French History
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘French History’
Richard I thought a veteran Crusader and conqueror of Saladin could handle a few French peasants.
Richard the ‘Lionheart’ is best remembered today as the King of England during the time of Robin Hood, an association made for us by Sir Walter Scott’s novel ‘Ivanhoe’. He was an inspiring general in the Third Crusade, courageous and ruthless, but his death was testimony to the caprices of Fortune.
After Louis XIV’s grandson Philip inherited the throne of Spain, the ‘Sun King’ began to entertain dreams of Europe-wide dominion.
The War of the Spanish Succession dragged on from 1702 to 1713, as the states of Europe scrambled to prevent France acquiring control not only over Spain but over territories and trade from Italy to the Netherlands. Indeed, the ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV tried to add England to his bag, which proved to be a serious mistake.
The Nazi-collaborating Vichy government in France paid Rugby League the supreme compliment: they banned it.
In France, Rugby League is not perhaps the most fashionable code of Rugby. But it does have the proud distinction of having been banned by the Nazis’ French friends, making it a form of the game with special appeal to those who see themselves as a bit of a rebel.
The less glamorous code of Rugby football, but the best for sheer speed and strength.
Rugby League is a form of the sport of Rugby Football that dominates in northern England, but is overshadowed in the south by more fashionable Rugby Union. Once the only professional form of the game, over the years Rugby League has became the faster, harder, and arguably more exciting code.