Causes of the French Revolution
Political Causes
The Rise of Absolute Monarchies
(1400’s-1700’s)
Absolutism
• The idea is based on that monarchs
have divine rights and do not have to
answer to any form of government
and /or the people.
• So they didn’t take advice from
Parliament, the Estates General, or
from the Nobles.
• They regulated the taxation and
national spending, government, and
the religion.
• Would limit personal freedoms of
certain groups ex. Jews or Protestants.
• They would also limit the power of the
existing government bodies like the
English Parliament, and the French
Estates General.
One theme = CONTROL!!!
1. Control the government
-Centralize & create bureaucracies
-Reduce power of representative bodies
2. Control the nobility
-Increase size of court; regulate social gatherings
-Reduce nobles’ power in the government
3. Control economics
-Great works
-Economic policies centralized
4. Control power
-Divine right & regulate religion
Absolutist Theory
– There must be one - and only one sovereign in every state (although it can
be a body consisting of more than one
person).
– The sovereign holds all legitimate power
and should never be actively resisted.
– If the sovereign commands a
contravention of God's law, disobey, but
accept the punishment (= "passive
obedience").
• Early-modern governments
had to rely mainly on
persuasion rather than
coercion.
• In the face of widespread
opposition to government
policy, regimes could do
little.
• Execution by burning, by
decapitation, or by
hanging, drawing and
quartering were used to
provide a public spectacle
of the consequences of
disobedience
• The main way of instilling
obedience, however, was
propaganda.
• Through teaching,
preaching and writing, the
message was sent that
sedition was morally
wrong, un-Christian, and
would result in divine
retribution.
• Even those who escaped
punishment in this life
would burn in hell fire.
• Dante Alighieri, Divine
Comedy (Inferno, Canto
34)
• When Dante's Pilgrim
reaches the lowest pit
of hell, he finds the
world's three greatest
sinners protruding from
the mouth of Satan.
Judas Iscariot - who
betrayed Jesus - hangs
with his head in Satan's
mouth, his legs
dangling.
• Dante’s Divine
Comedy:
• An almost equally
bad fate befalls
Brutus & Cassius the assassins of
Julius Caesar.
• Their bodies are in
the devil's mouth their heads
swinging.
• For Dante,
treason was
clearly the worst
of crimes.
Absolutism and Divine Right
• Divine right theory was a branch of absolutism
• Most divine right theorists thought that monarchy was
the best form of government and that monarchs should
never be resisted by the people.
• Divine right theorists insisted that the ruler's authority
was from God alone (not from the community).
• They quoted Scripture in their support:
• Proverbs 8.15-16:
By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me
princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
Divine Right of Kings
• Medieval belief that God gives
power to the king; therefore, his
actions are sanctioned by God
• The theory of the Divine Right of
Kings aimed at instilling
obedience by explaining why all
social ranks were religiously and
morally obliged to obey their
government.
Divine Right
• The belief that certain Kings
were chosen by God
• The Kings were only
accountable to God and no
one else
• This idea was reinforced by
Bishop Jacques Bossuet.
• One vital element in the theory of the Divine Right
of Kings was the Bodinian concept of sovereignty.
• The political theory of Jean Bodin (1529/30-96) was
aimed at ending the long period of conflict and
confusion caused by Religious Wars in France
between Catholics and Huguenots.
• A lawyer and economist, Bodin wrote Six Books of
the Commonweal (Six livres de la république),
which was published in French in 1576 (English
translation 1606).
• Bodin, like other politiques, argued that only
undivided authority could prevent endless
dissension
• Although the theory of the Divine Right of Kings
was perfectly coherent and treated as such by its
exponents and opponents, it is often now dismissed
as absurd.
• It is often falsely portrayed as more or less implying
that God descended on a cloud to endow monarchs
with celestial authority.
• In fact, in a period when most people accepted that
God had created the world and human nature, its
analysis of the nature of political obligation was
perfectly sensible (and arguably less mystical than
dialectical materialism or the existential moment).
• In every kingdom, the king's power comes directly from God, to
whom the ruler is accountable; power does not come to the king
from the people and he is not accountable to them.
• In every kingdom, the king makes the final decisions on all aspects
of government (including the church).
– Other people and institutions that exercise political power do so as delegates
of the king, and are subordinate to him.
• However tyrannically kings act, they are never to be actively
resisted. (The doctrine of non-resistance).
– If the king orders an act directly against God's commands, the subject should
disobey but must submissively accept any penalty of disobedience. (The
doctrine of "passive obedience" ).
– The doctrine was neatly encapsulated in the satirical song, The Vicar of Bray,
which insisted that "Kings are by God appointed, /And damned are they that
dare resist, / Or touch the Lord's anointed".
• Monarchy is the best form of government, but other forms are
valid.
• “Charles explained that there was a
doctrine called the Divine Right of Kings,
which said that:
(a) He was King, and that was right.
(b) Kings were divine and that was right.
(c) Kings were right, and that was right.
(d) Everything was all right."
• (Sellar & Yeatman, 1066 and all that).
“What is done for
the state is done for
God, who is the
basis and foundation
of it......Where the
interests of the state
are concerned, God
absolves actions
which, if privately
committed, would be
a crime.”
— Cardinal Richelieu
• What does this
primary source
quote mean?
• What impact would
this have on a
country?
Decline of Belief in Divine Right in England
• The religious fervor awakened by the Reformation and
Counter-Reformation provoked rebellion all over Europe.
• In England, both Roman Catholic and Puritan theorists
justified disobedience, and even forcible resistance, to
heretical governments that attacked the true religion.
