Louis XVI of France (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) ruled as
King of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and of
Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then as
King of the FrenchPopular monarchy is a system of monarchical governance in which the monarch's title is linked with the people rather than a unitary state. It was the norm in some places from the Middle Ages, and was occasionally used in 19th- and 20th-century Europe, often reflecting the results of a populist...
from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792, he was tried by the
National ConventionDirectory|Directory]], commencing 2 November 1795. Prominent members of the original Convention included Maximilien Robespierre of the Jacobin Club, Jean-Paul Marat , and Georges Danton of the Cordeliers...
, found guilty of
treasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife...
, and executed by
guillotineThe guillotine was a device used for carrying out executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which a blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head from their body...
on 21 January 1793. He was the only king of France to be executed.
Although Louis was beloved at first, his indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to eventually view him as a symbol of the perceived tyranny of the
Ancien RégimeAncien Régime refers primarily to the aristocratic, social, and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties...
. After the
abolition of the monarchyDuring the French Revolution, the proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy was a proclamation by the National Convention of France announcing that it had abolished the French monarchy on 21 September 1792.-Prelude:...
in 1792, the new republican government gave him the surname Capet, a reference to the nickname of Hugh Capet, founder of the
Capetian dynastyThe Capetian dynasty is the largest and oldest European royal house, consisting of the descendants of Hugh Capet of France in the male line. King Juan Carlos of Spain and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg are members of this family, both through the Bourbon branch of the dynasty.-Name origins and...
, which the revolutionaries wrongly interpreted as a family name. He was also informally nicknamed
Louis le Dernier (Louis the Last), a derisive use of the traditional nicknaming of French kings. Today, historians and French people in general have a more nuanced view of Louis XVI, who is seen as an honest man with good intentions, but who was probably unfit for the herculean task of reforming the monarchy, and who was used as a scapegoat by the revolutionaries.
Childhood
Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title of duc de Berry at birth, was born in the
Palace of VersaillesThe Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles, the Île-de-France region of France. In French, it is known as the Château de Versailles....
in France. Out of eight children, he was the third son of the Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand, and thus the grandson of
Louis XV of FranceLouis XV ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774...
and of his consort,
Maria LeszczyńskaMarie Leszczyńska was a queen consort of France. She was a daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland and Catherine Opalińska. She married King Louis XV of France and was the grandmother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. In France, she was referred to as Marie Leczinska...
. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony,
Prince-ElectorThe Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors....
of
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
and King of Poland.
Louis-Auguste had a difficult childhood because his parents neglected him in favor of his bright and handsome older brother,
Louis, duc de BourgogneLouis Joseph Xavier of France, Duke of Burgundy was a French Prince du Sang of the House of Bourbon.-Life:...
, who died at the age of ten in 1761. A strong and healthy boy, although very shy, he excelled in his studies and had a strong taste for Latin,
historyHistory is the study of the human past, with special attention to the written record. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns...
,
geographyGeography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, and
astronomyAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
, and became fluent in
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City...
and
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
. He enjoyed manual activities, such as working on locks, and also hunting with his grandfather, Louis XV, and rough-playing with his younger brothers,
Louis-Stanislas, comte de ProvenceLouis XVIII , Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, was King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815. Louis XVIII spent twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, due to the French Revolution, and was exiled again in 1815, upon the return of Napoleon Bonaparte...
, and
Charles-Philippe, comte d'ArtoisCharles X ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. His short rule of almost six years came to an end when he instituted his July Ordinances in July 1830, suspending most of the liberties granted in the Charter of 1814...
.
Upon the death of his father, who died of
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. His mother, who had never recovered from the loss of her husband, died on 13 March 1767, also from tuberculosis. The strict and conservative education he received from the
duc de La VauguyonPaul François de Quelen de La Vauguyon or Paul François de Quélen de Stuer de Caussade, duc de La Vauguyon was a French nobleman. He was governor of Cognac, after having been involved in the last campaigns of the Seven Years' War...
, "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 he was to inherit in 1774 at the death of his grandfather.
Family life
On 16 May 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis-Auguste married the fourteen-year-old Habsburg Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (better known by the French form of her name,
Marie Antoinette), the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor
Francis Ialign=right | Francis I was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions...
and his wife, the formidable Empress
Maria Theresa
. The marriage was initially amiable but distant — Louis-Auguste's shyness meant that he failed to consummate the union, much to his wife's distress, whilst his fear of being manipulated by her for Imperial purposes caused him to behave coldly towards her in public. Over time, the couple (who were second cousins once removed) became closer, and the marriage was consummated in July 1773.
