Learn about important dates in French and francophone history: famous birthdays, holidays and celebrations, and other milestones. If the above does not match today's date or you wish to choose a specific date, please click here

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Birthdays

1506 - Peter Faber (French Jesuit theologian)

1519 - Catherine de Médicis (wife of Henry II of France)

1547 - Elisabeth of Valois (daughter of Henry II)

1618 - Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (French writer)

1648 - Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon (French mystic)

1747 - Louis Philip II, Duke of Orléans

1764 - Laurent, Marquis de Gouvion Saint-Cyr (French marshal)

1841 - Louis-Ernest Barrias (French sculptor)

1900 - Pierre Molinier (French painter and photographer)

1901 - Jacques Lacan (French psychoanalyst and semanticist)

1902 - Philippe de Rothschild (French race car driver and wine grower)

1906 - Samuel Beckett (Irish writer)

1919 - Roland Gaucher (French journalist)

1920 - Claude Cheysson (French politician)

1940 - Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (French writer)

1942 - Patrice Kayo (Cameroonian poet)

Deaths

1638 - Henri, duc de Rohan (French Huguenot leader)

1695 - Jean de la Fontaine (French author)

1793 - Pierre Gaspard Chaumette (French revolutionary)

1794 - Nicolas Chamfort (French writer)

1944 - Cécile Chaminade (French composer and pianist)

1975 - François (Ngarta) Tombalbaye (first President of Chad)

Milestones/Events

1250 - Egypt: The Seventh Crusade was defeated, Louis IX of France was captured

1598 - France: Edict of Nantes was issued by Henry IV, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots

Errors and Omissions

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