• In the 1560s, Mary Queen of Scots was deposed by
Calvinist rebels, whose actions were explained and justified
by the poet and historian, George Buchanan.
• Mary fled to England and plotted with English Catholics to
overthrow the government of Elizabeth I until she was
executed in 1587 for her involvement in the Babington Plot.
Decline of Divine Right in England
• The Scottish Protestants, George Buchanan and John Knox also
wrote in support of resistance to heretical and tyrannical rulers.
• Buchanan also put these principles into practice by supporting the
nobles who overthrew and deposed Mary, Queen of Scots.
• They placed Mary's infant son, James on the throne.
• Buchanan's most important works were De Jure Regni Apud Scotos The rights of the kingdom among the Scots - (published 1579;
written in the 1560s), and Rerum Scoticarum Historia, - A History of
Scotland - (1582).
• Both laid great stress on the limitations of monarchical power.
• The History of Scotland was one of the main sources for
Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Decline of Belief in Divine Right in
England
• By the second half of the sixteenth century, England's upper
classes were better educated and more politically conscious than
at any time in the past.
• Local gentlemen sought election to the House of Commons, which
grew increasingly more sophisticated in its proceedings and began
to create an "institutional memory" by improving its records and
establishing precedents.
• Gentlemen in the localities began to hire agents in London to send
them letters containing news of the latest events in the Commons,
at Court and abroad.
• These news letters were the precursors of the first newspapers,
which began in the 1620s.
• [At first, the newspaper was called a "coranto" because it gave
the current news].
Decline of Divine Right in England
• The theory of the Divine Right of Kings was directed
at convincing this literate and wealthy group that
they should serve as royal officials, not try and seize
power for themselves.
• Of course, not everyone was persuaded.
• But many were - including such intelligent and
educated theorists as Sir Robert Filmer and (in his
own individual way) Thomas Hobbes.
• Both Civil War Royalists and Restoration Tories
derived many of their basic arguments from the
theory of Divine Right.
Decline of Divine Right in England
• James II was supported by English Tories, who prided
themselves on their loyalty to the Crown and the Church
of England.
• But James II adopted pro-Catholic policies so threatening
to the Anglican establishment that many believers in the
Divine Right of Kings lost their enthusiasm.
• Most Tories stood by passively in 1688 when William
and Mary invaded and deposed their father/uncle.
• James II's descendants by his second wife, Mary of
Modena, never succeeded in regaining the throne
despite the support of the Jacobites.
• Indefeasible hereditary right fell before Parliamentary
legislation instituting a Protestant succession.
Decline of Divine Right in England
• After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the
theory of the Divine Right of Kings lost almost
all support in England.
• It was still forcefully expounded in France by
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704) and
survived until rendered irrelevant there by
Enlightenment and Revolution.
Decline of Divine Right
• "…the idea of hereditary legislators is as
inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or
hereditary juries; and as absurd as an
hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary
wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary
poet laureate."
• Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1792)
King Louis XVI
Political Causes: Old Regime and Louis
XVI’s Leadership
• Problems with King Louis XVI
– Lacked the personality & intelligence to rule as an
absolute monarch
– Honest, easy-going, religious, and deeply devoted to his
family; not focused on ruling country
– Private person & painfully shy
– Generally avoided people
– Liked to work in his workshop on locks or hunt
Political Causes: Old Regime and
Louis XVI’s Leadership
• Appearance and Personality:
o Overweight---breakfast consisted of “four cutlets,
a chicken, a plateful of ham, half a dozen of eggs
in a thick meat sauce and a bottle and a half of
champagne”
o He shuffled around like an old bear.
o He was always tripping over his sword.
Political Causes: Old Regime and
Louis XVI’s Leadership
• Problems with King Louis XVI continued:
– Indecisive; could not say no or disagree with
anyone
– Narrow-minded & incapable of compromise
– Easily confused by the conflicting advice of his
advisors; so he rarely made quick decisions
– Believed in divine right
– Completely unaware of the situation in France
Political Causes: Old Regime and
Louis XVI’s Leadership
• Problems with King Louis XVI continued:
-He was extremely fat, awkward, & clumsy.
-Fond of practical jokes & was the laughingstock of the royal court. No one respected
him.
-Bored by government & politics; everyone
knew it
Political Causes: Old Regime---Louis XVI’s
Leadership
• Examples of his practical jokes:
He would hide in the halls of Versailles and
sneak up and trip the servants.
At night, when the servants were helping him
undress and get into his pajamas, he would
make a silly face and run away naked.
Louis would walk around Versailles and pants
his friends.
•In the 18th century dietary habits had the ability to mark
membership in a social group.
•The bourgeoisie used the influence of culinary habits as
another way of presenting an aristocratic image.
•The private banquets of the bourgeoisie and their forays to
restaurants served to boost their social status by
exemplifying their wealth and "savoir faire."
•The Royal Family:
•Many republican pamphlets and publications focused on
depicting the corruption and weakness within the Royal
family through images of their eating habits.
• In numerous anti-monarchial pamphlets the King was
portrayed as suffering from a "moronic and short-sighted
bulemia that made him no match for the honest,
abstemious, and responsible Constitutional Assembly."
(Spang, 123)
Problems with Louis XVI
• Lettre de cachet---the king had the power to
send anyone to jail without a trial just by
writing a lettre de cachet---which means a
sealed letter
• It was a single sheet of paper signed by the
king and sealed with wax
• The person whose names appeared on the
paper would go to prison or be sent into exile
for as long as the king wanted.
• Louis signed over 14,000.
Louis, Marriage & Rumors
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
France was waiting for Marie Antoinette to produce an heir to the throne. For
seven years, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's marriage was unconsummated -and it was all anyone could talk about. Well, that and the brewing revolution.
