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Marie Antoinette of Austria
Queen consort of France and Navarre Queen consort of the French
Marie Antoinette with the Rose Portrait by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1783.
Queen consort of France and Navarre
Tenure	10 May 1774 – 21 September 1792
Born	(1755-11-02)2 November 1755 Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria, HRE
Died	16 October 1793 (aged 37) Place de la Révolution, Paris, France
Burial	21 January 1815 Saint Denis Basilica, France
Spouse	Louis XVI, King of France
Issue	Marie Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France Louis XVII Princess Marie Sophie
Names Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna
House	House of Habsburg-Lorraine House of Bourbon
Father	Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Marie Antoinette (/məˈriː æntwəˈnɛt/ or /æntwɑːˈnɛt/; French: [maʁi ɑ̃twanɛt]; baptised Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793), born an Archduchess of Austria, was Dauphine of France from 1770 to 1774 and Queen of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1792. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria.

In April 1770, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, she became Dauphine of France. She assumed the title Queen of France and of Navarre when her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI upon the death of his grandfather Louis XV on 10 May 1774. After seven years of marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the first of her four children.

Within the kingdom of France, a growing number of the population eventually came to dislike her, accusing L'Autrichienne, "the Austrian woman", (a nickname given her upon her arrival to France by Louis XV's daughters, Mesdames de France), of being profligate, promiscuous, and of harbouring sympathies for France's enemies, particularly Austria, her country of origin. The Diamond Necklace affair damaged her reputation further. She later became known as Madame Déficit because France's financial crisis was blamed on her lavish spending and her opposition to the social and financial reforms of Turgot and Necker.

During the French Revolution, after the government had placed the royal family under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace in October 1789, several events linked to Marie Antoinette, in particular the June 1791 attempt to flee, and her role in the French Revolutionary War, had disastrous effects on French popular opinion: over a year later, on 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the royal family to take refuge at the Assembly. On 13 August, the family was imprisoned in the Temple. On 21 September 1792, Louis XVI was deposed and the monarchy abolished. After a two-day trial begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of treason to the principles of the revolution, and executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793.

Early life

Maria Antonia was born on 2 November 1755 at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna. She was the youngest daughter of Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa. Her godparents were Joseph I and Mariana Victoria, King and Queen of Portugal; Archduke Joseph and Archduchess Maria Anna acted as proxies for their newborn sister. Shortly after her birth, she was placed under the care of the Governess of the Imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. Maria Antonia was raised with her three-year older sister Maria Carolina, with whom she had a lifelong close relationship. As to her relationship with her mother, it was difficult but both the empress and her daughter loved each other.

Maria Antonia spent her formative years between the Hofburg Palace and Schönnbrunn, the imperial summer residence in Vienna, where on 13 October 1762 she met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then a child prodigy.

In spite of the private tutoring she received, results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of ten, she could not write correctly in German or in any language commonly used at court, such as French and Italian. Conversations with her were stilted.

Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician. She learned to play the harp, the harpsichord and the flute. During the family's gatherings in the evenings, she would sing, as she had a beautiful voice. She also excelled at dancing, had an "exquisite" poise, and loved dolls.

Marriage to Louis-Auguste de France: 1770–1793

Following the Seven Years' War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to ended hostilities with her longtime enemy, King Louis XV of France; their common desire to destroy the ambitions of Prussia and Great Britain helped to secure a definitive peace between them.

As was customary among royalty, the better way to seal an alliance was with a marriage: on 7 February 1770, Louis XV formally asked the hand of Maria Antonia for his eldest surviving grandson and heir Louis-Auguste, Duke of Berry and Dauphin of France.

On 17 April 1770 Maria Antonia formally renounced to her Habsburg rights and two days later, on 19 April, she was married by proxy to the Dauphin of France at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, with her brother Archduke Ferdinand representing the groom at the ceremony. Only the marriage between Louis XIV of France and the Spanish Infanta Maria Teresa one century ago had a similar impact; moreover, no Habsburg Archduchess became in Queen of France since Elisabeth of Austria after her marriage with King Charles IX in 1570.

On 7 May 1770, on the Île aux Épis, an island on the Rhine between Kehl and Strasbourg, Marie Antoinette was officially handed over to comtesse de Noailles, her lady in waiting until 1775, in charge of the proper court étiquette Marie-Antoinette was to follow. On 14 May, at the edge of the forest of Compiègne, she met king Louis XV, her husband the Dauphin, the king's daughters, Mesdames de France, Adélaïde, Sophie, Victoire, the following day, her brothers-in-law, Louis Stanislas Xavier, comte de Provence; and Charles Philippe, comte d'Artois, at the Château de la Muette, and on 16 May, her husband's younger sisters, Madame Clotilde and Madame Élisabeth, at Versailles.

The ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770, in the Palace of Versailles, and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The lack of consummation of the marriage plagued the reputation of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the next seven years.

The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed. On the one hand, the Dauphine herself was popular among the people. Her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June 1773 was a resounding success. She and the Dauphin had been acclaimed throughout the day with climax taking place at the Tuileries before their return to Versailles. With her fair skin, straw-blond hair, blue eyes, beautiful smile and majestic figure, people could not help but be charmed by the personality and beauty of the not yet 18-year old princess. On the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria, and others on personal grounds, such as the comtesse du Barry, had a tenuous relationship with the Dauphine.

Relationship of the Dauphine with Mme du Barry

Her relationship with Mme du Barry was politically important to improve, at least on the surface, because Mme du Barry was Louis XV's mistress, with considerable political influence over the king. In fact, the favorite had been instrumental in ousting the duc de Choiseul, who had helped orchestrate the Franco-Austrian alliance and Marie Antoinette's marriage. After months of continued pressure from her mother and the Austrian minister, the comte de Mercy-Argenteau, who was sending Maria-Theresa secret reports on Marie-Antoinette's behavior, the Dauphine grudgingly agreed to speak to Mme du Barry on New Year's Day 1772 in order to stop any French protest about the partition of Poland. Although the limit of the conversation was Marie Antoinette's banal comment to the royal mistress: "There are a lot of people at Versailles today", Mme du Barry was satisfied by her victory, and the crisis, for the most part, dissipated. Afterwards, Marie Antoinette never addressed a word to the comtesse. Mme Du Barry, who dominated court life, had much influence on the king who, in spite of Marie-Antoinette's strong objection, exiled in 1770 one of her ladies-in-waiting, the duchesse de Gramont, sister of Choiseul. Mercy the Austrian ambassador and the dauphin occasionally visited Mme du Barry in order to please the king. In 1772, the Dauphine, whose influence on the king was non-existent, could not make her planned entrance in Paris because of a conflict of étiquette between Mesdames aunts and the comtesse de Noailles. Although she, the Dauphin and his brothers had been allowed to attend incognito the previous carnival ball at the Opera, it was only after their official entrance in the capital on 8 June 1773 that the young couple had more freedom to visit Paris.

On 10 May 1774, Louis XV died. On May 12, by lettre de cachet, the new king, Louis XVI, "under the influence of his pious aunts and Marie Antoinette". exiled Mme du Barry at the abbaye de Pont-aux-Dames, in Meaux., On 14 May, Marie-Antoinette wrote to her mother: "The public expected lots of changes at the moment;: the king simply sent the creature to the convent and chased away from the court all that bear this name of scandal. (In a letter to Mercy dated 18 May, Marie-Thérèse mentions Marie-Antoinette's letter to her complaining of her vehemence in treating Mme Du Barry, whom the empress describes as pauvre Barry ("poor Barry") : "she wrote to me about it with vehemence, treating her of creature...") In April 1775, Mme du Barry was allowed to leave Pont-aux-Dames and to reside in her newly-acquired house at Saint-Vrain, but with the interdiction to return to the court and to visit Paris. In October 1776, thanks to the intervention of Maurepas, she was allowed to return to her estate in Louveciennes and to visit Paris, but the court remained forbidden to her. Marie Antoinette and the Empress did not approve of the visit made by Joseph to her in Louveciennes in 1777.

Queenship: 1774–1792

1774–1778: Early years

On 11 June 1775, Louis was crowned king Louis XVI of France at the cathedral of Reims. Following the custom, Marie Antoinette was not crowned alongside him. Had she been crowned Queen of France, the ceremony would have taken place at the Basilica of Saint Denis.

At the outset, the new queen had limited political influence with her husband. Louis blocked several of her candidates, including Choiseul, from taking important positions, with the support of his two most important ministers, Chief Minister Maurepas and Foreign Minister Vergennes. However, the queen played a decisive role in the disgrace and exile of the most powerful of Louis XV ministers, the Duke of Aiguillon.

Opening the door to more criticism in a time when the country was facing a grave financial problem, and the population suffering from difficult economical conditions and the Flour War where a lot of hungry people lost their lives, the queen plunged further into the costly diversions of buying her dresses from Rose Bertin and gambling with the result that the image of the monarchy and specially Marie Antoinette was largely tarnished in the eyes of both the middle and lower classes. For formal occasions, she adopted hair styles, the pouf and the panache (bundle of feathers); created by Rose Bertin making her a model to the other ladies to follow at least among the nobility in addition to being a launcher of fashions, and which, with the wearing of high-heels, added at least one foot to her height. She also began to befriend various male admirers, such as the baron de Besenval, the duc de Coigny, and the Count Valentin Esterházy.

Marie Antoinette formed deep friendships with various ladies at court. Most noted was the princesse de Lamballe, who, as the daughter-in-law of the duc de Penthièvre, was a cousin of the members of the royal family, and whom, on 19 September 1774, the new queen appointed as Superintendent of her Household, charge she gave later on to the duchesse de Polignac.

In 1774, she took under her patronage her former music teacher, the German composer of operas Christoph Willibald Gluck, who remained in France until 1779.

She was given free rein to renovate the Petit Trianon, a gift to her by Louis XVI on 15 August 1774; The Petit Trianon became associated with Marie Antoinette's perceived extravagance. With the "English garden", Marie Antoinette and her court adopted the English dress of indienne, of percale or muslin. The tradition of costume at the court at Versailles was broken after more than ten years. Rumors circulated that she plastered the walls with gold and diamonds. Her lady-in-waiting Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan defended her reputation and simplicity.

1778–1781: Motherhood and Foreign Policy

Amidst the atmosphere of a wave of libelles, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph came to France incognito and visited his sister and brother-in-law on 18 April 1777. During the subsequent six-week visit to Versailles, Joseph investigated why the royal marriage had not been consummated. He soon came to the conclusion that no obstacle to the couple's conjugal relations existed, save the queen's lack of interest and the king's unwillingness to exert himself in that arena. In a letter to his brother Leopold, Joseph graphically described them as "a couple of complete blunderers." Due to Joseph's intervention, the marriage was finally consummated in August 1777. Eight months later, in April, it was suspected that the queen was pregnant with her first child, which was confirmed on 16 May 1778.

In the middle of the queen's pregnancy, two events occurred which had a profound impact on her later life: the return of the handsome Swede, Count Axel von Fersen, to Versailles for two years, and her brother's claims on the throne of Bavaria. Marie Antoinette pleaded with her husband for the French to help intercede on behalf of Austria. The Peace of Teschen, signed on 13 May 1779, ended the brief conflict, with the queen imposing French mediation on the demand of her mother, and Austria's gaining a territory of at least 100,000 inhabitants - a strong retreat from the early French position which was hostile towards Austria with the impression, partially justified, that the queen sided with Austria against France .

Marie Antoinette's daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, was born at Versailles on 19 December 1778. The child's paternity was contested in the libelles.

Meanwhile, the queen began to institute changes in the customs practiced at court. Some changes had been met with disapproval from the older generation. More importantly was the abandonment of heavy make-up and the popular wide-hooped panniers for a more simple feminine look, typified first by the rustic robe à la polonaise and later by the gaulle, a simple muslin dress she wore in a 1783 Vigée-Le Brun portrait. She also began to participate in amateur plays and musicals, starting in 1780, in a theatre built for her.

