French Literature and Thought in Credo: General

Officially French Republic, republic, 211,207 sq mi (547,026 sq km), W Europe. France is bordered by the English Channel (N), the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay (W), Spain and Andorra (SW), the Mediterranean Sea (S), Switzerland and Italy (SE), and Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium (NE).

Member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages).

Group of languages belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Italic languages). Also called Romanic. Among the more important Romance languages are Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Occitan, Rhaeto-Romanic, Romanian, and Spanish. The spread of some Romance languages to other parts of the world, especially the Western Hemisphere, accompanied the colonizing and empire-building of the mother countries of these languages, notably Spain, Portugal, and France.

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
I. Medieval to Early Modern
II. Early Modern to 20th Century

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
French literature, writings in medieval French dialects and standard modern French. Writings in Provençal and Breton are considered separately, as are works in French produced abroad (as at Canadian literature, French).

Learned society of France. It is one of the five societies of the Institut de France. The work of the French Academy has chiefly consisted of the preparation and revision of a dictionary (1st ed. 1694, 9th ed. 1992–) and of a grammar. The very conservative attitude of these books toward orthography, new words, and grammatical development has led to much criticism.

Cultural institution of the French state. Founded in 1795 by the Directory, it replaced five learned societies that had been suppressed in 1793 by the Convention.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Starting with the Gauls, to the rule of Charlemagne and the Carolingian dynasty, through the Capetian dynasty, the Hundred Years' War, and the emergence of France as a European power.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Struggles with the Habsburgs, wars of religion, Bourbon kings, expansion, wars of succession, the Seven Years' War, Louis XVI, French Revolution, First Republic, Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
End of the monarchy, First Republic, Reign of Terror, and emergence of Napoleon.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Brief restoration of the monarchy, Second Republic, Napoleon III, Third Republic, Dreyfus Affair, World War I and aftermath, World War II and fall of France, Vichy Government, Liberation.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Aftermath of World War II, Fourth Republic, Fifth Republic, and modern history.