Marie Antoinette Research Paper
“Marie Antoinette”
In Vienna, on November 2, 1755 the thirty-eight-year-old sovereign, ruler of an empire, Marie Theresa, was to give birth for the fifteenth time in her life to, Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna. Since all the archduchesses were given the first name Maria, they were usually addressed by their second name. Maria Theresa would refer to her youngest daughter as Antonia. It was the French who would call her Marie Antoinette.
In the meantime Antonia blossomed she grew and developed. Antonia spent more time playing then studying she enjoyed her music lessons and became an excellent harpist and dancer. She was always elegantly dressed she never missed a ball, a concert, a reception or a performance at the opera. At the Hofburg, she was seen once a week at the Empress’s card table she loved to gamble. A shadow fell over Antonia’s sunny life in 1765, when her father …show more content…
died of a stroke at the age of fifty-six. A few years later, Antonia’s childhood came to an end. Her mother had negotiated between the two courts were being actively pursued. At last, on June 13, 1769 the Empress received the French King’s official marriage proposal. She responded with eagerness, assuring him of her joy at giving her daughter to his grandson, whom she hoped Antonia would have “the good fortune of pleasing.” In the meanwhile the wedding date was set for May 16 of the following year. Antonia would be fourteen and a half. And the Dauphin who was born August 23, 1754 would not even have celebrated his sixteenth birthday, the future Louis XVI was hardly a shining light in his grandfather’s court. Though tall this young man grown up too quickly and didn’t have an impressive appearance. She didn’t know much about her future husband but that he was
2 an excellent prince, true to the religion of his forefathers, serious and hardworking, and sensitive to the misfortunes of the humble all of which was perfectly true.
Antonia was to marry the Dauphin of France to cement an alliance between Austria and France. In 1770, at age fourteen Antonia left her homeland and travelled to the French Palace of Versailles to be married. She was dazzled by this whirlwind of festivities Marie Antoinette had no time to think about the instructions her mother had given to her before her departure from Vienna. The Princess was still getting to know the strange and fascinating world of Versailles. The Dauphin and The Dauphine spent more time with each other attending church, ceremonies, and doing activities such as riding horses.
Louis neglected his royal duties in favor of hunting and working in his locksmith shop. It has been suspected that he suffered from a medical condition known as Phimosis, which prevented him from having children. For the first seven years of his marriage having children was unsuccessful the public blamed Marie Antoinette for her failure to bear children. Besides, Louis neglecting his royal duties Marie Antoinette also had a few tricks up her sleeve she made her own rules and did things her way. During ceremonies she would giggle and yawn openly as time passed she became more rebellious, went on trips to the city without supervision most of the time, she spent more on gambling and clothing, with cards and horse-betting.
Marie Antoinette also began to form deep friendships with various ladies in her circle of friends. The Princesse de Lamballe, who she appointed her as a superintendent of her household, and the fun loving down to earth Yolande de Polastron, Duchesse de
3
Polignac the closeness of the Daughine’s friendship with these ladies influenced by various popular publications of lesbianism. On April 27, 1774 Louis XV fell ill with small pox. On May 10th, at 3 p.m., he died at the age of 64. Louis-Auguste was crowned King Louis XVI of France on June 11, 1775 at the cathedral of Rheims.
Marie Antoinette situation became more uncertain when, on August 6th 1775, her sister-in-law gave birth to a son who later became King Charles X of France in 1824. She panicked and became distressed this resulted the Queen to start spending more money on buying her dresses from Rose Bertin and gambling simply to enjoy herself because of her being sadden of the fact she had not yet reproduced. She would play for three days straight with players from Paris straight up until her 21st birthday. Louis XVI gave her a gift on August 15th, a small chateau on the grounds of Versailles, which she would go there and find peace and also garden. Rumors circulated that she plastered the walls with gold and diamonds.
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph her brother went to visit Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI on, April 18, 1777, for a six week visit in Versailles a part of the attempt to figure out why their marriage had not been consummated. Due to Joseph’s intervention that on August 30, 1777, the marriage was officially consummated. Eight months later in April, it was suspected that the queen was finally pregnant with her first child, Marie Theresa Charlotte was born the following year given the title at birth Madame Royale was finally born at Versailles on December 19, 1778. The birth of a daughter meant that pressure to have male continued. Later that year, Empress Maria Theresa began to fall ill with unnamed respiratory problem. She died on November 29, 1780 in Vienna, at the
4
age of sixty-three she was mourned throughout Europe. Marie Antoinette was worried that the death of her mother would jeopardies the Franco-Austrian alliance, but Emperor Joseph reassured her that he had no intention of breaking alliance.