The couple wed in May 1770, and the ceremony and ensuing celebration had all
the trappings of a lavish royal fête.
At Versailles, custom permitted the king's courtiers to accompany the newlyweds
to their bedroom, where they reposed on display. It did little to stoke the fires of
passion.
Marie Antoinette was frustrated. She was willing and able to sexually receive her
husband; as a matter of fact, she lived in a state of anxiety that he would never
warm to her and that she'd be sent home to Austria as an utter failure.
Her mother, Maria Theresa, reminded her of this danger at every possible
juncture in their correspondence.
She wrote to Marie Antoinette to "lavish more caresses" on Louis [source:
Covington].
What's more, it was painfully clear to everyone that something was wrong with
the couple. It wasn't just the young couple's physical gratification at stake: France
was waiting for Marie Antoinette to produce an heir to the throne.
Louis, Marriage, & Rumors
• News of Louis' impotence spread from the court of Versailles to the
streets of Paris, where pamphlets mocking his powerlessness were
distributed.
• The propaganda planted the seed that if Louis couldn't perform in
the bedroom, he certainly couldn't perform on the throne.
• Louis XV watched forlornly as his grandson failed to execute his
mission; the reigning king had a rapacious sexual appetite and an
insatiable mistress, Madame du Barry.
• Louis was doughy, impressionable and more fascinated by locks,
languages and hunting than he was by his lovely young wife.
• Marie Antoinette explained to a friend, "My tastes are not the
same as the King's, who is only interested in hunting and his metalworking" [source: Fraser].
Louis, Marriage, & Rumors
• But different tastes or not, Maria Theresa wasn't going to take the
news lying down.
• She sent her son Joseph to assess the couple's damage. He called
them "two complete blunderers" and surmised that nothing else
stood in their way of consummation.
• Joseph may not have been entirely correct in his analysis.
• Louis had been diagnosed with a condition called phimosis in which
the foreskin of the penis is tighter than normal and doesn't loosen
upon arousal. This condition made sex very painful.
• There was an operation available to correct the condition, but Louis
was reluctant to go under the knife.
• Some historians think he finally acquiesced and had the procedure
while some say he never did; regardless, the couple finally
consummated.
Political Causes: Old
Regime and Louis XVI’s
Leadership
• Weak Ruler
• Poor Decision Maker
• Had no true idea of how “normal” people lived.
• At age of 15 was married to 14 year old girl
from Austria to improve relations between the 2 countries.
• Had no idea how poor his government/country was becoming
(past wars & USA indpce help = $4Billion debt!)
• Most people liked him, but not his government.
Political Causes:
Marie Antoinette
•Marie Antoinette was born to the
great Austrian empress Maria
Theresa
• As a young teenager, she was
obliged to wed Louis XVI of
France to symbolize an alliance
made between Austria and
France.
•Ironically, in the beginning of her
marriage she was much loved by
the French people for her
kindness to peasants and her
willingness to interact with her
subjects.
•When Louis went hunting,
peasants were sometimes
trampled or accidentally shot.
Antoinette, who was usually
following in her separate coach,
would always stop to help the
injured person and even take him
back to the palace to be treated.
Problems with Marie Antoinette
• Marie did not like the restrictive and often
ridiculous rules of court at Versailles that had
been established by King Louis XIV to
manipulate and financially control the nobles.
• Marie hated the artificial clothes and
hairstyles.
• She tried to change fashion by wearing simple,
straight dresses of white muslin and wearing
her hair down in what she called a “natural”
style.
Problems with Marie Antoinette
• Marie had her portrait painted several times
in the simpler fashions.
• But the nobles at court hated it and attacked
Marie with nasty gossip.
• The most jealous courtiers wrote anonymous
pamphlets making spiteful and sly attacks
against Marie.
• To them, her actions showed no respect for
the French rules and customs.
Problems with Marie Antoinette
• They said she was dressed like a dowdy milkmaid.
• That her simple clothes hurt the French
economy because she was not supporting the
garment industry and encouraging others to
dress like her in cheap, foreign-made clothes.
• But when Marie gave in and started to dress
like the other French nobles, the Third Estate
resented her for wasteful spending and
outrageous behavior.
Problems with Marie Antoinette
• Marie built up her debt in her closet .
• She had nearly 300 dresses made annually for her various social engagements at
the court of Versailles, her private parties at Petit Trianon and for the stage of her
jewel-box theater .
• But it wasn't just dresses that Marie and her couturier fussed over.
• She had an original hairstyle commissioned -- the gravity-defying pouf -- and even
had an exclusive fragrance made for her by Jean-Louis Fargeon (also her
glovemaker).
• Marie Antoinette's elixir evoked the gardens and orchards at Petit Trianon, and it
was supposedly so strong a scent that it gave her away during her family's plotted
escape from the Tuileries.
• Her pricy parties and extensive wardrobe earned Marie Antoinette the moniker
Madame Déficit. She couldn't shake the title -- not that she tried. Marie
Antoinette was far removed from the revolutionary murmurs in Paris. And her
ignorance ultimately culminated in her death sentence.
Problems with Marie Antoinette
• Marie refused to behave as the French nobles
thought a queen should:
– To smile a lot and not have any opinions on
anything
– To do as she was told by her husband, advisors,
and courtiers
– To have lots of babies---especially boys
– To be on public display at all times
Let Them Eat Cake Reference
• As famous as she is for having proclaimed, "Let them eat
cake," when she heard that the peasants were starving
from the dearth of bread, Marie Antoinette actually never
said it.
• The young queen was known to be quite tender-hearted,
in contrast to her less flattering attributes as a spendthrift
and wild reveler.
