Jean-Claude Castex

Who would have thought that the Battle of Hastings would somehow trigger a Thousand Years' War between France and England ? This interminable vendetta, interspersed with more or less brief truces, sowed desolation in both countries and cost millions of lives to several nations: the French, of course, but also the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish, the English, and above all the Germans, who supplied hundreds of thousands of mercenaries to England as this Country built up its merchant Empire. But it is unlikely that William the Bastard (later William the Conqueror) who commanded this invading French Army, would have resisted his ambition to seize the English Crown, even if he could foreseen that his choice would result in such a bloodbath. The present alphabetical directory is intended to provide an inventory of French-English battles in the early Middle Ages, from the French invasion of England (1066) to the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War,

Love and hate were once the main purveyors of the gallows. The tragic fates of three women executed by hanging in the days of New France and the United-Canada bear witness to this. Reconstructing the events from historical articles and, above all, from the Ottawa Criminal Archives, the author recounts these little-known stories that animated the lives of former Canadians: -The crime and hanging of a young Montreal slave, Marie-Joseph Ang lique, who, out of hatred, set fire to half the city of Montreal in 1734. -the murders perpetrated by the legendary Marie-Josephte Corriveau, and her execution in 1763, on the very spot where Quebec's National Assembly now stands. -the crimes committed by Marie-Anne Crispin, the murder of her husband and that of her lover's wife, as well as her problematic death on the gallows with her accomplice in 1858, which provoked an extremely violent riot in the streets of Montreal. This plunge into the heart of the crimes, trials and executions gives us an unusual opportunity to relive a part of Quebec's judicial History.

Three children are willingly reduced to miniature size by a Native American sorcerer. They decide to travel from Newfoundland to Canada's West Coast on the backs of wild geese. They are pursued by two mean birds eager to do them harm... thrilling adventures enhanced by local legends in each of the ten provinces. Meet Caroline, Valerie, and their brother in these adventures. It will be a valuable roadmap to guide your children over the next few years. The author addresses a broad spectrum of essential life skills, ranging from emotional intelligence to setting goals and taking responsibility. It equips kids with the necessary tools to navigate the world around them.

An anthology of memories from a whole life. This old man's memory remains a source of enrichment for those who know how to read between the lines, an invigorating experience. Feeling that the programmed obsolescence of his life, which had already destroyed the motor faculties of his body, was beginning to ravage his mind and the memories of his existence, the narrator endeavored to revisit his distant past, to dust off the already infected storehouses of his life, to unearth some of the more salient memories.

This book is a critical edition of the French, American, and English motivations during the American War of Independence, because ''where there is no freedom of blaming, there can be no genuine praise''. (Beaumarchais). The American Revolution is in full swing. Deep in their hearts, the Canadians of the defunct New France will take advantage of the opportunity to free themselves from the English occupiers. But does France care about recovering this immense territory? For the first time without allies against France, England collapses in defeat under the applause of other European powers: Prussia, Austria, Spain, Russia, the Netherlands... Why didn't the French take advantage of this to take back New France from the humiliated England? From diplomatic documents, the author delivers in this book the key to this fascinating enigma.

Are you opposed to death penalty? If you are in favor, it is likely that reading this book will convince you to oppose it because of the statistically inevitable miscarriages of justice. This work in two volumes brings to life fourteen women, with their strengths and weaknesses, their inexpiable crimes and their inhuman punishments, their guilt or their innocence. They are the only Canadian women who died by Court Order in what is now our great country. The motives for these female crimes are particularly noteworthy: extramarital love was the main motive, theft and religious discrimination in two cases, and revenge in one. Among the 699 men who were sentenced to death, the order of motives was totally reversed, and drunkenness was more frequent than love passion. All of these criminal investigations are based on the Federal Archives of Justice in Ottawa.

In these pages, the author has tried to bring to life some of the Canadian women sentenced to death and hanged for crimes through the centuries. Some were unjustly hanged. Thus all these women victims of the gallows can still proclaim their innocence beyond the tombstone, after centuries of silence. For, some of them are certainly entitled to convince us that they were, alas, victims of judicial errors and that their lives were unduly confiscated for the simple satisfaction of a vain Prosecutor who wished to build a prestigious career without the slightest failure. Others owe their execution to the carelessness of an inexperienced or inept lawyer. Bringing all these women out of oblivion was the best tribute the author could offer them, for all of them have suffered, and as such deserve our benevolent indulgence.

Un vieillard raconte quelques souvenirs de sa longue vie, tout au long de vingt nouvelles (short stories). Les souvenirs de cet homme restent une source d'enrichissement. Dans cet ouvrage, il plonge dans des impressions intimes qui l'ont mene a un voyage encore plus grand : celui que l'on fait en soi.

Durant la Guerre d'IndZpendance amZricaine s'affrontent la France et l'Angleterre. Au fond de leur coeur, les Canadiens-Fran ais esp rent que la France va reprendre le Canada. Pour la premi re fois sans alliZs dans une guerre contre la France, l'Angleterre s'Zcroule dans une dZfaite humiliante sous les applaudissements des autres puissances europZennes: Prusse, Autriche, Espagne, Russie, Pays-Bas... Pourquoi les Fran ais ne profitent-ils pas de leur Zclatante victoire pour rZcupZrer le Canada ? partir de documents diplomatiques, l'auteur livre dans cet ouvrage la clZ de cette Znigme passionnante. Jean-Claude Castex scrute et dZcortique la RZvolution amZricaine pour nous en faire savourer 'la substantifique moelle' comme l'aurait Zcrit le docte Rabelais.

L'auteur s'est efforce dans cet ouvrage en deux tomes de faire revivre toutes les femmes canadiennes mortes sur la potence afin de leur donner la chance unique de proclamer leur innocence, si tel etait le cas, apres des siecles de silence. Car certaines sont assurement en droit de nous convaincre qu'elles ont, helas, ete victimes d'erreurs judiciaires et que la vie leur a ete indument confisquee.