This led to the convening of theEstates General of 1789. Discontent among France's middle and lower classes intensified opposition to the French aristocracy and theabsolute monarchy led by Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette. Tensions progressively rose, punctuated by violent riots such as thestorming of the Bastille, which forced Louis to recognize the legislative authority of theNational Assembly.
Louis's indecisiveness and conservatism toward the demands of the Estates led many to despise him as the embodiment ofancien régime tyranny, and his popularity deteriorated progressively. His unsuccessfulflight to Varennes in June 1791 seemed to confirm suspicions that the king hoped forforeign intervention to restore his power, deeply undermining his legitimacy. Four months later, theconstitutional monarchy was declared, and thereplacement of the monarchy and with a republic became an ever-increasing possibility. The growth ofanti-clericalism among revolutionaries resulted in the abolition of thedîme (religious land tax) and several government policies aimed at thedechristianization of France.
With the outbreak ofcivil and international war, Louis XVI was arrested during theInsurrection of 10 August 1792. One month later, the monarchy was abolished and theFrench First Republic was proclaimed on 21 September 1792. The former king became adesacralized French citizen, addressed asCitoyen (Citizen)Louis Capet in reference to his ancestorHugh Capet.Louis was tried by theNational Convention (self-instituted as a tribunal for the occasion), found guilty ofhigh treason, andexecuted by guillotine on 21 January 1793. Louis XVI's death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Both of his sons died in childhood, before theBourbon Restoration; his only child to reach adulthood,Marie Thérèse, was released to herAustrian relatives in exchange for French prisoners of war, eventually dying childless in 1851.
Childhood
The young Duke of Berry (right) with his younger brother, theCount of Provence (byFrançois-Hubert Drouais, 1757)The Duke of Berry as a young boy (portrait artributed to Pierre Jouffroy)
Louis-Auguste was overlooked by his parents who favored his older brother,Louis, Duke of Burgundy, who was regarded as bright and handsome but died at the age of nine in 1761. Louis-Auguste, a strong and healthy boy but very shy, excelled in his studies and had a strong taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy and became fluent in Italian and English. His tutors in mathematics and physics had high praises for his work. Le Blonde, his mathematics instructor, wrote that the prince's studies were "proofs of [his] intelligence and the excellence of [his] judgement," though flattery was to be expected when addressing a prince. Louis-Auguste's apparent mathematical skills are corroborated by his enjoyment of cartography, which would have required an understanding of scale and projections.[8] He also enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather and rough play with his younger brothers,Louis-Stanislas, Count of Provence, andCharles-Philipe, Count of Artois. From an early age, Louis-Auguste was encouraged in another of his interests,locksmithing, which was seen as a useful pursuit for a child.[9]
When his father died oftuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the newDauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband and died on 13 March 1767, also from tuberculosis.[10] The strict and conservative education he received fromPaul François de Quelen de la Vauguyon, "gouverneur des Enfants de France" (governor of the Children of France), from 1760 until his marriage in 1770, did not prepare him for the throne that he was to inherit in 1774 after the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities.[11] His instructors may have also had a good hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became. Abbé Berthier, his instructor, taught him that timidity was a value in strong monarchs, and Abbé Soldini, his confessor, instructed him not to let people read his mind.[12]
This marriage was met with hostility from the French public.France's alliance with its traditional enemyAustria had pulled the country into the disastrousSeven Years' War, in which it was defeated by theBritish and thePrussians, both inEurope and inNorth America. By the time that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were married, the French people generally disliked the Austrian alliance, and Marie Antoinette was seen as an unwelcome foreigner.[14] For the young couple, the marriage was initially amiable but distant. Louis XVI's shyness and, among other factors, the young age and inexperience of the newlyweds (who were near total strangers to each other: they had met only two days before their wedding) meant that the fifteen-year-old bridegroom failed to consummate the union with his fourteen-year-old bride. His fear of being manipulated by her for Austrian purposes caused him to behave coldly towards her in public.[15] Correspondence between Marie Antoinette's mother and Austria's French ambassadorFlorimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau express a desire for Marie Antoinette to exercise authority in the French court and to encourage Louis XVI to dedicate more attention to his role as prince. To their disappointment, however, the princess did not seem overly interested in "serious affairs".[8] Over time, the couple became closer, though while their marriage was reportedly consummated in July 1773, it did not actually happen until 1777.[16]
Louis XVI in early adulthood
The couple's failure to produce children for several years placed a strain upon their marriage,[17] exacerbated by the publication of obscene pamphlets (libelles) mocking their infertility. One such pamphlet questioned, "Can the King do it? Can't the King do it?".[18]
The couple's initial failure to have children aroused contemporary debate that has continued among historians. One suggestion is that Louis XVI suffered from a physical dysfunction,[19] most often thought to bephimosis, a suggestion first made in late 1772 by the royal doctors.[20] Adherents of this view suggest that he wascircumcised[21] (a common treatment for phimosis) to relieve the condition seven years after their marriage. Louis XVI's doctors were not in favour of the surgery – the operation was delicate and traumatic, and capable of doing "as much harm as good" to an adult man. The argument for phimosis and a resulting operation is mostly seen to originate fromStefan Zweig's 1932 biography of Marie Antoinette.
