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Scourge

Alexithymia (, ə-LEK-sih-THY-mee-ə), also called emotional blindness, is a neuropsychological phenomenon characterized by difficulties processing or describing one's emotions. Alexithymia occurs in 5% of the general population, though it is more common for those with conditions such as autism (50%), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 42%), and cancer (37%). It is often associated with difficulties in attachment and interpersonal relations.

Being

Gisèle Pelicot (French: [ʒizɛl peliko] ; née Guillou, born 7 December 1952) is a French woman who became a feminist icon in 2024, when she waived her right to anonymity as the victim in a multiple rape case. Between 2011 and 2020, she was drugged and raped by her husband Dominique and dozens of other men while she was unconscious, mostly in the couple's home in Mazan. She only became aware of the abuse in 2020, when Dominique was arrested for upskirting women in a local supermarket and a police search of his computer equipment revealed images of her being raped. The case attracted international media attention and Gisèle's courage and determination to speak out on behalf of all victims of sexual assault won her international support and admiration. Her name was later included in the BBC's 2024 100 Women and the Financial Times list of the twenty‑five most influential women of the year. She was appointed a knight of the Legion of Honour on Bastille Day (14 July 2025). In February 2026, she published a co-written memoir.

Being

Julia Kristeva (; French: [kʁisteva]; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, Bulgarian: Юлия Стоянова Кръстева [ˈkrɤstɛvɐ]; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She has taught at Columbia University, and is now a professor emerita at Université Paris Cité. The author of more than 30 books, including Powers of Horror, Tales of Love, Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia, Proust and the Sense of Time, and the trilogy Female Genius, she has been awarded Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit, the Holberg International Memorial Prize, the Hannah Arendt Prize, and the Vision 97 Foundation Prize, awarded by the Havel Foundation. Kristeva became influential in international critical analysis, cultural studies and feminism after publishing her first book, Semeiotikè, in 1969. Her sizeable body of work includes books and essays that address intertextuality, the semiotic, and abjection, in the fields of linguistics, literary theory and criticism, psychoanalysis, biography and autobiography, political and cultural analysis, art and art history. She is prominent in structuralist and poststructuralist thought. Kristeva is also the founder of the Simone de Beauvoir Prize committee.

Land

Les Mées (French pronunciation: [le me] or [le mɛs]; Occitan: Lei Mès) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France.

Concept

The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gallo-Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of Western Europe following the breakup of the empire of Theodoric the Great. The dynastic name, medieval Latin Merovingi or Merohingii ("sons of Merovech"). The name derives from Salian King Merovech, the father of Childeric I. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, the Merovingians never claimed descent from a god, nor is there evidence that they were regarded as sacred. The Merovingians' long hair distinguished them from other Franks, who commonly cut their hair short. Later authors referred to the early 5th century Frankish kings as the "long-haired kings" (Latin reges criniti), and the Merovingians continued that tradition. A Merovingian whose hair was cut could not rule, and a rival could be removed from the succession by being tonsured and sent to a monastery. The Merovingians also used a distinct name stock. One of their names, Clovis, evolved into Louis and remained common among French royalty down to the 19th century. The first well-known Merovingian king was Childeric I (died 481). His son Clovis I (died 511) converted to Nicene Christianity, united the Franks and conquered most of Gaul. The Merovingians treated their kingdom as single yet divisible. Clovis's four sons divided the kingdom among themselves, and it remained divided until 679 with the exception of four short periods (558–561, 613–623, 629–634, 673–675). After that it was divided again only once (717–718). The main divisions of the kingdom were Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitaine. During the final century of Merovingian rule, the kings were increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role. Actual power was increasingly in the hands of the mayor of the palace, the highest-ranking official under the king. In 656, the mayor Grimoald I tried to place his son Childebert on the throne in Austrasia. Grimoald was arrested and executed; but his son ruled until 661, when the Merovingian dynasty was restored. When King Theuderic IV died in 737, the mayor Charles Martel continued to rule the kingdoms until his death in 741. The dynasty was restored again in 743, but in 751 Charles's son, Pepin the Short, deposed the last king, Childeric III, and had himself crowned, initiating the Carolingian dynasty.