The Carthusians were a religious order instituted by Saint Bruno in 1084. He built several hermitages four leagues from Grenoble in south-east France, and, with six companions, united the ascetic with the monastic life. They practised the greatest abstinence, wore coarse garments, and ate only vegetables and the coarsest bread. From their original seat they were called Carthusians. Their fifth general, Guigo (died 1137), prescribed, besides the usual monastic vows, eternal silence and solitude. In the following centuries they received additional statutes, which forbade altogether the eating of flesh, and allowed them to speak only during certain hours on Thursdays and the days on which the chapter met. With increasing wealth some modifications were introduced in their silent and solitary life. Their habit is a hair-cloth shirt, a white tunic, a black cloak, and a cowl. The Carthusians were introduced into England about 1180, and built the Charterhouse (a name corrupted from Chartreuse) in 1371. Their chief house was long La Grande Chartreuse. Research Carthusians
The La Grande Hermine was a French galleon-type sailing ship of 120 tons displacement built around 1534 and used as the flagship of the explorer Jacques Cartier on his expeditions to Canada in 1535 and 1536 in which he discovered and named St Lawrence's bay. The La Grande Hermine had three masts, the fore and main square-rigged the mizzen lateen-rigged, carried a crew of 112 and was armed with 12 guns. Research La Grande Hermine
The cancan is a soft-porn, high kicking dance which originated during the 19th century in the polka grdens of the Rue de la Grande-Chaumiere, in the Montmart region of Paris, France, but which became famous after being staged in the Moulin Rougedance hall. Tame by today's standards, at the end of the 19th century the sight of lady dancers revealing their frilly underwear was a shocking and exciting spectacle to the spectators. Research Cancan
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