In the early 1600s, Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, grew tired of the social scene in France and began hosting small events in her salon. In time, these events and others like it became highly fashionable, allowing intellectuals across various disciplines to exchange concepts and ideas on the basis of reason. Thus began the Age of Enlightenment.
Nearly 200 years later, King Louis XVI was beheaded by guillotine in the Place de la Concorde. 22 years after that, the tyrant Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled for the second time and sent to die off the coast of Africa.