On October 22, 1781, the queen gave birth to Louis Joseph Xavier Francois, who carried the title Dauphin of France.
There was a general explosion of joy. People stopped in the streets and embrace. The festivities began for three days. Despite of her declining popularity, Marie Antoinette political influence such as it was did not benefit Austria at all. In June 1783, Marie was pregnant again but she suffered a miscarriage on the night of November 1-2, 1783, which made her more fearful of her health. On March 27, 1785, Marie Antoinette gave birth to her second son Louis Charles, who was created the duc de Normandie. Louis Charles was visibly stronger than the sickly Dauphin. A second daughter, Sophie Helene Beatrice de France was born, on July 9, 1786 but died on June 19, 1787. The queen began to abandon her carefree activities and invested more time into her family and politics. The reasons were because the children were infants and by concentrating on her children more the queen wanted the “Diamond Necklace affair” she was accused for to die down and be out of the public
eye.
This was the beginning of the end, of the influence of the duchesses de Polignac, as Marie Antoinette began to dislike the duchesses huge expenditures and their impact on the finances crown. The lack of solutions was unfairly blamed on the queen there had to many expensive wars and expenditures far more expected. Marie Antoinette earned the nickname of “Madame Deficit” she had singlehanded ruin the finances of the nation. She continued to fight back with her own propaganda but she had far more important issues at
5
her hands her primary concern was her son in 1789, the seven-year-old boy passed away at Meudon on June 4th, he had tuberculosis and leaving the title of Dauphin to his Younger brother, Louis Charles. Marie Antoinette went into mourning for her eldest son.
During the French Revolution 1789-1792 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. The king’s ineffectiveness and the queen’s unpopularity damaged the monarchy as an institution and so these attempts failed. Paris began to riot by the news they heard and then began the Bastille on July 14th. During this time there were many plots designed to help member of the royal family escape. After many delays the escape ultimately occurred on June 21, 1791, and was a failure. The entire family was captured twenty-four hours later at Varennes and taken back to Paris. France declared war with Austria on April 20, 1792. This caused the queen to be viewed as an enemy.
In June 20th “a mob of terrifying aspects” broke into the Tuileries Palace forcing the King and family to seek refuge at the Legislative assembly. On September 21st, the fall of the monarchy was officially declared and the National Convention became the legal authority of France. Louis was separated by his family he was found guilty by the Convention, led by Jacobins who rejected the idea of keeping him hostage he was condemned to execution by the guillotine. He was executed on January 21, 1793 at the age of thirty-eight. Marie Antoinette was called the “Widow Capet” she refused to eat or do anything her health rapidly deteriorated. By this time she suffered from tuberculosis and possibly cancer.
6
The last days of Marie Antoinette were brutal. Unlike her husband she had time to have trial on October 14th. Among the things she was accused of the accusations were not true and probably mostly rumors. She was declared guilty of treason in the early morning of October 16, she wrote a letter to her sister-in-law about her catholic faith and feelings for her children but the letter did reach Elisabeth. The day she was executed she wore a simple white dress and was executed at the Place de la Revolution. Her body was thrown into an unmarked grace in the Madeline cemetery. Her son Louis Charles (now king Louis XVII) was kept in a dark, filthy cell until he died in prison of tuberculosis in 1795. Her daughter Madame Royale survived and returned to Austria she married her cousin Louis-Antoine, but had no children.
Marie Antoinette was forced to be an adult at a young age and had enormous responsibilities that she wasn’t ready for. Many people had a lot to say about her and her behavior. She was called many names such as, the “Madame Deficit” because of her enormous spending habits. A “Thief” because of the “Diamond Necklace Affair.” She was accused of many things like orchestrating orgies in Versailles, sending millions of treasury money to Austria, incest with her son, sexually abusing her son, and also have affairs with women and men. Also, dealing with miscarriages and grief’s of her children’s deaths can just be overbearing. Most of the information was untrue and it’s terrible as a Queen figure not to be respected and lies to be said about her, her whole life. Many French people hated her for her Austrian blood and her frivolous ways this explains all the rumors they said about Marie Antoinette.
7
Bibliography
Castelot, André. Queen of France; a Biography of Marie Antoinette. New York: Harper, 1957. Print.
Lever, Evelyne. Marie Antoinette: the Last Queen of France. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. Print.
"Marie Antoinette | Queen of France." Lucidcafé Interactive Café and Information Resource. Web. 04 Aug. 2011. .
