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| 1679 |
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| The “man in the iron mask” became a prisoner in the Bastille. He died on Nov. 19, 1707, and his identity is still debated. | 1 |
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| 1680s |
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| Beginning of popular use of potato; fried potato stands in Paris. | 2 |
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| 1680–83 |
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| Chambers of Reunion—French courts determining French claims to various towns—met at Metz, Breisach, Besançon, and Tournay. Louis XIV's troops annexed several towns to France under the direction of these courts. | 3 |
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| 1680s |
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| Price fluctuations and famine sparked revolts and discontent in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Growing popular demands for government support against high food prices. | 4 |
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| 1681 |
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| France annexed Strasbourg. The Lanquedoc Canal completed. The latter linked the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. | 5 |
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| 1682 |
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| Louis XIV convoked an assembly of clergy that decided the pope had no right to involve himself in political affairs (See 1682). | 6 |
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| 1682 |
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| Versailles became the French seat of government. Louis XIV spent large amounts in creating a court that reflected his desire to be an absolute monarch. He then created a court society in which attendance at court by the aristocracy became necessary. | 7 |
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| 1685, Oct. 18 |
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| REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES. The exercise of the reformed religion in France was forbidden; children were to be educated in the Catholic faith. Emigration was prohibited, but more than 50,000 families (called Huguenots) emigrated to Holland, England (Spitalfields), Brandenburg, English North America, and South Africa. The Protestants of Alsace retained their freedom of worship. | 8 |
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| 1685 |
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| Slavery in French plantations encouraged the establishment of the slave-trading Guinea Company. A Code Noir required that plantation owners treat their slaves humanely, but it was often ignored in the colonies. | 9 |
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| 1686 |
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| France annexed Madagascar. | 10 |
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| 1687 |
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| Bishop Fénelon published his Traité de l'éducation des Filles. | 11 |
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| 1688–97 |
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| War of the League of Augsburg concluded by the Treaty of Ryswick (see (See 1697, Sept. 20)). | 12 |
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