Most modern historians doubt that Louis XVI had surgery.[22][23][24] As 1777, the Prussian envoy, Baron Goltz, reported that Louis XVI had definitely declined the operation.[25] Louis XVI was frequently declared to be perfectly capable of sexual intercourse, as confirmed by Marie Antoinette's brotherJoseph II; and during the time he was supposed to have had the operation, his journal records him hunting almost every day, which would not have been possible for weeks after circumcision. The couple's sexual problems are now attributed to other factors.Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette discusses Joseph II's letter on the matter to one of his brothers after he visited Versailles in 1777. Joseph describes in frank detail Louis XVI's sexual inadequacy and Marie Antoinette's lack of interest. Joseph described the couple as "complete fumblers"; however, with Joseph's advice, Louis XVI began to apply himself more effectively, and in the third week of March 1778 Marie Antoinette became pregnant.
Eventually, the royal couple had four children. According toJeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Marie Antoinette's lady-in-waiting, the queen also suffered two miscarriages. The first, in 1779, a few months after the birth of her first child, is mentioned by Empress Maria Theresa in a July letter to her daughter. Madame Campan states that Louis XVI spent an entire morning consoling his wife at her bedside, and swore everyone to secrecy. Marie Antoinette suffered a second miscarriage on the night of 2–3 November 1783.
Of these adoptees, only Armand, Ernestine and Zoe actually lived with the royal family: Jean Amilcar, along with the elder siblings of Zoe and Armand who were also formally foster children of the royal couple, lived at the queen's expense until her imprisonment, which proved fatal for at least Amilcar, who was evicted from his boarding school, and reportedly starved to death on the street.[26] Armand and Zoe had a position which was more similar to that of Ernestine: Armand lived at court with the king and queen until the outbreak of the revolution, when he left them because of his republican sympathies, and Zoe was chosen to be the playmate of the Dauphin, just as Ernestine had once been selected as the playmate of Marie Thérèse, and sent away to her sisters in a convent boarding school before theFlight to Varennes in 1791.[26]
Louis XVI distributing money to the poor of Versailles, during the brutal winter of 1788
When Louis XVI ascended to the throne in 1774, he was nineteen years old. He had an enormous responsibility, as the government was deeply in debt, and resentment of despotic monarchy was on the rise. His predecessor, his grandfatherLouis XV, had been widely hated by the time of his death. The public remembered him as an irresponsible man who spent his time womanizing rather than managing his kingdom.[27] Furthermore, the monarchy had poured money into a series of unsuccessful foreign military campaigns, leaving France in financial difficulty.[28] The young Louis XVI felt woefully unqualified to resolve the situation.
As king, Louis XVI focused primarily on religious freedom and foreign policy. Although raised as the Dauphin since 1765, he lacked firmness and decisiveness. His desire to be loved by his people is evident in the prefaces of many of his edicts that would often explain the nature and good intention of his actions as benefiting the people, such as reinstating theparlements. When questioned about his decision, he said, "It may be considered politically unwise, but it seems to me to be the general wish and I want to be loved."[29] In spite of his indecisiveness, Louis XVI was determined to be a good king, stating that he "must always consult public opinion; it is never wrong."[30] He, therefore, appointed an experienced advisor,Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas who, until his death in 1781, would take charge of many important ministerial functions.
Among the major events of Louis XVI's reign was his signing of theEdict of Versailles, also known as the Edict of Tolerance, on 7 November 1787, which was registered in theParlement of Paris on 29 January 1788. Granting non-Roman Catholics –Huguenots andLutherans, as well asJews – civil and legal status in France and the legal right to practice their faiths, this edict effectively nullified theEdict of Fontainebleau that had been law for 102 years. The Edict of Versailles did not legally proclaim freedom of religion in France – this took two more years, with theDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 – however, it was an important step in eliminating religious tensions and it officially ended religious persecution within his realm.[31]
Economic policies
Radical financial reforms byAnne Robert Jacques Turgot andGuillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes angered the nobles and were blocked by theparlements who insisted that the King did not have the legal right to levy new taxes. So, in 1776, Turgot was dismissed and Malesherbes resigned, to be replaced byJacques Necker. Necker supported theAmerican Revolution, and he carried out a policy of taking out large international loans instead of raising taxes. He attempted to gain public favor in 1781 by publishing the first ever accounting of the French Crown's expenses and accounts, theCompte-rendu au Roi. This misleading publication led the people of France to believe the kingdom ran a modest surplus.[32] When this policy of hiding and ignoring the kingdom's financial woes failed miserably, Louis dismissed and replaced him in 1783 withCharles Alexandre de Calonne, who increased public spending to "buy" the country's way out of debt. Again this failed, so Louis convoked theAssembly of Notables in 1787 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform proposed by Calonne. When the nobles were informed of the true extent of the debt, they were shocked and rejected the plan.
