French Revolution
Edition
PRODUCED BY: MS. RICHMAN – THANK YOU!!!
STARRING: WORLD HISTORY STUDENTS AT CORONADO HIGH SCHOOL
Case Overview:
 You are a crime scene investigator, expert on
cracking the coldest of cold cases. The key to
your success is your expert knowledge of how to
analyze and interpret historical sources.
 You are being assigned to one of the most
famous murder cases in history.
 Use the sources contained in this case file to
figure out who the victim was and what
happened to him/her.
Case File Table of Contents:
 Information on the victim
 Images of the Crime Scene
 Witness Analysis
 Suspected Murder Weapons
 Evidence Analysis
 Images of Victim
 Information on Lifestyle/ Biography
 The Victim’s Final Days
Body Details
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Gender:
Approximate Age:
Height:
Weight:
Clothing
Obvious Injuries:
Year of death:
Female
37
“medium height”
unknown*
light white shift dress
head severed from body
October 1793
*Sources suggest that the victim had lost a lot of weight
around the time of her death
Body Details & Victim
Identification
 The body shows signs of being buried
in a mass grave for several years,
although it currently resides in the
Basilica of St. Denis, Paris.
 A death mask of the victim’s head
was made by Madame Tussard before
burial. It can be seen to the right.
 Although no identification was found
on the body, sources tell us that her
name is Marie Antoinette. Her
occupation was queen of France.
Image A
Victim’s Family
 At the time of death the victim
had one daughter (15-yearsold) and one son (8-years-old).
 The victim’s husband, King
Louis XVI had be executed in
January 1793
 Two years after the victim’s
death, her son died of neglect.
 Her daughter (an orphan and
the only royal survivor)
eventually left France, married
but never had any children.
Section #2: Crime Scene Information
Link to Table of Contents
Crime Scene
 There are no photographs of the actual crime scene
but eye witnesses (or those who spoke to
eyewitnesses or read their accounts) produced the
following images of the crime scene.
 As you examine each crime scene image think about
which one is most reliable and why.
Image B
Place de la Révolution, Paris, France
Crime Scene
Many of these prints were
created in the 1800s shortly
after Marie Antoinette’s
death. They were likely
made by artists who had
not directly witnessed the
crime.
Images D & E
Crime Scene
Image F, Place de la Révolution, Paris, France
Section #3: Witness Testimony
Link to Table of Contents
Witness #1
 Witness: Jacques-Louis David (1748-
1825)
Occupation: Artist
He was not simply one of the crowd
when he sketched Marie Antoinette on
her way to the guillotine on October 16,
1793. David, an eminent Jacobin and ally
of Robespierre, voted for her death. He
was the Revolution's chief artist,
costume designer, ritual planner. After
knocking off this sketch, David had
important business that day - a
ceremony to unveil his icon of
Revolutionary martyrdom, Marat
Assassinated.
(source: The Guardian)
Witness #2:

Witness #2: reporter for the newspaper, The Moniteur
During her interrogation, [Marie] Antoinette maintained almost invariably a calm and self-assured
demeanor. During the first few hours, she kept running her fingers along the arm of her chair in an
absent-minded way as if she were playing the pianoforte.
When she heard her sentence pronounced, no trace of emotion appeared on her face and she left
the court without uttering a word or addressing the judges or the public.
It was then half-past four in the morning on the 25th day of the first month when she was led back
to the condemned cell in the prison of the Conciergerie.
At five o'clock recall was sounded in every section and by seven, the armed forces were at their
posts. Cannons were placed at the ends of the bridges in the squares and at the crossroads from
the Palace all the way to the Place de la Revolution. By ten o'clock, numerous soldiers were
patrolling the streets.
At eleven o'clock, Marie Antoinette, the widow Capet, wearing a white morning dress, was led to
the scaffold in the same manner as other criminals. She was accompanied by a constitutional
priest dressed as a layman, and was escorted by numerous detachments of mounted and
dismounted police.
Source: Le Moniteur, no. 36 (27 October 1793), 145–46.
Section #4: Possible Murder Weapons
Link to Table of Contents
Suspected Murder Weapons…
The following weapons are suspected for killing our
victim. Which do you think was the weapon in this
particular crime?
 Sword
Many soldiers were at the scene of the crime and
some carried swords. A French sword was used to
execute Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.
 Axe
Common weapon used to behead people. Charles I
was executed with an ax in England.
 Guillotine (link to more information)
A new device used to behead many people identified
as enemies of the Revolution in 18th century France.
Section #5: Evidence
Link to Table of Contents
Evidence: Portraits of Victim
Portrait A
Princess of Austria
Age 13, 1767
Portrait B
Princess of Austria
1769
Portrait C
Evidence: Portraits of Victim
Portrait D
1787
Portrait E
1788
Portrait F
1791
Evidence: Portraits of Victim
Portrait G
1778
Portrait H
Queen of France, 1775
Evidence B: Biography
The queen enjoyed her beauty style, but her fashion fame came
at a price. The Queen spent lavishly on her dress and
adornments. Each year she exceeded her clothing allowance
which the King covered. The excessive fashions for high
headdresses, plumes and voluminous dresses were subject to
public comment, caricature and on occasion ridicule. The queen
also spent lavishly on her friends and on her entertainment
including her retreat at Petit Trianon. This small palace adjoining
Versailles was given to Marie by Louis XVI. There she arranged
extensive interior decorations and building of a theatre for her
theatricals and the Temple of Love in the park. Marie also had
built a rustic Viennese retreat called the hameau. Here, she
played at being at being a simple milkmaid. The hameau was
stocked with perfumed sheep and goats, but the actual milking
and chores were done by servants.
