Women in the French Revolution
Historians since the late 20th century have debated how women shared in the French Revolution and what impact it had on French women. Women had no political rights in pre-Revolutionary France; they were considered "passive" citizens, forced to rely on men to determine what was best for them.
3 episodes
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Germaine de Staël
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, works and life of Germaine de Stael (1766-1817), a literary critic, author, opponent of Napoleon and developer of Romanticism.
16 November 2017
Featuring: Catriona Seth, Alison Finch, Katherine Astbury
CultureFrench literary criticsConversationalistsPeople of the First French Empire19th-century French novelistsFrench travel writers19th-century French women writers18th-century French women writersFrench feminists18th-century philosophersConverts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism, Romantic philosophers18th-century French letter writersFrench salon-holders19th-century French philosophersWomen in the French RevolutionWriters from ParisFrench Roman Catholics19th-century French letter writersFrench women novelistsFrench women philosophers18th century19th centuryFranceMarie Antoinette
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Austrian princess who, while still a child, married the future Louis XVI of France only to face hostility and death under the French Revolution.
8 November 2018
Featuring: Catriona Seth, Katherine Astbury, David McCallam
HistoryFrench Roman CatholicsBurials at the Basilica of Saint-DenisPeople of the War of the First CoalitionRoyal reburialsQueens consort of FranceNobility from ViennaNavarrese royal consortsDaughters of kingsDauphines of France, Dauphines of ViennoisExecuted French women, French people executed by guillotine during the French RevolutionDaughters of queens regnantAustrian Roman Catholics, Austrian princesses, Daughters of emperorsWomen in the French RevolutionFranceOlympe de Gouges
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, ideas and works of the Frenchwoman who wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Woman in 1791 during the French Revolution
21 April 2022
Featuring: Catriona Seth, Katherine Astbury, Sanja Perovic
Culture18th-century French women writers18th-century philosophersFrench deistsWomen in the French Revolution18th-century French philosophersFrench abolitionistsWomen religious writersFrench women philosophersDeist philosophersExecuted French women, French people executed by guillotine during the French RevolutionExecuted writersExecuted philosophersFrench political philosophersFrench women dramatists and playwrights18th centuryFrance