"Le Couronnement de Louis XVI", 18th century motif by Benjamin Duvivier, coins honouring the 11 June 1775Coronation of Louis XVI
After this, Louis XVI and his newController-General of Finances,Étienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne, tried to simply force the Parlement of Paris to register the new laws and fiscal reforms. Upon the refusal of the members of theParlement, Louis XVI tried to use his absolute power to subjugate them by every means: enforcing in many occasions the registration of his reforms viaLit de justice (6 August 1787, 19 November 1787, and 8 May 1788), exiling allParlement magistrates toTroyes as a punishment on 15 August 1787, prohibiting six members from attending parliamentary sessions on 19 November, arresting two very important members of theParlement, who opposed his reforms, on 6 May 1788, and even dissolving and depriving of all power the "Parlement", replacing it with a plenary court, on 8 May 1788. The failure of these measures and displays of royal power is attributable to three decisive factors. First, the majority of the population stood in favor of theParlement against the King, and thus continuously rebelled against him. Second, the royal treasury was financially destitute to a crippling degree, leaving it incapable of sustaining its own imposed reforms. Third, although the King enjoyed as much absolute power as his predecessors, he lacked the personal authority crucial for absolutism to function properly. Now unpopular with both the commoners and the aristocracy, Louis XVI was therefore only very briefly able to impose his decisions and reforms, for periods ranging from 2 to 4 months, before having to revoke them.
Louis XVI visitingCherbourg in June 1786, on the occasion of the work to put in place a dike (1817 painting)
As authority dissipated from him and reforms were clearly becoming unavoidable, there were increasingly loud calls for him to convoke theEstates General, which had not met since 1614 (at the beginning of the reign ofLouis XIII). As a last-ditch attempt to get new monetary reforms approved, Louis XVIconvoked the Estates General on 8 August 1788, setting the date of their opening on 1 May 1789. With the convocation of the Estates General, as in many other instances during his reign, Louis XVI placed his reputation and public image in the hands of those who were perhaps not as sensitive to the desires of the French population as he was. Because it had been so long since the Estates General had been convened, there was some debate as to which procedures should be followed. Ultimately, the Parlement of Paris agreed that "all traditional observances should be carefully maintained to avoid the impression that the Estates General could make things up as it went along." Under this decision, the King agreed to retain many of the traditions which had been the norm in 1614 and prior convocations of the Estates General, but which were intolerable to a Third Estate (the bourgeoisie) buoyed by recent proclamations of equality. For example, the First and Second Estates (the clergy and nobility respectively) proceeded into the assembly wearing their finest garments, while the Third Estate was required to wear plain, oppressively somber black, an act of alienation that Louis XVI would likely have not condoned. He seemed to regard the deputies of the Estates General with respect: in a wave of self-important patriotism, members of the Estates refused to remove their hats in the King's presence, so Louis removed his to them.[33]
This convocation was one of the events that transformed the general economic and politicalmalaise of the country into theFrench Revolution. In June 1789, the Third Estate unilaterally declared itself theNational Assembly. Louis XVI's attempts to control it resulted in theTennis Court Oath (serment du jeu de paume), on 20 June, the declaration of theNational Constituent Assembly on 9 July, and eventually to thestorming of the Bastille on 14 July, which started the French Revolution. Within three short months, the majority of the King's executive authority had been transferred to the elected representatives of the Nation.
TheMenus-Plaisirs du Roi was under the direction ofPapillon de la Ferté and he gave details in his journal about the costs of the performances over the years 1756–1780 in three different palaces.[34] The wedding in 1771 was especially costly. The performance ofCastor et Pollux in 1779 when he was visited by his brother-in-law, Joseph II, involved more than 500 people.Royal household spending in 1788 was 13% of total state expenses (excluding interest on debts).[35][36]
This had led to a strategy amongst the French leadership of seeking to rebuild the French military in order to fight a war of revenge against Britain, in which it was hoped the lost colonies could be recovered. France still maintained a strong influence in theWest Indies, and in India maintainedfive trading posts, leaving opportunities for disputes and power-play with Great Britain.[37]
Louis XVI receiving the ambassadors ofTipu Sultan in 1788, Voyer after Emile Wattier, 19th century
In the spring of 1776,Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, saw an opportunity to humiliate France's long-standing enemy,Great Britain, and to recover territory lost during theSeven Years' War, by supporting theAmerican Revolution. In the same year Louis was persuaded byPierre Beaumarchais to send supplies, ammunition, and guns to the rebels secretly. Early in 1778 he signed a formalTreaty of Alliance, and later that year France went towar with Britain. In deciding in favor of war, despite France's large financial problems, the King was materially influenced by alarmist reports after theBattle of Saratoga, which suggested that Britain was preparing to make huge concessions to theThirteen Colonies and then, allied with them, to strike at French and Spanish possessions in the West Indies.[38]Spain and theNetherlands soon joined the French in an anti-British coalition. After 1778, Great Britain switched its focus to theWest Indies, as defending the sugar islands was considered more important than trying to recover the Thirteen Colonies. France and Spain planned to invade the British Isles themselves with theArmada of 1779, but the operation never went ahead.
France's initial military assistance to the American rebels was a disappointment, with defeats atRhode Island andSavannah. In 1780, France sentJean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau andFrançois Joseph Paul de Grasse to help the Americans, along with large land and naval forces. TheFrench expeditionary force arrived in North America in July 1780. The appearance of French fleets in the Caribbean was followed by the capture of a number of the sugar islands, includingTobago andGrenada.[39] In October 1781, the French naval blockade was instrumental in forcing a British army underCornwallis to surrender at theSiege of Yorktown.[40] When news of this reached London in March 1782, theNorth ministry fell and Great Britain immediately sued for peace terms; however, France delayed the end of the war until September 1783 in the hope of overrunning more British colonies in India and the West Indies.