"Marie Antoinette." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 04 Aug. 2011. .
In Vienna, on November 2, 1755 the thirty-eight-year-old sovereign, ruler of an empire, Marie Theresa, was to give birth for the fifteenth time in her life to, Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna. Since all the archduchesses were given the first name Maria, they were usually addressed by their second name. Maria Theresa would refer to her youngest daughter as Antonia. It was the French who would call her Marie Antoinette.
In the meantime Antonia blossomed she grew and developed. Antonia spent more time playing then studying she enjoyed her music lessons and became an excellent harpist and dancer. She was always elegantly dressed she never missed a ball, a concert, a reception or a performance at the opera. At the Hofburg, she was seen once a week at the Empress’s card table she loved to gamble. A shadow fell over Antonia’s sunny life in 1765, when her father …show more content…
died of a stroke at the age of fifty-six. A few years later, Antonia’s childhood came to an end. Her mother had negotiated between the two courts were being actively pursued. At last, on June 13, 1769 the Empress received the French King’s official marriage proposal. She responded with eagerness, assuring him of her joy at giving her daughter to his grandson, whom she hoped Antonia would have “the good fortune of pleasing.” In the meanwhile the wedding date was set for May 16 of the following year. Antonia would be fourteen and a half. And the Dauphin who was born August 23, 1754 would not even have celebrated his sixteenth birthday, the future Louis XVI was hardly a shining light in his grandfather’s court. Though tall this young man grown up too quickly and didn’t have an impressive appearance. She didn’t know much about her future husband but that he was
2 an excellent prince, true to the religion of his forefathers, serious and hardworking, and sensitive to the misfortunes of the humble all of which was perfectly true.
Antonia was to marry the Dauphin of France to cement an alliance between Austria and France. In 1770, at age fourteen Antonia left her homeland and travelled to the French Palace of Versailles to be married. She was dazzled by this whirlwind of festivities Marie Antoinette had no time to think about the instructions her mother had given to her before her departure from Vienna. The Princess was still getting to know the strange and fascinating world of Versailles. The Dauphin and The Dauphine spent more time with each other attending church, ceremonies, and doing activities such as riding horses.
Louis neglected his royal duties in favor of hunting and working in his locksmith shop. It has been suspected that he suffered from a medical condition known as Phimosis, which prevented him from having children. For the first seven years of his marriage having children was unsuccessful the public blamed Marie Antoinette for her failure to bear children. Besides, Louis neglecting his royal duties Marie Antoinette also had a few tricks up her sleeve she made her own rules and did things her way. During ceremonies she would giggle and yawn openly as time passed she became more rebellious, went on trips to the city without supervision most of the time, she spent more on gambling and clothing, with cards and horse-betting.
Marie Antoinette also began to form deep friendships with various ladies in her circle of friends. The Princesse de Lamballe, who she appointed her as a superintendent of her household, and the fun loving down to earth Yolande de Polastron, Duchesse de
3
Polignac the closeness of the Daughine’s friendship with these ladies influenced by various popular publications of lesbianism. On April 27, 1774 Louis XV fell ill with small pox. On May 10th, at 3 p.m., he died at the age of 64. Louis-Auguste was crowned King Louis XVI of France on June 11, 1775 at the cathedral of Rheims.
Marie Antoinette situation became more uncertain when, on August 6th 1775, her sister-in-law gave birth to a son who later became King Charles X of France in 1824. She panicked and became distressed this resulted the Queen to start spending more money on buying her dresses from Rose Bertin and gambling simply to enjoy herself because of her being sadden of the fact she had not yet reproduced. She would play for three days straight with players from Paris straight up until her 21st birthday. Louis XVI gave her a gift on August 15th, a small chateau on the grounds of Versailles, which she would go there and find peace and also garden. Rumors circulated that she plastered the walls with gold and diamonds.
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph her brother went to visit Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI on, April 18, 1777, for a six week visit in Versailles a part of the attempt to figure out why their marriage had not been consummated. Due to Joseph’s intervention that on August 30, 1777, the marriage was officially consummated. Eight months later in April, it was suspected that the queen was finally pregnant with her first child, Marie Theresa Charlotte was born the following year given the title at birth Madame Royale was finally born at Versailles on December 19, 1778. The birth of a daughter meant that pressure to have male continued. Later that year, Empress Maria Theresa began to fall ill with unnamed respiratory problem. She died on November 29, 1780 in Vienna, at the
4
age of sixty-three she was mourned throughout Europe. Marie Antoinette was worried that the death of her mother would jeopardies the Franco-Austrian alliance, but Emperor Joseph reassured her that he had no intention of breaking alliance.