• There are accounts of her administering aid to a peasant
who'd been gored by a wild animal as well as taking in an
orphaned boy.
• Besides accounts like these that attest to her kind and
generous nature, there are straightforward facts that
disprove her utterance of this scandalous remark.
Let Them Eat Cake Reference
• Louis XVI's coronation took place at Rheims during the height of a
bread shortage in Paris.
• This is the context in which she is incorrectly quoted as joking, "If
they have no bread, then let them eat cake!" ("Qu'ils mangent de la
brioche.")
• Cake at this time being the common tongue for a type of French
bread, using less flour.
• However, there is no evidence that this phrase was ever uttered by
Marie Antoinette.
• When Marie Antoinette actually heard about the bread shortage
she wrote, "It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us
so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than
ever to work hard for their happiness. The king seems to
understand this truth; as for myself, I know that in my whole life
(even if I live for a hundred years) I shall never forget the day of the
coronation."
Brioche
Let Them Eat Cake Reference
• The expression comes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Confessions,"
a treatise penned in the late 18th century. When the book was first
published in 1782, Marie Antoinette was 10 years old under her
mother's care in Austria [source: Goldberg].
• There's a possibility that Rousseau turned the phrase himself; other
historians think it may have been uttered by Maria Theresa. Maria
Theresa was a noblewoman of Spanish descent who wed Louis XIV
[source: Covington].
• What Rousseau or Maria Theresa actually said -- whatever the case
may be -- is "qu'ils mangent de la brioche
• " This doesn’t mean "let them eat cake;" it means "let them eat an
egg-based bread" [source: Goldberg].
• The type of bread to which the speaker referred is a more luxe loaf
than the typical flour-and-water bread of the Parisian pauper.
Let Them Eat Cake Reference
• A French law mandated that bakers sell their
brioche at the same price as their inexpensive
bread if this supply ran out.
• Later on, the law would be the downfall of the
hungry lower classes when bakers responded by
baking very short supplies of bread to save
themselves from economic ruin.
• Marie Antoinette had plenty of enemies in Paris,
and it was easy to fabricate stories about the
queen's spendthrift habits.
• Very likely, someone attributed this line to the
wrong royal and the tale seemed true enough to
stick.
Problems with Marie Antoinette-Lack of Interest in Ruling
• When Marie Antoinette's sister-in-law, Marie Thérèse, the wife of
the Comte d'Artois, gave birth to her first child in August 1775,
Marie Antoinette was subjected to cat-calls from market women
asking why she had not produced a son, too.
• She spent the next day weeping in her rooms, much to the distress
of her ladies-in-waiting, who felt she was "extremely affecting
when in misfortune."
• Fulfilling Marie Antoinette's determination to avoid boredom,
conversation in her circle shied away from the mundane or
intellectual.
• According to Madame Campan, one of the queen's ladies-inwaiting:"The newest songs from the Comédie, the most timely joke
or pun or quip, the bon mot of the day, the latest and choicest titbit
of scandal or gossip – these comprised the sole topics of
conversation in the intimate group about the queen; discussion on a
serious plane was banished from her court.“
Problems with Marie Antoinette---Her Marital Affairs
• Antoinette had many lovers outside her marriage.
• She was commonly called "the Austrian whore" for the countless
men she entertained - from Arthur Dillon, the Duc de Lauzun, and
Axel von Fersen, to the Baron de Besenval, the Prince de Ligne, and
the Comte de Vaudreuil.
• "Antoinette even confessed herself that she led the life of 'a
despicable prostitute': She spent the night before the coronation in
1775 on the Porte Neuve at Reims, an 'islet of love,' dressed as a
Bacchante, copulating for three hours with a selected 'Hercules.‘
• She learned new positions from the Comte d’Artois at the Trianon,
and she experimented with her ladies of the household" (Schama,
225)
• In the defaming publications, Antoinette was portrayed as a sexual
monster.
• As this fault became known to the masses, the Queen’s popularity
rapidly decreased
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• Do Queens Just Wanna Have Fun?
Consummation Conundrum: Trouble in the
Royal
• Bedroom! Does the Queen Have a Swede on
the Side? King's brother caught with Queen!
• Headlines ripped from today's tabloids,
tattling on lusty celebrities and rambunctious
royals? Or is this gossip a few centuries old?
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• Rumors have always been useful for those who
wanted to sow discord and trouble, and this
was never more true than in 18th-century
France.
• The hothouse atmosphere of the royal court,
where factions and rivalries operated secretly
to shape policy and undermine sometimes
tenuous royal power, created a ripe
environment for a thriving gossip mill,
presented mostly in the form of cheap, widelydistributed pamphlets that were the equivalent
of today's tabloids.
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• Hired by powerful leaders of court factions, the
pamphleteers themselves were often down-and out
writers who cared less about politics and more
about earning a fast buck.
• The printers and sellers of pamphlets operated
outside the law and had no qualms about spreading
the most salacious rumors, often accompanied by
lewd, pornographic pictures.
• The French public, like the printers, pamphleteers,
and those who paid them, had a seemingly
unlimited amount of ire for Marie Antointette, who
became symbolic of all of France's ills.
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• Printed secretly, the pamphlets were too plentiful
to be squelched by the French government.
• The graphically illustrated scandal sheets accused
the Queen of crimes ranging from hopeless
stupidity all the way to adultery, sexual deviance,
and even treason.
• Despite the claims of modern scholars to
objectivity, these pamphlets continue to shape
historical views of the French Queen, her society,
and the aristocracy — just as they did for her
contemporaries.”
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• As discontent permeated France, Marie Antoinette’s iconography
changed from a positive image to a negative one.
