In the news1709–1710
The Great Winter of 1709
The Great Winter of 1709 brought extreme cold and severe famine to France, marking one of the century's worst economic crises.
Versailles, 4 Aug 1703 – Abbey of St Genevieve, 4 Feb 1752
10 facts3 sources
4 Aug 1703
Born in Versailles
1720–1752
Grand Master of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
1725–1726
2 children are born
4 Feb 1752
Dies in Abbey of St Genevieve, aged 48
He lived through 6 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Versailles.
General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.
In the news1709–1710
The Great Winter of 1709 brought extreme cold and severe famine to France, marking one of the century's worst economic crises.
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
Daily bread rations for a family
A weaver's family in Rouen consumed a daily bread ration of 1,222 grams for the husband, 983 grams for the wife, and 659 grams per child.
In Europe · 1700–1721The Great Northern War. Russia, Denmark and Saxony fought Sweden for the Baltic; Peter the Great won and built St Petersburg on the conquered coast.
What people wore
Origin of the term Grisette
The term grisette described poor working-class women, named after the simple gray woolen cloth used to make their dresses.
Music
Teaching Dance via Written Notation
Dance masters used specialized choreographic notation created by Raoul Auger Feuillet to distribute and teach new dance steps between Paris and the provinces. By 1721, collections contained dozens of dances composed by masters like Pécour and Balon for the French court.
Daily life
Intense use of single-room dwellings
Ordinary homes often consisted of a single room used for all daily activities, including cooking, sleeping, and childcare, with furniture rearranged throughout the day. In rural areas, houses were typically made of wattle and daub with thatched roofs, often lacking glass windows and floorboards.