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Philippe-Auguste de Sainte-Foy

Paris, 20 Jul 1721 – Paris, 5 Feb 1795

6 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 20 Jul 1721

    Born in Paris

  2. 5 Feb 1795

    Dies in Paris, aged 73

Family

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Parents

During his lifetime

He lived through 8 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Paris.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1720s · Philippe-Auguste is born in Paris

In the news1720–1721

The Great Plague of Marseilles

The Great Plague of Marseilles, the last major plague epidemic in France, devastated the region between 1720 and 1721.

Getting around

Travel times between major French cities

Traveling between cities often involved water coaches (coches d'eau) for rivers or road carriages, with a journey from Lyon to Paris taking six days at a slow pace or three days at a faster pace in 1742.

At the table

Scarcity and Alternative Food Sources

Ordinary families consumed very little meat, typically limited to pork, lard, or sheep tripe. During harsh times or shortages, the rural poor were forced to supplement their diet with wild plants like ferns, acorns, or grass.

The Great Northern War. Russia, Denmark and Saxony fought Sweden for the Baltic; Peter the Great won and built St Petersburg on the conquered coast.In Europe · 1700–1721

The Great Northern War. Russia, Denmark and Saxony fought Sweden for the Baltic; Peter the Great won and built St Petersburg on the conquered coast.

Imonoz · CC BY-SA 4.0

What people wore

Carefully Patched Clothing

Respectable poor individuals often wore carefully patched cast-off clothing, where the patches were chosen to match the original faded fabric.

Music

Public concert series started in Paris

Starting in 1725, Parisians could attend public concerts organized by the Concert Spirituel society, which performed in the Tuileries Gardens when the Opéra was closed for religious festivals.

Daily life

Daily struggles for light and water

Domestic lighting relied on oil lamps, tallow candles, or wax candles, which were expensive and labor-intensive to manage. Families often had to fetch water manually from communal fountains, as running water in homes was not available.