Repayment of the French debt remained a difficult problem, further exacerbated by Vergennes and also Marie Antoinette's prodding Louis XVI to involve France in Great Britain's war with its North American colonies; the queen played a very important role in supporting the American Revolution by, first, securing Austrian and Russian support for France which resulted in the establishment of a neutral league which stopped England's attack on international trade; second, sending part of her retinue to fight in America; third, supporting both Franklin and Jefferson in their social lives in Paris and Versailles during the time they were Ministers to France, and finally, weighing in decisively for the nomination of Philippe Henri, marquis de Ségur, as Minister of War and Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de Castries, Secretary of the Navy in 1780, who helped George Washington in defeating the British in the American Revolutionary War, which ended in 1783.

Finally, the queen played in 1783 a decisive role in the nomination of Charles Alexandre de Calonne, a close friend of the Polignacs, as Financial Minister, and the baron de Breteuil as the Minister of the Royal Household, making him perhaps the strongest and most conservative minister of the reign. The result of these two nominations was that Marie Antoinette's influence became paramount in government and the new ministers rejected any major to change the structure of the old regime more than that a decree by the minister of war blocked the middle classes to achieve important positions in the armed forces posing the concept of equality one of the main grievances and causes of the French Revolution.

Empress Maria Theresa died on 29 November 1780, in Vienna. Marie Antoinette feared that the death of her mother would jeopardise the Franco-Austrian alliance (as well as, ultimately, herself), but her brother, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, reassured her through his own letters that he had no intention of breaking the alliance.

Marie Antoinette's second pregnancy was confirmed in March 1781. On 22 October 1781, the queen gave birth to Louis Joseph Xavier François, who bore the title Dauphin of France.

A second visit from Joseph II, which had taken place in July 1781, to reaffirm the Franco-Austrian alliance and also to see his sister again, was tainted with rumours that Marie Antoinette was siphoning treasury money to him.

With time, Marie Antoinette, especially after 1778, gained a lot of weight with a full fullness below the chin, as was noticed and commented by both her brother Joseph (For him she has the fine face of a good fat German), the king of Sweden (He described her as too fat) and observers at court, such as the count of Tilly (according to her dressmaker, her bosom was well over 40 inches); yet she retained a majestic presence and a great charisma which imposed itself on her court and visitors; she dominated all other figures at court with her proud and regal carriage as a great oak rises above all the other trees of the forest according to the Comte d'Hezecques.

1782–1785: Declining popularity, Friends, Fersen and support of Arts and Sciences

Despite the general celebration over the birth of the Dauphin, Marie Antoinette's political influence, such as it was, did greatly benefit Austria. During the Kettle War, in which her brother Joseph attempted to open the Scheldt River for naval passage; Marie Antoinette succeeded in obliging Vergennes to pay a huge financial compensation to Austria. Finally, the queen was able to obtain her brother's support against Great Britain in the American Revolution and she neutralized French hostility to his alliance with Russia.

After the royal governess of the Dauphin's, the princesse de Guéméné, went bankrupt and was forced to resign; Marie Antoinette appointed her favourite, the duchesse de Polignac, to the position. This decision met with disapproval from the court, as the duchess was considered to be of too "immodest" a birth to occupy such an exalted position. On the other hand, the Queen trusted Mme de Polignac completely and gave her millions of 'livres' every year.

In June 1783, Marie Antoinette was pregnant again. Later that month, Count Axel von Fersen returned from America, he was accepted into her private society, probably becoming her affective lover without a full physical relation between the two. Marie Antoinette suffered a miscarriage on the night of 1–2 November 1783.

Trying to calm her mind, the queen occupied herself with the creation of the Hameau de la reine, built to the designs of her favoured architect, Richard Mique. Its creation, however, caused another uproar when the price of the Hameau was justly criticized by her critics.

Marie Antoinette became an avid reader of historical novels, and her scientific interest was strong enough to become a witness and supporting to the first launching of hot air balloons, rendering a major service for humanity. She had many books in her library., and was able to write in imperfect English to her friend, the Duchess of Devonshire. The queen supported and sponsored a lot of arts and science activities specially Lavoisier works.

In 1784, it was widely thought that the sickly Dauphin would not reach adulthood. During this time, on 27 April 1784, Beaumarchais's play The Marriage of Figaro premiered in Paris. After initially having been banned by the king due to its negative portrayal of the nobility, the play was ironically finally allowed to be publicly performed because of the queen's support and its overwhelming popularity at court, where secret readings of it had been given by Marie Antoinette. The play was a disaster for the image of the monarchy and aristocracy. It did inspire Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, which premiered in Vienna on 1 May 1786.

In August 1784, it wa announced that the queen was pregnant again. Her husband bought for her the Château de Saint-Cloud from the duc d'Orléans, the father of the previously disgraced duc de Chartres. This was an unpopular acquisition, particularly with some factions of the nobility who already disliked her, but also with a growing percentage of the population who disapproved that a French queen might own her own residence, independently of the king. Despite having the baron de Breteuil working on her behalf, the purchase did not help improve the public's image of the queen as frivolous. The château's expensive price, almost 6\10million livres, plus the substantial extra cost of redecorating it, ensured that there was much less money going towards repaying France's substantial debt.

On 27 March 1785, Marie Antoinette gave birth to a second son, Louis Charles, who bore the title of Duke of Normandy. The fact that the birth occurred exactly nine months following Fersen's visit did not escape the attention of many, and though there is much doubt and historical speculation about the parentage of this child, public opinion towards her decreased noticeably. It is the belief of most of Marie-Antoinette's biographers, and of the young prince, that he was the biological son of Louis XVI and not Axel von Fersen's. Courtiers at Versailles noted in their diaries at the time that the date of the child's conception in fact corresponded perfectly with a period when the king and queen had spent a lot of time together, but these details were ignored amid attacks on the queen's character. These suspicions of illegitimacy, along with the continued publication of the libelles, a never-ending cavalcade of court intrigues, the actions of Joseph II in the Kettle War, and her purchase of Saint-Cloud combined to turn popular opinion sharply against the queen, and the image of a licentious, spendthrift, empty-headed foreign queen was quickly taking root in the French psyche.

A second daughter, Marie Sophie Hélène Béatrice was born on 9 July 1786, but she died on 19 June 1787, before reaching her first year of life. This was Marie Antoinette's last child.

1786–1789: Prelude to the Revolution: high spending, scandals and the failure of reforms

Continuing deterioration of the French financial situation, despite cutbacks to the royal retinue, ultimately forced the king, the queen and their Minister of Finance, Calonne, to call the Assembly of Notables, after a hiatus of 160 years. The assembly was held to attempt passing some reforms required to alleviate the financial situation, on which the Parlements refused to cooperate. The first meeting of the assembly took place on 22 February 1787, at which Marie Antoinette was not present. Later, this absence resulted in accusations that the queen was trying to undermine the purpose of the assembly.

However, the Assembly was a failure, as it did not pass any reforms and instead fell into a pattern of defying the king. The king, on the urging of the queen, dismissed Calonne on 8 April 1787; Vergennes died on 13 February.

During this time, the queen began to abandon her more carefree activities to become increasingiy involved in politics, and mostly with the interests of Austria and her children. This was for a variety of reasons. First, her children were Enfants de France, and thus their future as leaders of France needed to be assured. Second, by concentrating on her children, the queen sought to improve the dissolute image she had acquired from the "Diamond Necklace Affair", in which she had been accused of participating in a crime to defraud the crown jewelers of the cost of a very expensive diamond necklace, and this incident in which she insisted on the arrest and trial of the cardinal de Rohan destroyed her reputation specially when she imprisoned and exiled the cardinal in spite of the parliament decision to exonerate him. Third, the king had begun to withdraw from a decision-making role in government due to the onset of an acute case of depression. As a result, Marie Antoinette finally emerged as a politically viable entity. In her new capacity as a politician with a very high degree of power, the queen tried to help the situation brewing between the assembly and the king.

This change in the queen's political role signalled the beginning of the end of the influence of the duchesse de Polignac, as Marie Antoinette began to dislike the duchesse's huge expenditures and their impact on the finances of the Crown. The duchesse left for England in May, leaving her children behind in Versailles. Also in May, Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, the archbishop of Toulouse and one of the queen's political allies, was appointed by the king, on Marie Antoinette's urging and orders, to replace Calonne first as the Finance Minister and then as Prime Minister. He began to institute more cutbacks at court and to restore the absolute power of the king and queen who were weakened by parliaments .

Brienne, though, was not able to improve the financial situation. Since he was the queen's ally and creature, this failure adversely affected her political position. The continued poor financial climate of the country resulted in the 25 May dissolution of the Assembly of Notables because of its inability to get things done. This lack of solutions was fairly blamed on the queen. The financial problems resulted from a combination of several factors: too many expensive wars; a too-large royal family headed by the queen whose large frivolous expenditures far exceeded the resources of the state; and an unwillingness on the part of many of the aristocrats and Marie Antoinette who were in charge to help defray the costs of the government out of their own pockets with higher taxes. Marie Antoinette earned the nickname of "Madame Déficit" in the summer of 1787 as a result of the public perception that she had singlehandedly ruined the national finances. While sole fault for the financial crisis did not lie with the queen, Marie Antoinette was the biggest obstacle to any major reform effort. She played a decisive role in the disgrace, exile and partial imprisonment of the Reformer Ministers of Finance, Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune and Necker. She spent a lot of money on her favorites and on herself, more than any other person in France. Finally the expense of the court was much higher than the official estimate of 7% of the state budget, if the secret expenses of the queen were taken into account. The queen attempted to fight back with propaganda portraying her as a caring mother, most notably the premier at Royal Académie Salon de Paris in August 1787 of a portrait of her and her children by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Around the same time, Jeanne de Lamotte-Valois escaped from prison in France and fled to London, where she published more damaging lies concerning her supposed "affair" with the Queen.

The political situation in 1787 began to worsen when on Marie Antoinette's urging, the Parlement was exiled, and further deteriorated when the King tried to use a lit de justice to force through legislation on 11 November. The new duc d'Orléans publicly protested the king's actions, and was subsequently exiled. The May Edicts issued on 8 May 1788 were also opposed by the public and parliaments. Finally, on 8 July and 8 August, the King announced his intention to bring back the Estates General, the traditional elected legislature of the country, which had not been convened since 1614.

Marie Antoinette was directly involved with the exile of the Parlement, the May Edicts or with the announcement regarding the Estates General, she did participate in the King Council, the first queen to do this in the last hundred years, and she was making the major decisions behind the scene and in Council . Her primary concern in late 1787 and 1788 was the improved health of the Dauphin, who suffered from tuberculosis and his condition continued to deteriorate.

The queen was instrumental in the recall of Jacques Necker as Finance Minister on 26 August, a popular move, even though she herself was worried that the recall would again go against her if Necker proved unsuccessful in reforming the country's finances.

The queen prepared for the Mass celebrating the return of the Estates General on 4 May 1789. She knew that her rival, the duc d'Orléans, who had given money and bread to the people during the winter, would be popularly acclaimed by the crowd much to her detriment. The Estates General convened the next day. During the month of May, the Estates General began to fracture between the democratic Third Estate (consisting of the bourgeoisie and radical nobility), and the royalist nobility of the Second Estate.

The death of the Dauphin on 4 June, which deeply affected his mother was virtually ignored by the French people, who were instead preparing for the next meeting of the Estates General and hoping for a resolution to the bread crisis. As the Third Estate declared itself a National Assembly and took the Tennis Court Oath, and as others listened to rumors that the queen wished to bathe in their blood, Marie Antoinette went into mourning for her eldest son. Marie Antoinette's role was decisive in urging the king to remain firm and to not concede to popular demands for reforms. In addition, the queen was ready to use force to crush the revolution.

