sucks. what, he's been assassinated? huh! good thing his heir-- HE'S SIX? good thing he isn't going to die a ridiculous death like getting blown up by a cannon any time soon! BUT NOT FOR LONG! what, he was actually blown up by a cannon? wow. anyway, we're leaving the throne in the capable hands of a nine-year-old. that won't go wrong! OR SO WE THOUGHT! well, at least it wasn't a cannon that took him out this time, just a little bit of rebellion and war. and we're leaving the throne in the capable hands of a competent and popular ruler.

BUT NOT FOR LONG! this idiot gets absolutely wrecked at the hands of the english. and by wrecked, i mean killed. great news for henry viii, terrible news for little one-year-old jamie (his nephew, i should point out), a.k.a. your highness, and fifth in a long line of idiots called james. (you'd think they'd learn to pick another name.) things work out eventually, right up until henry viii's lot come back onto the scene and get into a bunch of fights with the scots. unbelievably, things are about to get so much worse. in a real smart move, james dies at the grand old age of thirty. (i feel the need to point out that none of these jameses lived past the age of forty-two. and that's being generous.)

enter mary. she's catholic! she's not called james! she's the queen of scotland! and guess how old she is? six days! yes, you heard that right - six days. (and you thought six years was bad.) she's eventually whisked away to live in france and later marry the dauphin, handily solving the problem of the english trying to kidnap her and marry her off to edward vi. (she's five at this point. edward is ten. françois, the dauphin, is three. don't think too hard about any of that.)

they grow up. edward dies at fifteen. mary i, best known for her fondness for barbecues, dies five years later. françois, sensing a trend, dies two years after that at sixteen. mary returns to scotland, and all is well.

OR SO WE THOUGHT! whilst england was busy being torn apart by religious matters, scotland was busy being torn apart by religious matters. (you'll never guess what's happening in france.) mary, of course, is a devout catholic. some of the scots, who have spent twelve years without a monarch, let alone a catholic girl raised in france, are... not. rebellions! political instability! back to the status quo, basically. john knox is not happy, but when is he ever? elizabeth i kindly tries to help things by sending her bestie robert dudley (yes, that robert) to marry mary. this, unsurprisingly, does not go down well. fortunately, mary solves all these problems by creating a new one: she marries her half-cousin, henry lord darnley! yuck! i mean, yay! more rebellion (led by mary's half-brother)! henry turns on mary because he wants more power! he allies with the protestant lords, and they stab mary's private secretary to death in front of her whilst she's pregnant! the usual.

BUT NOT FOR LONG! mary and henry escape, they have a lovely little son called james (they still hadn't learn their lesson about scottish jameses), and they all live happily ever after until henry's house is blown up and he's found smothered outside in broad daylight. suspects include: everyone in scotland. but mostly lord bothwell, who proceeds to kidnap mary and marry her. now, you may struggle to believe this, but things go downhill from here. mary is eventually forced to abdicate, and flees to england. bothwell is imprisoned in denmark, and later goes insane. as for james, now the one-year-old james vi (anyone sensing a pattern here?), well, he's probably too busy learning to speak to care. because, you know, he's one. some people never learn.

from this point onwards, mary's kept under house arrest by elizabeth i. in a display of gratitude towards elizabeth, mary promptly spends the rest of her life plotting against her. or being involved in plots. in the meantime, james's regent, also called james stewart (mary's aforementioned half-brother; the name is cursed), earns the dubious honour of being the first head of government to be assassinated with a firearm. eventually, after mary, that virtuous angel, actively tries to kill elizabeth, elizabeth gets fed up and drops a sword on mary's neck. james, who last saw his mother at the age of zero years old, must have been devastated.

you all know what happened next: elizabeth died at the grand old age of sixty-nine, and james inherited the throne. thus followed decades of religious instability, parliamentary infighting, and stubborn monarchs who refused to listen to reason, which were surely new to the elizabethans. james, who was what is commonly known these days as a "hot mess" or "bisexual disaster" - don't quote me on that - was nearly blown up in a plot masterminded by a guy called tosser. sorry, i mean a tosser called guy. he also pissed everyone off by being a bit too buddy-buddy with several men, possibly lovers. (probably lovers.) that was not the end of the curse of james stewart (see: james ii of england), but it did at least put an end to mary queen of scots. oh, and england and scotland were united. that too. cue much chaos with a man you've probably heard of, named oliver cromwell... the rest is history. i mean, all of this is history, but you know what i mean.

and that's the story of why having seven child monarchs in a row is a really fucking bad idea!