Source: www.marie-antoinette.org
Evidence B: The Victim’s
Excesses
The enormous width of the queen’s skirts
was rivaled only by the alarming height of
her hair. After 1760, women began raising
their hair with pads and pomade to a height
that towered over their male counterparts.
Marie Antoinette took this trend to the hilt,
often undergoing elaborate hairdressing
rituals that lifted her hair three feet. Even
more startling than the height of the hair
were the ornaments that decorated
it. These included, most controversially,
references to current events. The most
famous of these was the "Belle Poule," a
model of a French frigate [ship] or naval
vessel of that name.
Source: PBS
Evidence C
Many French people hated the Queen for her
Austrian blood and her expensive tastes. Marie
Antoinette was called Madame Deficit and
blame was placed on her for the country's
financial problems. As she matured, Marie
Antoinette became less frivolous. She tried to
change her image by wearing simple gowns and
posing for portraits with her children, but her
efforts had little effect on the brutal public. In
October, she was tried by a mock trial, as was
her husband. Marie Antoinette was convicted of
treason and sentenced to death.
http://library.thinkquest.org
Evidence: Artists from the
1700s
 This pictures date from 1792 and show Marie Antoinette as
a serpent and Louis XVI as a pig. These images help show
how the King and Queen were viewed by their subjects.
 These images were among several that depicted the Royal
family as animals. Such images helped to dehumanize the
king and queen and eventually exclude them from any
protection under the law.
Evidence: History of French
Revolution
In the late 1700s Parisians were starving—prices of bread were too high
for many to afford. They heard stories about the elaborate banquets at
Versailles. In October 1791, a great mob surrounded Versailles
demanding bread from the King. Many had knives and swore to use
them to “cut the pretty throat of the Austrian” who was the source of all
their problems. “How glad I’d be to put this blade into her belly up to my
elbow.” Others vowed to cut different “pieces of Antoinette”.
On reaching Versailles, they met with the assembly and had a brief
audience with the king. Again, the Queen had wished to flee at their
advance, but Louis would neither depart nor fire on the women. That
night the mob found an unguarded entrance and was directed straight
to the apartments of the sleeping queen. They threatened to kill the
queen and attacked. Two of the Queen’s guards gave their lives to save
her, as Madame Campan and her other maids hastily gathered some
clothes and underwear, and Marie Antoinette ran from her bed literally
“half naked” (by some accounts) to narrowly escape her attackers. They
later ripped the Queen’s bed to pieces.
Source: www.marie-antoinette.org
Evidence
The above painting shows Marie Antoinette and her children (a son and daughter)
being taken into captivity. The royal family was taken to Paris where they were held
under house arrest by the Revolutionary government. Eventually they were
separated from each other. This painting was made by an artist after the queen’s
death. That artist was not at the event but relied on stories of what happened.
Evidence: What is known
about the time…
Other nobles were imprisoned at the same time as the king and queen.
As the fortunes of French armies in the field waned the cry went up to
kill traitors in their midst. Hundreds of nobles were massacred in the
prisons in September 1792. The most famous victim was Madame
Lamballe, close friend of Marie Antoinette who had returned to Paris to
aid her in time of danger. Lamballe was summoned before a tribunal and
when she failed to swear an oath against the queen, she was hacked to
death by the mob, her head severed and mounted on a pike, and
paraded before the Queen’s window in the Temple. The Reign of Terror
had now begun.
The royal family was under close guard and now without of all their
riches and servants and forced to live simply in the confines of the
Temple fortress. But their peace was not to last. In December 1792, King
Louis XVI was summoned before the National Convention and tried for
treason. He was convicted and on a close vote sentenced to death. In
January 1793, Louis XVI was executed. In the two years that followed
thousands more would be tried before revolutionary tribunals and
similarly executed.
Source: www.marie-antoinette.org
Evidence: Secondary Source
on Victim’s Trial
In September 1793, Marie Antoinette was separated from her
daughter and sister in law. Now called “Widow Capet”, Marie was
transferred to months of solitary confinement in the dank
Conciergerie prison, where she was under twenty-four hour
guard by revolutionaries who from behind their screen watched
her every move. The Conciergerie prison was the waiting room to
death. In this dank prison, she lost much weight and her eyesight
began to fail.
On October 14, the poor pallid woman was awoken at night and
faced the Revolutionary Tribunal (court). The trial was a horror,
with the Queen attacked more as a person than as a queen. Her
own son was forced to testify that she abused him. The queen
bravely replied to all charges and to this she said, “If I make no
reply, it is because I cannot, I appeal to all mothers in this
audience.”
Despite her eloquence, the verdict was never in doubt. Like the
king, Marie was found guilty.
Source: www.marie-antoinette.org
Evidence: 19th Century Images
of the Trial
These images were made after
Marie Antoinette's death in the
mid to late 1800s. They depict her
trial at the hands of the
Revolutionary government of
Paris.
Evidence: Artists from 1800s
These images were made by artists after the French Revolution. They
were not present at her execution. These artists romanticized the story of
Marie Antoinette and in some cases saw her as a heroine.
Final Assignment
 You have reached the end of the case file.
 Once your log sheet is complete, write a one
paragraph summary of what you think
happened to our victim. Include why and
how she died and who you think was
responsible.
 Stay tuned to your World History class to
learn more about this and many many many
many other murders (aka executions) during
the French Revolution.