Great Britain recognized the independence of the Thirteen Colonies as the United States of America, and the French war ministry rebuilt itsarmy. However, the British defeated the main French fleet in 1782 at theBattle of the Saintes and successfully defendedJamaica andGibraltar. France gained little from theTreaty of Paris (1783) that ended the war, except the colonies of Tobago and Senegal. Louis XVI was wholly disappointed in his aims of recovering Canada, India, and other islands in the West Indies from Britain, as they were too well defended and theRoyal Navy made any attempted invasion of mainland Britain impossible. The war cost 1,066 millionlivres, financed by new loans at high interest (with no new taxes). Necker concealed the crisis from the public by explaining only that ordinary revenues exceeded ordinary expenses, and not mentioning the loans. After he was forced from office in 1781, new taxes were levied.[41]
This intervention in America was not possible without France adopting a neutral position in European affairs to avoid being drawn into a continental war which would be simply a repetition of the French policy mistakes in theSeven Years' War. Vergennes, supported by King Louis, refused to go to war to supportAustria in theWar of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, when the Queen's brotherJoseph II, Holy Roman Emperor tried to partitionBavaria over a disputed inheritance. Vergennes and Maurepas refused to support the Austrian position, but the intervention of Marie Antoinette in favor of Austria obliged France to adopt a position more favorable to Austria, which in theTreaty of Teschen was able to get in compensation theInnviertel, a territory whose population numbered around 100,000 persons. However, this intervention was a disaster for the image of the Queen, who was named "l'Autrichienne" (a pun in French meaning "Austrian", but the "chienne" suffix can mean "bitch") on account of it.[42]
Louis XVI also encouraged major voyages of exploration. In 1785, he appointedJean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse to lead a sailing expedition around the world (La Pérouse and his fleet disappeared after leavingBotany Bay in March 1788. Louis is recorded as having asked, on the morning of his execution, "Any news of La Pérouse?".).[46]
There is a lack of scholarship on the subject of Louis XVI's time as a constitutional monarch, though it was a significant length of time. The reason as to why many biographers have not elaborated extensively on this time in the king's life is due to the uncertainty surrounding his actions during this period, as Louis XVI's declaration that was left behind in the Tuileries stated that he regarded his actions during his constitutional reign as provisional; he reflected that his "palace was a prison". This time period was exemplary in its demonstration of an institution's deliberation while in their last standing moments.[47]
Louis XVI's time in his previous palace came to an end on 5 October 1789, when an angry mob of Parisian working men and women was incited by revolutionaries andmarched on thePalace of Versailles, where the royal family lived. At dawn, they infiltrated the palace and attempted to kill the queen, who was associated with a frivolous lifestyle that symbolized much that was despised about theancien régime. After the situation had been defused byLa Fayette, head of theNational Guard, the king and his family were brought by the crowd to theTuileries Palace in Paris, the reasoning being that the King would be more accountable to the people if he lived among them in Paris.
The Revolution's principles of popular sovereignty, though central to democratic principles of later eras, marked a decisive break from the centuries-old principle ofdivine right that was at the heart of the French monarchy. As a result, the Revolution was opposed by many of the rural people of France and by all the governments of France's neighbors. Still, within the city of Paris and amongst the philosophers of the time, many of which were members of the National Assembly, the monarchy had next to no support. As the Revolution became more radical and the masses more uncontrollable, several of the Revolution's leading figures began to doubt its benefits. Some, likeHonoré Mirabeau, secretly plotted with the Crown to restore its power in a newconstitutional form.
Beginning in 1791,Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, started to organize covert resistance to the revolutionary forces. Thus, the funds of theListe Civile, voted annually by the National Assembly, were partially assigned to secret expenses in order to preserve the monarchy.Arnault Laporte, who was in charge of the civil list, collaborated with both Montmorin and Mirabeau. After the sudden death of Mirabeau,Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix, a noted financier, took his place. In effect, he headed a secret council of advisers to Louis XVI, which tried to preserve the monarchy; these schemes proved unsuccessful, and were exposed later when thearmoire de fer was discovered. Regarding the financial difficulties facing France, the Assembly created the Comité des Finances, and while Louis XVI attempted to declare his concern and interest in remedying the economic situations, inclusively offering to melt crown silver as a dramatic measure, it appeared to the public that the King did not understand that such statements no longer held the same meaning as they did before and that doing such a thing could not restore the economy of a country.[47]
Mirabeau's death on 7 April, and Louis XVI's indecision, fatally weakened negotiations between the Crown and moderate politicians. The Third Estate leaders also had no desire in turning back or remaining moderate after their hard efforts to change the politics of the time, and so the plans for a constitutional monarchy did not last long. On one hand, Louis was nowhere near as reactionary as his brothers, theCount of Provence[citation needed] and theCount of Artois, and he repeatedly sent messages to them requesting a halt to their attempts to launch counter-coups. This was often done through his secretly nominated regent, CardinalÉtienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne. On the other hand, Louis was alienated from the new democratic government both by its negative reaction to the traditional role of the monarch and in its treatment of him and his family. He was particularly irked by being kept essentially as a prisoner in the Tuileries, and by the refusal of the new regime to allow him to have confessors and priests of his choice rather than 'constitutional priests' pledged to the state and not the Roman Catholic Church.