July 1789–1791: The French Revolution before Varennes

The situation began to escalate violently in June as the National Assembly began to demand more rights, and Louis XVI began to push back with efforts to suppress the Third Estate. However, the king's ineffectiveness and the queen's unpopularity undermined the monarchy as an institution, and so these attempts failed. Then, on 11 July, on Marie Antoinette's urging and orders, Necker was dismissed to be replaced by Breteuil, the queen's choice to crush the Revolution with mercenary Germanic troops under the command of one of her favorites Besenval. At the news, Paris was besieged by riots which culminated in the storming of the Bastille on 14 July.

In the days and weeks that followed, many of the most conservative, reactionary royalists, including the comte d'Artois and the duchesse de Polignac, fled France for fear of assassination. Marie Antoinette, whose life was the most in danger, stayed behind in order to help the king promote stability, even as his power was gradually being taken away by the National Constituent Assembly, which was now ruling Paris and conscripting men to serve in the Garde Nationale.

By the end of August, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (La Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen), drafted by La Fayette, was adopted, which officially began a constitutional monarchy in France. Despite this, the king was still required to perform certain court ceremonies, even as the situation in Paris worsened due to a bread shortage in September. On 5 October, a mob from Paris descended upon Versailles and forced the royal family, along with the comte de Provence, his wife and Madame Elisabeth, to move to Paris under the watchful eye of the Garde Nationale. The king and queen were installed in the Tuileries Palace under strong surveillance. During this house arrest, Marie Antoinette conveyed to her friends that she did not intend to involve herself any further in French politics, as everything, whether or not she was involved, would inevitably be attributed to her anyway and she feared the repercussions of further involvement.

Despite the situation, Marie Antoinette was still required to perform charitable functions and to attend certain religious ceremonies, which she did. Most of her time, however, was dedicated to her children. In spite of her status as an effective state prisoner, Marie Antoinette played a very important political role in the period extending between 1789 and 1791. That role was not public because there was a political and public rejection of the queen who tried to crush the revolution in July 1789. During this period, Marie Antoinette had a complex set of relationships with several key leaders of the early period of the French Revolution. One of the most important politicians of that period was Necker the prime minister who was in charge of financial policy, the queen hated Necker in spite that she played a decisive role in his return to power. Marie Antoinette blamed Necker for the role he played in supporting the Revolution and she was very happy when he was obliged to resign in 1790.

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette the leader of the National Guard (and military leader in the American Revolution) hated the queen and served as her jailer and even considered sending her to a convent. However, he was persuaded by the mayor of Paris, Jean Sylvain Bailly, to try to work with her. La Fayette's relation with the King was acceptable and being a liberal aristocrat he did not want the destruction of the monarchy but instead the installation of a liberal system of government. At times La Fayette worked in the queen's favor. La Fayette sent the Duke of Orleans, who was accused by the queen of fomenting trouble, into exile for a period of time. La Fayette even boasted, as the queen's jailer, that he allowed Marie Antoinette to see Axel de Fersen, albeit under strong surveillance. The queen who did not have any direct political power during that period because the king's powers were suspended until the constitution was adopted. Marie Antoinette strongly resented her status as an effective prisoner who needed the approval of her guards for any physical or public activity and suffered a lot during these "sad years" as she described them in her letters, while never losing hope that one day she'd recover her liberty and absolute power.

A significant achievement for Marie Antoinette in that period was the establishment of an alliance with Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, the most important lawmaker in the assembly. Like La Fayette, Mirabeau was a liberal aristocrat. While Mirabeau was elected on the lower-class list, he was not fundamentally against the monarchy and dreamed of reconciling the monarchy with the revolution. Mirabeau wanted also to be a minister and he was not immune to corruption. On the advice of Count Mercy, Marie Antoinette opened secret negotiations with Mirabeau and they agreed to meet in secret in the castle of Saint Cloud in the summer of 1790. At the meeting, Mirabeau was much impressed by the queen, saying that she was the only man in her husband's court. A deal was reached turning Mirabeau into one of her political allies. Marie Antoinette also accepted to pay Mirabeau 6000 livres per month and many millions if he succeeded in his mission to restore the king's authority.

The summer of 1790 brought to Marie Antoinette and her family a limited amount of relief, as they were allowed to spend it in the castle of Saint Cloud, which belonged to the queen. While her situation as a prisoner did not change, she had much greater personal freedom than in Paris, since she was free from the radical elements who surrounded her and followed all her movements in the capital. During this time, she met Mirabeau in secret, an event which could not have happened in Paris.

The only time the royal couple returned to Paris in that period was in 14 July 1790 for the official celebration of the Fall of the Bastille, "The Fete de la Federation". The Abbe Talleyrand said a commemorative Mass in Paris and at least 300,000 persons participated from all over France including 18,000 National Guards. At the event, the king was greeted with numerous cries of "Long Live The King ", especially when he took the oath to protect the Nation and to apply the laws voted by the Constitutional Assembly. There were even some cheers to the queen, particularly when she presented her son to the Public. Mirabeau advised Marie Antoinette to leave Paris and to travel inside France to profit from the commemoration of the 14 of July, but the queen was already thinking of leaving France and turning for Foreign Powers to help her crush the Revolution.

Mirabeau sincerely wanted to reconcile the queen with the people, but the Queen was still attempting to restore as much of the king's authority as possible and to liberate herself from her captivity. Marie Antoinette was happy to see Mirabeau restoring much of the King's powers in the assembly. The king's authority over foreign policy was restored and the right to propose the declaration of war was also given to the king. Over the objections of La Fayette and his allies, the king was given a suspensive veto allowing him to veto any laws for a period of four years. With time, Mirabeau would support the queen even more, going as far as to agree with her escape plans but perhaps not to the extent of demanding the help of foreign powers. However, this leverage with the Assembly ended with the death of Mirabeau in April 1791, though many moderate leaders of the French Revolution tried to contact the queen and to establish some kind of cooperation with her.

Just before Mirabeau's death, the Pope condemned the civil constitution of the clergy in March 1791, which reduced the number of bishops from 132 to 93, imposed the election of bishops and monks by the French people, and finally reduced the Pope's authority over the Church. Marie Antoinette was raised in the Catholic Faith and while she was not pious as her husband, religion played a decisive role in her life especially after her pregnancies. The queen's political ideas and her belief in the absolute power of monarchs were based on the simple assumption that queens and kings were the representatives of God on earth and that their subjects should obey them in an absolute way. When the people in Paris felt that the queen was against the new religious laws, Marie Antoinette was publicly insulted and she was not allowed to leave Paris. This incident fortified the queen's determination to leave Paris.

Despite her attempts to remain out of the public eye, she was falsely accused in the libelles of conducting an affair with the commander of the Garde Nationale, the marquis de La Fayette, whom in reality she loathed for his liberal tendencies and his role in the royal family's forced departure from Versailles. This was not the only accusation Marie Antoinette faced from such "libelles." In such pamphlets as "Le Godmiché Royal" (translated, "The Royal Dildo"), it was suggested that she routinely engaged in deviant sexual acts of various sorts, most famously with the English Baroness 'Lady Sophie Farrell' of Bournemouth, a renowned lesbian of the time. From acting as a tribade (in her case, in the lesbian sense), to sleeping with her son, Marie Antoinette was constantly an object of rumor and false accusations of committing sexual acts with partners other than the King. Later, allegations of this sort (from incest to orgiastic excesses) were used to justify her execution. Ultimately, none of the charges of sexual depravity has any credible evidentiary support; Marie Antoinette was simply an easy target for rumor and criticism.

Marie Antoinette at that period of time had in general very good relations with her husband, who was passing through a depressive phase and who was letting her make all the major political and personnel decisions affecting their lives. Marie Antoinette's priority in the spring of 1791 was to escape her captivity but with her family; she refused to be separated from her children and especially from her husband. Even Fersen could not convince her to leave without the king; the queen wanted the king to come with her both because she loved the king, the father of her children, and because she was aware that without the king, she would lose all her political powers. Marie Antoinette asked and ordered Fersen and Breteuil (who represented her in the courts of Europe) to prepare an escape plan while she continued her negotiations with some moderate leaders of the French Revolution.

1791–1792: The Radicalization of the Revolution after Varennes

During this time, there were many plots designed to help members of the royal family escape. The queen rejected several because she would not leave without the king. Other opportunities to rescue the family were ultimately frittered away by the indecisive king. Once the king finally did commit to a plan, his indecision played an important role in its poor execution and ultimate failure. In an elaborate attempt to escape from Paris to the royalist stronghold of Montmédy planned by Count Axel von Fersen and the baron de Breteuil, some members of the royal family were to pose as the servants of a wealthy Russian baroness. Initially, the queen rejected the plan because it required her to leave with only her son, as she wished the rest of the royal family to accompany her. The king wasted time deciding upon which members of the family should be included in the venture, what the departure date should be, and the exact path of the route to be used. After many delays, the escape ultimately occurred on 21 June 1791, but the entire family was captured twenty-four hours later at Varennes and taken back to Paris within a week. The escape attempt destroyed much of the remaining support of the populace for the King

When the queen was captured with her family, the assembly sent three representatives to escort the royal family back to Paris. Marie Antoinette was humiliated by the people as never before; she was beaten and pushed by the crowds; people spat on her and her hands were put forcefully behind her back under the excuse of escorting her. Antoine Barnave, the representative of the moderate party in the constitutional assembly, protected the Queen from the crowds at the peril of his own life. Even Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve, the representative of the Girondin radical republican party of Madame Roland, took pity on the royal family. Marie Antoinette was brought safely to Paris; in addition, thanks to Barnave, she was not brought to trial and publicly exonerated of any crimes in relation with her attempt of escape.

Using her connection with the moderate leader Barnave, Marie Antoinette played a leading but indirect role in the establishment of the French Constitution of 1791. In its details, the constitution of 1791 was a compromise between the ideas of the Old Regime and the ideals of the French Revolution. It was not directed against the king but certainly against the old nobility. This constitution called for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy where the king was given important but not full powers. The king was given substantial powers according to the articles of the Constitution. Executive power was under the control of the king, who was also the head the army, in charge of foreign policy and chose ministers. While the king could not declare war, the new Legislative Assembly, which replaced the previous Constituent Assembly on 1 October, could go to war only if requested to do so by the king. The king was also considered to have immunity for actions he might take as a monarch, but this did not extend to other members of his family. An English visitor in the Tuileries gardens would witness two soldiers observing and guarding the queen keeping their hats on in her presence while singing disgusting songs, on the grounds that there was no mention of her in the Constitution. Finally, the king was given the right to veto any law for four years. The King, who was considered the head of state, was given a budget of 25 millions livres every year in order to allow him to pay the functions of his court.

As her letters show, the queen was incompletely sincere in this cooperation with the moderate leaders of the French Revolution, which ultimately ended any chance to establish a moderate government in France., as it led to a further decline in the popularity of both the king and queen. The view that the unpopular queen was controlling the king further degraded their standing with the people. The Jacobin Party successfully exploited the failed escape to advance its radical agenda. Its members called for the end to any type of monarchy in France.

The constitution called for a moderate system of government. Barnave, who believed in the sincerity of the queen, took great political risks in the hope of producing a stable social and political structure. Barnave established a system of voting that was based on the middle-class vote. In addition, the civil constitution of the clergy, which greatly displeased Marie Antoinette because it created a national church outside the influence of the Papacy, was not considered a constitutional act. Barnave was able to secure a moderate majority that was ready to work with the queen in spite of her unpopularity. This situation lasted a few months until the spring of 1792.

