Secrets of History (Doc Series)

A 2021 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stéphane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles (Click on CC for subtitles). The Beast of Gévaudan is said to have claimed over 100 victims in just three years. Mutilated, dismembered, and even decapitated, the bodies, often those of children, were found in the Gévaudan region of southern Auvergne. Yet the mystery remains unsolved. Was it a wolf, a human, or a monster? Distraught, the peasants petitioned King Louis XV to organize hunts, but to little avail. And it was ultimately Jean Chastel who supposedly killed the beast...But can we be sure? Join Stéphane Bern as he tracks the Beast of Gévaudan in this gripping investigation!

A 2014 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stéphane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. Cardinal Jules Mazarin (14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis XIV from 1642 to his death. In 1654, he acquired the title Duke of Mayenne and in 1659 that of 1st Duke of Rethel and Nevers. After serving as a papal diplomat for Pope Urban VIII, Mazarin offered his diplomatic services to Cardinal Richelieu and moved to Paris in 1640. After the death of Richelieu in 1642, Mazarin took his place as first minister and then of Louis XIII in 1643. Mazarin acted as the head of the government for Anne of Austria, the regent for the young Louis XIV. Mazarin was also made responsible for the king's education until he came of age. The first years of Mazarin in office were marked by military victories in the Thirty Years' War, which he used to make France the main European power and establish the Peace of Westphalia (1646–1648). A major uprising against Anne of Austria and Mazarin, called the Fronde and led by the nobles of the Parliament of Paris, broke out in Paris in 1648, followed by a second Fronde, led by Louis, Grand Condé, who had turned from his chief ally to his chief enemy. Mazarin took Anne of Austria and Louis XIV out of Paris and then shifted his base to Germany for a time. Turenne, a general loyal to Louis XIV and Mazarin, defeated Condé, and Mazarin made a triumphal return to Paris in 1653. The last years of Mazarin's life, between 1657 and his death in 1661, were marked by a series of major diplomatic victories. In 1657 he made a military alliance with England. In 1658 he unveiled the League of the Rhine, a new group of 50 small German principalities, which were now linked by a treaty with France. The same year, Marshal Turenne decisively defeated the army of Condé at the Battle of the Dunes in Flanders. Between February and June 1659, Mazarin conducted intensive negotiations with the Spanish. On 7 November 1659, Spain signed the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which added Artois, the Cerdagne and Roussillon as new provinces of France. That was followed in June 1660 by an even more important diplomatic event that had been carefully arranged by Mazarin, the marriage of Louis XIV with Maria Theresa of Spain. The marriage took place in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The couple made a triumphant entry into Paris on 26 August 1660. The marriage and accompanying agreements ended, at least for a time, the long and costly wars between the Habsburgs and France. Exhausted by his diplomatic efforts, Mazarin died in 1661. Mazarin, as the de facto ruler of France for nearly two decades, played a crucial role in establishing the Westphalian principles that would guide European states' foreign policy and the prevailing world order. Some of the principles, such as the nation state's sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs and the legal equality among states, have remained the basis of international law to this day. In addition to his diplomacy, Mazarin was an important patron of the arts. He introduced Italian opera on a grand scale to Paris and assembled a remarkable art collection, much of which today can be seen in the Louvre. He also founded the Bibliothèque Mazarine, the first true public library in France, which is now found in the Institut de France, across the Seine from the Louvre.

A 2022 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stephane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. Who was hiding behind the "Iron Mask", the most famous prisoner of Louis XIV's France? Who decided to isolate this man by depriving him of all contact and all exits? What serious fault, what crime did he commit to suffer this punishment that no one before him had received? Writers like Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas and Marcel Pagnol largely contributed to forging the legend. No less than 50 hypotheses exist about the identity of the man behind this emblematic mask. In turn, we evoke a lover who is too imposing, a hidden son, a minister who is too greedy, or even a twin brother of royal blood, who risks having ambitions.

A 2022 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stéphane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. Stéphane Bern invites us to discover one of the most fiery heroes in French history, Count Charles de Batz de Castelmore, better known as d'Artagnan. Who has never heard of the adventures of this musketeer in the blue jacket immortalized by Alexandre Dumas? It is from the department of Gers, in the castle where d'Artagnan was born at the beginning of the 17th century, that Stéphane Bern begins his investigation, discovering this character full of panache. How does this original Gascon manage to join the prestigious company of musketeers, this elite unit within which he will meet those who will become his lifelong friends, Atos, Portos and Aramis?

A 2014 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stéphane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. Louis IX, also called Saint Louis, is the only king to have been canonized in 1297, only twenty-seven years after his death. In this Secrets of History episode, Stéphane Bern follows in the footsteps of Louis IX. Guided by an unshakeable faith, attentive to his people, Saint-Louis profoundly modified the judicial institutions of the kingdom, thus forging a reputation as a just king.

A 2021 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stéphane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. On March 11, 1314, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, perished on a pyre set up in Paris, before the eyes of King Philip IV, called Philip the Fair (French: Philippe le Bel), responsible for his fall. Stéphane Bern reviews the circumstances of this event, which marks the end of a two-century-old order and remains shrouded in mystery.

A 2016 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stephane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The illegitimate daughter of a seamstress, she landed in Louis XV's bed at the age of 25. A beautiful young woman, expert in the games of love breathes new life into a depressive Louis XV’s court and bed when he falls madly in love with her.

A 2014 TV5Monde History Documentary hosted by Stephane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. Everyone recognises the name of Charlemagne, the Carolingian king said to have invented schools, yet few know very much about his life. Delve into the heart of the 8th century to discover Charles I, the Great, known as Charlemagne, and how he turned his small kingdom into an empire.

A 2022 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stéphane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. No one in the kingdom could match Louis II de Bourbon-Condé. Blood prince and military hero, he is at the top of the state. But the hatred he harbors against cardinal Mazarin pushes him to join the enemies of his cousin, the Sun King. He then decides to join the Fronde to overthrow the government and become prime minister, which will cause his downfall. At the end of the civil war, Louis XIV condemned him to exile and removed all his titles. Discover how this rebellious prince was forgiven. Follow Stéphane Bern at the Grand Condé, at the Château de Chantilly, to relive the sumptuous dinner during which the famous maître d'hôtel Vatel committed suicide, to save his honor.

A 2021 France TV History Documentary hosted by Stéphane Bern. Audio in French with English subtitles. Stéphane Bern follows in the footsteps of Richard I of England, the famous Richard the Lionheart. From the castles of Périgord to the fortress of Chalus, via Sicily or the Holy Land, it recounts the destiny of this sovereign, a model knight, raised in Poitiers and son of the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine.