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Théâtre de la foire

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Théâtre de la foire is the collective name given to the theatre put on at the annual fairs at Saint-Germain and Saint-Laurent (and for a time, at Saint-Ovide) in Paris.

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132-573: The earliest references to the annual fair date to 1176. The fairground itself was established in 1482 by Louis XI for the benefit of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and was located near the Abbey on the Left Bank southwest of the city center just outside one of the gates of the city wall built by Philip II at the beginning of the 13th century. The covered Saint-Germain market today occupies part of

264-443: A "soap opera", it doesn't need to be long-running. , but some authors define the word in a way that excludes short-running serial dramas from their definition of "soap opera". BBC Radio 's The Archers , first broadcast in 1950, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera. The longest-running existing television soap is Coronation Street , which was first broadcast on ITV in 1960. According to Albert Moran, one of

396-611: A 40-year-plus run, were cancelled in 2011. All My Children aired its network finale in September 2011, with One Life to Live following suit in January 2012. Both All My Children and One Life to Live were briefly revived online in 2013, before being cancelled again that same year. In 2019, production of Days of Our Lives was put on "indefinite hiatus" and all of the cast's contracts were terminated, raising concerns within soap publications that cancellation would ensue, though

528-652: A 72-year run (including radio). As the World Turns aired its final episode on September 17, 2010, after a 54-year run. As the World Turns was the last of 20 soap operas produced by Procter & Gamble, the soap and consumer goods company from which the genre got its name. As the World Turns and Guiding Light were also among the last of the soaps that originated from New York City. All My Children , another New York–based soap, moved its production out to Los Angeles in an effort to reduce costs and raise sagging ratings; however, both it and One Life to Live , each with

660-650: A French Gallican Church free of the controls of the popes in Rome. Philip III was the Duke of Burgundy at the time that Louis came to the throne, and was keen to initiate a Crusade against the Ottoman Empire . However, he needed funds to organize such an enterprise. Louis XI gave him 400,000 gold crowns for the Crusade in exchange for a number of territories, including Picardy and Amiens . However, Philip's son,

792-577: A bass, and an oboe sound the theme of the story written on the signs which the public sings." The Comédie-Française no longer had any objective reasons for working against the fair performers; their claims had been met. It was now the turn of the Académie Royale de Musique to tell the competition that it was the unique holder of the right to sing, dance and accompany plays with music in France. The balance of power played out differently here and soon,

924-400: A dead body, but hey, even if you do, he or she can always come back to play the evil identical twin. Marlena Laird in 1992, during her time as a line producer and director for General Hospital . Romance , secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine hate have been the basis for many soap opera storylines. In US daytime serials, the most popular soap opera characters, and

1056-525: A few months later, on 22 June that year, at Murten . The duke was killed at the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477, an event that marked the end of the Burgundian Wars . Louis was thus able to see the destruction of his sworn enemy. Those lords who still favored the feudal system gave in to his authority. Others, such as Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours , were executed. The lands belonging to

1188-463: A fixture of American daytime television in the early 1950s, joined by game shows , sitcom reruns and talk shows. In 1988, H. Wesley Kenney , who at the time served as the executive producer of General Hospital , said to The New York Times : I think people like stories that continue so they can relate to these people. They become like a family, and the viewer becomes emotionally involved. There seem to be two attitudes by viewers. One, that

1320-751: A form of jargon evoking a sort of low Latin , but which did not compete with the French language of which the Comédie-Française claimed exclusive use. Later, performers would write all the dialogue on "écriteaux" (signs), a sort of paper roll on which they displayed the words of the play. Here is how Ménier, the Commissioner of Police in Paris, described the scene in 1718: "Next appear three archers who want to stop Harlequin, who, playing his lyre, charms them and manages to escape, all of which comprises

1452-462: A fox who will eat his chickens." In 1461, Louis learned that his father was dying. He hurried to Reims to be crowned, in case his brother, Charles, Duke of Berry , should try to do the same. Louis XI became King of France on 22 July 1461. Louis pursued many of the same goals that his father had, such as limiting the powers of the dukes and barons of France, with consistently greater success. Among other initiatives, Louis instituted reforms to make

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1584-511: A funeral. Once Tylo reprised her character in 2005, a retcon explained that Taylor had actually gone into a coma. Stunts and complex physical action are largely absent, especially from daytime serials. Such story events often take place off-screen and are referred to in dialogue instead of being shown. This is because stunts or action scenes are difficult to adequately depict without complex movements, multiple takes, and post-production editing. When episodes were broadcast live, post-production work

1716-532: A large sum of money. The English renounced their claim to French lands such as Normandy , and the Hundred Years' War could be said to be finally over. Louis bragged that although his father had driven the English out by force of arms, he had driven them out by force of pâté , venison , and good French wine . Just as his father had done, Louis spent most of his reign dealing with political disputes with

1848-432: A married couple whose onscreen and real-life romance was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press at large. The first program generally considered to be a "soap opera" or daytime serial by scholars of the genre is Painted Dreams , which premiered on WGN radio Chicago, on October 20, 1930. It was regularly broadcast in a daytime time slot, where most listeners would be housewives; thus,

1980-412: A net of postal relays all over France, which was a precursor to the modern French postal service . Louis developed his kingdom by encouraging trade fairs and the building and maintenance of roads. Louis XI pursued the organization of the kingdom of France with the assistance of bourgeois officials. In some respects, Louis XI perfected the framework of the modern French Government which was to last until

2112-583: A number of soap actors were also accomplished stage actors who performed live theater during breaks from their soap roles. In the 1960s and 1970s, new serials such as General Hospital , Days of our Lives , and The Young and the Restless were produced in Los Angeles . Their success made the West Coast a viable alternative to New York-produced soap operas, which were becoming more costly to perform. By

2244-425: A particular place, or focus on a large extended family. The storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. "Soap narratives, like those of film melodramas, are marked by what Steve Neale has described as 'chance happenings, coincidences, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations, deus ex machina endings.'" These elements may be found across