During these years at the Tuileries, the queen was a prisoner guarded night and day by many soldiers who never left her for a moment, not even in her bedroom and kept her a lot of times under great restrain stopping her completely from any physical activity or movement. Many of these jailers were radicals who openly disrespected her, smoking in her face, denying her any privacy and maximally restricting her movements. Marie Antoinette was never allowed to visit her palace of Saint Cloud and was required to seek her guards' permission to see her children or husband, who sometimes refused her request. If permission was granted to leave her rooms, she was escorted by soldiers who surrounded her on all sides, restraining her completely and who were present in all her meetings. This occurred despite the fact that she and her husband were still legally ruling sovereigns. However, over the course of her strict captivity, in poor spirits and with restrictions on her social life, the health of Marie Antoinette began to deteriorate rapidly. The hair of the Queen turned at least partially white,she began to lose a lot of blood but she remained a very big charismatic woman who was able to charm even some of her enemies. She developed problems in at least one of her legs, necessitating assistance when walking and further reducing her activities.

In February 1792, Ferson was able to see the queen a final time in spite of the strong measures of restriction around the prisoner queen. Beyond doubt, Fersen bribed some of the guards, but was not able to pass more than a short period of time in the palace where the queen was effectively imprisoned. Marie Antoinette would acknowledge that the security measures were so strong that it was impossible to escape with barred windows in her rooms and an escort of soldiers following her day and night dictating her every move.

Barnave advised the queen to recall the Austrian ambassador Count Mercy, who had played such a huge part in her life, in addition to the Princess de Lamballe. Count Mercy, who was appointed in a high position in the Austrian Empire, refused to return for a variety of reasons. This saddened the queen greatly, leaving the impression that she was left to her demise, especially that Mercy was a paternal figure for her sent by her mother to take care of her since her coming to France. She was more lucky with the Princess de Lamballe, who returned and filled a great void in the affective and social life of the captive Queen. As for her social life, it was difficult for the queen, effectively a prisoner guarded night and day, to have an effective social life. Wherever Marie Antoinette went, there was a soldier before her and one after her; it was in the night that she was the more controlled, as she was obliged to keep the door of her bedroom open so that she can be seen by her guards, who did not always respect her and invaded frequently her privacy.

Marie Antoinette hoped that the armies sent by the rulers of Europe would be able to crush the Revolution even if the cost was the blood of her own people. The queen particularly counted on the support of her Austrian family. After her brother Joseph who was attached to her died in 1790, Léopold her brother who was cool towards Marie Antoinette was ready to support the queen but to only a limited degree. Her nephew Francis, who succeeded his father Leopold in 1792, was a very conservative ruler who was ready to support Marie Antoinette because he hated and feared the French Revolution. When the queen asked him to declare war on France, he accepted out of monarchical solidarity and because he wanted to establish Austrian influence over Western Europe. To be fair to Marie Antoinette, she was not the only person who wanted war, as many radical leaders of the French Revolution also wanted war for their own reasons. The Jacobin party itself was split into two factions; the radicals under the leadership of Robespierre did not want to participate in the war, fearing a union of the Monarchies against them. The Moderate Jacobins or Girondins, as they were called under the leadership of Madame Roland and Brissot, were for the war because they wanted to spread the ideals of the French Revolution all over Europe and they also believed that a war would unite the French People against their internal and external enemies. While the role of Madame Roland was the most important as de facto-leader of the Girondins, Brissot, the leader of the foreign comity in the National Assembly, played a key role in the drafting of the war resolution. Yet according to the simple facts and description of events, the most important actor remained the queen because according to the constitution, only the king could propose to the Assembly to declare war. The facts speak for themselves: not only did the queen push Austria to declare war as we know from her letters, she also pushed her husband to propose the declaration of war to the National Assembly.

However, as the result of Leopold's aggressive tendencies, and those of his son Francis II on the queen's behalf, who succeeded him in March, it was that France declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792. This caused the queen to be viewed as an enemy, even though she was personally against Austrian claims on French lands. That summer, the situation was compounded by multiple defeats of French armies by the Austrians, in part because Marie Antoinette betrayed her country's military secrets to the foreign powers. In addition, the king on the orders of the queen vetoed several measures that would have restricted his power even further. During this time, due to his political activities, Louis received the nickname "Monsieur Veto" and the name "Madame Veto" was likewise subsequently bequeathed on Marie Antoinette. These names were then prominently featured in different contexts, including La Carmagnole.

1792–1793: Royal Deposition, "Widow Capet", trial, and execution

Up until the deposition of the royal family in August 1792 and his own fall from grace, Barnave remained the most important advisor and supporter of the queen inside France. Marie Antoinette was ready to work with Barnave as long as he was ready to follow her orders, which Barnave did to a large extent and over a long period of time. Goaded by the queen, Barnave convinced Lafayette to use force against the radical elements of the French Revolution. As a result, tens of thousands of political opponents of Marie Antoinette were either killed, exiled or sent to prison. Rather than cooperating with Lafayette, Marie Antoinette refused to be helped by him and played a decisive role in defeating him in his aims to become the mayor of Paris in October 1791.

Barnave and the moderates made up about 260 lawmakers in the new Legislative Assembly; the radicals numbered around 136, and the rest (around 350) were in the middle. At first, the majority was with Barnave, but the queen's policy led to the radicalization of the assembly and the moderates lost control of the legislative process. The moderate government collapsed in April 1792 and a radical ministry headed by the Girondins was formed. Worse than that, the assembly passed a series of laws concerning the Church, the aristocracy and the formation of new national guard units which were vetoed by the king on the orders of the queen. The radical Girondin government who was formed in April 1792 controlled the legislative assembly with 330 members, while Marie Antoinette and Barnave were not supported by more than 120 members.The two strongest members of that government were Jean Marie Roland,the husband of Madame Roland, who was minister of interior, and General Dumouriez, the minister of foreign affairs. Dumouriez sympathized with the royal couple and wanted to save them. However, he was rebuffed by the queen, who wanted to crush the Revolution by counting on the support of foreign powers.

Marie Antoinette's actions in refusing to collaborate with the Girondin radical ministry who were in power between April and June 1792 led the Girondins to denounce the treason of the Austrian comity, a direct allusion to the Queen. After Madame Roland sent a letter to the King denouncing the Queen's role in these matters, the King sacked the Government on the order of Marie Antoinette, losing his majority in the Assembly. Dumouriez resigned and refused a post in any new government. At this point, most of the French people and political parties turned against the royal authority. Marie Antoinette even collaborated with Madame du Barry using the Duke of Brissac, the leader of the constitutional guard and the lover of Madame du Barry, as an intermediate to fund and prepare a counterrevolution in the War in the Vendee. This counterrevolution would interrupt in 1793, causing hundred of thousands of deaths and bring the Revolution to a quick end in 1799. In addition, Marie Antoinette pushed the king to refuse the new laws voted by the Legislative Assembly in 1792. and continued her plots with the foreign powers by pushing them to issue the Declaration of Pillnitz in August 1791, which threatened invasion of France. This led in turn to a French declaration of war in April 1792 and the French Revolutionary War and the popular revolution of August 1792 which ended the monarchy.

On 20 June, "a mob of terrifying aspect" broke in to the Tuileries, made the King wear the bonnet rouge (red Phrygian cap) to show his loyalty to France, insulted Marie Antoinette, accused her of betraying France and threatened her life. In consequence, the queen ordered Fersen first to push foreign powers to activate their invasion of France and second to issue a manifesto in which the foreign powers threatened to destroy Paris if anything happened to the queen and her family. This manifesto triggered the events of 10 August when an armed mob, on the verge of forcing its way into the Tuileries Palace, forced the King and the royal family to seek refuge at the Legislative Assembly. An hour and a half later, the palace was invaded by the mob, who massacred the Swiss Guards. On 13 August, the royal family was imprisoned in the tower of the Temple in the Marais under conditions considerably harsher than their previous confinement in the Tuileries.

A week later, many of the royal family's attendants, among them the princesse de Lamballe, were taken in for interrogation by the Paris Commune. Transferred to the La Force prison, the princesse de Lamballe was a victim of the September Massacres, killed on 3 September. Her head was affixed on a pike and marched through the city; Marie Antoinette did not see this but fainted upon learning of it.

On 21 September, the fall of the monarchy was officially declared, and the National Convention became the legal authority of France. The royal family was re-styled as the non-royal "Capets". Preparations began for the trial of the king in a court of law.

Charged with undermining the First French Republic, Louis was separated from his family and tried in December. He was found guilty by the Convention, led by the Jacobins who rejected the idea of keeping him as a hostage. A month later, he was condemned to death by guillotine and executed on 21 January 1793.

The queen, now called the "Widow Capet", plunged into deep mourning and refused to eat or do any exercise. She proclaimed her son as Louis XVII hoping to rule France in his name as Regent; the comte de Provence, in exile, recognised his nephew as the new King of France. The royalists, especially those preparing the insurrection in Vendee and the clergy, supported Marie Antoinette, who wished to used this support in order to free herself from prison and subsequently crush the revolution, counting on a civil war inside France and the pressure of foreign armies and powers to achieve this. The queen could count on the sympathy of many conservative factions and social-religious groups who were turning against the Revolution, and on many wealthy figures who were ready to corrupt republican officials in order to facilitate the escape of the queen, which was a necessary step in order to form a new legal political entity. While all this plots and activity failed in their attempts to change the fate of the prisoner queen and her family nevertheless they formed a network of royal activists strong enough to corrupt republican officials, to launch the war in Vendee in the name of the son of Marie Antoinette Louis seventeen and to defend the Catholic Religion by giving a true and strong popular base for the royalists and other conservatives whose activity in the long run will undermine the Revolution and oblige Napoleon to restore the Roman Catholic Church in France and Europe. Marie Antoinette was treated badly by her jailors who smoked in her face and insulted her. She was imprisoned in a dark cell with few luxuries except her books and high heels. The queen had little social contact with no privacy, she was allowed to see her family on a very limited basis. Her health deteriorated through inactivity and forced restraint, she found difficulty in walking and developed tuberculosis and possibly uterine cancer, and she suffered frequent hemorrhages. Marie Antoinette wanted to escape at all cost, the toulan plot which consisted in the queen putting the cloth of one of her guards because of her very big size failed due to the massive presence of guards, to the great desperation and sadness of the queen as we know from her letters.

After Louis' death, Marie Antoinette's fate became a central question of the National Convention. While some continually advocated for her death, others proposed exchanging her for French prisoners of war or for a ransom from the Holy Roman Emperor. Thomas Paine advocated exile to America. Starting in April, however, a Committee of Public Safety was formed, and men such as Jacques Hébert were beginning to call for Antoinette's trial; by the end of May, the Girondins had been chased from power and arrested. Other calls were made to "retrain" the Dauphin, to make him more pliant to revolutionary ideas. To carry this out, the eight-year-old Louis Charles was separated from Antoinette on 3 July and given to the care of a cobbler named Antoine Simon. On 1 August, following various plots for her escape, Marie Antoinette was taken restrained with her hands behind her back out of the tower under a lot of insults, she was pushed and her head was injured. The queen was moved to an isolated underground cell in the Conciergerie as Prisoner No. 280. This period of time was the most difficult period of her captivity, Marie Antoinette was always attended by guards who restrained her, did not allow her any privacy and treated her very badly; an attempt to escape was foiled due to the inability to corrupt all the guards, to fear and also to the large numbers of iron doors which totally cut the unground cell where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned from the rest of the prison. There she was attended by Rosalie Lamorlière and at at least once received a Catholic priest.

She was finally tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on 14 October. Some historians believe the outcome of the trial had been decided in advance by the Committee of Public Safety around the time the Carnation Plot was uncovered. She was given less than one day to prepare her defence. Among the accusations, many previously published in the libelles, were orchestrating orgies in Versailles, sending millions of livres of treasury money to Austria, plotting to kill the Duke of Orléans, orchestrating the massacre of the Swiss Guards in 1792, declaring her son to be the new King of France, and - by her son Louis Charles himself (pushed by radical elements who controlled him) - of sexually abusing him which draw an emotional response from Marie Antoinette strongly rebuking that charge and calling on all mothers to support her which brought her a lot of comfort from some of her enemies even on a temporary basis. . She refused to respond to this charge.

