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France (Latin: Francia) is a country situated in Western Europe, which shares a border with, among others, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain.
As one of the most central and biggest powers on the European continent, France's social and political affairs have often been influenced by the Assassin Brotherhood and Templar Order since at least the Middle Ages. It was also notably the country where the Order of the Knights Templar, as a military order, was both founded and disbanded.
History[]
Isu Era[]
During the Isu Era, the First Civilization built at least two sites containing artifacts near the future location of Paris.[1] After the Great Catastrophe, the Isu were no more and their former slaves, the humans, spread across the world.[2]
Classical Antiquity[]
During the era of Classical Antiquity, France was known as Gaul and was populated by various Celtic tribes. Between 58 and 50 BCE, the Roman army led by the consul Julius Caesar fought a Gallic revolt led by the chieftain Vercingetorix.[3] Once defeated, the Gaul became a province of the future Roman Empire, which was secretly controlled by the Order of the Ancients.[4]
By the 1st century CE, the Hidden Ones, a secret Brotherhood dedicated to protecting the free will of humanity, arrived in Gaul to fight the influence of the Ancients. They installed at least four bureaus in northern Gaul.[5]
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  Aquilus watchuing over Lugdunum By 259 CE, the Liberalis Circulum, a group of Hidden Ones, established themselves in the capital of Roman Gaul, Lugdunum. This year, the Hidden One Accipiter led an Alemanni army in Gaul, fighting the Roman army. He entrusted to his cousin and Hidden One Aquilus the Ankh, a piece of Eden that could temporarily revive the dead. Aquilus returned to Lugdunum and gave the artifact to his father Lucius. The senator and Ancient Caïus Fulvus Vultur killed Lucius, taking the Piece of Eden to Rome. Aquilus avenged his father and took back the artifact to his home but was arrested with his wife Valeria by Roman guards to be executed.[6] At the same time, Accipiter negotiated with the Prefect of Lugdunum to spare his city against a ransom. The Hidden One tried to save his cousin but he was executed. Accipiter saved Valeria and entrusted her with the Ankh.[7] |
During the 3rd century, the presence of Christianity increased in Gaul. Denis, the bishop of Lutetia, found an Apple of Eden in an Isu Temple under the village of Catolacus. He used its power to convert the population to Christianity but the Roman authority arrested Denis, and after a long imprisonment, beheaded him. Someone recovered the Apple and encased it in his lantern known as the Head of Saint-Denis. He used its power to the populace, implementing false memories of Denis walking with his head in his hands to his resting place of Catolacus, before collapsing. Feeling polluted by the Apple, Denis' successor placed the lantern in the Temple.[8] Centuries later, Denis was canonized as a saint, Catolacus became known as Saint-Denis and a Basilica was built on the Isu Temple.[9]
In 423, after the death of the emperor Honorius, the Hidden Ones in Gaul decided to leave the province to join their brethren in Cologne. They sealed the Lutetia bureau and hid its key in the bureaus of Champlieu, Gisacum and Diodurum. However, some Hidden Ones remained in Gaul, staying in the region long after the fall of the Roman Empire.[5]
Middle Ages[]
Kingdom of Francia[]
In 481 CE, the Kingdom of Francia was established in Gaul by the Merovingian dynasty, five years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In 496, the King Clovis was anointed in the cathedral of Reims, establishing the tradition for all his successors.[10] In 630, the King Dagobert I founded the Abbey of Saint-Denis, which became one of the most important of its kind in France, with its abbots serving as advisors of the monarchy and the Basilica of Saint-Denis becoming the royal Necropolis.[11] By 800, the Kingdom became a part of the Carolingian Empire. Its King, Charlemagne, who was also a leader of the Order of the Ancients, was crowned emperor by the pope Leo III to twart the power of the Byzantine Empire. Decades later, when the Carolingian Empire was divided, the former Gaul became known as West Francia.[12]
Ragnar Lothbrok during the Siege of Paris
During the 9th century, Francia became the target of the Viking expansion across Europe. The capital Paris sustained an invasion led by the legendary Swedish king Ragnar Lothbrok in 845, resulting in the plunder and occupation of the city, which only came to an end when the king Charles the Bald gave the invaders 7,000 lives of silver and gold.[13]
By 886, a secretive group of religious zealots known as the Bellatores Dei believed that Francia had fallen into apostasy and sought to restore the state to order through Christian fanaticism. Led by Isidore Mercator, they searched to influence the troubled Emperor Charles the Fat who controlled all of the Carolingian Empire. To ensure their control, the Bellatores planned to kill Charles' wife Richardis who had great influence over him.[14] The Bellatores tried to excavate the Hidden Ones' bureaus in northern Francia but they stopped by the Hidden One Abbo Cernuus.[5]
During this period, Frankish Rebels composed of former soldiers and freedom fighters were led by Pierre to fight Charles' rule.[15] They allied with the Viking Elgring Clan which had settled in Melun. The Bellator Engelwin killed their jarl Sinric in his sleep and left his corpse to be taken by animals.[16] To avenge his brother's death, the jarl Sigfred planned a siege on Paris and sent his niece, Toka Sinricsdottir, to find other allies to assist them.[17] Among their allies were Rollo but also the jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir of the Raven Clan, who wanted to make a truce with Francia to not invade England.[16] Allying with the clan and the rebels, Eivor began to hunt the Bellatores, killing Engelwin.[18] She also killed the Bellator Euphrasia, saving Richardis in the process who became her ally.[19]
