Curated playlist
Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis
- Claude of FranceIn 1501, Claude of France was promised in marriage to the future emperor Charles V.
- Charles VIII of FranceCharles VIII of France took Naples in 1495 without a pitched battle or siege. He had entered Italy with 25,000 men.
- Louis XIVLouis XIV once played dead asleep while a mob filed past his bed. The twelve-year-old king never forgave Paris.
- Louis XVIIILouis XVIII spent twenty-three years as a king without a kingdom. He took the French throne in 1814.
- Francis I of FranceFrancis I became king of France because three men ahead of him died without sons. He was crowned in 1515 at age twenty.
- Francis II of FranceAt his coronation, Francis II's crown was so heavy that nobles had to hold it above his head.
- Philip II of FranceKing Philip II of France won a battle in 1214 that left King John of England so weak he signed Magna Carta.
- Marie de' MediciMarie de' Medici scaled a forty-meter prison wall on a rope ladder in 1619. Her own son had jailed her.
- Louis XVIOn the morning of his execution, Louis XVI asked, "Any news of La Pérouse?"
- Henry II of FranceHenry II of France died from a splinter of wood. A shattered lance drove a fragment into his eye at a 1559 tournament.
- Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette stepped on her executioner's shoe and apologized. Minutes later she was beheaded.
- Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici lost both parents within a month of her birth. She later outlived three French kings, all her sons.
- Louis IX of FranceLouis IX became king of France at 12 and later a Catholic saint. He is the only French king ever canonised.