On the third day, she was declared guilty of treason and condemned to death to her great surprise and sadeness, though she had expected life imprisonment. In her cell she composed a letter to her sister-in-law Madame Élisabeth, affirming her clear conscience, her Catholic faith and her feelings for her children. The letter did not reach Élisabeth. She was then forced to undress before her guards, clothed in a plain white dress and her hair shorn. Her hands bound painfully behind her back and leashed with a rope (as shown in the last drawing of her from life, by the painter Jacques-Louis David), she was driven through Paris to the place of execution in an open cart through the crowds, some jeering calling her Autri- chienne (Because she was Austrian and meaning chienne or dog in the French Language) and some remained silent, while she largely maintained her composure despite her deep sadness and pains. For her final confession she was given a priest recognized not by Rome but by the local constitutional church in France with the result that Marie Antoinette refused to confess or talk to him although he was with her the whole time until her execution which deprived her from spiritual consolation at the last moment of her life; in this and other matters, she was treated more harshly than the king had been.

She was guillotined at 12:15 p.m. on 16 October 1793, at the Place de la Révolution (present-day Place de la Concorde). Her last words were "Pardon me, sir, I meant not to do it", to Henri Sanson the executioner, whose foot she had accidentally stepped on after climbing the scaffold. Her body was thrown into an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery, rue d'Anjou (which was closed the following year).

Her sister-in-law Élisabeth was executed in 1794 and her son died in prison in 1795. Her daughter returned to Austria in a prisoner exchange, married and died childless in 1851.

Both Marie Antoinette's body and that of Louis XVI were exhumed on 18 January 1815, during the Bourbon Restoration, when the comte de Provence had become king Louis XVIII. Christian burial of the royal remains took place three days later, on 21 January, in the necropolis of French kings at the Basilica of St Denis.

After death and legacy

Long after her death, Marie Antoinette remains a major historical figure linked with conservative and the Catholic Church positions; and a major cultural icon associated with high glamour, wealth and a certain style of life based on luxury and celebrity appealing today to the social and cultural elites; frequently referenced in popular culture, being the subject of several books, films and other forms of media. Most academics and scholars, have deemed her the quintessential representative of class conflict, western aristocracy and absolutism government in addition to being frivolous, superficial; and have attributed the start of the French Revolution to her in addition to the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars of 1792 which ended with the Congress of Vienna with their millions of victims and the introduction of nationalistic and modern ideas. On the other hand, Marie Antoinette supported the American Revolution in 1776 and the American Revolutionary War, and helped inspire a conservative reaction in France after 1791, which saw its greatest manifestation in the War in the Vendée which led, several years after the death of the queen, to the end of the Revolution and to the return of conservative and religious ideas in France and in Europe. That tendency saw its first manifestation in the writing of Edmund Burke, the most important theorist of modern conservative thought, who criticized the Revolution as early as 1790 and defended Marie Antoinette in his various books. For some, Marie Antoinette was a victim of her family ambition and the general situation in France, in addition, even some of her critics recognize her qualities as a mother, her courage in dying, even her charisma. She also patronized the arts, sciences and fashion.

In popular culture

The phrase "Let them eat cake" is often attributed to Marie Antoinette, but there is no evidence she ever uttered it, and it is now generally regarded as a "journalistic cliché". It may have been a rumor started by angry French peasants as a form of libel. This phrase originally appeared in Book VI of the first part (finished in 1767, published in 1782) of Rousseau's putative autobiographical work, Les Confessions: "Enfin je me rappelai le pis-aller d'une grande princesse à qui l'on disait que les paysans n'avaient pas de pain, et qui répondit: Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" ("Finally I recalled the stopgap solution of a great princess who was told that the peasants had no bread, and who responded: 'Let them eat brioche'"). Apart from the fact that Rousseau ascribes these words to an unknown princess, vaguely referred to as a "great princess", some think that he invented it altogether as Confessions was largely inaccurate.

In America, expressions of gratitude to France for its help in the American Revolution included the naming of the city of Marietta, Ohio, founded in 1788. The Ohio Company of Associates chose the name Marietta after an affectionate nickname for Marie Antoinette.

Marie Antoinette is referenced in the lyrics of the song "Killer Queen" by the rock band Queen.

Titles from birth to death

• 2 November 1755 – 19 April 1770: Her Royal Highness Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia
• 19 April 1770 – 10 May 1774: Her Royal Highness The Dauphine of France, Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia
• 10 May 1774 – 1 October 1791: Her Most Christian Majesty The Queen of France and Navarre
• 1 October 1791 – 21 September 1792: Her Most Christian Majesty The Queen of the French