• Marie Antoinette became the icon for the ills of the ancien régime,
and her iconography became propaganda for the Revolution.
• In a print from the pornographic satire, Essai Historique sur la Vie
de Marie-Antoinette , Marie Antoinette is represented as a
lascivious and adulterous queen.
• This sketch exemplifies the propaganda widely circulated in the
1780’s and 1790’s.
• This propaganda was intended to gain support for the
Revolutionary cause by destroying Marie Antoinette’s reputation.
• While courtly liaisons and royal affairs were historically accepted in
France, they had never been exposed on such a wide scale.
• Mass quantities of pornography circulated France, gaining support
for the revolution and breeding hatred for the Queen.
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• During the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was the
subject of much public pornography and propaganda.
• This pornography included a multitude of sketches and
drawings depicting the Queen engaging in lascivious or
lewd acts.
• While at the beginning of her reign, Marie was
represented as a divine monarch, her public
representation soon plummeted.
• The widely circulated pornography acted as propaganda
against the queen and the ancien régime.
• Her public iconography, most prolific during her life,
became a source of propaganda against her and the
"corrupt" ancien régime.
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• Vindictive rumours began that Marie Antoinette was
sleeping with her brother-in-law.
• Illegal presses in Paris soon began printing pamphlets
showing the queen and Artois as adulterous lovers.
• The first pamphlet was called ''Les Amours de Charlot et
Antoinette''. ''L'Autrichienne en Goguette'' showed Artois
and the Queen having Anal Sex in a palace salon.
• ''Le Godmiché Royal'' (the Royal dildo) showed Marie
Antoinette Masturbating , and later pamphlets would
suggest that she had indulged in Bestiality and Lesbianism
• None of these charges were true, but they began to chip
away at the queen's popularity with the people.
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• Pamphlets flooded the streets of Paris filled with harsh slander: "Our lascivious
Queen, With Artois the Debauched, Together with no trouble, Commit the sweet
sin, But what of it, How could one find harm in that? This fine pair, Have certainly
convinced us, That the great King of France, Is a perfect cuckold, But what of it,
How could one find harm in that?" (Schama, 221).
• Simulations of an autobiography of the Queen also proliferated the streets of
Paris in 1781, 1783, and 1793 which included the degrading words: “Catherine de
Medici, Cleopatra, Agrippina, Messalina, my deeds have surpassed yours, and if
the memory of your infamies still provokes a shudder, if its frightful detail makes
the hair stand on end and tears pour from the eyes, what sentiments will issue
from knowledge of the cruel and lascivious life of Marie-Antoinette . . . barbaric
Queen, adulterous wife, woman without morals, soiled with crime and
debauchery, these are the titles that are my decorations “(Schama, 224).
• This statement along with many other remarks made the Queen appear as a
spendthrift whore who would stop at nothing to satisfy her appetites.
• Paris was full of grim accounts of Antoinette and her loathsome amusements.
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
• Old stories of orgies in the gardens of Versailles were revived along with an
alleged plot to make an alcoholic of her husband so that she and her lovers could
deceive him more easily.
• References to "Madame Deficit," "the Austrian bitch," and "the Austrian whore"
were everywhere.
• Cartoonists even ridiculed the overweight Louis XVI and his frivolous wife,
portraying them gorging themselves at a sumptuous banquet while all around
them their pinch-faced subjects held their empty stomachs and gazed hungrily at
the food.
• Spiteful images of the Queen, emphasizing her long nose, sharp dark eyebrows,
fat chin, and chubby cheeks, were posted all around the capital.
• She was described as faithless to her husband, cruel to her people, consumed by
lust, and devoured by greed.
• One pamphlet called her "the Iscariot of France," and another said, "This
Persophone wears the redoubtable head-dress of the Fourteenth Apostle , of the
same character of Judas" (Schama, 229).
Anti-Marie Antoinette Propaganda
•Stories of her infidelity circulated along with an alleged
plot to make an alcoholic of her husband.
•Cartoonists even ridiculed the overweight Louis XVI and
his frivolous wife, portraying them gorging themselves at
a sumptuous banquet while all around them subjects held
their empty stomachs and gazed hungrily at the food.
•She was described as faithless to her husband, cruel to
her people, consumed by lust, and devoured by greed.
• In the propaganda, she is shown dipping her claws into
a plate to steal and waste the treasures of France.
Impact of Anti-Marie Antoinette
Propaganda
• Marie Antoinette was a scapegoat during the years leading up to
the French Revolution.
• Her reputation for infidelity and wastefulness was used by her
enemies to infuriate the masses against the monarchy. She had
been made a symbol of hatred to all of France.
• It is true that Antoinette did not deserve the degree of abuse she
received from her subjects for she was not completely guilty of all
wrongdoing - during her reign she continued to allow commoners
to roam the royal lands, she supported various charities and
helped many impoverished children obtain an education.
• Despite this, Antoinette could not erase her mistakes because the
damage had already been done. She ultimately created her own
demise.
Impact of Anti-Marie Antoinette
Propaganda
• In 1789, when Antoinette was brought out to
stand in front of hundreds of her subjects who
were standing in the palace courtyards waiting
to take her to Paris, they yelled, "There she is,
the damned whore!" or "We want her head,
never mind the body!"
• Through much propaganda, the French people
had learned to despise the Queen they had
once loved as a dauphine, and they now
wished to persecute her until her death.
• What political motivation did people have for
portraying the Queen this way?
• How could this portrayal of the Queen impact her?
The King and his power to govern? The politics of
France?
• Why do you think Louis XVI relaxed his control of
the press when the revolution began?
• In what ways could this help him politically? Hurt
him politically?
