The Louvre Museum was empty in the evening. The corridors were deserted, and only Georgiana and Bougainville's footsteps could be heard.
Along the way, they passed a portrait of Cardinal Richelieu.
In the secret court records Georgiana had seen since coming to this world, Richelieu had served as Louis XIII's foreign minister. He had frankly admitted that domestic weakness did not permit France to take even slightly resolute action internationally.
At the time, the United Provinces were in the midst of their struggle for independence. Most people's attention was focused there, and few noticed the relationship between Venice and the Holy Roman Empire.
The diplomatic incident had roughly gone like this: in 1612, Venice came into conflict with Archduke Ferdinand of Styria, a prince of the Habsburg dynasty and the future heir to the German emperor. Venice had always employed mercenaries. They recruited a group in the Swiss cantons of Bern and Zurich, but the men could only reach Venice by crossing Alpine passes controlled by the people of Grisons.
The tiny republic of Grisons did not belong to the Swiss Confederation. Years earlier, it had signed a treaty with Henry IV, guaranteeing that no army other than the French army could pass through without Paris's permission.
Louis XIII's mother was Mary de Medici. At the time, France's Bourbon family was already burdened by enormous debts. The Medici family's immense dowry not only helped the Bourbons repay those debts, but also brought large numbers of artists and Italian opera into France.
Mary de Medici was the true progenitor of the violin. At the time, opera was both an important means of diplomatic display, showcasing a nation's strength and power, and a comprehensive reflection of royal might. Staging an opera was immensely expensive, and the form itself had grown increasingly complex,