On October 22, 1781, the queen gave birth to Louis Joseph Xavier Francois, who carried the title Dauphin of France.
There was a general explosion of joy. People stopped in the streets and embrace. The festivities began for three days. Despite of her declining popularity, Marie Antoinette political influence such as it was did not benefit Austria at all. In June 1783, Marie was pregnant again but she suffered a miscarriage on the night of November 1-2, 1783, which made her more fearful of her health. On March 27, 1785, Marie Antoinette gave birth to her second son Louis Charles, who was created the duc de Normandie. Louis Charles was visibly stronger than the sickly Dauphin. A second daughter, Sophie Helene Beatrice de France was born, on July 9, 1786 but died on June 19, 1787. The queen began to abandon her carefree activities and invested more time into her family and politics. The reasons were because the children were infants and by concentrating on her children more the queen wanted the “Diamond Necklace affair” she was accused for to die down and be out of the public
eye.
This was the beginning of the end, of the influence of the duchesses de Polignac, as Marie Antoinette began to dislike the duchesses huge expenditures and their impact on the finances crown. The lack of solutions was unfairly blamed on the queen there had to many expensive wars and expenditures far more expected. Marie Antoinette earned the nickname of “Madame Deficit” she had singlehanded ruin the finances of the nation. She continued to fight back with her own propaganda but she had far more important issues at
5
her hands her primary concern was her son in 1789, the seven-year-old boy passed away at Meudon on June 4th, he had tuberculosis and leaving the title of Dauphin to his Younger brother, Louis Charles. Marie Antoinette went into mourning for her eldest son.
During the French Revolution 1789-1792 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. The king’s ineffectiveness and the queen’s unpopularity damaged the monarchy as an institution and so these attempts failed. Paris began to riot by the news they heard and then began the Bastille on July 14th. During this time there were many plots designed to help member of the royal family escape. After many delays the escape ultimately occurred on June 21, 1791, and was a failure. The entire family was captured twenty-four hours later at Varennes and taken back to Paris. France declared war with Austria on April 20, 1792. This caused the queen to be viewed as an enemy.
In June 20th “a mob of terrifying aspects” broke into the Tuileries Palace forcing the King and family to seek refuge at the Legislative assembly. On September 21st, the fall of the monarchy was officially declared and the National Convention became the legal authority of France. Louis was separated by his family he was found guilty by the Convention, led by Jacobins who rejected the idea of keeping him hostage he was condemned to execution by the guillotine. He was executed on January 21, 1793 at the age of thirty-eight. Marie Antoinette was called the “Widow Capet” she refused to eat or do anything her health rapidly deteriorated. By this time she suffered from tuberculosis and possibly cancer.
6
The last days of Marie Antoinette were brutal. Unlike her husband she had time to have trial on October 14th. Among the things she was accused of the accusations were not true and probably mostly rumors. She was declared guilty of treason in the early morning of October 16, she wrote a letter to her sister-in-law about her catholic faith and feelings for her children but the letter did reach Elisabeth. The day she was executed she wore a simple white dress and was executed at the Place de la Revolution. Her body was thrown into an unmarked grace in the Madeline cemetery. Her son Louis Charles (now king Louis XVII) was kept in a dark, filthy cell until he died in prison of tuberculosis in 1795. Her daughter Madame Royale survived and returned to Austria she married her cousin Louis-Antoine, but had no children.
Marie Antoinette was forced to be an adult at a young age and had enormous responsibilities that she wasn’t ready for. Many people had a lot to say about her and her behavior. She was called many names such as, the “Madame Deficit” because of her enormous spending habits. A “Thief” because of the “Diamond Necklace Affair.” She was accused of many things like orchestrating orgies in Versailles, sending millions of treasury money to Austria, incest with her son, sexually abusing her son, and also have affairs with women and men. Also, dealing with miscarriages and grief’s of her children’s deaths can just be overbearing. Most of the information was untrue and it’s terrible as a Queen figure not to be respected and lies to be said about her, her whole life. Many French people hated her for her Austrian blood and her frivolous ways this explains all the rumors they said about Marie Antoinette.
7
Bibliography
Castelot, André. Queen of France; a Biography of Marie Antoinette. New York: Harper, 1957. Print.
Lever, Evelyne. Marie Antoinette: the Last Queen of France. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. Print.
"Marie Antoinette | Queen of France." Lucidcafé Interactive Café and Information Resource. Web. 04 Aug. 2011. .
"Marie Antoinette." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 04 Aug. 2011. .