Nonetheless, they failed to produce children for several years after that, placing strain upon the marriage, whilst the situation was worsened by the publication of obscene pamphlets (
libellesA libelle is a political pamphlet or book which slanders a public figure. Libelles held particular significance in France under the Ancien Régime, especially during the eighteenth century, when the pamphlets’ attacks on the monarchy became both more numerous and venomous...
) which mocked the infertility of the pair. One questioned, "Can the King do it? Can't the King do it?"
The reasons behind the couple's initial failure to have children were vigorously debated even at the time, and have continued to be so since. One suggestion is that Louis-Auguste suffered from a sexual dysfunction, perhaps
phimosisPhimosis , from the Greek phimos , is a condition where, in men, the male foreskin cannot be fully retracted from the head of the penis...
(a tightness of the foreskin that inhibits erection and ejaculation in sufferers), a suggestion first made in late 1772 by the royal doctors. Historians adhering to this view suggest that he was
circumcisedMale circumcision is the removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
(the common cure for phimosis) to relieve the condition seven years after the marriage.
Historical evidence, however, is against this. The Dauphine's doctor, Jean-Marie Lassonne, examining the Dauphin in 1773, found him 'well made', and judged that the problem was one of 'clumsiness and ignorance'. This incident was followed several months later by the above-mentioned consummation of July 1773. Nor were Louis's doctors in favor of it—the operation was delicate and traumatic, and capable of doing "as much harm as good" to an adult male. As late as 1777, the Prussian envoy, Baron Goltz, reported that the King had definitely declined to be operated upon.
Nor is there any record of the king being operated upon, or of him spending several weeks convalescing, as would be necessary; the fact that his hunting journals show no such break, despite the impossibility of sitting in a saddle for several weeks after such an operation, strongly suggests that he did not in fact have it.
The true cause of the couple's infertility is revealed in a letter written by Marie-Antoinette's brother,
Joseph IIJoseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, to another brother,
Leopold IILeopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1790 to 1792, King of Hungary, archduke of Austria, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
. Joseph in April 1777 visited Louis and Marie-Antoinette in France, and had a frank talk with both of them regarding sexual matters; from this, he discovered that the King slept with his wife for duty rather than pleasure. There was no problem with the King's sexual organs: Joseph wrote, "he has strong perfectly satisfactory erections", and "he sometimes has night-time emissions"; the problem was that when the King and Queen slept together, "he introduces the member, stays there without moving for about two minutes, withdraws without ejaculating but still erect, and bids goodnight...when he is inside and going at it...[ejaculation] never happens." In the Emperor's opinion, the pair were "two complete blunderers", who had nothing wrong with them aside from lack of sexual knowledge and desire (Lassonne had already opined in 1773 that the lack of consummation was down to "clumsiness and ignorance").
Joseph, it would appear, remedied the couple's ignorance during his 'talks' with the pair; by August, the marriage was finally consummated, and the pair had thanked him for his advice, to which they attributed the consummation.
Subsequently, the Royal couple had four children:
- Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte
Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France was the eldest child of King Louis XVI of France and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette...
(19 December 1778 – 19 October 1851)
- Louis-Joseph-Xavier-François (22 October 1781 – 4 June 1789)
- Louis-Charles
Louis XVII of France, also Louis VI of Navarre , from birth to 1789 known as Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy; then from 1789 to 1791 as Louis-Charles, Dauphin of Viennois; and from 1791 to 1793 as Louis-Charles, Prince Royal of France, was the son of King Louis XVI of France and Maria Antonia of...
(the future titular King Louis XVII of France) (27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795)
- Sophie-Hélène-Béatrix
Sophie Hélène Béatrice de France, Madame Sophie, was the youngest daughter of King Louis XVI of France and his Queen consort, Marie Antoinette. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France...
