Only in 1576 did Jean Bodin, a French political thinker, assure Europe that the king, and he alone, was boss.

ECONOMIST: Millennium issue: RIGHTS

Over the centuries, its guests have included the Marquise de Sevigne, whose letters documented 17th-century French society, and Enlightenment thinker and encyclopedist Denis Diderot.

FORBES: Provencal Retreat