Declaration to the French People (June 1791)The return of the royal family to Paris on 25 June 1791, coloured copperplate after a drawing of Jean-Louis Prieur
On 21 June 1791, Louis XVI attempted to flee secretly with his family from Paris to the royalist fortress town ofMontmédy on the northeastern border of France, where he would join theémigrés and be protected by Austria. The voyage was planned by the Swedish nobleman, and often assumed secret lover of Queen Marie Antoinette,Axel von Fersen.[48][49]
While the National Assembly worked painstakingly towards aconstitution, Louis and Marie-Antoinette were involved in plans of their own. Louis had appointedLouis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil to act as plenipotentiary, dealing with other foreign heads of state in an attempt to bring about a counter-revolution. Louis himself held reservations against depending on foreign assistance. Like his mother and father, he thought that the Austrians were treacherous and thePrussians were overly ambitious.[50] As tensions in Paris rose and he was pressured to accept measures from the Assembly against his will, Louis XVI and the Queen plotted to secretly escape from Paris. Beyond escape, they hoped to raise an "armed congress" with the help of theémigrés, as well as assistance from other nations with which they could return and, in essence, recapture France. This degree of planning reveals Louis's political determination, but it was for this determined plot that he was eventually convicted of high treason.[51] He left behind (on his bed) a 16-page written manifesto,Déclaration du roi, adressée à tous les François, à sa sortie de Paris (rediscovered in the US in 2009),[52] traditionally known as theTestament politique de Louis XVI ("Political Testament of Louis XVI"), commenting on his feelings about the Revolution, criticizing some of its consequences, without rejecting its major reforms, such as theabolition of the orders and civil equality.[53][54]
The National Assembly was quick to decide to publish the theory that the King had been kidnapped, thus avoiding any challenge to the Constitution, which was then nearing completion, while at the same time ordering that the carriage be placed under arrest. It was a deliberately deceptive choice, since Louis XVI had left a manifesto in plain view, assuming and justifying the escape.La Fayette decided to censor the text. Letters were sent throughout the country to stop the royal carriage.[55]
Louis's indecision, many delays, and misunderstanding of France were responsible for the failure of the escape. Within 24 hours, the royal family was arrested atVarennes-en-Argonne shortly afterJean-Baptiste Drouet, who recognised the king from his profile on a 50 livresassignat[56] (paper money), had given the alert. Louis XVI and his family were taken back to Paris where they arrived on 25 June. Viewed suspiciously as traitors, they were placed under tighthouse arrest upon their return to the Tuileries.[57]
At the individual level, the failure of the escape plans was due to a series of misadventures, delays, misinterpretations, and poor judgments.[58] In a wider perspective, the failure was attributable to the king's indecision—he repeatedly postponed the schedule, allowing for smaller problems to become severe. Furthermore, he totally misunderstood the political situation. He thought only a small number of radicals in Paris were promoting a revolution that the people as a whole rejected. He thought, mistakenly, that he was beloved by his subjects.[59] The King's flight in the short term was traumatic for France, inciting a wave of emotions that ranged from anxiety to violence to panic. The realization that the King had repudiated the Revolution was a shock for people who until then had seen him as a good king who governed as a manifestation of God's will. Many suspected the King of collaborating with the Austrians, due to Marie Antoinette's family ties and the fact that the monarchs had clearly been heading for theAustrian border. War now seemed imminent, and the King seemed to have been politically involved with France's traditional enemies, who were still widely hated despite recent cooperation.[60] Many citizens felt betrayed, and as a result,Republicanism now burst out of the coffee houses and became a dominating philosophy of the rapidly radicalized French Revolution.[61]
Intervention by foreign powers
The other monarchies of Europe looked with concern upon the developments in France, and considered whether they should intervene, either in support of Louis or to take advantage of the chaos in France. The key figure was Marie Antoinette's brother,Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor. Initially, he had looked on the Revolution with equanimity. However, he became more and more disturbed as it became more and more radical. Despite this, he still hoped to avoid war.
On 27 August, Leopold andFrederick William II of Prussia, in consultation withémigrés French nobles, issued theDeclaration of Pillnitz, which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as an easy way to appear concerned about the developments in France without committing any soldiers or finances to change them, the revolutionary leaders in Paris viewed it fearfully as a dangerous foreign attempt to undermine France's sovereignty.
In addition to the ideological differences between France and the monarchical powers of Europe, there were continuing disputes over the status of Austrian estates inAlsace, and the concern of members of theNational Constituent Assembly about the agitation ofémigrés nobles abroad, especially in theAustrian Netherlands and the minor states of theHoly Roman Empire.
In the end, theLegislative Assembly, supported by Louis XVI, declared war on Austria ("the King of Bohemia and Hungary") first, voting for war on 20 April 1792, after a long list of grievances was presented to it by the foreign minister,Charles François Dumouriez. Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the Revolution had thoroughly disorganised the army, and theforces raised were insufficient for the invasion. The soldiers fled at the first sign of battle and, in one case, on 28 April 1792, murdered their general, Irish-bornThéobald Dillon, whom they accused of treason.[62]
While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganised its armies, a Prussian-Austrian army underCharles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled atKoblenz on theRhine. In July, theinvasion began, with Brunswick's army easily taking the fortresses ofLongwy andVerdun. The duke then issued on 25 July a proclamation called theBrunswick Manifesto, written by Louis's émigré cousin,Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, declaring the intent of the Austrians and Prussians to restore the King to his full powers and to treat any person or town who opposed them as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law.