2376-414: A predetermined attitude to hate his wife, but it is universally agreed that Louis entered the ceremony and the marriage itself dutifully, as evidenced by his formal embrace of Margaret upon their first meeting. Louis's marriage with Margaret resulted from the nature of medieval royal diplomacy and the precarious position of the French monarchy at the time. The wedding ceremony—very plain by the standards of

2508-525: A radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s, during which creator Irna Phillips was involved in a dispute with Procter & Gamble , Guiding Light was heard or seen nearly every weekday from 1937 to 2009, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium. Originally serials were broadcast as 15-minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956, As

2640-510: A series of daily prime time soaps from 2006 to 2007, which aired on newly created sister network MyNetworkTV , but the experiment was largely a failure after disappointing ratings). Due to the masses of episodes produced for a series, release of soap operas to DVD (a popular venue for distribution of current and vintage television series) is considered impractical. With the exception of occasional specials, daytime soap operas are notable by their absence from DVD release schedules (an exception being

2772-590: A serious threat to royal authority. Louis was forced to retreat to Paris, but was "by no means trounced". In fact, before his final defeat, "[Louis's]...military strength, combined with antipathy of the masses for great lords, won him the support of the citizens of Paris." This was a great learning experience for Louis. James Cleugh notes: Like other strong-minded boys, he had found at last he could not carry all before him by mere bluster. Neither as prince nor as king did he ever forget his lesson. He never acted on pure impulse, without reflection, though to his life’s end he

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2904-525: A short time from 1979 to 1980). More than half of the serials had expanded to one-hour episodes by 1980. As of 2012, three of the four U.S. serials air one-hour episodes each weekday; only The Bold and the Beautiful airs 30-minute episodes. Soap operas were originally broadcast live from the studio, creating what many at the time regarded as a feeling similar to that of a stage play. As nearly all soap operas were originated at that time from New York City ,

3036-484: A single missing episode) was rerun on the Sci-Fi Channel in the 1990s. After The Edge of Night 's 1984 cancellation, reruns of the show's final five years were shown late nights on USA Network from 1985 to 1989. On January 20, 2000, a digital cable and satellite network dedicated to the genre, Soapnet , began re-airing soaps that originally aired on ABC, NBC and CBS. Newer broadcast networks since

3168-462: A soap opera will generally switch between several concurrent narrative threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent to each other. Episodes may feature some of the show's storylines, but not always all of them. Especially in daytime serials and those that are broadcast each weekday, there is some rotation of both storyline and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of

3300-405: A weakling, and despised him for this. On 24 June 1436, Louis met Margaret , daughter of King James I of Scotland , the bride his father had chosen for diplomatic reasons. There are no direct accounts from Louis or his young bride of their first impressions of each other, and it is mere speculation whether they actually had negative feelings for each other. Several historians think that Louis had

3432-401: A week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely conclude all their storylines at the same time. When one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differing stages of development . Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger , and the season finale (if a soap incorporates a break between seasons) ends in the same way, only to be resolved when the show returns for

3564-533: Is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the actor with the longest uninterrupted performance in a single role. A number of performers played roles for 20 years or longer, occasionally on more than one show. Rachel Ames played Audrey Hardy on both General Hospital and Port Charles from 1964 until 2007, and returned in 2009. Susan Lucci played Erica Kane in All My Children from

3696-610: Is not scheduled or because of last-minute deferrals of scheduled episodes to the following day because of breaking news coverage. ( Temporary production stoppages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic similarly resulted in CBS and ABC airing older reruns of The Young and the Restless , The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital during the Spring and Summer of 2020 in order to ration first-run episodes and, eventually, to fill airtime after

3828-473: Is not uncommon for a single character to be played by multiple actors. The key character of Mike Karr on The Edge of Night was played by three actors. Conversely, several actors have remained playing the same character for many years, or decades even. Helen Wagner played Hughes family matriarch Nancy Hughes on American soap As the World Turns from its April 2, 1956, debut through her death in May 2010. She

3960-406: Is recorded by the courtier Philippe de Commines in his memoirs of the period. Louis made a habit of surrounding himself with valuable advisers of humble origins, such as Commines himself, Olivier Le Daim , Louis Tristan L'Hermite , and Jean Balue . Louis was anxious to speed up everything, transform everything, and build his own new world. In recognition of all the changes that Louis XI made to

4092-411: Is typically a long-running radio or television serial , frequently characterized by melodrama , ensemble casts , and sentimentality . The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by " horse opera ", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns. According to some dictionaries, for something to be adequately described as

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4224-758: The Church of Saint-Laurent . The new location was just east of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis , across from the Abbaye des frères de Saint-Lazare (as the leper colony was now known). The Abbaye was later to become the Prison Saint-Lazare , and finally the Hôpital Saint-Lazare. Although the fairground was demolished in the early 19th century, its former site is located directly southwest of the entrance to today's Gare de l'Est . The Saint-Laurent fair

4356-498: The Hundred Years' War . With the death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out. Louis took advantage of the situation to seize numerous Burgundian territories, including Burgundy itself and Picardy . Without direct foreign threats, Louis was able to eliminate his rebellious vassals, expand royal power, and strengthen the economic development of his country. He died in 1483, and

4488-582: The Italic League —the combination of the five major powers of Italy that had been born out of the Treaty of Lodi of 1454—was constantly undergoing internal realignments. Both Louis XI and his father Charles VII had been too busy with their struggles with Burgundy to pay much attention to political affairs smoldering in Italy. Additionally, Louis had his attention drawn away from Italy by disagreements with

4620-660: The Opéra-Comique and managed the company for three years. He was replaced by Pontau, Devienne, Jean Monnet and Charles Simon Favart , who directed the company successively until 1762, when it was reunited with the Comédie-Italienne. A variety of fairground attractions appeared alongside performances by the Opéra-Comique: dancers, puppeteers and tightrope artists performed next to giants, dwarfs, monsters, talking heads, performing animals, etc. Gradually,