#historyposting

[lionofchaeronea]

Equestrian Portrait of Dauphin Henri II, François Clouet, ca. 1543

#art #art history #Francois Clouet #portrait #portrait painting #equestrian portrait #French Renaissance #French art #16th century art #gouache #gouache on parchment #Menil Collection

[scotianostra]

24th April 1558 saw Mary Queen of Scots marry the French Dauphin, François de Valois, at Notre Dame in Paris.

In 1548 five-year-old Mary was sent to her grandmother Antoinette of Guise in France, where her Scottish entourage was considered appallingly barbarous and swiftly got rid of, she was then brought up as a Catholic Frenchwoman.

French became her first language, she always called herself Marie Stuart and she loved dancing and hunting. She grew up delightfully charming, graceful and attractive, the French fell in love with her and Henry II of France resolved to marry her to his son and heir, the sickly dauphin Francis.

A marriage treaty was signed with the Scots, which provided that Scotland and France should eventually be united under Mary and Francis as one kingdom. There were also secret agreements, which the youthful and inexperienced Mary signed, that would have made Scotland a mere adjunct of France.

Mary was fifteen and Francis fourteen when they were married on this day in 1558, with spectacular pageantry and magnificence in the cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, by the Cardinal Archbishop of Rouen, in the presence of Henry II, Queen Catherine de’ Medici, the princes and princesses of the blood and a glittering throng of cardinals and nobles.

The Duke of Guise was master of ceremonies. Mary in a white dress with a long train borne by two young girls, a diamond necklace and a golden coronet studded with jewels, was described by the courtier Pierre de Brantôme as ‘"a hundred times more beautiful than a goddess of heaven … her person alone was worth a kingdom.’ The wedding was followed by a procession past excited crowds in the Paris streets to a grand banquet in the Palais de Justice with dancing far into the night.

Mary became Queen of France when Henry II died the following year, but Francis died prematurely in 1560. Whether the marriage was ever consummated is uncertain. Mary’s mother also died in 1560 and it suited the French to send her back to Scotland and claim that she was the rightful queen of England as well.

She would eventually meet political and romantic disaster in Scotland, enduring years of imprisonment in England where, too dangerous a threat to Elizabeth’s throne, Mary was executed in 1587, at the age of forty-six.

#scotland #scottish #history #france #mary queen of scots

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Albert Gregorius - Portrait of Nicolas Dahlman, Général de brigade - 1814

Nicolas Dahlmann (7 November 1769 – 10 February 1807) was a French cavalry general of the Napoleonic wars.

Dahlmann was born in Thionville as the son of a trumpeter and enlisted in the French Army in 1777 at the age of 8, where his father and older brother were already serving in the Regiment Dauphin Cavalerie, which later in 1791 became the 12e Régiment de Cavalerie.

Dahlmann served with the infantry and was deployed at the Armee de la Moselle and the Armee des Pyrenees Orientales. He was wounded at his right leg at Peyrestortes on 17 September 1793. From 1796 to 1798 he saw action with the Armee d'Italie and joined the Guides-a-Cheval de Bonaparte when they were formed in June 1796.

He went to Egypt with the Armee d'Orient and served at Salahieh and Aboukir. He returned to France with Napoleon in 1798 and became Chef d'Escadron of the Chasseurs-a-Cheval in October 1802. He served at Austerlitz and was promoted Colonel-Major of the Chasseurs-a-Cheval de la Garde Imperiale.

Dahlmann saw further action at the Battle of Jena and was promoted to General-de-Brigade in the age of 36.

Throughout the Battle of Eylau in February 1807 he was attached to the Imperial staff but requested to lead his old unit, the Chasseurs à Cheval, in a cavalry charge on 8 February 1807. He was seriously wounded in his right hip from a heavy calibre artillery piece and died on 10 February 1807 in the manor house of Worienen.

Napoleon granted Dahlmann's widow a pension of 6,000 francs and in 1811 accorded his only son the title of Baron de l'Empire at the age of 10. On the instructions of Napoleon, Dahlmann's heart was embalmed and taken to Paris where it was laid to rest in the Pantheon.