Paris burning during the Elgring clan's attack
Eivor attempted a truce with both the Count of Paris Odo and King Charles but as they refused, the Vikings decided to besiege Paris. Odo defended his city with the Bellatores Ebels and Gozlin.[20] The Vikings stormed in Paris and Eivor killed Ebels while Gozlin was left for dead. As Sigfred and his clan began to slaughter the civilians.[21] Eivor decided to stop the siege by making a truce with Odo. As the count refused to surrender, Eivor dueled. After being defeated, Odo accepted the truce but at this moment Charles arrived at the wall of Paris. He made peace with Sigfred, granting lordship over Rouen and Amiens and giving him an abundance of treasure. This deal enraged Odo after all the lives lost during the siege.[22] But Sigfred disappeared, leaving Toka as the leader of the Elgring clan.[23]
By 887, Odo tasked Eivor to investigate Richardis' welfare and to assassinate Charles as he wanted the throne. In his Villa of Amiens, a mad Charles was influenced by Gozlin to kill Richardis by trial by fire, but it proved unsuccessful due to "divine intervention" with the simultaneous rain and Eivor killed Gozlin.[24] After fighting Charles, Eivor locked him in his villa, sparing his life as Richardis tasked her.[25] Later Toka and Odo made a truce, and as Charles was deposed from the throne, Odo became the new king of Francia, breaking the influence of the Carolingian dynasty.[26]
Rise and fall of the Templars[]
In 1129, the Council of Troyes officialized the foundation of the Order of the Knights Templar, the new iteration of the Order of the Ancients. As a military order, the Templars became a powerful and wealthy faction at the time, building strongholds across Europe and the Middle East.[27] Their headquarters, the Temple, was built in Paris in 1240, becoming a city inside the city.[28]
During the 13th century, the French Assassins, the reformed Hidden Ones, also installed their headquarters in Paris, across the underground complex of the Sainte-Chapelle.[29] By the dawn of the 14th century, the Assassins planned to eliminate the Templars once and for all. In 1305, the Mentor Guillaume de Nogaret poisoned the pope Benedict XI to place Clement V as his puppet. As a counselor of King Philip IV of France, Nogaret manipulated the pope and the king into disbanding the Templars by accusing them of heresy.[30] In 1307, Philip ordered the arrest of the Templars, and the Assassins disguised as flemish mercenaries stormed the Temple led by Thomas de Carneillon. During the attack, Grand Master Jacques de Molay tasked his his advisor to hide a Sword of Eden and his Codex in his vault before he was arrested.[31] During his imprisonment at Chinon, De Molay hid the Heart of the sword in his cell while instructing nine of his lieutenants to drive the Order back underground.[10][32] In 1314, the Grand Master was burned at the stake in Paris before Philip and Clement. In his last word, the Templar cursed them, prophetizing they would die in the year, which indeed happened.[31]
Hundred Years' War[]
- Main article: Hundred Years' War
From 1337 to 1453, France became involved in the Hundred Years' War with England, the Houses of Valois and Plantagenet fighting for control over the French throne. England repeatedly led expeditions onto French soil, which took a huge toll on the economy and the nation's morale. In response, the French built the Bastille in the late 14th century to defend Paris from the English threat, playing a vital role in internal conflicts.[33] During the late part of the war, France was divided in three between the Eglish-Burgundy alliance and the House of Valois. North of France and Burgundy were both controlled respectively by the Templars John of Bedford and Philip III of Burgundy while South of France was under the ruled by the Dauphin Charles. The Templar Georges de la Trémoille was Charles' Grand Chambellan and plotted to bring peace for the Templar to control Charles.[10]
Charles' mother-in-law, Queen Yolande of Aragon, was the Mentor of the French Brotherhood and tasked the Assassins to find the young woman prophetized to save France to rally the army against the English. In 1429, they found her in the peasant Jeanne d'Arc who had a high rate of Isu DNA. With de Molay's Sword of Eden and Heart, she led French soldiers to victories, liberating Orléans from a siege and escorting Charles to Reims to be crowned. However, she failed to liberate Paris and in 1430, she was captured by the Templars at the siege of Compiègne. The Templars recovered the Sword of Eden and accused Jeanne of witchcraft. In 1431, as she was about to be burned in Rouen, the Assassins saved her, her follower Fleur taking her place on the stake to die with the heart. Her survival was kept a secret and she decided to don't resume her fight.[10]
Renaissance[]
Paris during the Renaissance
During the Renaissance, France was ruled by King Louis XII from his capital in Paris, though he was drawn away from the throne by his military conquests. During his absence, he left his foreign ministers in command, not knowing that they were working for the Borgia.[34]
In the early 1500s, a French Army, under the command of Octavian de Valois, was employed by Cesare Borgia, the Captain General of the Papal Armies, in order to help unite Italy under the Papal banner.[35]
Age of Enlightenment[]
During the Age of Enlightenment, France, in competition with Spain and England, sought to build up their Empire by capturing territories in Africa and, to a lesser extent, the West Indies.
