Marie Antoinette Queen of France
by: The
Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX -- Robert Appleton
Queen of France. Born at Vienna, 2 November, 1755; executed in Paris, 16
October, 1793. She was the youngest daughter of Francis I, German Emperor, and
of Maria Theresa. The marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was one of the
last acts of Choiseul's policy (see CHOISEUL); but the Dauphiness from the first
shared the unpopularity attaching to the Franco-Austrian alliance. Ambassador
Mercy and Abbé de Vermond, the former tutor of the archduchess in Austria and
now her reader in France, endeavoured to make her follow the prudent counsels as
to her conduct sent by her mother, Maria Theresa, and to enable her thus to
overcome all the intrigues of the Court. Marie Antoinette's disdain of Madame du
Barry, the mistress of Louis XV, was perhaps, from a political standpoint, a
mistake, but it is an honorable evidence of the high character and self-respect
of the Dauphiness. Having become queen on 10 May, 1774, she adopted an imprudent
course of action, both in her political and private life. In politics she was
always so uncompromisingly attached to the Franco-Austrian alliance that she was
nicknamed "L'Autrichienne" by Mme Adélaide and the Duc d'Aiguillon's
party. Her unpopularity reached a climax when, in 1778, Austria laid claim to
the throne of Bavaria and she tried to bring about French mediation between
Austria and Prussia. In truth, it was to the interest of France not to permit
the indefinite growth of the Prussian power; but the routine diplomats,
believing that Austria was to be forever the enemy of France, and the
philosophers, who were favorably disposed towards Prussia, as a Protestant
nation, abhorred any display of sympathy for Austria.
In her private life, Marie Antoinette may justly be blamed for her
prodigality, for having, between 1774 and 1777 -- by certain notorious escapades
(sleigh racing, opera balls, hunting in the Bois de Boulogne, gambling) and by
her amusements at the Trianon (see VERSAILLES) -- given occasion for calumnious
reports. But she confessed to Mercy that she indulged in this dissipation to
console herself for having no children; and the tales of Besenval, Lauzun, and
Soulavie, about the amours of Marie Antoinette, cannot stand against the
testimony of the Prince de Ligne: "Her pretended gallantry was never any
more than a very deep friendship for one or two individuals, and the ordinary
coquetry of a woman, or a queen, trying to please everyone."
De Goltz, the Prussian minister, also wrote that though a malicious person
might interpret the queen's conduct unfavourably there was nothing in it beyond
a desire to please everybody. Besides, the queen continued to give edification
by her regular practice of her religious duties. "If I were only a
mother, I should be considered a Frenchwoman", wrote Marie Antoinette
to Mercy in 1775. She became the mother of Madame Royale in 1778, in 1781 of a
Dauphin who was to die eight years later, and of little Louis XVII in 1785. But
the ill-feeling towards "L'Autrichienne" was stirred up by the
lamentable "Affair of the Diamond Necklace" (1784-86). Cardinal
de Rohan, grand aumônier of France, deceived by an adventuress, who
called herself Comtesse de la Motte-Valois, purchased for 1,600,000 livres
a necklace which he believed the queen wished to have; the lawsuit begun by the
unpaid jewelers resulted in the acquittal of Cardinal de Rohan, while the
publicity of the allegations of Mme de la Motte, who pretended that the queen
was aware of the transaction, and the romantic story of a nocturnal rendezvous
at the Tuileries, were exploited by Marie Antoinette's enemies. The Comte
d'Artois compromised her by his intimacy, scurrilous pamphlets were circulated,
and, particularly in certain court circles, that abominable campaign of
mendacity was inaugurated to which the queen fell a victim at a later period.
In 1789, at the opening of the States-General, the crowd, acclaiming the
queen's enemy, shouted in her hearing: "Long live the Duc d'Orléans!"
The events of October, 1789, which forced the Court to return from Versailles to
Paris, were directed especially against her. In June, 179l, the projected flight
which she had planned with the assistance of Fersen and Bouillé, failed, the
royal couple being arrested at Varennes. Marie Antoinette secretly negotiated
with foreign powers for the king's safety; but when, on 27 August, 1791, Leopold
of Austria and Frederick William of Prussia bound themselves, by the Declaration
of Pillnitz, never to allow the new French Constitution to be established, she
wrote to Mercy that "each one is at liberty to adopt in his own country
the domestic laws that please him", and she regretted the extravagances
of the émigrés. She wished the powers to hold a kind of "armed
congress" which, without making war on France, should give moral
support to the French king, and inspire the better class of his subjects with
courage to rally round him. But the Revolution was hastening: on 13 August,
1792, Marie Antoinette was shut up in the Temple; on 1 August, 1793, she was
sent to the Conciergerie; her trial took place on 14 October. Accused by
Fouquier-Tinville of having tried to foment both war with foreign nations and
civil war, the "Widow Capet" was defended by Chauveau-Lagarde and
Tronson Ducoudray, who were forthwith cast into prison. She may have received
absolution from the Curé of Ste-Marguerite, who was in a cell opposite to hers;
at all events, she refused to make her confession to the Abbé Girard, a "constitutional"
priest, who offered her his services. She mounted the scaffold undauntedly.
Her historian, M. de la Rocheterie, says of her: "She was not a guilty
woman, neither was she a saint; she was an upright, charming woman, a little
frivolous, somewhat impulsive, but always pure; she was a queen, at times ardent
in her fancies for her favorites and thoughtless in her policy, but proud and
full of energy; a thorough woman in her winsome ways and tenderness of heart,
until she became a martyr."
DE BEAUCOURT AND DE LA ROCHETERIE, eds., Lettres de
Marie-Antoinette (2 vols., Paris, 1895, 1896) (the only edition to oonsult,
since Geffroy has convicted Feuillet de Conches' earlier publication of
inaccuracies and interpolations); ARNETH AND GEFFROY, eds., Correspondance
secrète entre Marie-Thérèse et Mercy Argenteau (Paris, 1874); ARNETH ET
FLAMMERMONT, eds., Correspondance de Joseph II avec le prince de Kaunitz
(Paris, 1889-91); ARNETH, ed., Marie-Antoinette, Joseph II, und Leopold II.,
ihr Briefwechsel (Leipzig, 1866); IDEM, ed., Maria-Theresia und
Marie-Antoinette, ihr Briefwcehsel (Leipzig, l866); DE LA ROCHETERIE, Histoire
de Marie-Antoinette (Paris, 1908); DE NOLHAC, La reine Marie-Antoinette
(Paris, 1898); IDEM, Marie Antoinette, the Dauphine, tr. from the
French (folio, Paris, 1897); IDEM, Versailles au temps de Marie-Antoinette
(Paris, 1892); DE SÉGUR, Au couchant de la monarchie (Paris, 1910);
BICKNELL, The Story of Marie Antoinette (London, 1897); BLENNERHASSETT, Marie-Antoinette
Königin von Frankreich (Bielefeld, 1903); BOUTRY, Autour de
Marie-Antoinette (Paris, 1907); FUNCK-BRENTANO, L'affaire du collier
(Paris. 1901); IDEM, La mont de la reine (Paris, 1902). -- An excellent
study of the historical sources on Marie-Antoinette is TOURNEUX, Marie-Antoinette
devant l'histoire. Essai bibliographique (2nd ed., Paris, 1901).
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