Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. Kaitlin O Connor

Transcription

1 Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution Kaitlin O Connor about Marie Antoinette, who we have only known well in misfortune; and who was a strong woman, a virtuous woman, an accomplished woman, and the ornament of the her sex and the throne. (71) Marie Antoinette, the Austrian queen of Louis XVI, is recognized as a crucial figure of the French Revolution of the 18 th century. Upon her arrival in France in May of 1770, she was seen as the very picture of morality by the French government and people. Not soon after her debut in the royal court, however, her reputation in the eyes of the public was thrown into a steady decline by a series of facetious rumors that began internally, stemming from members of the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI. This poor public opinion of Marie Antoinette propelled the Revolution toward the radicalism that overthrew the Bourbon monarchy, and may have even contributed to its initial decline upon the start of the Revolution. Historian Nancy N. Barker emphasizes that stories in the press that involved the queen contributed both to the coming of the Revolution and the radicalization of its events. Thomas E. Kaiser and Vivian R. Gruder, however, emphasize the effects of her foreignness and bad press during the Revolution, rather than prior to it. Gruder also strongly disagrees with the idea that the scandals and public images were major factors in the bringing on of the Revolution. All three historians conduct their analyses on the given subject by looking at the reactions of both the popular classes and the aristocracy. In Let Them Eat Cake : The Mythical Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution, Nancy N. Barker argues that the public opinion of the Marie Antoinette before and during the

2 Revolution was a motivating factor in [its] radicalization. 1 Barker s cultural analysis follows the official and unofficial French media s coverage of stories in which the queen featured. She analyzes primary sources that include French newspapers and pamphlets and secondary sources written by renowned historian such as Lynn Hunt and Robert Darnton in order to aid her in pointing out several aspects of the queen s life that attracted specifically unflattering press and possible reasons why the public was willing to accept it. One of the first circumstances which attracted the attention of the press was the king s inability to consummate his marriage, which took place in This embarrassing situation led to much unwanted press that poked fun at both the king and the queen. The queen, however, got the brunt of the bad press, which suggested that young and lively, [she] must be promiscuous. 2 In 1778, when the queen finally did become pregnant with their first child, rumors suggesting the child was not of the king ran rampant. Barker also attributes a sharp decline in the reputation of Marie Antoinette to the Diamond Necklace Affair of 1785, in which she was thought to have framed the Cardinal de Rohan by convincing him to purchase an extremely costly diamond necklace for her. Although the queen was declared innocent by the courts, the author states that the scandal triggered the spread of more pamphlets with disparaging remarks concerning her. Marie Antoinette came out of the affair as the villain, and the perpetrators who organized the conspiracy became public heroes. 3 Barker argues that the gossip became so influential after the ordeal that the queen stopped making public appearances altogether. Overall, Barker attributes the poor reputation of the queen to her lavish spending, her unheard of female independence and influence, and her Austrian origins. She points out that the 1 Nancy N. Barker, Let Them Eat Cake : The Mythical Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution, The Historian 4 (Summer 1993): Barker, Let them Eat Cake, Barker, Let them Eat Cake, 715.

3 only occasions on which Marie Antoinette was seen by the common people were ones marked by extravagance: opera balls, sleigh rides through Paris, etc. Not only did her lavishness excite resentment in starving commoners, but the king s absence from the queen s outings drew attention. Her independence caused resentment in a society where women, especially royal women, had no purpose other than to be dominated and impregnated by their husbands. 4 Barker also states that Marie Antoinette was at a disadvantage even upon her arrival in France, as her Austrian background aroused suspicion and contempt in most traditional French people. Vivian R. Gruder, in The Question of Marie-Antoinette: The Queen and Public Opinion before the Revolution, takes a cultural approach to the history surrounding Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution through the analysis of popular media and its effects on the French people. She uses a mix of primary sources, such as letters written by the queen herself, and secondary sources that include Robert Darnton s reports on the bestsellers of France in order to prove that the public image of Marie Antoinette did not contribute to the coming of the Revolution, but instead became popular as a result of it. She acknowledges that the queen s lavish spending, foreignness, and alleged sexual immorality were written about in many pamphlets and periodicals prior to the Revolution, but points out that the works were not popular, as they are absent from the list of forbidden bestsellers put together by Robert Darnton. Furthermore, Gruder claims that the Diamond Necklace Affair did not stain the name of the queen in the least. In contrast to the argument Barker presents, Gruder claims that her analysis of popular media in which the scandal was mentioned at all showed that the queen was either not mentioned or she [was] praised. 5 The event did, however, come to haunt the queen during the Revolution. The author, like Barker and Kaiser, also acknowledges that Marie Antoinette s 4 Barker, Let them Eat Cake, Gruder, The Question of Marie-Antoinette, 279.