Contrary to its intended purpose of strengthening Louis XVI's position against the revolutionaries, the Brunswick Manifesto greatly undermined his already highly tenuous position. It was taken by many to be the final proof of collusion between the King and foreign powers in a conspiracy against his own country. The anger of the populace boiled over on10 August when an armed mob – with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as theInsurrectional Paris Commune – marched upon and invaded theTuileries Palace. The royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly.
Posthumous portrait of Louis XVI imprisoned at theTour du Temple (byJean-François Garneray, 1814)Tinted etching of Louis XVI, 1792. The caption refers to the date of theTennis Court Oath and concludes, "The same Louis XVI who bravely waits until his fellow citizens return to their hearths to plan a secret war and exact his revenge."
Louis was officially arrested on 13 August 1792 and sent to theTemple, an ancient fortress in Paris that was used as a prison. On 21 September, the National Assembly declared France to be a republic, andabolished the monarchy. Louis was stripped of all of his titles and honors, and from this date was known asCitoyen Louis Capet.
TheGirondins were partial to keeping the deposed king under arrest, both as a hostage and a guarantee for the future. Members of the Commune and the most radical deputies, who would soon form the group known asthe Mountain, argued for Louis's immediate execution. The legal background of many of the deputies made it difficult for a great number of them to accept an execution without thedue process of law, and it was voted that the deposed monarch be tried before the National Convention, the organ that housed the representatives of the sovereign people. In many ways, the former king's trial represented the trial of the monarchy by the Revolution. It was seen as if with the death of one came the life of the other. The historianJules Michelet later argued that the death of the former king led to the acceptance of violence as a tool for happiness. He said, "If we accept the proposition that one person can be sacrificed for the happiness of the many, it will soon be demonstrated that two or three or more could also be sacrificed for the happiness of the many. Little by little, we will find reasons for sacrificing the many for the happiness of the many, and we will think it was a bargain."[63]
Two events led up to the trial for Louis XVI. First, after theBattle of Valmy on 22 September 1792, General Dumouriez negotiated with the Prussians who evacuated France. Louis could no longer be considered a hostage or as leverage in negotiations with the invading forces.[64] Second, in November 1792, thearmoire de fer (iron chest) incident took place at theTuileries Palace, when the existence of the hidden safe in the king's bedroom containing compromising documents and correspondence, was revealed by François Gamain, the Versailles locksmith who had installed it. Gamain went to Paris on 20 November and toldJean-Marie Roland,Girondin Minister of the Interior, who ordered it opened.[65] The resulting scandal served to discredit the King. Following these two events the Girondins could no longer keep the King from trial.[64]
On 11 December, among crowded and silent streets, the deposed king was brought from the Temple to stand before theNational Convention and hear his indictment, an accusation ofhigh treason and crimes against the State. On 26 December, his counsel,Raymond Desèze, delivered Louis's response to the charges, with the assistance ofFrançois Tronchet andGuillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes. Before the trial started and Louis mounted his defense to the convention, he told his lawyers that he knew he would be found guilty and be killed, but to prepare and act as though they could win. He was resigned to and accepted his fate before the verdict was determined, but he was willing to fight to be remembered as a good king for his people.[66]
The convention would be voting on three questions: first, is Louis guilty; second, whatever the decision, should there be an appeal to the people; and third, if found guilty, what punishment should Louis suffer? The order of the voting on each question was a compromise within theJacobin movement between the Girondins andthe Mountain; neither were satisfied but both accepted.[67]
Execution of Louis XVI in thePlace de la Révolution. The empty pedestal in front of him had supported an equestrian statue of his grandfather,Louis XV. When the monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792, the statue was torn down and sent to be melted.
