Louis XVI biography

Dromo's Den

Louis XVI Biography

LOUIS XVI (1754–93). King of France from 1774 to 1792. He was the third son of the Dauphin Louis, only son of Louis XV, and was born at Versailles, Aug. 23, 1754. By the death of his father and his elder brothers he became Dauphin (1765). He was a lover of hunting and manly exercises, showed an aptitude for mathematics and mechanics, and in the midst of the most corrupt of courts he grew up temperate, honest, and moral; but he was a weak and incapable ruler. He was married, May 16, 1770, to Marie Antoinette, the youngest daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa. When Louis ascended the throne, misery and discontent prevailed throughout France. He lacked the vigor and judgment necessary for the circumstances, but was conscious of his own weakness. He made Maurepas, an old courtier, his Prime Minister; but among his ministers were Malesherbes, Turgot, and other men of known patriotism; and his accession was signalized by the remission of some of the odious taxes, the abolition of the relics of serfdom and of the torture in judicial investigations, a reduction of the expenditure of the court, and the foundation of institutions for the benefit of the working classes. He was for a time popular; but deepreaching reforms were rendered impossible by the opposition of the court, headed by the pleasure-loving Marie Antoinette. Turgot resigned in 1776. In June, 1777, when the state of the finances seemed nearly desperate, Necker (q.v.) was called to the office of Comptroller General and succeeded in bringing them to a more tolerable condition, without any very radical change; but after the interference of France in the American War of Independence, he was obliged to propose the taxation of the privileged classes, hitherto exempted. Their resistance compelled him to resign, and Joly de Fleury succeeded him; but the general discontent induced the King, in 1783, to appoint as Comptroller General Calonne (q.v.), who found money for a time by borrowing, much to the satisfaction of the courtiers. But, the indignation of the people increasing, Calonne found it necessary to recommend the convening of an Assembly of Notables (q.v.). On May 1, 1787, the Archbishop Loménie de Brienne became Finance Minister. He obtained from the Notables some concessions and some new taxes. But the Parlement of Paris refused to register the edicts of taxation, as oppressive to the people, and the extravagance of the court and the Queen began to be freely spoken of. The convening of the States-General was demanded from every corner of France. The King forced the Parlement to register the edicts in a lit de justice and banished the councilors of the Parlement to Troyes, but erelong found it necessary to recall them and met an even stronger opposition than before. Recognizing the hopelessness of reform, Brienne was compelled to resign, and Necker again became Minister in August, 1788. An assembly of the Estates of the Kingdom was resolved upon, and, by the advice of Necker, who wished a counterpoise to the influence of the nobility, clergy, and court, the Third Estate was called in double number. The subsequent history of Louis XVI is inseparably connected with the events of the first four years of the French Revolution (q.v.). His total lack of purpose at a time of crisis when decision was imperative proved his ruin. He wavered between the cause of the Revolution and the counsels of the Royalists and succeeded in losing the confidence of both parties. Influenced by the resolute attitude of the Third Estate, he ordered the nobility and the clergy to join the former in the National Assembly; yet this was followed, on July 11, 1789, by the dismissal of Necker, whom, however, popular indignation compelled the King to recall. On October 5 a Parisian mob, composed mostly of women, incited by the rumor of Royalist plottings, marched upon Versailles and on the following day brought the royal family to Paris, where they made their home in the Tuileries. The death of Mirabeau (q.v.) weakened greatly the more conservative popular party who favored the preservation of the monarchy under careful limitations, and on the night of June 20–21, 1791, the royal family made their unfortunate attempt to escape to the eastern frontier, where Bouillé (q.v.), commander of the troops at Metz, a Royalist in sympathies, was prepared to lend them succor. At Sainte-Menehould the King and his family were recognized by Drouet, the son of the postmaster, who pursued them into Varennes, where he raised an alarm and caused the fugitives to be seized. The King returned to Paris, and from that day his fall was inevitable, the flight to Varennes having served to confirm the general reports concerning the King's negotiations with the emigrant nobles and the foreign Powers for the overthrow of the newly conquered liberties of the nation. On Sept. 14, 1791, he took the oath to the new constitution, but his deposition had already been decided on by the party of the Gironde. On June 20, 1792, an organized mob invaded the Tuileries, forced the King to don the liberty cap, and departed after heaping insults on the unhappy Marie Antoinette. On August 10 a still more formidable mob stormed the Tuileries, massacred the Swiss Guard (q.v.), and compelled the royal family to seek refuge in the hall of the Assembly. The King was suspended from his functions and sent a prisoner to the Temple. The Convention which met on September 21 immediately proclaimed France a Republic, and in December the deposed King was brought to trial before the Convention on charges of treason. The King defended himself with dignity, but neither his own words nor the eloquence of his counsel (Malesherbes, Tronchet, and Desèze) could avail against the evident determination of the Mountain to bring about his death. The King was found guilty, and on Jan. 16, 1793, was condemned to death, by 361 to 360. The Girondists, who were opposed to the extreme penalty, were forced to vote for death out of fear of the Mountain. On January. 21 Louis was guillotined on the Place de la Révolution. Louis XVI had two sons and one daughter. The older son died in 1789, the younger becoming Dauphin (see Louis XVII); the daughter was the Duchess of Angoulême.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 394-395.