France aided the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War: the Marquis de Lafayette served as George Washington's aide-de-camp from 1777, and the French Navy, under Admiral De Grasse, was instrumental in securing victory.[36]
French Revolution[]
- Main article: French Revolution
Eventually, numerous troubles in their homeland led to the French having their own revolution in 1789,[37][38] and control of France ultimately fell to one Napoleon Bonaparte, a skilled military Commander in possession of an Apple of Eden. From 1804 to 1815, Napoleon ruled over France and Western Europe as an Emperor.[39]
In 1848, a period of civil unrest and loss of work led laborers to revolt against the government. In June, people joined the riots against the French government, especially the parents of a young Pierrette Arnaud. However, the riots were unsuccessful as Arnaud's parents, along with others, were killed and buried in unmarked graves.[40]
Orsini Affair[]
- Main article: Orsini affair
On 14 January 1858, Emperor Napoleon III and his wife arrived at the theater opera of Rue le Peletier and were attacked by a collection of bombers, led by Italian rebel Felice Orsini,[41] who was aided and equipped by the mysterious figure, the "Magus."[42][43][44][45] Although the Emperor and his wife survived with little injuries, hundreds of civilian casualties occurred as a consequence. Unknown to most, Assassin Simeon Price, trained by the Parisian Brotherhood,[46] and Aurora Equestrian Troupe's acrobat Pierrette Arnaud stopped another bomb from exploding at the theater.[41] As a result, Orsini and his cohorts were executed as tensions grew between France and England, which pushed harsher government laws on its people.[47]
Belle Époque[]
After the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, France enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity which would last until 1914. Dubbed as 'Belle Époque', Paris underwent technological advances which led to increase in size, economic power as well as the improvement of life quality.[48]
In 1889, the construction of the Eiffel Tower was completed, with the landmark becoming the symbol of France's new engineering prowess and of the Époque itself.[48]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed II (first mentioned)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood novel (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel
- Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed III (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only)
- Freedom Cry (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Rogue (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Unity novel
- Assassin's Creed: Unity
- Assassin's Creed: Heresy
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Blood Brothers (flashback only)
- Echoes of History (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Siege of Paris
- Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Witches of the Moors
- Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy
- Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR (mentioned in Database entry only)
References[]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – It Belongs in a Museum
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
- ↑ Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt – [citation needed]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - The Siege of Paris - Hidden
- ↑ Assassin's Creed 2: Aquilus
- ↑ Assassin's Creed 3: Accipiter
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - Siege of Paris - Viking Expansion notes
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity - Dead Kings
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Assassin's Creed: Heresy
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity — Dead Kings – Database: Abbey of Saint Denis
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Database: Francia
- ↑ Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Blood Brothers
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – The Queen's Gambit
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Database: Frankish Rebels
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Warlord of Melun
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Strangers Bearing Gifts
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – The Rot in the Slums
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Sister of Sorrow
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Dark Before Dawn
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – The Siege of Paris (memory)
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – The Count of Paris
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Skal!
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Fire and Faith
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Madness of King Charles
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — The Siege of Paris – Victory
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Abstergo Files – File.0.02\Hst_Beginning
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Database: Temple
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Rebirth
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Database: Journal of Thomas de Carneillon, October 12, 1307
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 Assassin's Creed: Unity – The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Abstergo Files – File.0.06\Hst_VoxInExcelso
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Database: 21. Medieval
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Contracts
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
- ↑ Assassin's Creed III
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Initiates
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity - The King's Correspondence
- ↑ Assassin's Creed II – Glyphs
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 2
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 15
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 12
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 14
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 16
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 19
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 13
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy – Chapter 18
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 Assassin's Creed: Unity – Database: 19. Belle Époque
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