Problems with Marie Antoinette’s Spending
• Marie spent lavishly on her court favorites
• A livre was worth about $4.00
• Examples:
– Princess La Lamballe was Superintendent of the Queen’s Household and
organized all the parties and entertainment.
– She was paid 150,000 livres a year
– Gabrielle Yolande De Polignac was the Governess to the Royal Children and
organized the schooling for the kids, but did not teach them
– Marie gave her 400,000 livres to cover the cost of debt thayt Gabrielle and
her husband had accumulated to keep up with living at Versailles
– Marie then gave them 800,000 livres for their daughter’s dowry
– And gave Gabrielle’s husband a job title that paid 12,000 livres a year for
doing nothing
– Marie would give presents to her court favorites, to their spouses, lovers,
parents, aunts and uncles, and friends
– Because of her generosity, the King’s brother began calling Marie “Madame
Deficit”
Problems with Marie Antoinette:
Her Spending and Life-Style
• The queen's circle of friends was very exclusive.
• This caused resentment in Versailles, where the courtiers thought
the queen was deliberately excluding them.
• Soon, she became the target of the vicious gossip of Versailles. She,
however, remained oblivious.
• Under the influence of d'Artois, Marie Antoinette began visiting the
Paris Opéra balls in disguise.
• It was not long before gossips began whispering that the queen was
orchestrating such events to meet with various secret lovers.
• She also began spending more and more money, since she had no
real idea of its value.
• She had three major weaknesses: clothes, gambling and diamonds.
For her twenty-first birthday, she participated in a three-day long
gambling party, in which huge amounts of money changed hands.
Political Causes: Marie Antoinette
and Spending
• Problems with Queen Marie Antoinette:
-She was pretty, frivolous, light-headed,&
wildly extravagant.
-Would lose 100,000 dollars in a game of cards
in one night.
-Spent early part of her reign hosting
outrageous balls, plays, flirting, & gambling at
cards and horse races.
Political Causes: Marie Antoinette
and Spending
• Problems with Queen Marie Antoinette cont:
-Spent a great deal of $ on diamond bracelets,
earrings, buying dress uniforms for musicians, etc…
-Led to the “Affair of the Diamond Necklace”
Scandal; she was accused of using her connections to
obtain a diamond necklace without being paid for.
• Turns out it was all staged by the Cardinal Rohan &
his mistress.
Diamond Necklace Scandal
• Jewelers Böhmer and Bassenge nearly went broke creating a necklace that they
presumed King Louis XV would buy for his mistress Madame du Barry.
• Weighing in at 2,800 carats, the jewelers thought they'd fetch 1.6 million livres
for the stunner -- that's roughly equivalent to 100 million U.S. dollars in today's
market. Unfortunately for Böhmer and Bassenge (and Madame du Barry), the
king died before he could purchase it.
• They hoped that the new king, Louis XVI, might agree to buy the necklace for
Marie Antoinette.
•
Whatever frivolous reputation she may have acquired later in her reign, Marie
Antoinette made a patriotic, sentient decision to discourage Louis from
purchasing the necklace. She reasoned that he'd be better off putting the money
toward France's navy [source: Muschamp].
• The necklace languished in the jewelers' possession until a desperate,
enterprising woman named Jeanne de Lamotte Valois devised a plot to pull
herself out of debt by acquiring the necklace and selling it for parts.
Diamond Necklace Scandal
• The necklace languished in the jewelers' possession until a
desperate, enterprising woman named Jeanne de Lamotte Valois
devised a plot to pull herself out of debt by acquiring the necklace
and selling it for parts.
• The Comtesse de Lamotte appealed to Cardinal de Rohan, who was
rather unpopular at court. From 1772 to '74, he'd served as the
French ambassador to Vienna, where he became a quick enemy of
Marie Antoinette's mother -- and of Marie Antoinette herself.
• The comtesse told the cardinal that Marie Antoinette desperately
wanted the diamond necklace but that she didn't want to ask Louis
for it.
• Lamotte slyly suggested that if Cardinal de Rohan could find a way
to procure it for Marie Antoinette, his good reputation would be
restored at court.
Diamond Necklace Scandal
• Lamotte had her lover, Rétaux de Villette, write letters in Marie
Antoinette's hand and send them to the cardinal, asking him to buy
the necklace [source: Covington].
• The comtesse even paid a prostitute who looked like the queen to
have a secret tête-à-tête with the cardinal in the Versailles gardens
one night.
• At last, the cardinal wrangled the diamonds from Böhmer and
Bassenge on credit.
• The jewelers presented the necklace to the queen's footman for
delivery -- only the footman was Rétaux in disguise. He seized the
necklace and headed to London.
• When his first payment was due, Cardinal de Rohan couldn't cough
up the amount.
• The jewelers demanded money from Marie Antoinette, who had no
knowledge of the necklace. By then, the necklace had been sold.
Diamond Necklace Scandal
• A furious Louis had the cardinal arrested; later, he was
acquitted of all charges and exiled.
• The scheming mastermind Lamotte was imprisoned but
broke free and took up residence in England.
• There, she spread propaganda about the queen -- though
she needn't have bothered.
• Marie Antoinette's reputation (already hanging tenuously in
the balance) was ruined. The scandal confirmed that she
was, indeed, "Madame Déficit.“
• The diamond necklace affair would be one of the final
straws before the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette's
death sentence.
The Necklace Scandal
1,600,000 livres
[$100 million today]
Political Causes: Marie Antoinette
and Her Spending
-Even though the Queen was cleared of guilt,
the press still had a field day ridiculing her
-After this, she was known as that “Austrian
Woman” or “Madame Deficit”.
-Would loan her noble friends money to pay
off their gambling debts.