(9 July 1786 – 19 June 1787)
Absolute monarch of France, 1774-1789
When Louis XVI succeeded to the throne in 1774, he was 23. He had an enormous responsibility, as the government was deeply in debt, and resentment towards 'despotic' monarchy was on the rise. Louis also felt woefully unqualified for the job. He aimed to earn the love of his people by reinstating the
parlementThe political institutions of the Parlement in ancien régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and deliberation. In the thirteenth century, judicial functions were added...
s. While none doubted Louis' intellectual ability to rule France, it was quite clear that, although raised as the Dauphin since 1765, he was indecisive and not firm enough to rule. Louis therefore appointed an experienced advisor,
Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de MaurepasJean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas was a French statesman.He was born at Versailles, the son of Jérôme Phélypeaux, secretary of state for the marine and the royal household...
who, until his death in 1781, would take charge on many important ministerial decisions.
Radical financial reforms by Turgot and
MalesherbesGuillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, often referred to as Malesherbes or Lamoignon-Malesherbes was a French statesman, minister, and afterwards counsel for the defence of Louis XVI....
angered the nobles and were blocked by the
parlements 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 by
Jacques NeckerJacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:Necker was born in Geneva, Switzerland...
. Necker supported the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
, and proceeded with a policy of taking out large international loans instead of raising taxes. When this policy failed miserably, Louis dismissed him, and replaced him in 1783 with
Charles Alexandre de CalonneCharles Alexandre, vicomte de Calonne was a French statesman, best known for his involvement in the French Revolution.-Rise to prominence:...
, who increased public spending to 'buy' the country's way out of debt. Again this failed, so Louis convoked the
Assembly of NotablesThe Assembly of Notables was of a group of notables invited by the King of France to discuss reform of the government.-History:Assemblies of Notables had met in 1583, 1596-97, 1617, 1626, 1787, and 1788. These assemblies included royal princes, peers, archbishops, important judges, and, in some...
in 1787 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform proposed by Calonne. When the nobles were told the extent of the debt, they were shocked into rejecting the plan. This negative turn of events signaled to Louis that he had lost the ability to rule as an absolute monarch, and he fell into depression.
As power drifted from him, there were increasingly loud calls for him to convoke the
Estates-GeneralIn France under the Ancient Regime, the States-General or Estates-General , was a legislative assembly of the different classes of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king...
, and in May 1789 he did so, summoning it for the first time since 1614 in a last-ditch attempt to get new monetary reforms approved. This convocation was one of the events that transformed the general economic and political
malaise of the country into the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, which began in June 1789, when the Third Estate unilaterally declared itself the
National AssemblyDuring the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9 of 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...
. Louis's attempts to control it resulted in the
Tennis Court OathThe Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 out of the 577 members from the Third Estate and a few members of the First Estate during a meeting of the Estates-General of 20 June 1789 in a tennis court building near the Palace of...
(
serment du jeu de paume, 20 June), and the declaration of the
National Constituent AssemblyThe National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
on 9 July. Within three short months, the majority of the king's executive authority had been transferred to the elected representatives of the people's nation. The
storming of the BastilleThe Storming of the Bastille in Paris occurred on 14 July, 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris. While the prison only contained seven prisoners at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint of the French...
on 14 July served to reinforce and emphasize this radical change in the mind of the masses.
Foreign policy
Louis XVI inherited the disastrous loss of its territories in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
following the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War lasted between 1754 and 1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Prussia and Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony...
and the
Treaty of Paris (1763)The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10, 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the Seven Years' War. The treaty marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance...
. Still, France maintained a strong influence in America, and in India maintained five trading posts, leaving opportunities for disputes and power-play with
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
.
Louis XVI was successful in supporting the American War of Independence in 1776, managing to expel the British and obtain recognition of American independence through the intervention of
RochambeauJean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau was a French aristocrat, soldier, and a Marshal of France who participated in the American Revolutionary War...
,
La FayetteMarie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette was a French aristocrat and military officer born in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
,
de GrasseFrançois-Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse François-Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse François-Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse (13 September 1722, Bar-sur-Loup (Alpes-Maritimes) – 11 January 1788, Tilly (Yvelines) was a French admiral.-...
, or
SuffrenAdmiral comte Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez, bailli de Suffren - French admiral; was the third son of the marquis de Saint Tropez, head of a family of nobles of Provence which claimed to have emigrated from Lucca in the 14th century...
. The British surrendered to American and French forces at the
Battle of YorktownThe Battle of Yorktown can refer to:*Siege of Yorktown , last major battle during the the American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence...
in 1781.
