Dressed in more modest clothes, Marie created an idyllicand expensivesecond life, away from both the prying eyes of courtiers and the realities of the growing unpopularity of both Marie and Louis among the French people. Uncover the reality behind Marie-Antoinette's famous phrase, Let them eat cake, This article was most recently revised and updated by, Early life and role in the court of Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette (-Josphe-Jeanne dAutriche-Lorraine) summary. A baby boy, named James, had already been born. You decide. Scientists are still working to discover the exact cause of the condition, which might be brought on by severe stress leading to a rare form of alopecia. The French Revolution would tear Franceand Maries familyapart, leading to the deaths of Louis, Marie, and one of their sons. Updated: August 21, 2018 | Original: November 9, 2009. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. In 1781, Marie gave birth to Louis-Joseph, who became his fathers heir, a role known as the dauphin. Her husband Peter, the cruel, mentally ill heir to the Romanov throne, followed suit. In April 1792, partly as a way to test the loyalties of the king and queen, the Jacobin (radical revolutionary) government declared war on Austria. Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France who helped provoke the popular unrest that led to the French Revolution and to the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792. Marie Leszczyska - Wikipedia In January 1793, the radical new republic placed King Louis XVI on trial, convicted him of treason, and condemned him to death. It took a few minutes before anyone even noticed the Queen was unconscious. What Marie Antoinette was actually like was beside the point; the image of the queen was far more influential than the woman herself. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us. Lamballe refused to take an oath against the monarchy, and on September 3, 1792, she was delivered to the hands of a Parisian mob; they cut off her head and paraded it on a pike outside Marie-Antoinettes windows. Marie, now known as Marie Capet, was kept under strict surveillance, but it didnt stop her from continuing to plot her escape. Perhaps no birth was more hotly anticipated than Queen Marie Antoinettes first baby in 1778. Outside the palace a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed. In more than one sense, Marie-Antoinette was a victim of circumstance. The young couple soon came to symbolize all of the excesses of the reviled French monarchy, and Marie Antoinette herself became the target of a great deal of vicious gossip. Louis-Charles was locked in a dark, fetid chamber where he was fed meager rations, prevented from seeing any outside visitors, and physically abused by his jailers. The negotiations for the marriage contract were intense. 2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. These Royal Family Feuds Are Full of Drama. In July 1793, she lost custody of her young son, who was forced to accuse her of sexual abuse and incest before a Revolutionary tribunal. Reports of the same mysterious condition have appeared elsewhere in history, most notably, to English scholar and author Sir Thomas More, who ran afoul of King Henry VIIIs efforts to reform the Anglican Church during the English Reformation. In fact, the story of a fatuous noblewoman who said Let them eat cake! appears in the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Confessions, which was written around 1766 (when Marie Antoinette was just 11 years old). Royal courts were notoriously gossipy, none more-so than intrigue-filled Versailles, and Marie and Louis were harangued with advice and criticism about their supposed biological failure. Maries brother was even dispatched to give the young king some step-by-step sexual advice. Louis XVI was executed on orders from the National Convention in January 1793, and in August the queen was put in solitary confinement in the Conciergerie. But they remain uncertain whether its medically possible for such a sudden and drastic change to occur so quickly. But she was also a devoted mother to her. The future Catherine the Great of Russia would not have the consolation of her child to make up for her horrendous delivery. Empress of the French1791-1847. The True History Behind PBS' 'Marie Antoinette' Series | History In 1853, Queen Victoria shocked many when she used chloroform to relieve her pain during the birth of Prince Leopold. More than 5,000 guests watched as the two teenagers were married. The reign of Louis XVI, the final Bourbon king of France, was a varied and eventful one, but when we think of him and his queen Marie Antoinette, certain associations inevitably pop into our. However, there is no evidence that Marie Antoinette actually uttered these words, and historians generally agree that such a heartless comment would have been highly uncharacteristic of the French queen. Marie Antoinettes ambiguous attitude at the outbreak of the French Revolution she seemed uncertain whether to run away or seek reconciliation accelerated her tragic demise. Marie Antoinette was the wife of King Louis XVI of France. Corrections? Immediately after Catherine delivered her son Paul on a small, hard mattress, Empress Elizabeth whisked the new heir away. The queen remained wary of Barnave and the Feuillants, and, although she acquiesced in the kings acceptance of the constitution in September 1791, she warned Leopold II that she was not in favour of either their