NonParisian French History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Early landscape photographs

Under the Romans, the Gaulish language switched from the Greek alphabet to the Latin alphabet and Christianity largely replaced traditional Druid religions. The Romans also built major road and aqueduct systems and introduced Roman-style administration. Contributions were a two-way street; in return the Romans adopted the Gaulish tunic, the use of the barrel for liquid storage, and the inclusion of chain mail for use in battle.

By the time the Romans arrived, the south of France already had several developing urban centres, from Massalia (now Marseilles) to Bibracte (Mont Beuvray) north of what is now Lyon. Among the principal French cities founded by the Romans were Narbonne, Besançon, Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Metz and Amiens. Throughout southern France vestiges of Roman architecture are still to be seen, from the Pont du Gard bridge and aqueduct near Avignon to the amphitheatres and arenas in Nimes, Orange and Arles. Traces of the early Roman form of grid land survey or 'cadastre' can be found in Orange, Béziers and Valence.

Answer: Cathars

The Cathars, who appeared in southern France in the 11th century, considered themselves to be Christians following the early teachings of the Church and with a dual belief in both a good god and a bad god. They also believed both in the ultimate salvation of all human beings and in the equality of women.

By the beginning of the 13th century, the Cathars were firmly anchored throughout the independent Languedoc region in the central part of the Mediterranean coast, an area largely controlled by the Count of Toulouse. Both peasants and the nobility widely followed the religion.

After early attempts to halt the progression of what the Catholic Church considered to be heretics, Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade, so-named because Albi was one of the strongholds of the faith. King Philippe Augustus of France authorized his barons to participate, with Simon Montfort taking the lead.

The Pope's promise that participating nobles would receive the lands they conquered fueled their zeal. Estimates are that over 500,000 men, women and children were killed during the next twenty years, with entire towns massacred.

The Crusade ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1229, under which most of the area passed to the King of France, but an Inquisition was started almost immediately to root out remaining Cathars.

Answer: Apprenticeships with master craftsmen

The Compagnons du Devoir was an apprenticeship system created by craftsmen in the late Middle Ages to transmit their knowledge to future generations. Stained glass windows in the cathedrals of Chartres and Bourges dating from the 13th century show men wearing what is believed to be sashes associated with stone worker compagnons. An ordinance issued by Charles VI in 1419 refers to leather compagnons. Young men participating in the Tour de France would spend up to six years working their way around France training under different master craftsmen.

The apprentices lived together in designated houses and wore sashes and carried canes that made them readily identifiable. The apprenticeships existed in many trades ranging from metalworkers to bakers.

The Compagnons were banned from the time of the Revolution through 1864 and were persecuted by the Nazis during World War II. After being merely tolerated for some decades, the apprenticeship system regained its prestige and women were allowed to join. Under the current format, apprentices spend six months each year working in a different part of France.

Answer: Comptat Venaissin

In 1498, Louis XII ordered the expulsion of all Jewish people from Provence. This was only one in a long line of expulsions dating back to 1192, but those in Provence had been protected from the earlier purges by Provence's more tolerant rulers. This protection ended with Provence's annexation to France in 1486.

Many of the expelled Jewish communities took refuge in the Comtat Venaissin, an independent papal enclave around Avignon. While protected, the "Pope's Jews" faced severe restrictions. They were required to live in small areas called "carrieros or carrières" which closed at night, men were required to wear yellow hats and were limited to certain professions, and they were required to pay special taxes.

The carrieros lasted until the time of the French Revolution.

Answer: True

Records of discrimination against a group of people called Cagots in southwest France and northern Spain date from the 16th century. Cagots were usually forced to live together in certain parts of towns, were banned from marrying non-Cagots, had to enter churches through designated doors, and were limited to certain professions. What is strange is that they were not a particular ethnic or religious group, nor did they have a specific appearance.

Some believe they were early converts to Christianity, others that they were descendants of either the Visigoths or Saracens, and still others that they were remnants of a carpentry guild. Efforts were made during the French Revolution to end this discrimination, but traces existed as late as the early twentieth century.