4752-509: The Papacy , and the Kingdom of Naples . Beside these five great regional powers, there were about a dozen smaller states in Italy that were constantly changing policies and shifting alliances between and towards the various regional powers. The city/state of Genoa and the rising state of Savoy , which centered on the city of Turin , were examples of these lesser powers in northern Italy. Even

4884-626: The Siege of Beauvais was lifted on 22 July 1472, and Charles finally sued for peace. Philippe de Commines was then welcomed into the service of King Louis. In 1469, Louis founded the Order of St. Michael , probably in imitation of the prestigious Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece , founded by Charles' father Philip the Good, just as King John II of France had founded the now defunct Order of

5016-487: The Siege of Orléans , which initiated a turning point for the French in the Hundred Years War. Joan later led troops in other victories at the Battle of Jargeau and the Battle of Patay . Paris was recaptured after her death, and Louis and his father were able to ride in triumph into the city on 12 November 1437. Nevertheless, Louis grew up aware of the continuing weakness of France. He regarded his father as

5148-573: The Wallace Collection in London. The Saint Laurent fair was first established in 1183 in central Paris at Les Champeaux (later better known as Les Halles ). After a century and a half, it moved north of Paris to a site near the fair's new sponsor, the leper colony of Saint-Lazare. In 1661 it moved to a nearby enclosure on the north side of the Rue de Saint Laurent, across from and a bit west of

5280-741: The Wars of the Roses . Louis had an interest in this war, for the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was allied with the Yorkists who opposed King Henry VI . When the Earl of Warwick fell out with the Yorkist King Edward IV , after helping Edward attain his throne, Louis granted Warwick refuge in France. Through Louis's diplomacy, Warwick then formed an alliance with his bitter enemy Margaret of Anjou in order to restore her husband Henry VI to

5412-424: The tour de la Trésorerie . Despite frequent summons by the king, the two would never meet again. In Dauphiné, Louis ruled as king in all but name, continuing his intrigues against his father. On 14 February 1451, Louis, who had been widowed for six years, made a strategic marriage to the eight-year-old Charlotte of Savoy , without Charles' consent. This marriage was to have long-ranging effects on foreign policy as

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5544-547: The 1970s, became one of the first older women on the American serials to enter the workforce. Guiding Light dealt with Bert Bauer ( Charita Bauer ) and her alcoholic husband Bill, and their endless marital troubles. When Bert's status shifted to caring mother and town matriarch, her children's marital troubles were showcased. Search for Tomorrow mostly told its story through the eyes of Joanne Gardner ( Mary Stuart ). Even when stories revolved around other characters, Joanne

5676-455: The 1990s and 2000s incorporated supernatural and science fiction elements into their storylines in an attempt to boost their ratings. One of the main characters on the earlier soap opera Dark Shadows was Barnabas Collins , a vampire, and One Life to Live featured an angel named Virgil. Both shows featured characters who traveled to and from the past. In 1995, Days of our Lives featured a storyline in which fan favorite character Marlena Evans

5808-519: The Burgundian governor. Charles was furious. Philippe de Commines, at that time in the service of the duke of Burgundy, had to calm him down with the help of the duke's other advisors for fear that he might hit the king. Louis was forced into a humiliating treaty. He gave up many of the lands he had acquired from Philip the Good, turned on his erstwhile allies in Liège and swore to help Charles put down

5940-609: The Dauphiné, Louis led his own political establishment and married Charlotte of Savoy , daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy , against the will of his father. Charles VII sent an army to compel his son to his will, but Louis fled to Burgundy , where he was hosted by Philip the Good , the Duke of Burgundy , Charles' greatest enemy. When Charles VII died in 1461, Louis left the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom. His taste for intrigue and his intense diplomatic activity earned him

6072-506: The Duchy of Burgundy as constituted by Louis's great-great-grandfather John II for the benefit of his son Philip the Bold reverted to the crown of France. The marriage on 14 February 1451 between 28-year-old Louis and the 8-year-old Charlotte of Savoy was the true beginning of French involvement in the affairs of Italy. The Italian peninsula was a compact and politically competitive space dominated by five powers: Venice , Milan , Florence ,

6204-640: The Duke of Burgundy. In January 1478, he signed a favorable treaty with the Republic of Venice . French involvement in the affairs of Italy would be carried to new levels by Louis XI's son Charles VIII in 1493, when he answered an appeal for help from Ludovico Sforza , the younger son of Francesco Sforza, that led to an invasion of Italy. This would become a significant turning point in Italian political history. Louis XI, having suffered from bouts of apoplexy and years of illness, died on 30 August, 1483, and

6336-466: The English out of France, which was at a low point in its struggles. Just a few weeks after Louis's christening at the Cathedral of St. Étienne on 4 July 1423, the French army suffered a crushing defeat by the English at Cravant . Shortly thereafter, a combined Anglo-Burgundian army briefly raided Bourges itself. During the reign of Louis's grandfather Charles VI (1380–1422), the Duchy of Burgundy

6468-565: The French Revolution. Thus, Louis XI is one of the first modern kings of France who helped take it out of the Middle Ages . Louis XI was very superstitious and surrounded himself with astrologers . Interested in science, he once pardoned a man sentenced to death on condition that he serve as a test subject for a gallstone operation. Through wars and guile, Louis XI overcame France's mostly independent feudal lords, and at

6600-526: The French. However, with the downfall of Burgundy in 1477, France was seen in a new light by Milan, which now hurriedly repaired its relationship with Louis XI. Likewise, France's old enemy King Ferdinand I of Naples began to seek a marriage alliance between the Kingdom of Naples and France. Louis XI also opened new friendly relations with the Papal States, forgetting the past devotion of the popes for

6732-632: The Prudent " (French: le Prudent ), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII . Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440. The king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné , then a province in southeastern France. Louis's ceaseless intrigues, however, led his father to banish him from court. From