domestic or foreign policy. During this time the queen had been deprived of the company of many of her most intimate friends, as they had emigrated after the fall of the Bastille, but she continued to display great personal courage that sustained the royal family both then and throughout its later disasters. In 1774, when her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI, she became queen. The young couple then attended the ambassadors reception before going to the Hall of Mirrors which was lit up for the occasion and where the kings Game was held. Royalty Louis XVI Louis XVI was the last king of France (1774-92) in the line of Bourbon monarchs preceding the French Revolution of 1789. Spanish actors and musicians danced a ballet beneath the royal windows, with harps but also guitars and castanets to remind Marie-Therese of her native land, Antonia Fraser writes in Love and Louis XIV. (Despite von Fersens repeated attempts to stage other rescue attempts, he saw Marie Antoinette only once more before her death.) In all the excitement, the Queen herself was practically an afterthought. Marie Antoinette, the 15th child of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and the powerful Habsburg empress Maria Theresa, was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755an age of great instability for European monarchies. The Palace of Versailles benefited from the France Relance plan. Though the queen had supported Jacques Neckers return to power at the end of August 1788 and had approved of the concession of double representation to the Third Estate, her unpopularity was at its height when the Estates-General convened at Versailles in May 1789. Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793, in Paris. Marie Antoinette with her two eldest children, Marie-Thrse-Charlotte and dauphin Louis-Joseph, The Human Side of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. She likely first met Swedish diplomat Axel von Fersen at a ball at Versailles in 1774, shortly before she became queen, and they became close following his return to France in 1778. Why Royal Women Gave Birth in Front of Huge Crowds for Centuries She was also often known to interfere in the choice of her dresses or hairstyles, ignoring the lady-in-waiting whose job this was, and going so far as to receive the milliner Rose Bertin, nicknamed rather maliciously the Minister of Fashion. Barnave and the Lameth brothers were anxious to check the progress of republicanism and to bring the Revolution to a close, and they gathered like minds under the banner of the Club of the Feuillants. First visit by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, 1777. Marie Antoinette Courage! One of the underlying causes of the French Revolution, the disastrous marriage between Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, has been brought down to size by a meticulous investigation into the. A History of the Palace of Versailles, Jewel of the Sun King - ThoughtCo Marie Antoinette would beg to differ. She was 37 years old when she died in 1793. It was the beginning of Marie Antoinettes life in the public eye. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images, https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/marie-antoinette. She arrived at the French Court aged only fifteen. Marie Antoinette enjoyed entertainment and was influential in choosing shows to be put on at Court. Marie-Antoinette spent the remainder of her life in Parisian prisons. She demonstrated great courage during her trial before the Revolutionary Tribunaland at her execution on 16October 1793 on what is now the Place de la Concorde. The 11th daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, Marie-Antoinette was just 14 years old when she was married to the dauphin Louis, grandson of Frances King Louis XV, on May 16, 1770. In 1777, word had reached Marie Antoinettes mother that her daughter and Louis XVI hadnt yet consummated their marriage. Under the influence of her mother, Marie Antoinette made some clumsy attempts to get involved in politics, which were met with scorn by the Court. Louis XVI wasnt the only man in Marie Antoinettes life. How did Marie-Antoinette come to power? The scandal discredited the monarchy and encouraged the nobles to vigorously oppose (178788) all the financial reforms advocated by the kings ministers. She was convicted and sent to the guillotine on October 16, 1793. Tragedy struck less than a year later, when Sophie, who had been born prematurely, died. This incident, it seemed to many, was proof that the queen was not just a foreigner: She was a traitor. In the summer of 1789, Marie and Louis were devastated when 7-year-old heir Louis-Joseph died. The Wife Of Louis XIV, Maria Theresia of Spain; born September 10, 1638 in the Escorial near Madrid; died July 30, 1683 in Versailles, was a European noblewo. (The cause was helped by Louis XIVking of France from 1643 until 1715, noted hoarder of luxury goods, and the man who would be Marie Antoinette's grandfather-in-lawwho stamped his seal of . That September, King Louis XVI agreed to uphold a new constitution drafted by the Constituent National Assembly in return for keeping at least his symbolic power. Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI Struggled to Start a Family. At the end of May she seemed to have intervened little in politics, as she was distracted by the illness of her elder son, who died early in June. So Empress Maria Theresa immediately dispatched her son, Marie Antoinettes older brother Joseph II, to France to act as a sort of marriage counselor. The newlyweds both knew that Marie's primary duty . Her efforts, for example, to secure the return to power of tienne-Franois de Choiseul, duc de Choiseul, in 1774 were unsuccessful. This incident was all the more unfortunate for the queens reputation because, since the birth of her daughter Marie-Thrse-Charlotte in December 1778 and of the dauphin Louis in October 1781, she led a quieter and more conventional life. A marriage between the two royal houses had been planned since the early 1760s, but only came about in 1770. Some featured salacious cartoons and others dubbed her Madame Deficit. At the time, the French government was sliding into financial turmoil, and poor harvests were driving up grain prices across the country, making Marie Antoinettes fabulously extravagant lifestyle the subject of popular ire. On 19 April the wedding took place by proxy in Vienna, marrying the Dauphin and future Louis XVI, the grandson of Louis XV, to Marie-Antoinette, the youngest daughter of Maria-Theresa of Habsburg.On 16 May, the young Archduchess arrived at Versailles. Why Is Marie Antoinette so Controversial? - Carolyn Harris The couple wed in 1770 when she was just 14 and Louis just 15. She remains one of the most iconic characters in Versailles rich history. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Inside Marie Antoinette and Chevaliers Friendship, Marie Antoinette Portrayed as Feminist in New Show, personalities of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, French workers and peasants stormed the Bastille, https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us. Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793, and Marie Antoinette was executed on October 16, 1793. Musical Fountains Shows and Musical Gardens, Visit our app-promotion page (opens in new tab), Research centre of the Palace of Versailles, National equestrian Academy of Versailles. She was brought before the Revolutionary tribunal on October 14, 1793, and was guillotined two days later. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The French army was in a shambles and the war did not go wella turn of events that many blamed on the foreign-born queen. Marie Josphine of Savoy - Wikipedia In 1785, an infamous diamond-necklace scandal permanently tarnished the queens reputation. Marie was very spoiled and grew up with an extravagant lifestyle. By Lucy Aplin Deputy SEO Editor January 5, 2023 2:50 pm (Updated 2:51 pm) New BBC drama Marie Antoinette follows the early life of the French queen as she embarks on an uncomfortable marriage. In the eyes of the public, she and her husband symbolised the promise of a new reign which, given Louis XVs advancing age, was expected to begin soon. The birth of a royal baby was considered so important that it needed witnesses: queens often labored before great audiences of people, a factor that only increased their fear and misery during childbirth. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Louis-Charles was subjected to abuse and mistreatment (including being forced to give false abuse allegations against his mother), and he died, aged 10, just two years after Maries execution. Her name is associated with the decline in the moral authority of the French monarchy in the closing years of the ancien rgime, though her courtly extravagance was but a minor cause of the financial disorders of the French state in that period. Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna, better known as Marie Antoinette, was born on November 2, 1755, in Vienna. On November 1, 1661, Queen Marie-Therese, the shy, retiring Spanish wife of King Louis XIV of France, went into labor. He and Marie likely began their affair after he returned from fighting in the American Revolution in 1778. .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Marie Antoinette has been portrayed as the spendthrift wife who meddled in the political affairs of her weak-willed husband, Louis XVI. What Happened to Marie Antoinette's Children? - Biography spouse Louis XVI father Francis I mother Maria Theresa son Louis XVII brother Leopold II brother Joseph II sister Maria Carolina . She became a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy and is often credited with the famous quote Let them eat cake, though there is no evidence she actually said it. Rumors of his supposed escape from his prisoners led to decades of fictitious pretenders who claimed to be the lost dauphin or Louis XVII. Eventually boards were ripped off the sealed windows bringing a gust of fresh air, which revived the dazed queen. In June 1791, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette fled Paris and headed for the Austrian borderwhere, rumor had it, the queens brother, the Holy Roman Emperor, waited with troops ready to invade France, overthrow the revolutionary government and restore the power of the monarchy and the nobility. In 1793, the king was executed; then, Marie Antoinette was arrested and tried for trumped-up crimes against the French republic. She was the Queen of France, notorious for living in opulence while peasants starved and became a symbol of everything wrong with monarchy. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Myth Busts: The Enduring Legacy of Breast-Shaped Glassware This widely believed rumor was one of the main reasonsJames II was overthrown that year in the Glorious Revolution. Eight years after her wedding, Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child, Marie-Thrse-Charlotte, in 1778. Marriage of the Dauphin Louis and Marie-Antoinette. The princess de Lamballe, who remained loyal to the queen throughout the Revolution, was imprisoned along with her. In late 1789, the royal family was moved from Versailles and placed in captivity in Paris. Wedding Night Jitters Executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, King and Queen of France Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Why did Louis XIV build Versailles outside the city limits of Paris?, How old was Louis XIV when he married?, Who is Louis XVI's wife? In September, revolutionaries began to massacre royalist prisoners by the thousands. Marie Antoinette is perhaps best known for the quote, Let them eat cake. As the story goes, upon hearing that the people had no bread to eat around the start of the French Revolution in 1789, the queen commented quils mangent de la brioche, referring to a type of French bread. Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755, Marie Antoinette married the future French king Louis XVI when she was just 15 years old. Child Bride Marie Antoinette was only 14 years old when she married 15-year-old Louis XVI. Within months, Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste, the future King Louis XVI, were pledged to marry. Finally, in 2000, conclusive medical evidence put the theory to rest. Tragedy struck the family when Sophie died less than a year after her birth and Louis-Joseph died in 1789 at age 7, just weeks before the storming of the Bastille that would ignite the French Revolution. It was hoped that these Spanish sounds diverted the poor queen, who kept crying out in her native language, I dont want to give birth, I want to die.". Born in Vienna in 1755, Antoinette was the fifteenth child of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa. The role that she played in French internal and foreign policy between the accession of Louis XVI and the outbreak of the Revolution has probably been much exaggerated. Life as a public figure was not easy for Marie Antoinette. As was required by her position, she also entertained her circle in her apartments, where she was a keen player of billiards and cards, often playing to excess, both losing and winning large sums, to such an extent that the King became worried and banned some of the more risky games that were swallowing up entire fortunes. After 12 hours of agony, the Queen finally delivered a healthy boy, who was named Louis de France. She spent the rest of her life in exile, bouncing between royal courts. In 1688, Mary Beatrice, the Catholic wife of King James II of England, went into labor at only six months pregnant. In 1765, Louis, dauphin de France (also known as Louis Ferdinand), died. The animals of Versailles - BEST FRANCE FOREVER French - Royalty November 2, 1755 - October 16, 1793 I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. Besides his brotherly concerns, he also came as a knowledgeable sovereign curious to discover the kingdom of France. She supported the composers she appreciated, like Grtry, Gluck and Sacchini. Her other court expenditures contributedthough to a minor degreeto the huge debt incurred by the French state in the 1770s and 80s. And Marie-Therese was under overwhelming pressure to give the King a living male heir, thus ensuring the Bourbon succession. As queen, Marie-Antoinette was always unpopular. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Marie Antoinette was a musician, playing the harp and the harpsichord. Though the first seven years of her marriage were childless, she then bore a daughter, Marie-Thrse-Charlotte; two sons, Louis-Joseph and Louis-Charles (both of whom died young); and another daughter (who died in infancy). During the crises of 1789 as well as those to come, Marie-Antoinette proved to be stronger and more decisive than her husband. Despite the abolition of the French monarchy, royal supporters believed that Louis-Charles had become King Louis XVII following his fathers execution. All of these precautions mattered little in the end: many Protestants, including Anne and Mary, refused to believe the premature child was not a changeling. In December, Louis XVI was put on trial for treason; in January, he was executed. After the ceremony the signing of the registers took place. The young couple soon came to In her youth, she was a pawn on the diplomatic chessboard of Europe, as France and Austria attempted to navigate the complex web of allegiances that shaped the continent in the wake of the Seven Years War. Her marriage with the future Louis XVI, celebrated in the Royal Chapel at Versailles on 16May 1770, was partly the work of the Duke deChoiseul, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and one of the principal architects of the reconciliation between France and Austria. On 19 April the wedding took place by proxy in Vienna, marrying the Dauphin and future Louis XVI, the grandson of Louis XV, to Marie-Antoinette, the youngest daughter of Maria-Theresa of Habsburg. The successive deaths of Sophie-Batrice and the first Dauphin were particularly painful ordeals both for her and for the King. Margaret Beaufort, the formidable, resilient mother of Henry VII of England, had experienced a horrendous delivery at the tender age of 13, when on the run during the War of the Roses. She was imprisoned in the Temple on 10 August 1792, then moved to the Conciergerie shortly after the execution of the King in 1793.
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