Problems with Marie Antoinette and Spending
• To the people, another infuriating shortcoming was Antoinette’s frivolous
spending habits.
• They saw her as the bottomless pit where all their hard work and taxes
disappeared, and they subsequently called her "Madame Deficit."
• The Queen was constantly buying numerous chateaux, clothing, and jewels. She
never ceased to spoil her favorite circle of friends.
• Antoinette also had an almost uncontrollable love for gambling, which did not
stop until she realized that she was spending money that she did not have.
• While the commoners stood in bread lines praying for food, they cursed the
Queen who was living so comfortably in her grand palace.
• Widespread discontent resulted: in 1787 a painting of the Queen was not
exhibited in the Salon in fear of violent antagonistic demonstrations.
• After this, Antoinette rarely went to the theater, and in the few occasions when
she did, she was greeted with such loud hisses that she made sure to stay away in
the future.
• Court members now showed their disgust with her openly, instead of hiding their
true feelings. Antoinette was only left to ask, "What do they want of me? . . .
What harm have I done to them
Marie Antoinette and Trianon Village
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After she turned thirty in 1785, Marie Antoinette also began to dress with more
restraint.
She abandoned the more elaborate wigs which had been festooned with jewels and
feathers and she refused to buy any more jewels for her personal collection.
She was, however, fiercely criticised for building a small mock-village for herself in the
grounds of Versailles in 1786.
The building of these kinds of artificial villages was very popular among French
aristocratic ladies, who were keen to experience a rural idyll in the comfort of their own
estates.
This tradition had begun with Louis XIV's greatest mistress, the beautiful Athénaïs de
Montespan in the 1680s.
Marie Antoinette's defenders did not think she deserved so much criticism for building
the Hameau (as it was known.) Baroness d'Oberkirch complained, "Other people spent
more on their gardens!"
Even so, the queen was already unpopular and she could not possibly understand how
much the Hameau would further damage her reputation.
Many people began to see her as a clueless spendthrift who liked to play at being a
shepherdess, whilst some of the real peasants lived in very hard conditions.
One of the cottages built in Marie Antoinette's private village in 1783. The cost was not
as great as the queen's enemies pretended.
•
•
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Trianon Retreat At Versailles
Marie Antoinette commissioned a complete overhaul for the Trianon gardens. In order to
bring them fully up-to-date, she had them redesigned in the "English" style that had been
championed by the writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
A mock farming village called The Petit Hameau (The Little Hamlet) completed
this "rustic" area of the Versailles grounds.
Marie Antoinette enjoyed her status as mistress of the Petit Trianon. Members of the
court, including the King, bowed to her sovereignty there.
In this small corner of the vast estate, it was the Queen who invited the King to dine or
attend the amateur theatricals that she staged with her friends in Trianon's theater.
But perhaps the most important sign of her power here was the relative privacy she was
able to command.
However, this very privacy and the power it implied could easily been seen as
inappropriate and misplaced.
Some critics started calling the Petit Trianon "Little Vienna" or "Little Schönbrunn," a
reference to Maria Theresa's palace where Marie Antoinette grew up.
Not only did this unwelcome nickname suggest a foreign enclave at the very heart of
French power, but it was also a reminder that in her mother, the Queen had as a role
model not a powerless and subservient royal consort, but the most powerful woman in
Europe and one of France's greatest rivals.
Palais du Petit Trianon
• Changed grounds to look like an English garden for
the cost of 150,000 livres.
• Had her own theatre which hosted only one play!
• Toy Village of 8 cottages and a farm built to look old
and picturesque right down to painted cracks on
the new walls and designer broken cobblestones
• Marie insisted on the whitest of lambs, the cleanest
of cows and the prettiest of milkmaids who carried
the milk in the finest porcelain milk jugs, while next
door, the real farmers were literally starving to
death.
Political Causes: Old Regime and
Marie Antoinette
-Later on, she calmed down with the
parties after she became a mother.
-But she began to interfere with politics.
-She advised Louis to get rid of ministers
who wanted to curb her spending or
were against her Pro-Austrian policies
that hurt France.
Political Causes: Old Regime and
Marie Antoinette
-She opposed Necker’s plans to solve France’s
economic problems.
-She opposed calling the Estates-General to
meet & advise Louis.
-The people never saw her as their Queen.
Problems with Old
Regime and
MarieAntoinette
•Austrian by birth, married to King Louis XVI @ 14
•Became very unpopular very quickly
•Spoke French with strong accent, always considered a “foreigner”
•Enjoyed high class jewelry, parties, clothes, etc.
•Accused of purchasing /stealing $1,600,000 diamond necklace
•Nicknames were “Madame “Deficit” “Austrian Dog”
•Many French citizens blamed her for country’s problems
•
•
•
http://www.myrrhine.net/antoinette/
http://www.ralphmag.org/CG/french-revolution.html
Political Causes
• Crisis in the Government Administration:
-inefficient, corrupt, highly privileged
-chief ministers never met as a group to coordinate
reform plans
-the Estates-General had not met since 1614
-no uniform system of government
-Parlement of Paris blocked reforms that would take
away privileges from the nobles
Political Causes
Problems with Government Administration:
-Two different legal systems; no uniform code
of law
-Three court systems: royal, manorial (noble),
and ecclesiastical (church)
Economic Causes
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Economic Causes: King Louis XIV’s
Legacy of Debt
Money spent building Versailles
Gave tax exempt status to nobles to control them
Four costly wars
Not investing in a colonial empire
Persecution of the Huguenots with the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes-lost 200,000
middle class merchants and professionals who
drove the economy and paid taxes
Economic Causes: King Louis XV The
Seven Years’ War
Louis XV
•
•
•
•
French
and
English
troops
fight at the
battle of
Fort St.