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6864-705: The Saint-Ovide fair moved to the Place Louis XV (now called the Place de la Concorde ) in 1772. A small fair, it nonetheless competed with the Saint-Laurent fair, taking place at roughly the same time of year (approximately August 15 to September 15). It disappeared in 1777, destroyed by a fire. From marionettes and tightrope walkers, fairground performers gradually came to perform extremely small plays, often written by renowned and talented authors. After

6996-514: The Star in imitation of the Order of the Garter of King Edward III of England . In both cases, a French king appears to have been motivated to found an order of chivalry to increase the prestige of the French royal court by the example of his chief political adversary. At the same time that France and Burgundy were fighting each other, England was experiencing a bitter civil conflict now known as

7128-399: The U.S. since the 2000s. As of September 2022, only four daytime soap operas – General Hospital , Days of Our Lives , The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful – are still in production with three airing on two broadcast networks and one on streaming, down from a total of 12 soaps broadcast during the 1990–91 season and a high of 19 in the 1969–70 season. This marks

7260-455: The World Turns and The Edge of Night , both produced by Procter & Gamble Productions , debuted as the first half-hour soap operas on the CBS television network. All soap operas broadcast half-hour episodes by the end of the 1960s. With increased popularity in the 1970s, most soap operas had expanded to an hour in length by the end of the decade ( Another World even expanded to 90 minutes for

7392-476: The actors of the Hôtel de Bourgogne filed a suit against them; they probably lost because the two fairground actors returned several years later. In 1618, André Soleil and Isabel Le Gendre met with similar success. Later, marionette manipulators, tightrope walkers and animal trainers so delighted the fair-going public that in 1643, Paul Scarron dedicated a poem on the subject to the Duke of Orléans . Among

7524-470: The beginning of French involvement in the affairs of the Italian peninsula. Finally, in August 1456, Charles sent an army to Dauphiné under the command of Antoine de Chabannes . Louis fled to Burgundy , where he was granted refuge by Duke Philip the Good and settled in the castle of Genappe . King Charles was furious when Philip refused to hand over Louis and warned the duke that he was "giving shelter to

7656-401: The cast and crew ventured to Jamaica to tape a love consummation storyline between the characters of Garth and Kathy. During the 1980s, perhaps as a reaction to the evening drama series that were gaining high ratings, daytime serials began to incorporate action and adventure storylines, more big-business intrigue, and an increased emphasis on youthful romance. One of the most popular couples

7788-433: The cast and storylines are rotated across the week's episodes so that each cast member will appear in some but not all episodes. UK and Australian soap operas move through storylines at a faster rate than daytime serials, making them closer to U.S. evening soap operas in this regard. American daytime soap operas feature stylistic elements that set them apart from other shows: Soap opera ratings have significantly fallen in

7920-454: The daily episode format of its daytime counterparts) and Another Life (a soap that combined standard serial drama with religious overtones), during the 1980s. Fox, the fourth "major network" , carried a short-lived daytime soap Tribes in 1990. Yet, other than this and a couple of pilot attempts, Fox mainly stayed away from daytime soaps, and has not attempted them since their ascension to major-network status in 1994 (it did later attempt

8052-450: The defining features that make a television program a soap opera is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode". In 2012, Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Lloyd wrote of daily dramas: Although melodramatically eventful, soap operas such as this also have a luxury of space that makes them seem more naturalistic; indeed,

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8184-508: The demographic group for which soap opera advertisers pay the most. Those who might watch in workplace breakrooms are not counted, as Nielsen does not track television viewing outside the home. The rise of cable and the Internet has also provided new sources of entertainment during the day. The genre's decline has additionally been attributed to reality television displacing soap operas as TV's dominant form of melodrama. An early term for

8316-460: The directors of the opera, plagued by increasing financial crises, tried to save the day by selling two fair directors the right to produce sung performances. Thus the Opéra-Comique was born in 1714. Given the growing success of the fair performances, the opera demanded increasingly exorbitant royalties, which put a strain on fair directors. The strategic ally of the Opera, the Comédie-Française took

8448-399: The disposition of the "Burgundian inheritance" left to Mary of Burgundy finally allowed Louis XI to turn his attention to Italy. Viewed from the Italian states, the death of the Duke of Burgundy in 1477 and the resultant downfall of his duchy as a threat to the French throne signalled vast changes in the states' relationships with the kingdom of France. Despite his connection by marriage to

8580-442: The early 1970s, nearly all soap operas had transitioned to being taped. As the World Turns and The Edge of Night were the last to make the switch, in 1975. Port Charles used the practice of running 13-week " story arcs ," in which the main events of the arc are played out and wrapped up over the 13 weeks, although some storylines did continue over more than one arc. According to the 2006 Preview issue of Soap Opera Digest , it

8712-419: The economics of the form demand long scenes, and conversations that a 22-episodes-per-season weekly series might dispense with in half a dozen lines of dialogue may be drawn out, as here, for pages. You spend more time even with the minor characters; the apparent villains grow less apparently villainous. Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of

8844-470: The exotic appeal of the stereotypes connected to the location. As examples, EastEnders focuses on the tough and grim life in the East End of London; Coronation Street and its characters exhibit the stereotypical characteristic of "northern straight talking". If we want to blend an actor back into a show, there's always a way. You can generally find a way to twist and manipulate something. You rarely see

8976-657: The expulsion of Italian actors in 1697, actors and showmen were emboldened and they appropriated the Italians' repertoire. The professionalization of entertainment at the fair began to worry the Comédie-Française , which saw in it a dangerous competition. The Comédie-Française tried every means to preserve its privileges and, after many trials conducted before the Châtelet and the Parlement of Paris , it achieved

9108-480: The fair: Le diable à quatre, ou La double métamorphose (19 August 1756), L'huître et les plaideurs, ou Le tribunal de la chicane (17 September 1759), Le soldat magicien (14 August 1760), and Le maréchal ferrant (22 August 1761). Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny 's On ne s'avise jamais de tout was premiered there on 14 September 1761. Founded in 1764 at the Place Louis XIV (now known as Place Vendôme ),