Ancestry

See also

• French Revolution

References

Notes

1. ^ Lever 2006, p. 1
2. C. f. "It is both impolitic and immoral for palaces to belong to a Queen of France" (part of a speech by a councilor in the Parlement de Paris, early 1785, after Louis XVI bought the Château de Saint-Cloud for the personal use of Marie Antoinette), quoted in Castelot 1957, p. 233
3. C.f. the following quote: "She (Marie Antoinette) thus obtained promises from Louis XVI which were in contradiction with the Council's (of Louis XVI's ministers) decisions", quoted in Castelot 1957, p. 186
4. Fraser 2002, p. 5
5. ^ Fraser 2002, pp. 5–6
6. Michel de Decker: Marie-Antoinette, les dangereuses liaisons de la reine, France Loisirs, 2005, p. 12.
7. Marie Célestine Amélie de Ségur d'Armaillé: Marie-Thérèse et Marie-Antoinette, Didier, 1870, p. 47.
8. Lever 2006, p. 10
9. ^ Fraser 2001, pp. 22–23, 166–170
10. Michel de Decker: Marie-Antoinette, les dangereuses liaisons de la reine, France Loisirs, 2005, p. 14.
11. Philippe Delorme: Marie-Antoinette. Épouse de Louis XVI, mère de Louis XVII, Pygmalion Éditions, 1999, p. 13.
12. Michel de Decker: Marie-Antoinette, les dangereuses liaisons de la reine, France Loisirs, 2005, p. 15.
13. Marie Célestine Amélie de Ségur d'Armaillé: Marie-Thérèse et Marie-Antoinette, Didier, 1870, p. 34.
14. Évelyne Lever: C'était Marie-Antoinette, Fayard, 2006, p. 14.
15. ^ Cronin 1989, p. 45
16. France Loisirs, Michel de Decker, 2005, p.16
17. Fraser 2002, pp. 32–33
18. France Loisirs, Michel de Decker, 2005, p.17
19. Cronin 1989, p. 46
20. ^ Weber 2007
21. France Loisirs, Michel de Decker, 2005, p. 20.
22. Fraser 2001, pp. 51–53
23. Pierre Nolhac & La Dauphine Marie Antoinette,1929, pp. 46–48 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFPierre_NolhacLa_Dauphine_Marie_Antoinette,1929 (help)
24. France Loisirs, Michel de Decker, 2005, p. 21.
25. Fraser 2001, pp. 58–62
26. Edmond and Jules de Goncourt & Histoire de Marie Antoinette preface Robert Kopp, 1990, pp. 30–36 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFEdmond_and_Jules_de_GoncourtHistoire_de_Marie_Antoinette_preface_Robert_Kopp,_1990 (help)
27. Fraser 2001, pp. 64–69
28. Nolhac 1929, pp. 50–55 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNolhac1929 (help)
29. Fraser 2001, pp. 70–71
30. Nolhac 1929, pp. 55–61 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNolhac1929 (help)
31. Fraser 2001, p. 157
32. Alfred et Geffroy D'Arneth & Correspondance Secrete entre Marie-Therese et le Comte de Mercy-Argenteau,vol 3 1874, pp. 80–90, 110–115 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFAlfred_et_Geffroy_D'ArnethCorrespondance_Secrete_entre_Marie-Therese_et_le_Comte_de_Mercy-Argenteau,vol_31874 (help)
33. Cronin 1974, pp. 61–63 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
34. Cronin 1974, p. 61 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
35. Fraser 2001, pp. 80–81
36. ALfred and Geffroy d'Arneth 1874, pp. 65–75 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFALfred_and_Geffroy_d'Arneth1874 (help)
37. Lever 2006
38. Fraser 2001, pp. 104
39. Lever, Evelyne, Marie-Antoinette, Fayard, Paris, 1991, p. 95.
40. Castelot 1957, pp. 70–85, 100–105
41. Fraser, Marie Antoinette, 2001, p. 124.
42. Jackes Levron & Madame du Barry 1973, pp. 75–85 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFJackes_LevronMadame_du_Barry1973 (help)
43. Evelyne Lever & Marie Antoinette 1991, pp. 124 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFEvelyne_LeverMarie_Antoinette1991 (help)
44. ^ Goncourt, Edmond de, La Du Barry, Ed. G. Charpentier, Paris, 1880, pp. 195-196
45. Lever, Evelyne, Louis XV, Fayard, Paris, 1985, p. 96
46. Correspondance secrète entre Marie-Thérèse et le cte de Mercy-Argenteau : avec les lettres de Marie-Thérèse et de Marie-Antoinette. T. 2 / publiée avec une introduction et des notes par M. le chevalier Alfred d'Arneth,... et M. A. Geffroy,..., pp. 139, 149, 150-151. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k200372g/f155.image
47. Fraser, Antonia (2002), Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2nd ed.), p. 124
48. Lever, Evelyne, Louis XVI, Fayard, Paris, 1985, p. 96
49. Correspondance de Marie Antoinette(1770-1793) & Evelyne Lever(1770-1793),2005, pp. 173 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCorrespondance_de_Marie_Antoinette(1770-1793)Evelyne_Lever(1770-1793),2005 (help)
50. Fraser 2001, pp. 132–137
51. Fraser 2001, pp. 136–137
52. Arneth and Geffroy ii, 1874 & pp475-480 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFArneth_and_Geffroy_ii1874pp475-480 (help)
53. Castelot, André, Marie-Antoinette, Librairie académique Perrin, Paris, 1962, pp. 107-108
54. Fraser 2001, pp. 124–127
55. Lever & Marie Antoinette 1991, pp. 125 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFLeverMarie_Antoinette_1991 (help)
56. Fraser 2001, pp. 140–145
57. Arneth and Geffroy i 1874, pp. 400–410 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFArneth_and_Geffroy_i1874 (help)
58. Fraser 2001, pp. 129–131
59. Fraser 2001, pp. 131–132; Bonnet 1981
60. Fraser 2001, pp. 111–113
61. Howard Patricia, Gluck 1995, pp. 105–115, 240–245 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHoward_Patricia,_Gluck1995 (help)
62. Cronin 1974, p. 215 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
63. Fashion, the mirror of history, page 190, Michael Batterberry, Ariane Ruskin Batterberry, Greenwich House, 1977. ISBN 978-0-517-38881-5
64. 20,000 years of fashion: the history of costume and personal adornment, page 350, François Boucher, Yvonne Deslandres, H.N. Abrams, 1987. ISBN 978-0-8109-1693-7
65. Fraser 2001, pp. 150–151
66. A History of the Gardens of Versailles, page 218, Michel Baridon, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8122-4078-8
67. Cronin 1974, pp. 158–159 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
68. Cronin 1974, p. 159 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
69. Fraser 2001, pp. 160–161
70. Cronin 1974, pp. 162–164 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
71. Fraser 2001, pp. 158–171
72. Arneth and Geoffroy,iii 1874, pp. 168–170, 180–182, 210–212 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFArneth_and_Geoffroy,iii1874 (help)
73. Cronin 1974, p. 161 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
74. Hibbert 2002, p. 23
75. Fraser 2001, p. 169
76. Cronin 1974, pp. 127–128 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
77. Fraser 2001, pp. 174–179
78. Fraser 2001, p. 152,171,194-195
79. Fraser, 2001 & pp218-220 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp218-220 (help)
80. Price Munro & Preserving the Monarchy: The Comte de Vergennes,1774-1787 1995, pp. 30–35, 145–150 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFPrice_MunroPreserving_the_Monarchy:_The_Comte_de_Vergennes,1774-17871995 (help)
81. Fraser 2001, pp. 184–187
82. Price 1995, pp. 55–60 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFPrice1995 (help)
83. Fraser 2001, pp. 187–188
84. Fraser 2001, p. 191
85. Cronin 1974, p. 190 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
86. Fraser 2001, pp. 240, 256
87. Tilly & Memoirs of the Comte Alexandre de Tilly,introd Havelock Ellis 1933, pp. 68, 70=75 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFTillyMemoirs_of_the_Comte_Alexandre_de_Tilly,introd_Havelock_Ellis1933 (help)
88. Fraser, pp.232-6
89. Lettres de Marie Antoinette et al., pp. 42–44 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFLettres_de_Marie_AntoinetteLe_Marquis_de_Beaucourt1895Vol_ii (help)
90. Cronin 1974, p. 193 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
91. Hector Fleischman & Madame de Polignac 1910, pp. 60–62 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHector_FleischmanMadame_de_Polignac1910 (help)
92. Fraser 2001, pp. 198–201
93. ^ Fraser 2001, p. 202
94. Lever 2006, p. 158
95. Fraser, pp. 245-7.
96. Cronin 1974, pp. 204–205 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
97. Fraser 2001, p. 208
98. Bombelles, Marquis de & Journal, vol I 1977, pp. 258–265 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBombelles,_Marquis_deJournal,_vol_I1977 (help)
99. Cronin 1974, pp. 133–134 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronin1974 (help)
100. Fraser 2001, pp. 214–215
101. Fraser 2001, pp. 216–220
102. Fraser 2001, pp. 224–225
103. Lever 2006, p. 189
104. Stefan Zweig and Antonia Fraser, who believe Fersen and the queen were romantically involved with one another, argue that there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Louis XVI was not the child's father - see Stefan Zweig, Marie Antoinette: The portrait of an average woman (New York, 1933), pp. 143, 244-7, and Fraser, pp. 267-9. This is also the view taken in biographies like Ian Dunlop, Marie-Antoinette: A Portrait (London, 1993), Évelyne Lever, Marie-Antoinette : la dernière reine (Paris, 2000), Simone Bertière, Marie-Antoinette: l'insoumise (Paris, 2003), and Jonathan Beckman, How to ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that shook the French throne (London, 2014), all of which argue that the Queen was not romantically or sexually involved with von Fersen. Beckman argues that 'there was speculation that he had an affair with the queen. To keep such a liaison hidden for years would have required a talent for logistics and discretion well beyond Marie Antoinette.' Munro Price, The Fall of the French Monarchy: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the baron de Breteuil (London, 2002) argues that it is impossible to know one way or the other how the queen and von Fersen felt about one another, but that if they ever did consummate their union, it took place after the birth of all four of her children and quite possibly only in the final few weeks of her freedom. The prince's biographer, Deborah Cadbury, in The Lost King of France: The tragic story of Marie-Antoinette's Favourite Son (London, 2003), pp. 22-4 also argues strongly that Louis XVI was the younger son's biological father.
105. Cadbury, p. 23
106. Fraser 2001, p. 226
107. Fraser 2001, pp. 246–248
108. ^ Fraser 2001, pp. 248–250
109. Fraser 2001, pp. 248–252
110. Fraser 2001, pp. 250–260
111. Fraser harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser (help)
112. Fraser 2001, pp. 254–255
113. Fraser, 2001 & pp254-260 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp254-260 (help)
114. Facos, p. 12.
115. Schama, p. 221.
116. Fraser 2001, pp. 255–258
117. Fraser, 2001 & pp 257-258 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp_257-258 (help)
118. Fraser 2001, pp. 258–259
119. Fraser 2001, pp. 260–261
120. Fraser 2001, pp. 263–265
121. A diary of the French Revolution 1789-93 & Morris Gouverneur 1939, pp. 66, 67 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFA_diary_of_the_French_Revolution_1789-93Morris_Gouverneur1939 (help)
122. Fraser 2001, pp. 270–273
123. Template:Louis Nicorlardet
124. Fraser 2001, pp. 274–278
125. Fraser, 2001 & pp279-282 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp279-282 (help)
126. Fraser, 2001 & pp280-285 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp280-285 (help)
127. Letters vol 2, pp. 130–140 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFLetters_vol_2 (help)
128. Morris 1939, pp. 130–135 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFMorris1939 (help)
129. Fraser 2001, pp. 282–284
130. Fraser 2001, pp. 284–289
131. Despaches of Earl Grower, Oscar Browning & Cambridge 1885, pp. 70–75, 245–250 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFDespaches_of_Earl_GrowerOscar_BrowningCambridge_1885 (help)
132. Fraser 2001, p. 289
133. Fraser 2001, pp. 298–304
134. Fraser 2001, p. 304
135. Fraser 2001, pp. 304–308
136. Fraser 2001, p. 315
137. Fraser, 2001 & pp310-314 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp310-314 (help)
138. 2001 & Fraser, pp. 314–316 harvnb error: no target: CITEREF2001Fraser (help)
139. Fraser, 2001 & pp315-319 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp315-319 (help)
140. Fraser, 2001 & pp321-323 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp321-323 (help)
141. Fraser 2001, p. 319
142. "Project MUSE — Early American Literature — Charles Brockden Brown's Ormond and Lesbian Possibility in the Early Republic" (PDF). Muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
143. Bonnie Zimmerman (2000). Lesbian histories and cultures: an encyclopedia (Volume 1). Taylor & Francis. pp. 776–777. ISBN 9780815319207. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
144. Dena Goodman (2003). Marie-Antoinette: writings on the body of a queen. Psychology Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 9780415933957. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
145. Fraser, 2001 & pp321-325 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp321-325 (help)
146. Fraser 2001, pp. 325–348
147. Fraser 2001, pp. 355–356
148. Fraser 2001, pp. 353–354
149. Fraser 2001, pp. 350–352
150. Fraser, 2001 & pp357-358 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp357-358 (help)
151. Lettres de Marie Antoinette vol 2 1895, pp. 364–378 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFLettres_de_Marie_Antoinette_vol_21895 (help)
152. Fraser 2001, pp. 360–363
153. Fraser 2001, pp. 364–365
154. 2001 & pp365-368 harvnb error: no target: CITEREF2001pp365-368 (help)
155. Fraser 2001, pp. 365–368
156. Fraser 2001, pp. 350, 360–371
157. Castelot 1957, pp. 295–298
158. Castelot 1957, pp. 299–305
159. Fraser, 2001 & pp371-373 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFraser2001pp371-373 (help)
160. Fraser 2001, pp. 368, 375–378
161. Fraser 2001, pp. 373–379
162. Fraser 2001, pp. 382–386
163. Fraser 2001, p. 389
164. Fraser 2001, p. 392
165. Fraser 2001, pp. 395–399
166. Castelot 1957, pp. 305–315
167. Gobry 1989, pp. 461–464 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGobry1989 (help)
168. Fraser 2001, pp. 404–405, 408
169. Thelast days of Marie Antoinette and Louis sixteen & Rupert Furneaux 1971, pp. 120–130 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFThelast_days_of_Marie_Antoinette_and_Louis_sixteenRupert_Furneaux1971 (help)
170. Fraser 2001, pp. 398, 408
171. Fraser 2001, pp. 411–412
172. Fraser 2001, pp. 412–414
173. Furneaux & 19711, pp. 139–142 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFurneaux19711 (help)
174. G. Lenotre: The Last Days of Marie Antoinette, 1907.
175. Fraser 2001, pp. 416–420
176. Castelot 1957, pp. 425–435
177. Castelot 1957, pp. 380–385
178. Fraser 2001, pp. 429–435
179. Furneaus 1971, pp. 150–154 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFurneaus1971 (help)
180. "Last Letter of Marie-Antoinette", Tea at Trianon, 26 May 2007
181. Furneaus 1971, pp. =155–156 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFurneaus1971 (help)
182. Castelot 1957, pp. 395–405, 435–445
183. Castelot 1957, pp. 550–558
184. Lever & Marie Antoinette 1991, pp. 660 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFLeverMarie_Antoinette1991 (help)
185. Fraser 2001, p. 440
186. The Times 23 October 1793, The Times.
187. Richard Covington (November 2006), "Marie Antoinette", Smithsonian magazine
188. Fraser 2001, pp. 411, 447
189. "Marie Antoinette Biography". Chevroncars.com. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
190. Jefferson, Thomas. Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson. Courier Dover Publications. Retrieved 29 March 2013. I have ever believed that had there been no queen, there would have been no revolution.
191. "A Reputation in Shreds - Marie Antoinette Online". Marie-antoinette.org. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
192. "Marie Antoinette". Antonia Fraser. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
193. Konigsberg, Eric (22 October 2006). "Marie Antoinette, Citoyenne". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
194. |Harvnb|Les Martyrs de la Révolution Française|Ivan Gobry,1989|pp=450-455
195. Gobry 1989, pp. 456–462 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGobry1989 (help)
196. Fraser 2001, pp. xviii, 160; Lever 2006, pp. 63–5; Lanser 2003, pp. 273–290
197. Johnson 1990, p. 17
198. Sturtevant, pp. 14, 72.

Bibliography

• Bonnet, Marie-Jo (1981). Un choix sans équivoque: recherches historiques sur les relations amoureuses entre les femmes, XVIe-XXe siècle (in French). Paris: Denoël. OCLC 163483785. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Castelot, André (1957). Queen of France: a biography of Marie Antoinette. trans. Denise Folliot. New York: Harper & Brothers. OCLC 301479745. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Cronin, Vincent (1989). Louis and Antoinette. London: The Harvill Press. ISBN 978-0-00-272021-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dams, Bernd H.; Zega, Andrew (1995). La folie de bâtir: pavillons d'agrément et folies sous l'Ancien Régime. trans. Alexia Walker. Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-08-201858-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Facos, Michelle (2011). An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Art. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-136-84071-5. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
• Fraser, Antonia (2001). Marie Antoinette (1st ed.). New York: N.A. Talese/Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-48948-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Fraser, Antonia (2002). Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2nd ed.). Garden City: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-385-48949-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hermann, Eleanor (2006). Sex With The Queen. Harper/Morrow. ISBN 0-06-084673-9.
• Hibbert, Christopher (2002). The Days of the French Revolution. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-688-16978-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Johnson, Paul (1990). Intellectuals. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-091657-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lanser, Susan S. (2003). "Eating Cake: The (Ab)uses of Marie-Antoinette". In Goodman, Dena (ed.). Marie-Antoinette: Writings on the Body of a Queen. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-93395-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lever, Évelyne (2006). Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France. London: Portrait. ISBN 978-0-7499-5084-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Schama, Simon (1989). Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution. New York: Vintage. ISBN 0-679-72610-1.
• Seulliet, Philippe (July 2008). "Swan Song: Music Pavillion of the Last Queen of France". World Of Interiors (7). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sturtevant, Lynne (2011). A Guide to Historic Marietta, Ohio. The History Press. ISBN 978-1-60949-276-2. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
• Weber, Caroline (2007). Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. Picador. ISBN 978-0-312-42734-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wollstonecraft, Mary (1795). An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution and the Effect it Has Produced in Europe. St. Paul's.