On 15 January 1793, the convention, composed of 721 deputies, voted on the verdict. Given the overwhelming evidence of Louis's collusion with the invaders, the verdict was a foregone conclusion – with 693 deputies voting guilty, none for acquittal, with 23 abstaining.[68] The next day, a roll-call vote was carried out to decide upon the fate of the former king, and the result was uncomfortably close for such a dramatic decision. 288 of the deputies voted against death and for some other alternative, mainly some means of imprisonment or exile. 72 of the deputies voted for the death penalty, but subject to several delaying conditions and reservations. The voting took a total of 36 hours.[67] 361 of the deputies voted for Louis's immediate execution. Louis was condemned to death by a majority of one vote.Philippe Égalité, formerly the Duke of Orléans and Louis's cousin, voted for Louis's execution, a cause of much future bitterness among French monarchists; he would himself be guillotined on the same scaffold,Place de la Révolution, before the end of the same year, on 6 November 1793.[69]
The next day, a motion to grant Louis XVI reprieve from the death sentence was voted down: 310 of the deputies requested mercy, but 380 voted for the immediate execution of the death penalty. This decision would be final. Malesherbes wanted to break the news to Louis and bitterly lamented the verdict, but Louis told him he would see him again in a happier life and he would regret leaving a friend like Malesherbes behind. The last thing Louis said to him was that he needed to control his tears because all eyes would be upon him.[70]
On 21 January 1793, Louis XVI, at age 38, was beheaded byguillotine on thePlace de la Révolution. As Louis XVI mounted the scaffold, he appeared dignified and resigned. He delivered a short speech in which he pardoned "...those who are the cause of my death.... ".[71] He then declared himself innocent of the crimes of which he was accused, praying that his blood would not fall back on France.[72] Many accounts suggest Louis XVI's desire to say more, butAntoine Joseph Santerre, a general in theNational Guard, halted the speech by ordering a drum roll. The former king was then quickly beheaded.[73] Some accounts of Louis's beheading indicate that the blade did not sever his neck entirely the first time. There are also accounts of a blood-curdling scream issuing from Louis after the blade fell but this is unlikely, since the blade severed Louis's spine. The executioner,Charles-Henri Sanson, testified that the former king had bravely met his fate.[74]
Immediately after his execution, Louis XVI's corpse was transported in a cart to the nearbyMadeleine cemetery, locatedrue d'Anjou, where those guillotined at thePlace de la Révolution were buried in mass graves. Before his burial, a short religious service was held in the Madeleine church (destroyed in 1799) by two priests who had sworn allegiance to theCivil Constitution of the Clergy. Afterward, Louis XVI, his severed head placed between his feet, was buried in an unmarked grave, withquicklime spread over his body.[citation needed] The Madeleine cemetery was closed in 1794. In 1815,Louis XVIII had the remains of his brother Louis XVI and of his sister-in-law Marie Antoinette transferred and buried in theBasilica of St Denis, the Royal necropolis of the Kings and Queens of France. Between 1816 and 1826, a commemorative monument, theChapelle expiatoire, was erected at the location of the former cemetery and church.[citation needed]
As Louis's blood dripped onto the ground, several onlookers ran forward to dip their handkerchiefs in it.[75] This account was proven true in 2012 after a DNA comparison linked blood thought to be from Louis XVI's beheading to DNA taken from tissue samples originating from what was long thought to be the mummified head of his ancestor,Henry IV of France. The blood sample was taken from a squash gourd carved to commemorate the heroes of the French Revolution that had, according to legend, been used to house one of the handkerchiefs dipped in Louis's blood.[76]
The 19th-century historianJules Michelet attributed the restoration of the French monarchy to the sympathy that had been engendered by the execution of Louis XVI. Michelet'sHistoire de la Révolution Française andAlphonse de Lamartine'sHistoire des Girondins, in particular, showed the marks of the feelings aroused by the revolution's regicide. The two writers did not share the same sociopolitical vision, but they agreed that, even though the monarchy was rightly ended in 1792, the lives of the royal family should have been spared. Lack of compassion at that moment contributed to a radicalization of revolutionary violence and to greater divisiveness among Frenchmen. For the 20th century novelistAlbert Camus the execution signaled the end of the role of God in history, for which he mourned. For the 20th century philosopherJean-François Lyotard the regicide was the starting point of all French thought, the memory of which acts as a reminder that French modernity began under the sign of a crime.[77]
The Duchess of Angoulême at the deathbed ofHenry Essex Edgeworth, last confessor to Louis XVI, by Alexandre-Toussaint Menjaud, 1817
Louis's daughter,Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the future Duchess of Angoulême, survived the French Revolution, and she lobbied in Rome energetically for thecanonization of her father as a saint of the Catholic Church. Despite his signing of theCivil Constitution of the Clergy, Louis had been described as a martyr byPope Pius VI in 1793.[78] In 1820, however, a memorandum of theSacred Congregation of Rites in Rome, declaring the impossibility of proving that Louis had been executed for religious rather than political reasons, put an end to hopes of canonization.
The Requiem for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette byJean-Paul-Égide Martini was written for, and performed at the burial ceremony in St. Denis in 1815.[79]
Paul Wranitzky's Symphony Op. 31 (1797), which is themed on the events of the French Revolution, includes a section titled "The Funeral March for the Death of the King Louis XVI".
In the 2024 6 partApple TV+ series Franklin Tom Pezier performs the role. In the ongoingPBS seriesMarie Antoinette (2022-) Louis XVI is portrayed by Louis Cunningham.[81]
Maarten Larmuseau et al. (2013)[82] tested the Y-DNA of three living members of the House of Bourbon, one descending from Louis XIII of France via King Louis Philippe I, and two from Louis XIV via Philip V of Spain, and concluded that all three men share the same STR haplotype and belonged tohaplogroup R1b (R-M343). The three individuals were further assigned to sub-haplogroup R1b1b2a1a1b* (R-Z381*). These results contradicted an earlier DNA analysis of a handkerchief dipped in the presumptive blood of Louis XVI after his execution performed by Laluez-Fo et al. (2010).[83]
An opened gold helmet, with blue and gold mantling.
Escutcheon
Azure, three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France) impaling Gules on a chain in cross saltire and orle Or an emerald Proper (for Navarre).
Supporters
The two supporters are two angels, acting asheralds for the two realms. The dexter angel carries a standard with the arms of France, and wearing atabard with the same arms. The sinister angel also carries a standard and wears a tabard, but that of Navarre. Both are standing on puffs of cloud.
Above all is apavilion armoyé with the Royal crown. From it, is a royal blue mantle with a semis of fleurs-de-lis Or, lined on the inside with ermine.
