Countdown to App Release: Chapter 5 - Royal Hall to Public Mall

After hopping over an ocean, soaring through many time zones and communing with several cultures, experiencing sketchy Internet access all along the way, I give you, without further ado, Charlotte's story with an added bonus: One of my favorite images in the entire BMLG App...  

In Chapter Five...

In which Louis-Philippe Joseph II, Duc d'Orleans transforms the Palais Royal into the place to be in Paris while aiding the advancement of the coming Revolution...

The gardens of the Palais Royal were for a long time private, enclosed by the backs of houses that faced the outer lying streets. Louis-Philippe Joseph II, Duc d’Orleans, changed that. From 1781-84, he created what you see here: France’s first ever public shopping arcade. He transformed these gardens from a private domain into a popular Parisian social center.

Truth is, the Duc d’Orleans, like his cousin the king, needed money. He was a notorious gambler and he squandered the Orleans family fortune building a private pleasure garden to rival the queen’s hamlet at Versailles.  So, he built this new housing and shopping arcade around the perimeter of the Palais Royal gardens, and he did something that had never been done before in France: He sold or rented the apartment spaces to people from all levels of French society, with large apartments for the rich on the first level above the shops, and smaller, more affordable apartments as you reach the roof.  He rented the gallery spaces to cafés, smart shops, theatres, restaurants, and even a few gambling casinos. 

Louis-Philippe Joseph also encouraged printing presses to open here at the Palais Royal, presses that published and distributed journals and broadsheets expressing the Enlightenment views that were so unpopular with the king.  But because this was royal ground prior to the Revolution, the king’s police were not permitted to enter the property. Therefore neither Louis-Philippe nor those who printed revolutionary literature here could be censored under the monarchy.  It is thanks to these broadsheets that we in Normandy, and elsewhere in the French provinces, have been made aware of events taking place in the French capital since 1789.

In a few short years Louis-Philippe Joseph II, Duc d’Orleans, turned the Palais Royal into the place to be in Paris. Since their opening, these gardens have been crowded with people both day and night.  I read in a popular journal printed right here at the Palais Royal that if you threw an apple from an apartment window it would never hit the ground – that’s how thick the crowd can be!

Café tables and chairs spill out into the gardens at all hours. Circus acts and street performers entertain the crowds. Both Parisians as well as visitors from the Provinces, like myself, come to the Palais Royal to shop, gamble, drink, and mingle, because this is the place to meet and discuss the ideas of Enlightenment philosophy.  And where, in 1789, it was very fashionable to talk of Revolution. 

That’s why it is said that the French Revolution started right here, at the Palais Royal!

Come back for Chapter Six...

In which Charlotte explains the meaning of "Revolution".

Image:

The Palais Royal Garden, 18th C. From Paul Lacroix Jacob (1806-1884), The XVIIIth century: its institutions, customs, and costumes: France, 1700-1789; illustrated with 21 chromolithographs and 351 wood engravings after Watteau, et al. London: Chapman and Hall, London, 1876. Digital image of color plate opposite page 346, courtesy of The Costumer’s Manifesto, http://www.costumes.org.

Countdown to App Release: Chapter 4 - Change Draws Near

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Chapter Four...

In which Charlotte foreshadows the changing times to come...

Matters worsened terribly in the spring of 1789 when France’s harvest was wiped out by a hail storm.  With grain scarce, the price of bread climbed so high that the poor could not feed themselves. By the summer of 1789, French peasants were starving and growing desperate.

Many sensed that the time for change was nigh.  Americans had recently overthrown their monarch in favor of a republican government, run by the people, for the people. More than 100 years before that, Britain had created a government ruled by the people in collaboration with the king: a constitutional monarchy. Even members of the French clergy and nobility felt it was time to overthrow the absolute monarchy that had ruled France for more than 800 years.

One such advocate for change was the king’s cousin, Louis-Phillippe Joseph II, Duc d’Orleans.  Being a royal, he was able to express his opinions openly.  While most people were in danger of imprisonment or execution for expressing such treasonous views, members of the royal family were exempt, by royal edict, from censorship. 

Louis-Philippe used this to his benefit, and to that of the coming Revolution.  Let me show you how…

In Chapter Five...

Find out how Louis-Philippe Joseph II, Duc d'Orleans transformed the Palais Royal into the place to be in Paris while aiding the advancement of the Revolution...

Image:

Unknown. Louis XVI distribue des aumônes aux pauvres (Louis XVI distributes aid to the poor). Crédit photographique: Musée de la Révolution Françaises, Vizille, France, http://www.domaine-vizille.fr, Inv. MRF 1984-20.



Countdown to App Release: Chapter 3 - France in 1789

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Chapter Three...