Albert Jacob Frans Gregorius, or Albert Jacques François Grégorius (26 October 1774, Bruges - 25 February 1853, Bruges) was a Flemish-Belgian portrait painter and Director of the art academy in Bruges.

#Albert Gregorius #18th #19th #belgium #bruges #portrait

[frevstoreon]

Talk to me if you are interested in:

Napoleon and Napoleon II

Rousseau

Charles II of England and his sons

Louis XIII/XVI/XV/XVI (yesss ALL of them)

Philippe I Duc d'Orleans

Marquis de Sade

Peter the Great

Louis Ferdinand, Dauphin

Lord Byron

Literally any of the castrati though my fav are Farinelli, Caffarelli, Matteuccio, Pacchierotti, Tenducci and Guadagni

Casanova (his memoirs are awesome)

John Wilmot (the naughtiest Earl of Rochester)

The Rhine princes (Charles Louis, Rupert, Edward, Maurice)

Louis Auguste (duke of Maine)

Henry Benedict Stuart

Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester

Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend

François Louis, Prince of Conti

Louis Henri of Bourbon

Philippe, Duke of Vendôme

Louis, Duke of Orléans

Philippe, Chevalier de Lorraine

Carlo II Gonzaga Nevers

And thus concludes my subject-to-alteration list of dead men I'd like to discuss. Have a nice day/night! 🌈

#napoleon #rousseau #marquis de sade #louis xvi #louis xv #junot #louis xiv #philippe i duc d'orleans #louis xiii #christian vii #lord byron #peter the great #napoleon ii #Farinelli #Castrati #caffarelli #Pacchierotti #Guadagni #tenducci #casanova #giacomo casanova #charles ii of england #charles ii #matteuccio #john wilmot

[fredericbrumby]

Les couleurs de la ville.

Mur, gouttière

#photographie urbaine #urban photography #couleurs urbaines #urban colors #décor urbain #urban decor #abstraction #figuration #mur #wall #minimalisme #minimalism #rue françois dauphin #ainay #69002 #lyon #rhône #auvergne rhône alpes #france #photographers on tumblr #poltredlyon #osezlesgaleries #monlyon #onlylyon #igerslyon #lyonurb #brumpicts #frédéric brumby

[roehenstart]

Louis-Antoine d'Artois, Duke of Angoulème (1775-1844), Grand Admiral of France. By François Kinson.

#François Kinson #royaume de france #maison de bourbon #bourbon artois #maison d'artois #duc d'Angoulème #dauphin de france #Grand Amiral de France #kingdom of france #house of bourbon #full length portrait #house of artois #full-length portrait #duc d'Angoulême

[detournementsmineurs]

“Centaure, Nymphées et Dauphins" gouache de Jean-François Auburtin (circa 1910) à l'accrochage “Collections Révélées #1 - Le Temps des Baigneuses" au Musée de Pont-Aven, Bretagne, mai 2023.

#expos #illustrations #mermaids #Auburtin #MuseePontAven #Bretagne #Quimperle

[c01n]

Ouvrez le prétendu corps et déployez toutes ses surfaces : non seulement la peau avec chacun de ses plis, rides, cicatrices, avec ses grands plans veloutés, et contigus à elle le cuir et sa toison de cheveux, la tendre fourrure pubienne, les mamelons, les ongles, les cornes transparentes sous le talon, la légère friperie, entée de cils, des paupières, mais ouvrez et étalez, explicitez les grandes lèvres, les petites lèvres avec leur réseau bleu et baignées de mucus, dilatez le diaphragme du sphincter anal, coupez longitudinalement et mettez à plat le noir conduit du rectum, puis du côlon, puis du caecum, désormais bandeau à surface toute striée et polluée de merde, avec vos ciseaux de couturière ouvrant la jambe d'un vieux pantalon, allez, donnez jour au prétendu intérieur de l'intestin grêle, au jéjunum, à l'iléon, au duodénum, ou bien à l'autre bout, débridez la bouche aux commissures, déplantez la langue jusqu'à sa lointaine racine et fendez-la, étalez les ailes de chauves-souris du palais et de ses sous-sols humides, ouvrez la trachée et faites-en la membrure d'une coque en construction; armé des bistouris et des pinces les plus fins, démantelez et déposez les faisceaux et les corps de l'encéphale; et puis tout le réseau sanguin intact à plat sur une immense paillasse, et le réseau lymphatique, et les fines pièces osseuses du poignet, de la cheville, démontez et mettez-les bout à bout avec toutes les nappes de tissu nerveux qui enveloppe l'humeur aqueuse et avec le corps caverneux de la verge, et extrayez les grands muscles, les grands filets dorsaux, étendez-les comme des dauphins lisses qui dorment. Faites le travail qu'accomplit le soleil quand votre corps en prend un bain, ou l'herbe.