Philip on
the island
of Minorca
Louis XV
War fought in Europe, India, North America—French-Indian War
France ends up losing some of its colonial possessions
Increases French national debt
• The Growing Economic Crises
1. In General: 1700’s
• economy prospered
• population growth – 18 million to
25 million
• food surpluses helped
textile/mining industries
• mercantilism: export more than
you import
2. Hardships: 1770’s/80’s
• poor harvests
• Middle Age regulations
• taxing on merchant trade
• monopolies by guilds made it difficult for
entrepreneurs
• government debt high and increasing
o to pay for wars
o support the Versailles Court
o American Revolution doubled debt
o Louis XVI was not an able ruler
3. Reform Attempts: 1774-1776
• Louis appointed Robert Turgot as finance
minister
• controlled government financial spending
• reduced court expenses
• removed internal customs taxes on food
• limited power of some guilds
• Turgot attempted to tax nobles (a major reform)
o little success
o King needed the parlements to approve this tax
but they were controlled by nobles
o Nobles of the Robe rejected the idea
o King dismissed Turgot in 1776
4. The Writing on the Wall: 1776-1788
• government secured new bank loans
• helped only for a little while
• 1786: bankers refused to lend more money
• 1787 and 1788: had poor harvests
• bread shortages upset people
• Louis went to Parlements for a new tax, his wishes
were rejected
• Louis called for the Estates General to meet
• The Estates General represented all three estates
• Louis hoped to win support for reforms that would
restore economic stability
Economic Crisis
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Trade between countries 
Unemployment
Crop failures = shortage of bread =
Peasants spending 50%-80% income on food
Food riots becoming common
Coldest winter in 100 years not helping things
National debt now up to $5,000,000,000
(billion!)
Economic Causes
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No written budget
Rising prices & government expenditures
Heavy cost of 4 wars between 1733 – 1783
Govt national debt was 126 million livres (1
livre = $5)
• Paying 8 to 10 % interest rates on loans
• By 1788, the interest owed on the govt debt =
51% of the govt expenditures
Financial Problems
in France, 1789
Urban Commoner’s
Budget:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Food
80%
Rent
25%
Tithe
10%
Taxes
35%
Clothing 20%
TOTAL 170%
King’s Budget:
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–
–
–
–
–
Interest 50%
Army
25%
Versailles 25%
Coronation 10%
Loans
25%
Admin.
25%
TOTAL
160%
Economic Causes: Third Estate Issues
• Outrageous taxes on income, property, salt,
persons, cider, wine, & tobacco paid by the
Third Estate
• Corvee: had to work on repairing or building
roads without pay
• Tithes: 10% of crops to Church
• Pay to nobles for right to use the grain mills,
bake ovens, & hunting rights
Economic Causes: Third Estate Issues
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Lords could hunt & tramble newly-planted fields.
Poor harvests in 1787, 1788, & 1789
Shortage of food & rising prices; price of bread rose
Mobs raided public granaries; bread riots broke out
30,000 unemployed & homeless
1789-wages increased 22%, while cost of living
increased 62%
• Deficit of over 5 Billion Dollars
Economic Causes: Third EstatePeasants
• Population explosion that farmers could not
keep up with.
• 36% of the total population was under the age
of 20.
• Harvest failed in 1787, 1788, and 1789.
• Almost overnight, thousands of homeless
people were roaming the countryside starving.
Economic Causes: Third EstatePeasants
• Peasants had to:
– Work for free for the lord for several days every year
– Pay a tax to their lord every year
– Give part of their crops to their lord every year
– Grind their wheat in their lord’s mill and pay for using it
– Bake their bread in an oven owned by their lord and pay
for using it
– Crush their grapes in their lord’s press and pay for using
it
– Pay a tax on anything they took to sell at a market held
on the lord’s land
Economic Causes: Third EstatePeasants
• Summer of 1788 there were freak hailstorms that
badly damaged crops before they were harvested
• Winter of 1788-1789---worse winter—rivers and
lakes were frozen for months and when they
thawed, the roads were flooded
• What little food that had been saved from hail and
ice could not get into the towns due to the floods
• The price of bread skyrocketed.
• Poor people in the cities began to starve---SansCulottes
1786
BREAD AND THE WAGE EARNERS BUDGET*
Occupation
Effective Daily Wage
in Sous**
Expenditure on Bread as percentage of income with
bread priced at:
gs (Aug 1788)
14s (Feb-July 1789)
Laborer in Reveillon
wallpaper works
15
60
97
Builders Laborer
18
50
80
Journeyman mason
24
37
60
Journeyman, locksmith,
carpenter, etc.
30
30
48
Sculptor, goldsmith
60
15
24
*The price of the 4 pound loaf consumed daily by workingman and his family as the main element in their
diet
Price of 100 kilograms of Wheat in Paris, 17701790
1770
1775
1780
25 francs
Average Price of a Hectoliter (100 liters) of
wheat in France
20 francs
1730
1750
1770
1789
9.5 francs
14.5 francs
19.8 francs
21.0 francs
17 francs
1785
19 francs
1789
29 francs
1790
27 francs
Economic Causes: Low Yearly Incomes for
Third Estate versus First and Second Estates
Yearly incomes compared.
•Archbishop of Paris 50,000 livres
•Marquis de Mainvillette 20,000 livres
•Prince de Conti 14,000 livres
•A Paris parish priest 10,000 livres
•A typical village priest 750 livres
•A master carpenter 200 livres
•(The livre was replaced by the franc
in 1795. In the 1780s, there were
about 4 livres to £1).