In which Charlotte explains the reality of society in late 18th century France.

French society at the time of my birth was distinctly out of balance.  Four percent of the population – the royals, certain nobility, and the Church – held all the power and owned much of the wealth.  They gained their wealth by taxing the remaining 96% of us, those they called the Third Estate. There was a time when the Third Estate comprised France’s poorest members.  But by 1789 the Third Estate included a growing class of wealthy businessmen and entrepreneurs called the bourgeoisie.  The bourgeoisie had no political power in France, and they wanted it. 

They wanted it because they felt the country, and their money, were being mismanaged by the crown.  You see, the monarchy was fast running out of gold.  Both Louis XIV and Louis XV (15^th) spent more than 100 years fighting wars they did not win.  More recently, the army of Louis XVI helped the American revolutionaries win their freedom from the British at great expense to France.  Yet while the poor had hardly enough money to buy bread after paying taxes to the king, the Church, and their noble landlords, the king and queen continued to enjoy a sumptuous lifestyle at the Palace of Versailles.

Ours was a society built on the backs of its poorest citizens.  The Enlightenment thinkers, under threat of censorship and imprisonment, even execution, were the first to decry this relationship as unjust.  The bourgeoisie just refused to pay taxes, no longer wishing to support the court’s lavish lifestyle.  And the poor grew more and more hungry. The hungrier they got, the angrier they became.  They could not be asked to pay more.

Don't Miss Chapter Four...

In which Charlotte foreshadows the changing times to come...

Image:

Unknown. Le peuple sous l’ancien Régime (People under the old regime), 1815. Reproduction of hand- colored etching [LC-USZC4-5913], courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, French Political Cartoon Collection, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Countdown to App Release: Chapter 2 - The Palais Royal

To celebrate its impending release of the Time Traveler Tours first StoryApp Tour, Beware Madame la Guillotine: A Journey to the French Revolution with Charlotte Corday, Murderess, we are offering all TTT visitors and subscribers an exclusive introduction to the heroine of our tale, one "step" (or app chapter) at a time.

Chapter Two...

In which Charlotte explains the origins of the Palais Royal.

From where you now stand on the Place du Palais Royal, you can see two of the finest palaces ever built in Paris – the Palais du Louvre and the Palais Royal. In 1789, when my story begins, few French people lived in such grand style. And in 1620, when the Palais Royal was first built, this level of luxury was known only to members of the royal family and persons of high birth or rank: the nobility.

The Palais Royal was originally the home of Cardinal de Richelieu, chief advisor to King Louis XIII (13^th), and some say the real power behind the throne. Cardinal de Richelieu built his beautiful home, which he called the Palais Cardinal, just across the street from the king, who lived at the Palais du Louvre, at a time when this was the very edge of the city of Paris. 

On 4 December 1642, Cardinal de Richelieu died. He left his palace to the king.  But King Louis XIII never had a chance to use it for he died five months later. His son and heir to the throne, Louis XIV (14^th) was then only 4 years old, much too young to run a country. So his mother ruled as Regent until he was old enough to take the crown. She didn’t like the drafty then-300-year-old Louvre Palace, so she moved young King Louis and his little brother, Philippe, Duc d’Orleans, to the more modern Palais Cardinal. Because members of the Royal family were now living in the palace, its name was changed to the Palais Royal.

On his 13^th birthday, in 1652, Louis XIV declared himself King. (Can you imagine wanting to run a whole country when only 13?)  He moved back to the Louvre Palace, where he lived for 30 years. In 1682, he moved his family and the entire French government to Versailles. The Palais Royal remained the home of his younger brother, Philippe, Duc d’Orleans. It would stay in the hands of the Orleans branch of the royal family for the next 150 years.  By 1789, the Palais Royal was home to Philippe’s great-grandson, Louis-Philippe Joseph II, Duc d’Orleans. He was the first cousin of my king, Louis XVI.     

Remember his name, for Louis-Philippe Joseph II, Duc d’Orleans, played a major role in sparking the French Revolution.



Stay tuned for Chapter Three...

In which Charlotte explains the reality of society in late 18th century France.

Please Support the BMLG Kickstarter Campaign!

Images:

Champaigne, Philippe de (1602-1674). Armand Jean du Plessis Richelieu, Cardinal, duc de, 1585-1642. Photomechanical reproduction of original [LC- USZ62-100477], courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Rigaud, Hyacinthe, 1659-1743, Louis XIV at 63. Photomechanical reproduction of original [LC- USZC4-2032], courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Beware Madame la Guillotine Joins Kickstarter!

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Kickstarter Campaign

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We have until September 14, 2011, to reach our financial goal of $5000. It's all-or-nothing fund-raising: Either we reach the goal and receive the money or we get nothing at all!

