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Guinevere
Guinevere is the Queen of Britain, wife of King Arthur, and lover of Sir Lancelot in the Arthurian Legends best known in their standardized form from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur (1469 CE). She first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's...

Definition
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI (l. 1754-1793) was the last king of France (r. 1774-1792) before the monarchy was abolished during the French Revolution (1789-99). An indecisive king, his attempts to navigate France through the crises of the 1780s failed, leading...

Definition
Flight to Varennes
The Flight to Varennes was a pivotal moment of the French Revolution (1789-1799), in which King Louis XVI of France (r.1774-92), his wife Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-93), and their children attempted to escape from Paris on the night of...

Definition
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine (l. c. 1122-1204 CE) was one of the most impressive and powerful figures of the High Middle Ages (1000-1300 CE) – male or female – whose influence shaped the politics, art, medieval literature, and perception of women...

Definition
Lear Green - Escaping Slavery in a Chest
Lear Green (circa 1839-1860) was an enslaved African American woman in Baltimore, Maryland, who had herself shipped in a chest to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to escape slavery. Her story is frequently compared to that of Henry Box Brown (circa...

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Lafayette and Marie Antoinette
The Marquis de Lafayette kisses the hand of Queen Marie Antoinette of France following the Women's March on Versailles on 6 October 1789. An excellent showman, Lafayette always knew how to put on a performance to please the masses. Old engraving...

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Marie Louise of Austria, Empress of the French
Portrait of Marie Louise of Austria (l. 1791-1847), oil on canvas by Robert Lefevre, 1812. Daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria, she was the second wife of French Emperor Napoleon I and was therefore Empress of the French from 1810 until...

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Marie-Thérèse Sophie de Monnier
Marie-Thérèse Sophie Richard de Ruffey, marquise de Monnier, lover of Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, engraving by Jean-Louis Delignon, 1804.
MAS Estampes Anciennes, Paris.

Definition
The Christmas Truce
The Christmas Truce of 1914 occurred on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). On Christmas Eve soldiers in the trenches spontaneously agreed to a ceasefire. Beginning with the singing of Christmas carols, the unofficial...

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Marie Antoinette and her Children
Painting depicting Queen Marie Antoinette and her three children. On the far right the Dauphin, Louis Joseph, points to an empty crib where Marie Antoinette's fourth child, Princess Sophie, had to be painted out after she died in infancy...