"If we have committed faults, we have certainly expiated them." -Marie Antoinette October 1790
I just finished a great book: Marie Antoinette, The Journey by Antonia Frasier. After visiting Versailles, the place a young 14 year old bride-to-be and future queen was introduced to and spent most of her years in, and the Conciergerie, the place the not-so-young once-Queen of France spent her final weeks,I had to learn more about her life. She is one of the most infamous figures in French history, and yet I knew very little about her. The book was well-written. I read it as I do most books. I read a few chapters, then put it down for a few weeks. Then read a few more chapters and put it down for a week and started another book. Then I picked it up yesterday, intending to read a chapter or two and didn't put it down or leave the couch until I had devoured the last 100 pages. I had to find out how it ended. I mean, I knew how it ended, but I had to really find out how the French people came to that ferocious point of beheading their queen.
I often say that real life is always better than fiction. I have come to that conclusion after reading so much history. I finished this book with a profound sense of sadness for the sufferings of this mother and her family. There are a few things that I learned after reading this very tragic story.
Number One: It was really no blessing to be born a female into royalty. These poor young girls were nothing but political pawns, ripped from their families at very tender ages, whisked off to foreign countries to marry a complete stranger, never to see their beloved country or family again. Their chief responsibility was to provide a male heir, something these women had pretty much zero control over. Yet it was somehow her fault if a healthy baby boy wasn't brought into the world nine months after marrying the future king. They were often forced to marry cousins, even first cousins quite often, so no wonder their children were always so sickly. If you marry someone with virtually the same gene pool as you, your children are bound to inherit diseases like tuberculosis. All but one of her children were sickly little things who died at young ages. What a cursing to have been born into royalty in the 1700's!
Number Two: Mob mentality is a scary thing. It makes people do awful things that they wouldn't normally do.
Number Three: Except for in extreme cases (i.e. Hitler), it is extremely simple-minded to blame an entire nation's troubles on one man or woman. France was suffering economic strife, due to the climate, as well as the decisions of kings long since dead to fight in various wars and aid budding new democracies fighting tyrannical leaders (namely, America). Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were actually one of the more mild monarchies that France had seen. Though Marie Antoinette had her faults, being a sheltered, silly, and poorly educated girl when she married Louis, in her later years, she had more concern for the poor and more modesty in her spending than did past queens and those of other countries. But France needed a scapegoat. They needed someone to blame for all of their woes. The various groups of fighting revolutionists needed something that would unite them. Marie Antoinette's head was that thing. She was brought into that country for political reasons. She was torn out of that country and out of this life, for political reasons.
Governneur Morris commented drily to Thomas Jefferson, "To a person less intimately acquainted than you are with the History of human affairs, it would seem strange that the mildest monarch who ever filled the French throne...should be prosecuted as one of the most nefarious Tyrants that ever disgraced the Annals of human nature."
That is what happens when reason gives way to desperation and vengeful hateful thoughts.
Of course my whole family was graced with an hour long discussion of all the woes of King Louis XVI and his poor poor wife. They were warned of the dangers of mob-like mentality and how unfair it is to blame any and all of this countries problems on Obama considering there are so many others who help make decisions in this country. To demonize one man because of our discontent is simple-minded and just plain wrong. Then our discussion turned to the many wives of Henry VIII as well as the various queens of England after his death, as Sabrina has been doing research for her novel which takes place in Europe. It would be difficult to find a batch of children who understand European history better than my children, thanks to the rantings of their dear mother every time she's finished another dry history book. I can see their eyes roll as I slap shut another 500 page book with a sigh and begin editorializing.
I feel more informed for reading this book. I feel like I understand this highly misunderstood queen just a bit better. Now to go find me a book that will shed some light on this French Revolution, as I found myself constantly asking, "Now they're mad at the king why? And why was it they hated Marie Antoinette so much? Why is everyone going on killing rampages?"
Oh, and I better go order the movie on Netflix.
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