Consider offering your support today. Donations are any size - even $1.00 - are greatly appreciated!

Countdown to App Release: Meet Charlotte, One "Step" at a Time

We are proud to announce that the Time Traveler Tours first StoryApp Tour, Beware Madame la Guillotine: A Journey to the French Revolution with Charlotte Corday, Murderess, should be in the Apple Store this July (baring any unforeseen technological glitches). To celebrate its impending release, we're offering all TTT visitors and subscribers an exclusive introduction to the heroine of our tale, one "step" (or app chapter) at a time.

Introduction...

In which Charlotte introduces herself and her crime, her tour itinerary and your starting point...

My name is Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d’Armont, but you may call me Charlotte. Three days ago, I killed a man. I stabbed him through the heart as he soaked in the bath. I am now in prison and facing death, but I do not regret my act. I did it for my country; I did it for France. I did it to avenge my king, Louis XVI, whose beheading was called for by the very man I murdered: the journalist Jean-Paul Marat. I did it to preserve the true goals of the French Revolution, which has recently turned from a movement of hope to a reign of terror! 

I am 24 years old. In 15 days I will be 25, though I will not live to celebrate my birthday. People admire me for my curly chestnut hair, my dimpled chin, and twinkling grey eyes. What they don’t realize is that I’m also well educated. You see, I was born into an old noble family from Normandy, a province in the northwest of France just across the ocean channel from England. Though my father is not rich, he descends from the great French dramatist, Pierre Corneille, and puts great stock in his children, even us girls, being properly read. I was lucky, therefore, to have received a convent education. Unlike most French girls of the late 1700’s, I have read and discussed the ideas of today’s leading thinkers: the Enlightenment philosophers. I agree with their call for immediate social and political change in France.

But Marat and his ilk pushed us too far. He had to be stopped. 

Now because of my act – because I murdered a man – I, too, am condemned to die. This evening, 17 July 1793, I will be taken to the Place de la Revolution and beheaded at the guillotine, just as my king was. Just as I fear his Queen, Marie Antoinette, soon will be. Before I die, I want you to know my story, for it is also the story of The French Revolution.

• Meet me at the Palais Royal, birthplace of The French Revolution, and where I bought the knife I used to kill Monsieur Marat.

• Follow me across the Seine to Paris’ Left Bank as I hunt Marat down.

• Stop for lunch at another popular hotspot of the Revolution: Le Café Procope.

• Finally, visit me in my prison, La Conciergerie, from where I write to you now as I await my meeting with Madame La Guillotine.

Stay tuned for Chapter Two...

In which Charlotte explains the origins of the Palais Royal.

Image: 

Charlotte Corday. From Evert A. Duykinck. A Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women of Europe and America, with Biographies. New York: Johnson, Wilson, and Company, 1873. Digital image courtesy of the James Smith Noel Collection, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, LA, http://www.jamessmithnoelcollection.org.

An App is Born!

It's official!

The Time Traveler Tours first StoryApp Tour, Beware Madame la Guillotine, is moving from alpha to beta today!

In software and app development, the alpha testing phase takes place amongst the development team. In the case of Beware Madame la Guillotine, the good folks at SmartyShortz LLC and I have spent the past two weeks combing daily “builds” to uncover mistakes, missing or misplaced elements, and most importantly, system and functionality bugs.  We now have the BMLG StoryApp Tour working almost perfectly.

Time to beta test: time to take the application from the virtual to the real and la peaufiner (perfect or polish it) with the help of others.

Starting today, we will put version #1 of the BMLG StoryApp tour into the hands of a few select souls willing to take it out into the streets of Paris and run it from beginning to end.

Some of our beta testers are excited and curious friends. Others are bloggers and journalists who want to be the first to try the world’s 1st StoryApp Tour and who will, hopefully, provide a few positive post-submission reviews. Once we get their thumbs up that all is working well, then it’s off to Apple our baby will go! 

Click "Post a Comment" and send your well wishes, below! 

Paul Cézanne, Pt 2: The Bridge Between Centuries

Check out the continuing

story of Paul Cézanne

and the birth

of Cubism

here

in Bonjour Paris!

From Print to Digital Media: Why I Made the Shift

Discover of the journey of the

Time Traveler Tours

how they went from a project intended for print to development as StoryApp itineraries for mobile device.

Read all about it on

Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Your definitive resource on all things France!

Image credit: Armelle Grubb, 2011.

Paul Cézanne: The Bridge Between Centuries

Want to know more about Paul Cézanne?

Want to understand why he is called the Father of Cubism?

Want to learn how to trace his footsteps while on your next visit to Aix-en-Provence?

Read all about it in this two-part article published in Bonjour Paris!

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.