Banner
Royal standard of the king
Notes
^The style "King of the French" was decreed by theNational Assembly on 9 November 1789,[1] after a proposal approved on 10 October.[2] The title was officialized in theFrench Constitution on 3 September 1791,[3] which was ratified by the king on 14 September.[4]
^abHardman, John (2000).Louis XVI. London: Arnold. pp. 10–12.ISBN0-340-70649-X.
^Andress, David (2005).The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 12–13.ISBN978-0374530730.
^Doyle, William (2001).The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. New York:Oxford University Press. pp. 26–27.
^Baecque, Antoine de,From Royal Dignity to Republican Austerity: The Ritual for the Reception of Louis XVI in the French National Assembly (1789–1792), The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 66, No. 4 (December 1994), p. 675.
^abCaiani, Ambrogio (1 January 2012).Louis XVI and the French Revolution, 1789–1792. Cambridge University Press.ISBN9781107631014.OCLC802746106.
^Swedish historianHerman Lindqvist in the Swedish tabloidAftonbladet, found at[1]Archived 12 November 2016 at theWayback Machine In Swedish, not far from the top "Ändå är det historiskt dokumenterat att Marie-Antoinette + Axel von Fersen = sant." which in English becomes "Still is it historically documented that Marie-Antoinetter + Axel von Fersen = true."
^Hardman, John,Louis XVI, The Silent King, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 127
^Price, Munro,Louis XVI and Gustavus III: Secret Diplomacy and Counter-Revolution, 1791–1792, The Historical Journal, Vol. 42, No. 2 (June 1999), p. 441.
^Timothy Tackett,When the King Took Flight (2003), p. 222
^Liste chronologique des généraux français ou étrangers au service de France, morts sur le champ de bataille... de 1792 à 1837, A. Leneveu, rue des Grands-Augustins, n° 18, Paris, 1838, p. 7.
^Dunn, Susan,The Deaths of Louis XVI: Regicide and the French Political Imagination, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 72–76.
^abHardman, John (2000).Louis XVI: The Silent King. Oxford University Press Inc. pp. 157–158.
^G. Lenotre,Vieilles maisons, vieux papiers, Librairie académique Perrin, Paris, 1903, pp. 321–338 (in French)
^Fay, Bernard (1968).Louis XVI or The End of a World. Henry Regnery Company. p. 392.
^Hardman, John (2000).Louis XVI: The Silent King. Oxford University Press Inc. p. 230.
^Hardman, John (1992).Louis XVI. Yale University Press. p. 232.
^Louis XVI's last words heard before the drums covered his voice:Je meurs innocent de tous les crimes qu'on m'impute; je pardonne aux auteurs de ma mort; je prie Dieu que le sang que vous allez répandre ne retombe pas sur la France.
^Lalueza-Fox, C.; Gigli, E.; Bini, C.; Calafell, F.; Luiselli, D.; Pelotti, S.; Pettener, D. (1 November 2011). "Genetic analysis of the presumptive blood from Louis XVI, King of France".Forensic Science International. Genetics.5 (5):459–63.doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2010.09.007.hdl:10261/32188.PMID20940110.
Doyle, William.Origins of the French Revolution (3rd ed. 1999)online
Doyle, William. "The Execution of Louis XVI and the End of the French Monarchy".History Review. (2000) pp 21+ *Doyle, William (2002).The Oxford History of the French Revolution. UK: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-925298-5. Pages 194–196 deal with the trial of Louis XVI.
Doyle, William, ed.Old Regime France (2001).
Dunn, Susan.The Deaths of Louis XVI: Regicide and the French Political Imagination. (1994). 178 pp.
Hardman, John.Louis XVI: The Silent King (2nd ed. 2016) 500 pages; much expanded new edition; now the standard scholarly biography
Hardman, John.Louis XVI: The Silent King (1994) 224 pages, an older scholarly biography
Hardman, John.French Politics, 1774–1789: From the Accession of Louis XVI to the Fall of the Bastille. (1995). 283 pp.
Jones, Colin.The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon (2002)Amazon.comArchived 9 March 2021 at theWayback Machine, excerpt and text search
Padover, Saul K.The Life and Death of Louis XVI (1939)
Price, Munro.The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy (2004) 425 pp.Amazon.comArchived 8 May 2021 at theWayback Machine, excerpt and text search; also published asThe Fall of the French Monarchy: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the Baron de Breteuil. (2002)
Tackett, Timothy.When the King Took Flight. (2003). 270 pp.Amazon.comArchived 7 July 2011 at theWayback Machine, excerpt and text search
Historiography
McGill, Frank N. "Execution of Louis XVI" inMcGill's History of Europe (1993) 3:161–164
Moncure, James A. ed.Research Guide to European Historical Biography: 1450–Present (4 vol 1992) 3:1193–1213
Rigney, Ann. "Toward Varennes".New Literary History 1986 18(1): 77–98JSTOR468656Rigney, Ann (1986)."Toward Varennes".New Literary History.18 (1):77–98.doi:10.2307/468656.JSTOR468656. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved23 December 2013.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), on historiography
1 Actually reigned twice: first from 1814–1815, second from 1815–1824 2 Actually reigned from 1824–1830 3 Reigned in pretense asLouis Philippe II from 1848–1873 4 Briefly restored and then deposed in 1815 5 Actually reigned from 1852–1870 6 Pretense disputed until 1891 7 Pretense currently disputed
%2c_rev%25C3%25AAtu_du_grand_costume_royal_en_1779_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