4 Austrian origins contributed to her downfall. She differs from the two historians perspectives in that she claims that suspicion of her advancing Habsburg interest against France and foreignness did not turn into fatal attacks until after the Revolution was already well under way. 6 Lastly, Gruder claims that although the pornographic and lustful images of Marie Antoinette in the press began before the Revolution, it didn t have any effect on her public reputation, and most French people were aware of the necessity of taking scandalous stories with a grain of salt. The truly horrific pornographic images of Marie Antoinette didn t surface until after the Revolution had commenced. The press drew from the body of public outrage to sell their wares, knowing that the stories would be widely received during the time of civil unrest. 7 In From the Austrian Committee to the Foreign Plot: Marie-Antoinette, Austrophobia, and the Terror, historian Thomas E. Kaiser uses sources such as the Archives of the French foreign ministry along with various secondary sources in order to argue that Austrophobia, especially as it pertained to Marie Antoinette, propelled the events that contributed to the complete downfall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. 8 Kaiser seems to have both a cultural and political perspective on the events of the Revolution, as he explores the cultural phenomenon of Austrophobia as well as the political relations between France and Habsburg Austria. He explains the development of Austrophobia as the result of a combination of the Seven Years War, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748, and the Franco-Austrian alliance formed in During the ancien régime, Austrophobia brought on a mild deluge of bad press for Marie Antoinette. The Viennese queen was accused of attempting to insert Habsburg interests into the French foreign policy and embezzling money from the state treasury and 6 Gruder, The Question of Marie-Antoinette, Gruder, The Question of Marie-Antoinette, Thomas E. Kaiser, From the Austrian Committee to the Foreign Plot: Marie Antoinette, Austrophobia, and the Terror, French Historical Studies 26 (Fall 2003): Kaiser, From the Austrian Committee to the Foreign Plot, 583.

5 sending it back to her brother, Joseph II. These accusations carried no weight prior to the revolution, but instead were merely subjects of gossip among the French people. Although Kaiser, like Vivian Gruder, recognizes and explains the presence of Austrophobia in the ancien régime, he emphasizes that the critical public opinion as it pertained to the queen s foreignness reached its peak only after the Revolution began in During the Revolution, however, the Marie Antoinette s Austrian origins carried much weight in her trial during the Terror. The queen, who was feared and suspected of conspiring with Austrian forces against France even from confinement, was charged with subverting the National Assembly and furthering the Counter-Revolution by abetting foreign invasion. 10 The allegations made against her during the Old Regime resurfaced and new accusations that pertained to the Revolution were formed, piling more charges onto the queen that would eventually lead to her conviction. It is unclear whether the public opinion of Marie Antoinette truly aided in bringing about to the Revolution, or whether it merely contributed to the radicalization of its events after it had already begun. Although the three historians differ in their opinions of how much the French public opinion of the queen during the Old Regime contributed to the beginning of the Revolution, their agreement that the media coverage and poor reputation of Marie Antoinette after 1789 led to her death and the radicalization of the upheaval is clear. As Barker suggests, the Austrian queen s downfall could have been inevitable. It could well be that aristocrat, foreign, and female, Marie Antoinette stood to lose on all accounts Kaiser, From the Austrian Committee to the Foreign Plot, Barker, Let them Eat Cake, 724.