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This concise, hand-picked list represents the indispensable "must known people", the Who's Who of French history and modern French society.
Monarchs
- Philip II Augustus (1165-1223), added the Counties of Artois, Valois, Amiens and most of Vermandois to the Royal domain; joined the 3rd crusade.
- Louis IX (1214-1270), crusader and Catholic saint (Saint Louis). The Île Saint-Louis in Paris and dozens of places in North America (including St. Louis, Missouri) are named after him.
- Philip IV "The Fair" (1268-1314), waged war with Flanders, added Lille and Douai to the Royal domain, and suppressed the order of the Knights Templar.
- Francis I (1494-1547), first Renaissance King of France, the Father and Restorer of Letters
- Henry IV (1553-1610), enacted the Edict of Nantes which guaranteed religious liberties to the Protestants.
- Louis XIV (1638-1715), known as The Sun King, had the longest reign of any major European monarch, increased the power and influence of France in Europe, and gave his name to Louisiana.
- Louis XV (1710-1774), ruled over one of the most prosperous age for France, but lost the colonies of India, Canada and most of Louisiana to Britain.
- Louis XVI (1754-1793), last absolute King of France, was decapitated during the French Revolution.
- Napoleon I (1769-1823), first Emperor of the French, exported the ideas of the French Revolution throughout Europe,
- Napoleon III (1808-1873), expanded the French colonial empire and supervised the industrial revolution.
Politicians
- Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838), diplomat under Louis XVI, Napoleon I, Louis XVIII and Louis-Philippe.
- Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929), WWI statesman and major player in the Treaty of Versailles
- Henri Philippe Pétain (1856-1951), WWI hero, marshal of France, leader of Vichy France during WWII and collaborator with the Nazi regime.
- Jean Jaurès (1859-1914), socialist politician and pacifist.
- Aristide Briand (1862-1932), Prime Minister of France and Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.
- Jean Monnet (1888-1979), architect of European Unity.
- Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), French military leader during WWII and French president from 1959 to 1969.
- François Mitterrand (1916-1996), president of France from 1981 to 1995.
- Jacques Delors (1925-), President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995.
- Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1926-), president of France from 1974 to 1981.
- Jacques Chirac (1932-), president of France from 1995 to 2007.
- Nicolas Sarkozy (1955-), president of France from 2007 to 2012.
- François Hollande (1954-), president of France since 2012.
Authors, Playwrights & Poets
- François Rabelais (1494-1553)
- Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585)
- Pierre Corneille (1606-1684)
- Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695)
- Molière (1622-1673)
- Marquise de Sévigné (1626-1696)
- Charles Perrault (1628-1703), author of numerous fairy tales, such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss-in-Boots or Bluebeard.
- Cyrano de Bergerac (1629-1655)
- Jean Racine (1639-1699)
- Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799)
- Marquis de Sade (1740-1814)
- François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848)
- Stendhal (1783-1842)
- Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869)
- Honoré de Balzac (1799-1950)
- Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), author of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and The Man in the Iron Mask.
- Victor Hugo (1802-1885), author of Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris
- George Sand (1804-1876)
- Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
- Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), author of Madame Bovary
- Jules Verne (1828-1905), author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days
- Émile Zola (1840-1902)
- Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898)
- Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
- Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
- Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)
- Paul Claudel (1868-1955)
- André Gide (1869-1951), Nobel Prize in literature in 1947.
- Marcel Proust (1871-1922)
- François Mauriac (1885-1970)
- Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)
- Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974)
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), author of The Little Prince
- Jacques Prévert (1900-1977)
- André Malraux (1901-1973)
- Albert Camus (1913-1960), Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.
Philosophers & Thinkers
- Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), Renaissance essayist and philosopher.
- René Descartes (1596-1650), dubbed the Father of Modern Mathematics and Founder of Modern Philosophy
- Montesquieu (1689-1755), social commentator and political thinker
- Voltaire (1694-1778), Enlightenment writer and defender of civil liberties
- Denis Diderot (1713-1784), philosopher & editor-in-chief of the Encyclopédie
- Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783), mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher.
- Condorcet (1743-1794), philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
- Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)
- Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
- Michel Serres (1930-)
- Bernard-Henri Lévy (1948-)
- André Comte-Sponville (1952-)
Inventors & Scientists
- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher.
- Buffon (1707-1788), , mathematician, biologist, cosmologist and author
- Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794), father of modern chemistry
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829), naturalist and an early proponent of the theory of evolution.
- Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), microbiologist and chemist, confirmed the germ theory of disease, created the first vaccine for rabies.
- Jacques Lacan (1901-1981), psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and doctor
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997), naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, scientist, photographer and researcher.
Painters
- Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
- Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
- Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (1755-1842)
- Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
- Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)
- Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
- Édouard Manet (1832-1883)
- Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
- Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)
- Claude Monet (1840-1906)
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
- Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894)
- Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
- Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Composers
- François Couperin (1668-1733)
- Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
- Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
- Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
- Georges Bizet (1838-1975)
- Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
- Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Musicians & Singers
- Édith Piaf (1915-1963)
- Georges Brassens (1921-1981)
- Charles Aznavour (1924-)
- Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991)
- Claude François (1939-1978)
- Johnny Hallyday (1943-)
- Mireille Mathieu (1946-)
- France Gall (1947-)
- Jean-Jacques Goldman (1951-)
- Mylène Farmer (1961-)
- Vanessa Paradis (1972-)
Actors, Actresses & Filmmakers
- Jean Gabin (1904-1976), actor and war hero.
- Jean Marais (1913-1998), actor.
- Louis de Funès (1914-1983), comic actor.
- Yves Montand (1921-1991), actor.
- Michel Galabru (1924-), actor.
- Jeanne Moreau (1928-), actress and film director.
- Jean-Luc Godard (1930-), filmmaker and one of the most influential members of the "French New Wave".
- Jean Rochefort (1930-), actor.
- François Truffaut (1932-1984), filmmaker, screenwriter, director, producer and actor.
- Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933-), actor.
- Pierre Richard (1934-), comic actor and film director.
- Brigitte Bardot (1934-), actress, former fashion model, nationalist, singer, animal rights activist.
- Alain Delon (1935-), actor
- Claude Lelouch (1937-), film director, writer and producer.
- Catherine Deneuve (1943-), actress.
- Gérard Depardieu (1948-), actor.
- Jean Reno (1948-), actor.
- Daniel Auteuil (1950-), actor.
- Gérard Jugnot (1951-), actor.
- Thierry Lhermitte (1952-), actor.
- Christian Clavier (1952-), actor.
- Isabelle Adjani (1955-), actress.
- Emmanuelle Béart (1963-), actress.
- Juliette Binoche (1964-), actress, artist and dancer.
- Valérie Lemercier (1964-), actress and filmmaker.
- Sophie Marceau (1966-), actress.
- Audrey Tautou (1978-), actress.
- Eva Green (1980-), actress.
Chefs
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