The political and social system that existed in France before the revolution.
Ancien régime
Fact of the Day
Accounts from 1350 reveal that it cost 6d a day to keep a lion in the menagerie at the Tower of London, but to keep a prisoner cost only 1d.
Quote of the Day
"I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy were beloved in any nation where Christianity was the religion of the country. Nothing can render them popular, but some degree of persecution.
"
~ Jonathan Swift
On This Day
1536 The trial of four of Anne Boleyn's 'lovers'. Only one confessed (under torture), which he maintained up to the point of his death.
1689 William III went to war with France. It was the start of more than a century of titanic clashes for global hegemony.
1789 William Wilberforce made his first speech to the Commons on the abolition of slavery.
1926 Limited power of unions shown as TUC calls off General Strike without consulting miners, who went back to work in November on reduced pay.
1937 In a ceremony that had originally been scheduled for his brother, Edward VIII (who had abdicated in December 1936), George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1969 The minimum voting age in Britain was reduced from 21 to 18.
1994 The popular Labour leader John Smith died of a heart attack. He was replaced as leader by Tony Blair.