History: French monarchs

Upon returning from a hunting expedition, King Louis XIV feels a sharp pain in his leg. He begins to die, surrounded by loyal followers in the royal chambers.

After the death of Cardinal Mazarin, young king Louis XIV decides to assert his power to control the aristocracy.

How Louis XV, a young king loved by his people, sensitive to the artistic and intellectual turmoil of his century (that of the Enlightenment), will end his reign in decay and hatred? Only fifteen years after his death, it's the Revolution.

The dramatic events around the French king Louis XVI and the French crises in the late 1700's with no will to pay taxes, which led Louis XVI into an impossible situation as a king.

The retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 14 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

Follows the famed queen Marie Antoinette, who was the last queen of France before the French Revolution.

In 1667, 28-year-old all-powerful king of France, Louis XIV, decides to build the greatest palace in the world - Versailles. But drained budget, affairs and political intrigues complicate things.

The cruel King Louis XIV of France has a secret twin brother whom he keeps imprisoned. Can the twin be substituted for the real king?

Young Charlemagns is placed on the Frankish throne in the middle of the 8th Century A.D. Despite having many powerful enemies he slowly unites the nations of Western Europe and rebuilds civilization on the ruins of the Roman Empire.

Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.

A masterful soldier, tactician, and statesmen, Napoleon Bonaparte, with courage and love for his country, rises from an unpaid general consumed with ambition to the most powerful man in Europe. But his life ends with a fall and exile.

The story of Marquise De Prie, the wife of Marquis De Savoy and the mistress of King Louis XV.

Nicolas le Floch, doubly a comissaire with the King's Police and the Marquis de Ranreuil, solves crimes during the reign of Louis XV.

Under the Regency of Philippe d'Orleans, Cartouche sees his bride murdered by La Reynie, the future chief of police. Eight years later, Cartouche has become a Robin-Hood-like character loved by the people and a cause of concern to the powerful. Along with his entourage (La Guigne, Timour, Isabelle and the Marquis), he becomes a legend by distributing to the poor part of the booty taken from the nobility. One day he attacks the leutenant-general of police, Minister d'Argenson, then the Regent himself, who vows to make him pay. Meanwhile, Juliette, the fiancee of d'Argenson and the sister of La Reynie, sees the good work of Cartouche and starts to help him secretly. Loosely based on the life of Louis Dominique Garthausen (1693 - 1721), also known as Cartouche, an eighteenth century French highwayman who reportedly stole from the rich and gave to the poor in and around Paris.

'Charlemagne' recounts the dramatic, violent and bawdy lie of the Middle Ages' most important emperor: His life as a political strategist, a passionate lover, a man that conquered most of Europe and a cultural visionary. The mix of feature film and documentary gives a journey to the roots of European culture.

Based on the novel of the same name by Maurice Druon, Les Rois maudits (The Cursed Kings) is the second television adaptation of this seven-volume book which is widely agreed to be an accurate representation of actual events. It is the early 1300's and the treasury of France, under the rule of Philippe IV (Philippe le Bel or Philippe the Beautiful), is empty. The king decides the only solution is to raid the treasures of the Knights Templar (amongst others) and concocts various charges of treason, heresy and deviance against the Knights and their Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Having confessed under torture to the crimes of which he is accused, de Molay is condemned to be burned at the stake. With his dying breath he curses the king, the king's advisor (Guillaume de Nogaret), the pope (Pope Clement V) and the thirteen succeeding generations of their families. There follows one of the most dramatic periods in French history, half a century of political intrigue, murder, treason, war and famine, which ultimately culminates in the 100 Years War.

Set during the reigns of the last five kings of the Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois, the series begins as the French King Philip the Fair, already surrounded by scandal and intrigue, brings a curse upon his family when he persecutes the Knights Templar. The succession of monarchs that follows leads France and England to the Hundred Years' War.

In the 15th century France, only one honest knight stands up on protection of a young noblewoman when she finds herself trapped in enmity between a king and a treacherous nobility.

During the French wars of religion, baron Malassise is dispatched by King Charles IX and his mother Catherine de Médicis to negotiate a peace treaty with representatives of Protestant cities.

Comedy set in the 16th century. Brantome is a soldier embroiled in the religious wars but more interested in women, and has many mistresses among the ladies of the royal court, although his heart belongs to just one, Victoire.

In the sixteenth century, a noblewoman has a love affair with the French King.

Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.

A wide-ranging, energetic period piece tracing the rise of the Protestant Henry of Navarre as he goes from battlefield warrior to France's beloved King Henri IV. Director Jo Baier's epic is a classically-entertaining adventure, albeit one with much bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. In late-16th-century France, Catholics and Protestant Huguenots are at war. Seemingly seeking peace, French dowager Queen Catherine de Medici summons Henry to her court to marry him to her daughter, which would unite the two warring factions. However, the Catholics slaughter the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and Henry--now married--must use all his guile to stay alive and maneuver for the throne.