Jean-François Lyotard, Économie libidinale, Les Éditions de Minuit, coll. "Critique", 1974

#Lyotard #(merci dano !!)

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Letters from Robespierre’s father

Monsieur, All the hearts taking their flight towards the sky, are resounding the aors of their plaintive accents; they pray, they conjure, they demand again with loud cries the worthy object of their love which they believe they have already delighted, so much do they fear losing it: ours are the only ones whose voices we do not hear; would they indeed be as mute and as motionless as they appear? No, mine answers for all; all at this moment breathe through it. I don't know what has kept their movements secret until now, and they have undoubtedly prevented, in spite of themselves, from showing outside the fires of love which consume them within. Several times, I have seen it, we have come together to deliberate on certain matters which do not deserve our attention: deciding nothing then, is what we could have done best: only once when it is a question of giving the King a pure, solemn, and indispensable pledge of our attachment to the royal family, shall we fear that it might be said that we have assembled? Lawyers, this title honors us; subjects of France, is a quality a thousand times more glorious for us; it is only by fulfilling it as the most glorious of our duties, in a noble and uncommon manner, that we will truly prove the nobility of our profession and that we will maintain under the asylum of the throne freedom and independence. I expect, Monsieur, from your feelings, the justice due to mine. I have the honor to be with the deepest respect Monsieur,  Your most humble and obedient servant Derobespierre (sic), Lawyer Arras December 9th 1765 Maximilien in a letter to Maximilien Baudelot, in which he’s trying to get the lawyers of Arras to come together and publicy plead for the betterment of the the dauphin, who died eleven days after the letter was penned down. Cited in Annales historiques de la Révolution française, number 92 (1939) page 169-170

I, the undersigned, lawyer at the Provincial Council of Artois, renounce, for the benefit of my sisters, my rights and shares in the movable and immovable estates of my mother, acknowledging that I have received from said mother beyond the share that I could claim, both for me and for my children. Written at Arras, the thirtieth day of October, 1768 (Signed): DEROBESPIERRE Maximilien resigns from any inheritance whatsoever from his mother Marie de Robespierre (widowed since 1762). The letter is from the same year he departs from Arras and goes abroad. Cited in La famille de Robespierre et ses origines. Documents inédits sur le séjour des Robespierre à Vaudricourt, Béthune, Harnes, Hénin-Liétard, Carvin et Arras. (1452-1790) (1914) by A. Lavoine.

I, the undersigned, lawyer at the Provincial Council of Artois, hereby renounce for the benefit of my sisters all rights and shares in the movable and immovable estates of my late mother, acknowledging that I have received from said mother beyond the share that I could claim, both for me and for my children. Written at Mannheim, June 8, 1770 Maximilien confirms his resignation from the inheritance of his mother (died May 17 1770). Cited in Ibid.

Before the undersigned royal notaries of Artois appeared M. Maximilien-Barthélemy-François de Robespierre, lawyer at the Superior Council of Arras, residing in said Arras. Who recognized that, by an act made under his private signature, in the city ​​of Mannheim, on the eighth day of June 1770, he declared that he renounced the movable and immovable successions of lady Marie-Marguerite-Françoise Poiteau, his mother, at the time of her death widow of M. Maximilien de Robespierre, lawyer at the Council of Artois. But, having since considered that this renunciation could not have its effect, considering that at that time, he did not have full and complete knowledge of the forces of said succession and that, since his return to this town, three months ago, he has taken perfect knowledge of said estates by inspecting the letters and papers abandoned by said mother, which Marie-Marguerite-Alexandrine-Eléonore-Eulalie and Amable-Aldegonde-Henriette de Robespierre, his sisters, represented and entrusted to him. This is why said sieur appearing has, hereby, declared to renounce said successions and to claim nothing hereunder, giving power to the bearer of the bulk hereof to reiterate where and to whom it will belong. And just now said ladies Marie-Marguerite-Alexandre-Eléonore-Eulalie and Aimable-Aldegonde-Henriette de Robespierre have appered; these have recognized that said sieur de Robespierre, their brother, has given them the titles and papers mentioned herein. Passed in Arras, the third of October, 1771. (Signed): de ROBESPIERRE; de ROBESPIERRE, the older; de ROBESPIERRE, the younger, (and as notaries): MERCHIER, HUSSON. Maximilien affirms he doesn’t want any of his mother’s inheritance yet again while on a stay in Arras. Cited in Ibid.