9240-465: The fair: the intermède Les aveux indiscrets (7 February 1759), and the opéras bouffons Le maître en droit (13 February 1760), and Le cadi dupé (4 February 1761). François-André Danican Philidor 's opéra comique Blaise le savetier was produced there on 9 March 1759, followed by Le jardinier et son seigneur on 18 February 1761. Among depictions of this fair is the famous miniature dated 1763 by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe (1716–1794) at

9372-407: The first act, which is performed by the actors as well as by the audience with the help of signs descending from above, on which are written the stories that make up the play: the actors gesture and express through various pantomime motions what is written on the signs, and the spectators sing and in some places the actors, to link the verses, say a few words, and when the signs come down, four violins,

9504-428: The first network daytime serial. The main characteristics that define soap operas are "an emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors with only occasional excursions into new locations". Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in

9636-429: The first new daytime soap opera to premiere on a major broadcast network since Passions in 1999. As women increasingly worked outside of the home, daytime television viewing declined. New generations of potential viewers were not raised watching soap operas with their mothers, leaving the shows' long and complex storylines foreign to younger audiences. As viewers age, ratings continue to drop among young adult women,

9768-520: The first soap opera since Generations to feature an African American cast. On April 12, 2024, CBS renewed The Talk for a 15th and final season, with the show concluding in December 2024. Three days later, on April 15, The Gates (now titled " Beyond the Gates ") was greenlit by CBS and is slated to premiere on February 24, 2025, likely to take the time slot of The Talk , meaning it will be

9900-530: The first time since 1953 that there have been only four soap operas airing on broadcast television . The Young and the Restless , the highest-rated soap opera from 1988 to the present, had fewer than 5 million daily viewers as of February 2012, a number exceeded by several non-scripted programs such as Judge Judy . Circulations of soap opera magazines have decreased and some have even ceased publication. Soapnet, which largely aired soap opera reruns, began to be phased out in 2012 and fully ceased operations

10032-495: The following year. The Daytime Emmy Awards , which honor soap operas and other daytime shows, moved from prime time network television to smaller cable channels in 2012, then failed to get any TV broadcast at all in 2014, 2016, and 2017. Several of the U.S.'s most established soaps ended between 2009 and 2012. The longest-running drama in television and radio history, Guiding Light , barely reached 2.1 million daily viewers in 2009 and ended on September 18 of that year, after

10164-550: The former fairground site with access from the Boulevard Saint-Germain via the Rue de Montfaucon ( satellite view ). The fair generally lasted three to five weeks around Easter . During the 18th century it consistently opened on 3 February and lasted until Palm Sunday . The fair's first actors whose names are recorded were Jehan Courtin and Nicolas Poteau, who so entertained the Parisian public in 1595 that

10296-604: The future Charles I, Duke of Burgundy (known as the Count of Charolais at the time of Louis's accession) was angry about this transaction, feeling that he was being deprived of his inheritance. He joined a rebellion called the League of the Public Weal , led by Louis's brother Charles, the Duke of Berry . Although the rebels were largely unsuccessful in battle, Louis had no better luck. Louis XI fought an indecisive battle against

10428-734: The gamut of soap operas, from EastEnders to Dallas . In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the US, the characters are frequently attractive, seductive, glamorous and wealthy. Soap operas from the United Kingdom and Australia tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working-class environments. Many of the soaps produced in those two countries explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown or financial problems. Both UK and Australian soap operas feature comedic elements, often affectionate comic stereotypes such as

10560-413: The gossip or the grumpy old man, presented as a comic foil to the emotional turmoil that surrounds them. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare. UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting "reality" or purport to have a "realistic" style. UK soap operas also frequently foreground their geographic location as a key defining feature of the show while depicting and capitalising on

10692-399: The government bureaucracy, and increased the demand on other offices within the government in order to promote efficiency. Louis spent a large part of his kingship on the road. Travelling from town to town in his kingdom, Louis would surprise local officials, investigate local governments, establish fairs, and promote trade regulations. Perhaps the most significant contribution of Louis XI to

10824-535: The government of France, he has the reputation of a leading "civil reformer" in French history, and his reforms were in the interests of the rising trading and mercantile classes that would later become the bourgeoisie of France. Louis XI also involved himself in the affairs of the Church in France. In October 1461, Louis abolished the Pragmatic Sanction that his father had instituted in 1438 to establish

10956-405: The kingdom. Even at this time, Charles was taken aback by the intelligence and temper of his son. During this tour, Louis was named Dauphin of France by Charles, as was traditional for the eldest son of the king. The beautiful and cultured Margaret was popular at the court of France, but her marriage to Louis was not a happy one, in part because of his strained relations with her father-in-law, who

11088-435: The late 1960s and into the 1970s. Exterior shots were slowly incorporated into the series The Edge of Night and Dark Shadows . Unlike many earlier serials that were set in fictional towns, The Best of Everything and Ryan's Hope were set in a real-world location, New York City. The first exotic location shoot was made by All My Children , to St. Croix in 1978. Many other soap operas planned lavish storylines after

11220-484: The late 1980s, such as Fox and cable television networks, have largely eschewed soap operas in their daytime schedules, instead running syndicated programming and reruns. No cable television outlet has produced its own daytime serial, although DirecTV 's The 101 Network took over existing serial Passions , continuing production for one season; while TBS and CBN Cable Network respectively aired their own soap operas, The Catlins (a primetime soap that utilized

11352-449: The loyalty of the soap opera fan base and the expansion of several half-hour series into hour-long broadcasts in order to maximise advertising revenues. The article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs. The issue's cover notably featured its first daytime soap stars, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives ,

11484-532: The matriarch of The Guiding Light , Bert Bauer, developed uterine cancer (as the actress, Charita Bauer , had been diagnosed with the same illness in real life). The storyline encouraged many women to get pap smears and the CBS mailroom in New York City received a then-record amount of fan mail wishing Bauer (both Bert and Charita) well. Nixon would go on to tell many socially relevant storylines on her soaps One Life to Live and All My Children in