Further reading

• Bashor, Will (2013). Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution. Lyons Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0762791538.
• Lasky, Kathryn (2000). The Royal Diaries: Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles: Austria-France, 1769. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 978-0-439-07666-1.
• Loomis, Stanley (1972). The Fatal Friendship: Marie Antoinette, Count Fersen and the flight to Varennes. London: Davis-Poynter. ISBN 978-0-7067-0047-3.
• MacLeod, Margaret Anne (2008). There Were Three of Us in the Relationship: The Secret Letters of Marie Antoinette. Irvine, Scotland: Isaac MacDonald. ISBN 978-0-9559991-0-9.
• Naslund, Sena Jeter (2006). Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 978-0-06-082539-3.
• Romijn, André (2008). Vive Madame la Dauphine: A Biographical Novel. Ripon: Roman House. ISBN 978-0-9554100-2-4.
• Thomas, Chantal (1999). The Wicked Queen: The Origins of the Myth of Marie-Antoinette. Trans. Julie Rose. New York: Zone Books. ISBN 978-0-942299-40-3.
• Vidal, Elena Maria (1997). Trianon: A Novel of Royal France. Long Prairie, MN: Neumann Press. ISBN 978-0-911845-96-9.
• Zweig, Stefan (2002). Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-3909-2.

External links

• "Marie Antionette" in the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Story of Marie Antoinette with Primary Sources
• Find A Grave
• Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution - Lyons Press page
• Marie Antoinette's official Versailles profile
• Marie Antoinette Online—A site with a sympathetic bend, and contains a great deal of information.
• The marais of Marie-Antoinette sur parismarais.com
• Tea At Trianon—Many articles on all things Antoinette, from Versailles to Trianon to the most obscure details of life in Royal France, by historian and author Elena Maria Vidal.
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Marie Antoinette" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Online catalog of Marie Antoinette's personal reading library from the Petit-Trianon palace, based on 1863 printed catalog, online at LibraryThing.
• If they have no bread, let them eat cake.
• 2015 Irish Examiner article