#maximilien robespierre #robespierre #frev

[breakfast-at-timothys]

“A brasserie. A fat cashier. A railway timetable. A well-chilled glass of beer. 'Could you bring me some writing paper and a ham sandwich… oh, and another beer!'” (Maigret in Exile; Georges Simenon)

Born at 26 rue Léopold, in Liège, on February 13, 1903, Georges Joseph Christian Simenon, was a Belgian writer of some 500 novels and short stories; though he is perhaps best remembered as the creator of 'Inspector Maigret'.

Georges was educated at the Saint-Julienne nursery school, before going on to the Institut Saint-André; and later, in September 1914 (shortly after the beginning of the First World War), began studying at the Collège Saint-Louis; a Jesuit high school.

Interstingly, the character of Jules Amedée François Maigret is said to have been created when Simenon was drinking in a cafe, imagining a Parisian policeman: "a large powerfully built gentleman...a pipe, a bowler hat, a thick overcoat."

Little wonder then, given the circumstances of his creation, that no one ever goes hungry or without a drink in a Maigret story. When he holds an interrogation at the Quai des Orfevres, Maigret more often than not orders beer and sandwiches from the Brasserie Dauphine; not only for the police officers working on the investigation, but also for the suspect!

The stories themselves are of affairs, betrayals, losses, estrangements, buried secrets, thwarted ambitions, and a range of passions. Sometimes the perpetrator is a sad soul, more sinned against than sinning; sometimes he or she is a respected member of society who conceals a dreadful secret behind an appealing façade.

But it's Maigret's attempts to understand why the crime was committed, rather than just finding out whodunnit, that reveals him to be a character with an extraordinary humanity.

Putting Maigret's food and drink in context: in Maigret Goes to School, the Inspector takes an interest in a murder in a small community near the coast, simply because he hopes to eat oysters there; though sadly, he arrives during the neap tide, when no oysters are landed. All of which is to say that what Simenon may have intended as background, often comes to the fore; adding to the enormous pleasure of not so much reading a Maigret novel, as cloacking oneself in it (in much the same way that Maigret himself is cloaked in the familiar folds of that enormous overcoat he wears).

As to Maigret's drinking: white wine is for the morning; just to get going or to obliterate the taste of bad coffee. Then a bottle of wine at lunch. Calvados in the late afternoon (and at all times inbetween), and no end of libations all evening.

Food and drink then, are key in Simenon's scenes, serving many divergent roles, often simultaneously.Who invites whom to drink, who treats others to a drink, the role of toasting, when is the proper time for a specific drink like an aperitif or a white wine, what is the proper after dinner drink?

In Simenon's hands, all of these aspects serve as structural devices, establishing characters and their relationships, developing notions of ethnicity and class, providing a time frame within the novel, evoking a past experience or creating a specific feeling, as metaphor, to enhance the sense of weather, sometimes to portray the differences between men and women, especially to define the relationship between Maigret and his wife.

With so much interest in Maigret's food and drinks, an entire branch of the tourist industry has sprung up across France and in other parts of Europe, catering not only for tourists, but also connoisseurs and Maigret enthusiasts alike.

Regarding champagne: given that Maigret drinks a lot and everything - champagne is the exception. In Maigret's words: “It is almost the only drink that does not tempt me.” In this way, Simenon can be seen as using Maigret's preference for beer to establish him as a man of the people. Napoleon Bonaparte, for example, is said to have drunk champagne on only two occasions: to celebrate his victories or console himself about his defeats. Similarly, Maigret keeps a bottle of cognac in a drawer in his office for two reasons: for those occasions when he feels a drink might encourage a confession from the guilty person, or to console the murderer after the confession.

In further detailing Simenon's marvellous skill as writer, he began the series with Maigret drinking champagne and, 41 years later, remembered to end it the same way.

Georges Simenon died on September 4, 1989, at his home in Lausanne, Switzerland; his ashes, scattered under a tree there.