11616-765: The most famous artists of the Saint-Germain fair were: marionette manipulators Jean and François Datelin (better known by the name Brioché), Jean-Baptiste Archambault, Jérôme, Arthur and Nicolas Féron; dancers Charles and Pierre Alard, Moritz von der Beek (aka Maurice), Alexandre Bertrand and Louis Nivelon; actors Louis Gauthier de Saint-Edme, Jean-Baptiste Constantini, Catherine von der Beek, Étienne Baron, Charles Dolet, Antoine Francassani, Jean-Baptiste Hamoche, Dominique Biancolelli, Francisque , and many others for whom Alain-René Lesage , Louis Fuzelier and Jacques-Philippe d'Orneval wrote numerous plays. Early operatic works by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny were performed at

11748-439: The most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels . Soap opera storylines weave intricate, convoluted and sometimes confusing tales of characters who have affairs, meet mysterious strangers and fall in love, and who commit adultery, all of which keeps audiences hooked on the unfolding story. Crimes such as kidnapping, assault (sometimes sexual), and even murder may go unpunished if

11880-595: The nicknames " the Cunning " ( Middle French : le rusé ) and " the Universal Spider " (Middle French: l'universelle aragne ), as his enemies accused him of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies. In 1472, the subsequent Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold , took up arms against his rival Louis. However, Louis was able to isolate Charles from his English allies by signing the Treaty of Picquigny (1475) with Edward IV of England . The treaty formally ended

12012-542: The opportunity to deal a fatal blow in 1719: it obtained the removal of all fair shows, with the exception of marionnettes and tightrope walking. Meanwhile, the regent had restored the Comédie-Italienne : it took the opportunity to occupy the St. Laurent fair for three years, from 1721 to 1723, but it did not meet with the expected success. In 1724, a candle merchant named Maurice Honoré obtained permission to restore

12144-554: The organization of the modern state of France was his development of the system of royal postal roads in 1464. In this system, relays at instant service to the king operated on all the high roads of France; this communications network spread all across France and led to the king acquiring his nickname "Universal Spider". As king, Louis became extremely prudent fiscally, whereas he had previously been lavish and extravagant. He wore rough and simple clothes and mixed with ordinary people and merchants. A candid account of some of his activities

12276-411: The outright prohibition of performances with dialogue. But it had not counted on the tricks that fairground actors were able to deploy to subvert these prohibitions. Seeing themselves prohibited from using any dialogue onstage, the actors began in 1707 to only play their parts in the form of monologues, or to talk to a mute, to an interlocutor placed in the wings, or even to an animal. Later they invented

12408-543: The past. The duchy now faced many problems and revolts in its territories, especially from the people of Liège , who conducted the Liège Wars against the Duke of Burgundy. In the Liège Wars, Louis XI allied himself at first with the people of Liège. In 1468, Louis and Charles met at Péronne , but during the course of negotiations, they learned that the citizens of Liège had again risen up against Charles and killed

12540-421: The perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story. Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the "romantic quality" of criminal and/or oligarch life. In soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings and twins (including the evil variety ) of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate

12672-411: The programs ran out of new episodes to broadcast; Days of Our Lives , which produces its episodes roughly eight months ahead of their initial broadcast, did not resort to airing older episodes during this time as it had a larger first-run episode backlog.) Early episodes of Dark Shadows were rerun on PBS member stations in the early 1970s after the show's cancellation, and the entire series (except for

12804-601: The prosperous Brooks family with four daughters, and the working-class Foster family of a single working mother with three children. Its storylines explored realistic problems including cancer, mental illness, poverty, and infidelity. In contrast, Dark Shadows (1966–1971), Port Charles (1997–2003) and Passions (1999–2008) featured supernatural characters and dealt with fantasy and horror storylines. Their characters included vampires, witches, ghosts, goblins, and angels. The American soap opera Guiding Light (originally titled The Guiding Light until 1975) started as

12936-439: The rebels at Montlhéry and was forced to grant an unfavourable peace as a matter of political expediency. When the Count of Charolais became Duke of Burgundy in 1467 as Charles I ("the Bold"), he seriously considered declaring an independent kingdom of his own. However, Louis's progress toward a strong centralized government had advanced to the point where the dukes of Burgundy could no longer act as independently as they had in

13068-518: The reigning Duke of Burgundy, and for this purpose he employed the Swiss, whose military might was renowned. He had admired it himself at the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs . War broke out between Charles and the Swiss after he invaded Switzerland. The invasion proved to be a tremendous mistake. On 2 March 1476, the Swiss attacked and defeated the Burgundians first at Grandson and then again

13200-560: The royal house of Savoy, Louis XI continuously courted a strong relationship with Francesco I Sforza , the Duke of Milan, who was a traditional enemy of Savoy. As a confirmation of the close relationship between Milan and the king of France, Sforza sent his son Galeazzo Maria Sforza to aid Louis XI in his war against the League of Public Weal in 1465 at the head of a large army. Later, differences arose between France and Milan that caused Milan to seek ways of separating itself from dependence on

13332-479: The rulers of England and his struggles with Maximilian of Austria , who married the heir of Charles the Bold, Mary of Burgundy , and wanted to keep her territorial inheritance intact. However, the death of the Duke of Burgundy in 1477, which conclusively settled the issue of Burgundy's position under the French throne, the conclusion of the Treaty of Picquigny with England in 1475 and the peaceful resolution in 1482 of

13464-426: The set of relationships examined by the series. Unexpected calamities disrupt weddings, childbirths, and other major life events with unusual frequency. As in comic books – another popular form of linear storytelling pioneered in the US during the 20th century – a character's death is not guaranteed to be permanent . On The Bold and the Beautiful , Taylor Hayes ( Hunter Tylo ) was shown to flatline and have

13596-425: The show was later renewed through September 2021. In 2022, NBC announced that Days of Our Lives would be moved exclusively to its streaming service, Peacock , making NBC the first of the big three networks not to air any daytime soap operas. In March 2024, CBS Studios , NAACP Venture , in partnership with P&G Studios announced that a new soap opera for CBS titled The Gates is in development and will be