Answer: New taxes imposed by Louis XIV

When Brittany joined with France by treaty in 1532 following the marriage of Anne of Brittany to Francis X, the region entered as a "pays d'état", an entity with considerable autonomy, including its own judiciary, parliament, and the right to approve taxes. Louis XIV chose to ignore this when he imposed country-wide taxes in 1674 to support his war with the Dutch. Among the taxes was a new requirement that all official documents needed to be on special stamped paper for which one had to pay, as well as taxes on tobacco and tin products. People took to the streets destroying tax offices. Six thousand of the King's troops were brought in to quell the rebellion. In 1789, following the French Revolution, the new National Constituent Assembly declared an end to all feudal privileges as well as the special rights of the pays d'état.

In 1980 Bretons took to the streets and successfully blocked the construction of a nuclear plant. In 2013, they waged a new "Bonnets Rouges" revolt against a proposed road tax, destroying hundreds of highway speed cameras, tax portals and offices, resulting in the abolition of the tax.

Answer: False

The 1539 Edict of Villers-Cotterêts decreed that French had to be used for all official documents and transactions. Two hundred years later, in 1790, Abbé Henri Grégoire sent questionnaires to town halls throughout the country to determine the extent to which French was being used.

His "Report on the Necessity and Means of Exterminating Patois and Universalizing the French language" showed that only 11% of the population were "pure" French speakers and that many of those could not write the language.

While French dominated in a basin around Paris, another Romance language Occitan dominated in the south; Breton, Alsatian, Flemish, Corsican, and Basque were but a few of the other languages dominating the regions. It was not until the end of the 19th century that the use of French became popular throughout the country.

Answer: Silk workers

Lyon's silk industry developed during the Renaissance in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, weaving silk that was lighter and less expensive than Italian silks of the time. In 1540, Francis I granted Lyon a monopoly on silk production. By 1788, there were 28,000 registered silk workers in the city, referred to as "Canuts".

A single company, the Grande Fabrique dominated the industry, setting regulations, pricing and standards for the industry. When silk prices began to drop, wages also dropped. Workers revolted when their demands to have a minimum price for silk were rejected.

They seized the local arsenal in a bloody battle, but soon folded after 20,000 royal troops were sent to quell the revolt. Two additional bloody Canut revolts followed in 1834 and 1848.

Answer: Alsace-Lorraine

Like many border regions in Europe, Alsace and Lorraine were traded back and forth between countries for centuries. In the 5th through the 11th centuries, the area was invaded first by the Germanic Alamanni tribe, then by the Merovingian Franks, before being absorbed into the Holy Roman Empire.

After the Thirty Years' War, the Treaty of 1648 gave Lorraine and most of Alsace to the French. The region was fully integrated into France by the 1850s, just in time to be given back to the German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

After annexation, Alsace-Lorraine did not receive the full rights of other German states, and when World War I broke out, the Germans treated the two provinces harshly. The use of French was banned, several thousand people were arrested for anti-German declarations, and nearly 400,000 men were conscripted and sent to the Eastern front, being considered too unreliable to fight the French.

The French were not much better as they interned thousands of Alsatians and Lorrains living in France.

When the region returned to France after World War I, French officials instituted a classification system, with identity cards indicating whether individuals were "good Alsatians and Lorrains" or German immigrants to the area. The distinction between "pure blooded" and those who were of mixed parentage caused tremendous divisions and mistrust. Several hundred thousand chose to move back to Germany. The Germans again occupied the area in World War II. The region remained French after liberation in 1944/45. The unique character of this area reflects its dual history, a blend of French and Germanic cultures.

Answer: Spanish Civil War

In January and February of 1939, nearly half a million refugees from the Spanish civil war poured into southern France. Many families were separated, with women, children and the elderly sent to camps across France. Men were kept in internment camps close to the border and were given a choice of doing forced labour, being repatriated, or joining the French Foreign Legion or temporary regiments of foreign volunteers.

Many of the latter eventually joined General LeClerc's 2nd Armoured Division and fought for the French in World War II. One of the companies called La Nueve because of its large number of Spanish refugees drove the first Allied armoured truck into Paris at liberation.