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Dromo's Den
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Marie Antoinette Biography MARIE ANTOINETTE, än'twa'nĕt' (1755–93). Queen of France and consort of Louis XVI. She was the youngest daughter of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa and was born at Vienna, Nov. 2, 1755. At the age of 14 she was betrothed to the French Dauphin and in the following year was married at Versailles. Her reception by her husband and the King, Louis XV, was flattering, but her naïveté, unceremonious pleasantry, and detestation of rigid etiquette scandalized Versailles. Soon after the accession of Louis XVI (1774), her enemies, of whom the chief was the Count of Provence, younger brother of the King, who subsequently ruled as Louis XVIII, circulated libels accusing her of constant intrigues. Her love of luxury and extravagance and her indifference to the miseries of the people, combined with her attempts to use her influence with Louis XVI to shape the foreign policy of France in accordance with the interests of Austria, made her unpopular with the people and gained her the epithet of "the Austrian woman" (l'Autrichienne). The affair of the Diamond Necklace (q.v.), in 1785, hopelessly compromised her good name in the eyes of the public. Her influence on the internal politics of the country was not more fortunate. Loménie de Brienne and Calonne were ministers of her choice, and she shared the opprobrium called down upon them for their reckless squandering of the national finances. She strongly opposed the summoning of the Notables (1787) and of the States-General (1789); and she had good reason to dread their convocation, for one of the very first things the Notables did was to declare the Queen the cause of the derangement of the finances. From the first hour of the Revolution she was an object of fanatical hatred to the mob of Paris, who knew that she was conspiring with her brother, Leopold II of Austria, for the reëstablishment of the absolute monarchy. In hours of crisis her resolute bearing spurred on the weak-willed Louis XVI to spasmodic assertions of his authority without bringing him to take a decisive step in defense of his rights. After the removal of the royal family from Versailles to the Tuileries (Oct. 6, 1789) she attempted on various occasions to conciliate the good will of the people, but failed before the vindictive enmity of the Parisian populace. Out of personal antipathy to Mirabeau she could not be brought to accept the aid of the man who alone might have saved the monarchy from destruction. At last she resolved on flight. Her husband long refused to abandon his country, but she could not go without him, and finally the King consented. The flight took place on the night of June 20, but the royal fugitives were recognized and turned back at Varennes. The flight to Varennes only served to confirm the popular belief as to the Queen's intrigue with foreign powers, and, as a matter of fact, there is no doubt that Marie Antoinette had corresponded and continued to correspond with her brother relative to the invasion of France by an Austrian army for the purpose of rescuing the royal family. On June 20, 1792, a mob invaded the Tuileries, forced Louis XVI to don a liberty cap, and heaped insults on the Queen as they filed past her. On August 10 came the final storming of the Tuileries. Marie Antoinette's guards were murdered at her chamber door, and the unhappy Queen was compelled to seek refuge with her husband in the hall of the Convention, whence they were consigned on the 13th as prisoners to the Temple. Louis XVI was executed on Jan. 21, 1793. Marie Antoinette was separated from her son July 3, 1793, and on August 1 was removed to the Conciergerie. Twice while she was a prisoner in the Temple were unsuccessful attempts made to effect her escape. On October 14 she was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal and charged with fomenting civil war and lending counsel to the foreign enemies of France. Testimony against her was given by Hébert, who sought to blacken her personal character with trumped-up charges. She was found guilty of treason after a two days' trial, was condemned to death on October 16, and was executed the same day. The tragic fate of Marie Antoinette has given rise to a voluminous literature, in which the Queen has been depicted now as the victim, the sainted martyr, of the Revolution, now as the embodiment of the luxury, stupidity, and apathy towards the miseries of the people which characterized the powers of the old régime. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 86-87. |