13728-1535: The show's debut in January 1970 until it ended its network television run on ABC on September 23, 2011. Erika Slezak played Victoria Lord #3 on One Life to Live from 1971 until the show ended its network television run on ABC on January 13, 2012, and resumed the role in its short-lived online revival on April 29, 2013. Other actors have played several characters on different shows. Millette Alexander , Bernard Barrow , Doris Belack , David Canary , Judith Chapman , Keith Charles , Jordan Charney , Joan Copeland , Nicolas Coster , Jacqueline Courtney , Augusta Dabney , Louis Edmonds , Don Hastings , Larry Haines , Vincent Irizarry , Lenore Kasdorf , Teri Keane , Lois Kibbee , John Loprieno , Lori March , Maeve McGuire , Robert Mili , James Mitchell , Lee Patterson , Christopher Pennock , Antony Ponzini , William Prince , Rosemary Prinz , Louise Shaffer , Mary Stuart , Richard Thomas , Diana van der Vlis , Mary K. Wells , Lesley Woods and Michael Zaslow , among many others, have all played multiple soap roles. For several decades, most daytime soap operas concentrated on family and marital discord, legal drama and romance. The action rarely left interior settings, and many shows were set in fictional, medium-sized Midwestern towns. Social issue storylines were typically verboten when soaps were starting, due to heavy network-imposed censorship at that time, but writer and producer Agnes Nixon introduced these storylines slowly but surely, first in 1962 when

13860-501: The shows were aimed at – and consumed by – a predominantly female audience. Clara, Lu, 'n Em would become the first network radio serial of the type when it aired on the NBC Blue Network at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on January 27, 1931. Although it did not make the move until February 15, 1932, Clara, Lu 'n Em would become the first network serial of the type to move to a weekday daily timeslot, and so also became

13992-530: The shows were moved to the boulevards, mostly to the Boulevard du Temple which in the 19th century was nicknamed the Boulevard du Crime . It was also at the fairs and on the boulevards that Jean-Baptiste Nicolet 's troupe, the Grands-Danseurs du Roi , was born. Notes: Cited sources: Other sources: Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called " Louis

14124-429: The start of a new yearly broadcast. Evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode and present all storylines. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger. In 1976, Time magazine described American daytime television as "TV's richest market", noting

14256-471: The stories are similar to what happened to them in real life, or two, thank goodness that isn't me. Many long-running US soap operas established particular environments for their stories. The Doctors and General Hospital , in the beginning, told stories almost exclusively from inside the confines of a hospital. As the World Turns dealt heavily with Chris Hughes' law practice and the travails of his wife Nancy who, tired of being "the loyal housewife" in

14388-538: The success of the All My Children shoot. Soap operas Another World and Guiding Light both went to St. Croix in 1980, the former show culminating a long-running storyline between popular characters Mac, Rachel and Janice, and the latter to serve as an exotic setting for Alan Spaulding and Rita Bauer 's torrid affair. Search for Tomorrow taped for two weeks in Hong Kong in 1981. Later that year, some of

14520-533: The summer. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the Saint-Laurent Fair was scheduled to last from 9 August to 29 September. The alternation in the timing of the fairs allowed the public to follow their favorite shows and permitted the evolution of a kind of theatrical " soap opera ", where a play which began at Saint-Germain was continued at Saint-Laurent. A number of celebrated opéras comiques by François-André Danican Philidor were first performed at

14652-685: The supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows , which did receive an essentially complete release on both VHS and DVD; the single lost episode #1219 is reconstructed by means of an off-the-air audio recording, still images, and recap material from adjacent episodes). Soap opera performers in the United States are typically divided into two main groups: primary characters (sometimes referred to as "contract players" – as their portrayers signed contracts of employment – or leading characters) and secondary characters (sometimes referred to as recurring characters). These two groups of characters make up

14784-427: The tax system more efficient. He suppressed many of his former co-conspirators, who had thought him their friend, and he appointed to government service many men of no rank, but who had shown promising talent. He particularly favored the associates of the great French merchant Jacques Coeur . He also allowed enterprising nobles to engage in trade without losing their privileges of nobility. He eliminated offices within

14916-646: The territory in France from the North Sea in the north to the Jura Mountains in the south and from the Somme River in the west to the Moselle River in the east. During the Hundred Years War, the Burgundians allied themselves with England against the French crown. In 1429, young Louis found himself at Loches in the presence of Joan of Arc , fresh from her first victory over the English at

15048-401: The throne. The plan worked, and Edward was forced into exile in 1470, but he later returned to England in 1471. Warwick was then killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. King Henry VI was soon murdered afterwards. Now the undisputed master of England, Edward invaded France in 1475, but Louis was able to negotiate the Treaty of Picquigny , by which the English army left France in return for

15180-680: The time of his death in the Château de Plessis-lez-Tours , he had united France and laid the foundations of a strong monarchy. He was, however, a secretive, reclusive man, and few mourned his death. Despite Louis XI's political acumen and overall policy of Realpolitik , Niccolò Machiavelli criticized him harshly in Chapter 13 of The Prince , calling him shortsighted and imprudent for abolishing his own infantry in favor of Swiss mercenaries . Louis and Charlotte of Savoy had: Soap opera A soap opera , daytime drama , or soap for short,

15312-584: The time. With the resultant budget cuts, soap operas were no longer able to go on expensive location shoots overseas as they were able to do in the 1980s. During that decade, soap operas increasingly focused on younger characters and social issues , such as Erica Kane 's drug addiction on All My Children , the re-emergence of Viki Lord 's dissociative identity disorder on One Life to Live , and Stuart Chandler dealing with his wife Cindy dying of AIDS on All My Children . Other social issues included cancer , rape , abortion and racism . Several shows during