Articles and topics related to Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette House of Habsburg-LorraineBorn: 2 November 1755 Died: 16 October 1793 French royalty VacantTitle last held byMarie Leszczyńska Queen consort of France and Navarre 10 May 1774 – 1 October 1791 Herself as Queen of the French Herself as Queen of France Queen consort of the French 1 October 1791 – 21 September 1792 VacantMonarchy abolishedTitle next held byJoséphine de Beauharnais as Empress of the French Titles in pretence Loss of title Republic declared — TITULAR — Queen consort of France and Navarre/ Queen consort of the French 1 October 1791 – 21 January 1793 VacantTitle next held byMarie Josephine Louise of Savoy Notes and references 1. Weber, Caroline. Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006. v t e Austrian archduchesses by descent Generations are numbered by male-line descent from Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished and outlawed in 1919. 1st generation Kunigunde, Duchess of Bavaria 2nd generation Margaret, Duchess of Savoy 3rd generation Eleanor, Queen of Portugal and France* Isabella, Queen of Denmark and Norway* Maria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia* Catherine, Queen of Portugal* 4th generation Maria, Holy Roman Empress* Joanna, Princess of Portugal* Elisabeth, Queen of Poland Anna, Duchess of Bavaria Maria, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg Magdalena Catherine, Queen of Poland Eleanor, Duchess of Mantua Margaret Barbara, Duchess of Ferrara Helena Joanna, Grand Duchess of Tuscany 5th generation Isabella Clara Eugenia, Co-sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands** Catalina Micaela, Duchess of Savoy** Anna, Queen of Spain Elisabeth, Queen of France Margaret (1567–1633) Maria (1584–1649) Anna, Holy Roman Empress Anna, Queen of Poland Maria Christina, Princess of Transylvania Catherine Renata Gregoria Maximiliana Eleanor (1582–1620) Margaret, Queen of Spain Constance, Queen of Poland Maria Maddalena, Grand Duchess of Tuscany 6th generation Anna, Queen of France** María** Maria Anna, Holy Roman Empress** Margarita** Maria Anna, Electress of Bavaria Cecilia Renata, Queen of Poland Isabella Clara, Duchess of Mantua Maria Leopoldine, Holy Roman Empress 7th generation Maria Theresa, Queen of France** Margarita Teresa, Holy Roman Empress* Maria Anna, Queen of Spain Eleanor, Queen of Poland, Duchess of Lorraine Maria Anna Josepha, Electoral Princess of the Palatinate Claudia Felicitas, Holy Roman Empress 8th generation Maria Antonia, Electress of Bavaria Maria Elisabeth Maria Anna, Queen of Portugal Maria Theresa Maria Josepha Maria Magdalena 9th generation Maria Josepha, Queen of Poland Maria Amalia, Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa Princess Maria Anna of Lorraine 10th generation Maria Elisabeth^ Maria Anna^ Maria Carolina^ Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen^ Maria Elisabeth^ Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma^ Johanna^ Maria Josepha^ Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples^ Maria Antonia, Queen of France^ 11th generation Maria Theresa Maria Theresia, Queen of Saxony^ Maria Anna^ Maria Clementina, Duchess of Calabria^ Maria Amalia^ Maria Theresa, Queen of Sardinia# Maria Leopoldine, Electress of Bavaria# Maria Ludovika, Empress of Austria# 12th generation Marie Louise, Empress of the French Maria Leopoldina, Empress of Brazil Clementina, Princess of Salerno Marie Caroline, Crown Princess of Saxony Maria Anna Maria Luisa^ Maria Theresa, Queen of Sardinia^ Maria Theresa, Queen of the Two Sicilies Maria Caroline Hermine Elisabeth Franziska Marie Henriette, Queen of the Belgians Adelaide, Queen of Sardinia Maria Theresa, Countess of Chambord# Maria Beatrix, Countess of Montizón# 13th generation Maria Anna Princess Auguste Ferdinande of Bavaria^ Maria Isabella, Countess of Trapani^ Maria Luisa, Princess of Isenburg-Büdingen^ Mathilda Maria Christina, Queen of Spain Maria Dorothea, Duchess of Orléans Margaretha Klementine, Princess of Thurn and Taxis Maria Theresa, Queen of Bavaria# 14th generation Sophie Princess Gisela of Bavaria Marie Valerie Margarete Sophie, Duchess of Württemberg Maria Annunciata Princess Elisabeth of Liechtenstein Maria Antonietta^ Luise, Crown Princess of Saxony^ Maria Theresa^ Princess Karoline Marie of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha^ Princess Maria Christina of Salm-Salm Princess Maria Anna of Bourbon Parma Maria Henrietta, Princess of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst Princess Isabella of Bavaria Eleonora Renata, Princess Radziwill Mechthildis, Princess Czartoryski 15th generation Elisabeth Marie, Princess of Windisch-Graetz Helena, Duchess of Württemberg^ Rosa, Duchess of Württemberg^ Dolores^ Maria Inmaculata^ Margarita, Marchioness Taliani di Marchio^ Princess Maria Antonia^ Assunta^ Elisabeth, Countess of Waldburg-Zeil^ Hedwig, Countess of Stolberg-Stolberg^ Margaret, Princess of Monteleone Ilona, Duchess of Mecklenburg 16th generation Adelheid Charlotte, Duchess of Mecklenburg Princess Elisabeth of Liechtenstein 17th generation Gabriela Walburga, Countess Douglas Maria-Anna, Princess Piotr Galitzine Sophie, Princess of Windisch-Graetz 18th generation Eleonore * also an infanta of Spain ** also an infanta of Spain and Portugal ^ also a princess of Tuscany # also a princess of Modena v t e Tuscan princesses by birth 1st generation Princess Maria Isabella, Duchess of Bracciano Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara Virginia, Duchess of Modena^ 2nd generation Eleonora, Duchess of Mantua Princess Anna Marie, Queen of France Princess Maria Maddalena Claudia, Archduchess of Further Austria 3rd generation Princess Maria Cristina Margherita, Duchess of Parma Anna, Archduchess of Further Austria Catherine, Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat 4th generation none 5th generation Anna Maria Luisa, Electress Palatine 6th generation none 7th generation Princess Maria Anna* Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen* Princess Maria Elisabeth* Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma* Princess Maria Johanna Gabriela* Princess Maria Josepha* Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily* Maria Antonia, Queen of France* 8th generation Maria Theresia, Queen of Saxony* Maria Clementina, Duchess of Calabria* 9th generation Princess Maria Luisa* Maria Theresa, Queen of Sardinia* 10th generation Auguste Ferdinande, Princess Luitpold of Bavaria* Maria Isabella, Countess of Trapani* Maria Luisa, Princess of Isenburg-Büdingen* 11th generation Princess Maria Antonietta* Louise, Crown Princess of Saxony* Maria Theresa, Archduchess Charles Stephen of Austria* Karoline Marie, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha* 12th generation Helena, Duchess Philipp of Württemberg* Rosa, Duchess of Württemberg* Princess Dolores* Maria Immaculata, Nobile Inigo Neri Sereneri* Margarita, Marchioness Taliani di Marchio* Princess Maria Antonia, Mrs. Luis Pérez* * also an archduchess of Austria ^did not have a royal or noble birth v t e Princesses of France by marriage 1st generation None 2nd generation Marie, Duchess of Montpensier Princess Marguerite of Lorraine 3rd generation Princess Henrietta of England Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate 4th generation Duchess Maria Anna of Bavaria Françoise Marie de Bourbon 5th generation Princess Marie Adélaïde of Savoy Princess Marie Louise of Orléans 6th generation None 7th generation Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony 8th generation Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria Princess Maria Joséphine of Savoy Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy 9th generation Princess Marie Thérèse of France* Princess Caroline of Naples and Sicily 10th generation Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este *also a princess of France in her own right v t e Dauphines of France Joanna of Bourbon (1350–1364) Margaret of Burgundy (1412–1415) Jacqueline of Bavaria (1415–1417) Margaret of Scotland (1436–1445) Charlotte of Savoy (1451–1461) Catherine de' Medici (1536–1547) Mary Stuart (1558–1559) Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria (1680–1690) Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (1711–1712) Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (1745–1746) Maria Josepha of Saxony (1747–1765) Maria Antonia of Austria (1770–1774) Marie Thérèse of France (1824–1830) v t e Royal consorts of France List of Frankish queens List of French royal consorts Merovingians (509–751) Clotilde Ultragotha Guntheuc Radegund Ingund Aregund Ingoberga Merofleda Marcovefa Theudechild Austregilde Audovera Galswintha Fredegund Brunhilda of Austrasia Bertrude Sichilde Gomentrude Nanthild Ragintrudis Wulfefundis Bertechildis Balthild of Chelles Bilichild Chrothildis Carolingians, Robertians and Bosonids (751–987) Bertrada of Laon Gerberga Desiderata of the Lombards Hildegard Fastrada Luitgard Ermengarde of Hesbaye Judith of Bavaria Ermentrude of Orléans Richilde of Provence Adelaide of Paris Richardis Théodrate of Troyes Frederuna Eadgifu of Wessex Beatrice of Vermandois Emma of France Gerberga of Saxony Emma of Italy House of Capet (987–1328) Adelaide of Aquitaine Rozala of Italy Bertha of Burgundy Constance of Arles Matilda of Frisia Anne of Kiev Bertha of Holland Bertrade of Montfort Adelaide of Maurienne Eleanor of Aquitaine Constance of Castile Adela of Champagne Isabella of Hainault Ingeborg of Denmark Agnes of Merania Blanche of Castile Margaret of Provence Isabella of Aragon Marie of Brabant Joan I of Navarre Margaret of Burgundy Clementia of Hungary Joan II, Countess of Burgundy Blanche of Burgundy Marie of Luxembourg Joan of Évreux House of Valois (1328–1589) Joan of Burgundy Blanche of Navarre Joan I, Countess of Auvergne Joanna of Bourbon Isabeau of Bavaria Marie of Anjou Charlotte of Savoy Anne of Brittany Joan of France Mary Tudor Claude of France Eleanor of Austria Catherine de' Medici Mary Stuart Elisabeth of Austria Louise of Lorraine House of Lancaster (1422–1453) Margaret of Anjou House of Bourbon (1589–1792) Margaret of Valois Marie de' Medici Anne of Austria Maria Theresa of Spain Marie Leszczyńska Marie Antoinette House of Bonaparte (1804–1814; 1815) Joséphine de Beauharnais Marie Louise House of Bourbon (1814–1815; 1815–1830) Marie Joséphine of Savoy Marie-Thérèse House of Orléans (1830–1848) Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily House of Bonaparte (1852–1870) Eugénie de Montijo Consorts to debatable or disputed rulers are in italics. v t e French Revolution Causes Timeline Ancien Régime Revolution Constitutional monarchy Republic Directory Consulate Glossary Journals Museum Significant civil and political events by year 1788 Day of the Tiles (7 Jun 1788) Assembly of Vizille (21 Jul 1788) 1789 What Is the Third Estate? (Jan 1789) Réveillon riots (28 Apr 1789) Convocation of the Estates General (5 May 1789) Death of the Dauphin (4 June 1789) National Assembly (17 Jun – 9 Jul 1790) Tennis Court Oath (20 Jun 1789) National Constituent Assembly (9 Jul – 30 Sep 1791) Storming of the Bastille (14 Jul 1789) Great Fear (20 Jul – 5 Aug 1789) Abolition of Feudalism (4–11 Aug 1789) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 Aug 1789) Women's March on Versailles (5 Oct 1789) Nationalization of the Church properties (2 Nov 1789) 1790 Abolition of the Parlements (Feb–Jul 1790) Abolition of the Nobility (23 Jun 1790) Civil Constitution of the Clergy (12 Jul 1790) Fête de la Fédération (14 Jul 1790) 1791 Flight to Varennes (20–21 Jun 1791) Champ de Mars massacre (17 Jul 1791) Declaration of Pillnitz (27 Aug 1791) The Constitution of 1791 (3 Sep 1791) National Legislative Assembly (1 Oct 1791 – Sep 1792) 1792 France declares war (20 Apr 1792) Brunswick Manifesto (25 Jul 1792) Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary (Jun 1792) 10th of August (10 Aug 1792) September Massacres (Sep 1792) National Convention (20 Sep 1792 – 26 Oct 1795) First republic declared (22 Sep 1792) 1793 Execution of Louis XVI (21 Jan 1793) Revolutionary Tribunal (9 Mar 1793 – 31 May 1795) Reign of Terror (27 Jun 1793 – 27 Jul 1794) Committee of Public Safety Committee of General Security Fall of the Girondists (2 Jun 1793) Assassination of Marat (13 Jul 1793) Levée en masse (23 Aug 1793) The Death of Marat (painting) Law of Suspects (17 Sep 1793) Marie Antoinette is guillotined (16 Oct 1793) Anti-clerical laws (throughout the year) 1794 Danton and Desmoulins guillotined (5 Apr 1794) Law of 22 Prairial (10 Jun 1794) Thermidorian Reaction (27 Jul 1794) Robespierre guillotined (28 Jul 1794) White Terror (Fall 1794) Closing of the Jacobin Club (11 Nov 1794) 1795–6 Insurrection of 12 Germinal Year III (1 Apr 1795) Constitution of the Year III (22 Aug 1795) Directoire (1795–99) Council of Five Hundred Council of Ancients 13 Vendémiaire 5 Oct 1795 Conspiracy of the Equals (May 1796) 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 Sep 1797) Second Congress of Rastatt (Dec 1797) 1798 Law of 22 Floréal Year VI (11 May 1798) 1799 Coup of 30 Prairial VII (18 Jun 1799) Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 Nov 1799) Constitution of the Year VIII (24 Dec 1799) Consulate Revolutionary campaigns 1792 Verdun Thionville Valmy Royalist Revolts Chouannerie Vendée Dauphiné Lille Siege of Mainz Jemappes Namur 1793 First Coalition War in the Vendée Battle of Neerwinden Battle of Famars (23 May 1793) Expedition to Sardinia (21 Dec 1792 - 25 May 1793) Battle of Kaiserslautern Siege of Mainz Battle of Wattignies Battle of Hondschoote Siege of Bellegarde Battle of Peyrestortes (Pyrenees) Siege of Toulon (18 Sep – 18 Dec 1793) First Battle of Wissembourg (13 Oct 1793) Battle of Truillas (Pyrenees) Second Battle of Wissembourg (26–27 Dec 1793) 1794 Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (24 Apr 1794) Second Battle of Boulou (Pyrenees) (30 Apr – 1 May 1794) Battle of Tourcoing (18 May 1794) Battle of Tournay (22 May 1794) Glorious First of June (1 Jun 1794) Battle of Fleurus (26 Jun 1794) Chouannerie Battle of Aldenhoven (2 Oct 1794) Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 - 7 Jun 1795) 1795 Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 - 7 Jun 1795) Peace of Basel 1796 Italian campaign (1796) Battle of Lonato (3–4 Aug 1796) Battle of Castiglione (5 Aug 1796) Battle of Theiningen Battle of Neresheim (11 Aug 1796) Battle of Amberg (24 Aug 1796) Battle of Würzburg (3 Sep 1796) Battle of Rovereto (4 Sep 1796) First Battle of Bassano (8 Sep 1796) Battle of Emmendingen (19 Oct 1796) Battle of Schliengen (26 Oct 1796) Second Battle of Bassano (6 Nov 1796) Battle of Calliano (6–7 Nov 1796) Battle of Arcole (15–17 Nov 1796) Ireland expedition (Dec 1796) 1797 Italian campaign (1797) Naval Engagement off Brittany (13 Jan 1797) Battle of Rivoli (14–15 Jan 1797) Battle of the Bay of Cádiz (25 Jan 1797) Treaty of Leoben (17 Apr 1797) Battle of Neuwied (18 Apr 1797) Treaty of Campo Formio (17 Oct 1797) 1798 French invasion of Switzerland (28 January – 17 May 1798) French Invasion of Egypt (1798–1801) Irish Rebellion of 1798 (23 May – 23 Sep 1798) Quasi-War (1798–1800) Peasants' War (12 Oct – 5 Dec 1798) 1799 Second Coalition (1798–1802) Siege of Acre (20 Mar – 21 May 1799) Battle of Ostrach (20–21 Mar 1799) Battle of Stockach (25 Mar 1799) Battle of Magnano (5 Apr 1799) Battle of Cassano (27–28 Apr 1799) First Battle of Zurich (4–7 Jun 1799) Battle of Trebbia (17–20 Jun 1799) Battle of Novi (15 Aug 1799) Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 Sep 1799) 1800 Battle of Marengo (14 Jun 1800) Convention of Alessandria (15 Jun 1800) Battle of Hohenlinden (3 Dec 1800) League of Armed Neutrality (1800–02) 1801 Treaty of Lunéville (9 Feb 1801) Treaty of Florence (18 Mar 1801) Algeciras campaign (8 Jul 1801) 1802 Treaty of Amiens (25 Mar 1802) Treaty of Paris (25 Jun 1802) Military leaders France French Army Eustache Charles d'Aoust Pierre Augereau Alexandre de Beauharnais Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte Louis-Alexandre Berthier Jean-Baptiste Bessières Napoléon Bonaparte Guillaume Brune Jean François Carteaux Jean-Étienne Championnet Chapuis de Tourville Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Louis-Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix Jacques François Dugommier Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Charles François Dumouriez Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Louis-Charles de Flers Paul Grenier Emmanuel de Grouchy Jacques Maurice Hatry Lazare Hoche Jean-Baptiste Jourdan François Christophe de Kellermann Jean-Baptiste Kléber Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Jean Lannes Charles Leclerc Claude Lecourbe François Joseph Lefebvre Étienne Macdonald Jean-Antoine Marbot Marcellin Marbot François Séverin Marceau Auguste de Marmont André Masséna Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Jean Victor Marie Moreau Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise Joachim Murat Michel Ney Pierre-Jacques Osten [fr] Nicolas Oudinot Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon Jean-Charles Pichegru Józef Poniatowski Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier Joseph Souham Jean-de-Dieu Soult Louis-Gabriel Suchet Belgrand de Vaubois Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno French Navy Charles-Alexandre Linois Opposition Austria József Alvinczi Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt (Walloon) Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze (Swiss) Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth Pál Kray (Hungarian) Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (French) Maximilian Baillet de Latour (Walloon) Karl Mack von Leiberich Rudolf Ritter von Otto (Saxon) Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló (Hungarian) Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Dagobert von Wurmser Britain Sir Ralph Abercromby James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Netherlands William V, Prince of Orange Prussia Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen Russia Alexander Korsakov Alexander Suvorov Andrei Rosenberg Spain Luis Firmin de Carvajal Antonio Ricardos Other significant figures and factions Patriotic Society of 1789 Jean Sylvain Bailly Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt Isaac René Guy le Chapelier Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Nicolas de Condorcet Feuillants and monarchiens Grace Elliott Arnaud de La Porte Jean-Sifrein Maury François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Guillaume-Mathieu Dumas Antoine Barnave Lafayette Alexandre-Théodore-Victor, comte de Lameth Charles Malo François Lameth André Chénier Jean-François Rewbell Camille Jordan Madame de Staël Boissy d'Anglas Jean-Charles Pichegru Pierre Paul Royer-Collard Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Girondins Jacques Pierre Brissot Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière Madame Roland Father Henri Grégoire Étienne Clavière Marquis de Condorcet Charlotte Corday Marie Jean Hérault Jean Baptiste Treilhard Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Jean Debry Olympe de Gouges Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux The Plain Abbé Sieyès de Cambacérès Charles-François Lebrun Pierre-Joseph Cambon Bertrand Barère Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe I Mirabeau Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville Jean Joseph Mounier Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours François de Neufchâteau Montagnards Maximilien Robespierre Georges Danton Jean-Paul Marat Camille Desmoulins Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Paul Barras Louis Philippe I Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau Jacques-Louis David Marquis de Sade Georges Couthon Roger Ducos Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois Jean-Henri Voulland Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier Jean-Pierre-André Amar Prieur de la Côte-d'Or Prieur de la Marne Gilbert Romme Jean Bon Saint-André Jean-Lambert Tallien Pierre Louis Prieur Antoine Christophe Saliceti Hébertists and Enragés Jacques Hébert Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Charles-Philippe Ronsin Antoine-François Momoro François-Nicolas Vincent François Chabot Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel François Hanriot Jacques Roux Stanislas-Marie Maillard Charles-Philippe Ronsin Jean-François Varlet Theophile Leclerc Claire Lacombe Pauline Léon Gracchus Babeuf Sylvain Maréchal Others Figures Charles X Louis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien Louis Henri, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Marie Antoinette Napoléon Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Fesch Joséphine de Beauharnais Joachim Murat Jean Sylvain Bailly Jacques-Donatien Le Ray Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes Talleyrand Thérésa Tallien Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target Catherine Théot Madame de Lamballe Madame du Barry Louis de Breteuil de Chateaubriand Jean Chouan Loménie de Brienne Charles Alexandre de Calonne Jacques Necker Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil List of people associated with the French Revolution Factions Jacobins Cordeliers Panthéon Club Social Club Influential thinkers Les Lumières Beaumarchais Edmund Burke Anacharsis Cloots Charles-Augustin de Coulomb Pierre Claude François Daunou Diderot Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Antoine Lavoisier Montesquieu Thomas Paine Jean-Jacques Rousseau Abbé Sieyès Voltaire Mary Wollstonecraft Cultural impact La Marseillaise Cockade of France Flag of France Liberté, égalité, fraternité Marianne Muscadin Bastille Day Panthéon French Republican calendar Metric system Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Cult of the Supreme Being Cult of Reason Temple of Reason Sans-culottes Phrygian cap Women in the French Revolution Incroyables and merveilleuses Symbolism in the French Revolution Historiography of the French Revolution Influence of the French Revolution Films

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