15444-515: The time—took place in the chapel of the castle of Tours on the afternoon of 25 June 1436, and was presided over by Renaud of Chartres, the Archbishop of Reims . The 13-year-old Louis clearly looked more mature than his 11-year-old bride, who was said to resemble a beautiful doll and was treated as such by her in-laws. Charles wore "grey riding pants" and "did not even bother to remove his spurs". The Scottish guests were quickly hustled out after

15576-520: The uprising in Liège. Louis then witnessed a siege of Liège in which hundreds were massacred. However, once out of Charles's reach, Louis declared the treaty invalid, and set about building up his forces. His aim was to destroy Burgundy once and for all. Nothing was more odious to Louis' dream of a centralized monarchy than the existence of an over-mighty vassal such as the Duke of Burgundy. War broke out in 1472. Duke Charles laid siege to Beauvais and other towns. However, these sieges proved unsuccessful;

15708-420: The vast majority of the people who appear on any given soap. There are also characters who appear only for a short time as dictated by a specific storyline, and even characters who may only get a first name and no fleshed-out character history with little dialogue (these are sometimes referred to as "under-5s" since they receive under five lines of dialogue in each episode). Due to the longevity of these shows, it

15840-503: The wedding reception, as the French royal court was quite impoverished at this time. They simply could not afford an extravagant ceremony or to host their Scottish guests for any longer than they did. The Scots, however, saw this behaviour as an insult to their small but proud country. Following the ceremony, "doctors advised against consummation" because of the relative immaturity of the bride and bridegroom. Margaret continued her studies, and Louis went on tour with Charles to loyal areas of

15972-502: The world from being frozen, brought a mobster down by finding his black book in a left-handed boy statue, and helped a princess find her Aztec treasure in Mexico . Other soap operas attempted similar adventure storylines, often featuring footage shot on location – frequently in exotic locales. During the 1990s, the mob, action and adventure stories fell out of favor with producers, due to generally declining ratings for daytime soap operas at

16104-524: Was Luke Spencer and Laura Webber on General Hospital . Luke and Laura helped to attract both male and female fans. Even actress Elizabeth Taylor was a fan and at her own request was given a guest role in Luke and Laura's wedding episode. Luke and Laura's popularity led to other soap producers striving to reproduce this success by attempting to create supercouples of their own. With increasingly bizarre action storylines coming into vogue, Luke and Laura saved

16236-406: Was a meeting place for artisans, merchants, and the middle class, and was held outdoors, while the Saint-Germain fair, sheltered from the weather, served as more of a showcase for luxury commodities (jewelry, china, musical instruments, prints). Many artists and performance troupes from the Saint-Germain fair also appeared at Saint-Laurent, as one fair happened in the spring and the other took place in

16368-408: Was briefly discussed that all ABC shows might do telenovela arcs, but this was rejected. Though U.S. daytime soap operas are not generally rerun by their networks, occasionally they are rebroadcast elsewhere; CBS and ABC have made exceptions to this, airing older episodes (either those aired earlier in the current season or those aired years prior) on major holidays when special event programming

16500-732: Was constantly tempted to take such a risk. In 1444, Louis led an army of " écorcheurs " (bands of mercenary soldiers) against the Swiss at the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs where he sought to reconquer territories of his future brother-in-law, Sigismund of Austria-Tyrol. He won only one victory before suing for peace. He failed to achieve his original objective. He still quarreled with his father. His objectionable scheming, which included disrespectful behavior directed against his father's beloved mistress Agnès Sorel , caused him to be ordered out of court on 27 September 1446 and sent to his own province of Dauphiné . He lived mainly in Grenoble , in

16632-411: Was frequently a key player in their storylines. Days of Our Lives initially focused on Dr. Tom Horton and his steadfast wife Alice. The show later branched out to focus more on their five children. The Edge of Night featured as its central character Mike Karr, a police detective (later an attorney), and largely dealt with organized crime. The Young and the Restless first focused on two families,

16764-468: Was impossible. Though all serials have long switched to being taped, extensive post-production work and multiple takes, while possible, are not feasible due to the tight taping schedules and low budgets. The first daytime TV soap opera in the United States was These Are My Children in 1949, though earlier melodramas had aired in the evenings as once-a-week programs. Soap operas quickly became

16896-589: Was interred in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Cléry in Cléry-Saint-André in the Arrondissement of Orléans . His widow, Charlotte, died a few months later, and is interred with him. Louis XI was succeeded by his son Charles VIII, who was thirteen years of age. Louis' eldest daughter, Anne , became regent on Charles' behalf. Eager to obtain information about his enemies, Louis created, from 1464,

17028-645: Was possessed by the devil, and in 1998, Guiding Light featured a cloning storyline involving legacy character Reva Shayne . Modern U.S. daytime soap operas largely stay true to the original soap opera format. The duration and format of storylines and the visual grammar employed by U.S. daytime serials set them apart from soap operas in other countries and from evening soap operas. Stylistically, UK and Australian soap operas, which are usually produced for early evening timeslots, fall somewhere in between U.S. daytime and evening soap operas. Similar to U.S. daytime soap operas, UK and Australian serials are shot on videotape, and

17160-546: Was succeeded by his minor son Charles VIII . Louis was born in Bourges on 3 July 1423, the son of King Charles VII of France and Marie of Anjou . At the time of the Hundred Years War , the English held northern France, including the city of Paris, and Charles VII was restricted to the centre and south of the country. Louis was the grandson of Yolande of Aragon , who was a force in the royal family for driving

17292-501: Was very attached to her. She died childless at the age of 20 in 1445. In 1440, Louis, aged 16, took part in an uprising known as the Praguerie , which sought to neutralize Charles and install Louis as regent of France. The uprising failed, and Louis was forced to submit to the king, who chose to forgive him. In this revolt, Louis came under the influence of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon , whose troops were in no condition to mount such

17424-405: Was very much connected with the French throne, but because the central government lacked any real power, all the duchies of France tended to act independently. In its position of independence from the French throne, Burgundy had grown in size and power. By the reign of Louis's father Charles VII, Philip the Good was reigning as duke of Burgundy, and the duchy had expanded its borders to include all

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