Louis XVI wished to expel the British from India as well. In 1782, Louis XVI sealed an alliance with the
PeshwaThe Peshwa were Brahmin Prime Ministers to the Maratha Chattrapatis , who began commanding Maratha armies and later became the hereditary rulers of the Maratha empire of central India from 1749 to 1818. Prior to 1700 one Peshwa received the status of king for eight or nine years...
Madhu Rao NarayanMadhavrao II , also Madhu Rao Narayan, was peshwa of the Maratha kingdom in India, from a young age. He was known as Sawai Madhavrao. He was the posthumous son of Narayanrao Peshwa, murdered in 1773 on the orders of Raghunathrao...
. As a consequence
BussyCharles Joseph Patissier, Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau was the French Governor General between , born in 1718, died in 1785 for Pondichéry. He was used with distinction under Joseph François Dupleix in the Indies; contributed to make raise to British the seat of Pondichéry in 1748, and was named in...
moved his troops to
Ile de FranceIle de France may refer to:*Île-de-France * SS Ile de France, an ocean liner* Île-de-France , a breed of sheep* A historical name for Mauritius, an island nation in the southwest Indian Ocean...
(
MauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands...
) and later contributed to the French effort in India in 1783.
SuffrenAdmiral comte Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez, bailli de Suffren - French admiral; was the third son of the marquis de Saint Tropez, head of a family of nobles of Provence which claimed to have emigrated from Lucca in the 14th century...
became the ally of
Hyder AliHyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. He is said to have induced his brother to employ a Parsi to purchase artillery and small arms from the government of Bombay Presidency, and to enrol some thirty sailors of different European nations as gunners, and is...
in the
Second Anglo-Mysore WarThe Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in India between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Mysore. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the Franco-British conflict raging on account of the American Revolutionary War helped spark Anglo-Mysorean hostilities in...
against British rule in India, in 1782-1783, fighting the British fleet on the coasts of India and Ceylon..
France also intervened in
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
following Mgr
Pigneau de BehainePierre Joseph Georges Pigneau , commonly known as Pigneau de Béhaine, also Pierre Pigneaux and Bá Đa Lộc, was a French Catholic priest best known for his role in assisting Nguyen Anh to establish the Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam after the Tay Son rebellion.-Early life:Pigneau...
's intervention to obtain military aid. A France-Vietnam alliance was signed through the
1787 Treaty of VersaillesThe Versailles Treaty of 1787 was a treaty of alliance signed between the French king Louis XVI and the Vietnamese Prince Nguyễn Ánh, the future Emperor Gia Long....
, between Louis XVI and Prince Nguyen Anh. As the French regime was under considerable strain at the eve of the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, France was unable to follow through with the application of the Treaty, but Mgr Pigneau de Behaine persisted in his efforts and with the support of French individuals and traders mounted a force of French soldiers and officers that would contribute to the modernization of the armies of Nguyen Anh, contributing to his victory and his reconquest of the totality of Vietnam by 1802.
Louis XVI also encouraged major voyages of exploration. In 1785, he appointed
La PérouseLa Perouse may refer to*Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, a French naval officer and explorer,and the following places which were named after him:*La Perouse, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney...
to lead an expedition around the world.
Revolutionary constitutional reign, 1789–1792
On 5 October 1789, an angry mob of poor Parisian women were incited by revolutionaries and
marchedThe March on Versailles, also known as The Bread March of Women, and The Women's March on Versailles, was an event in the French Revolution. Although the National Assembly had taken the Tennis Court Oath and the Bastille had fallen at the hands of the crowd, the poor women of Paris still found that...
on the
Palace of VersaillesThe Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles, the Île-de-France region of France. In French, it is known as the Château de Versailles....
, where the royal family lived. During the night, they infiltrated the palace and attempted to kill the queen, who was associated with a frivolous lifestyle that symbolized much that was despised about the Ancient Regime. After the situation had been defused, the king and his family were brought back by the crowd to Paris to live in the
Tuileries PalaceThe Palais des Tuileries was a royal palace in Paris. It stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
. The reasoning behind this forced departure from Versailles was the opinion the king would be more accountable to the people if he lived among them in Paris where he and his family could be better monitored.
Initially, after the removal of the royal family to Paris, Louis maintained a certain level of popularity by acquiescing to many of the social, political, and economic reforms of the revolutionaries. Unbeknownst to the public, however, recent scholarship has concluded that Louis began to suffer at the time from severe bouts of clinical depression, which left him prone to paralyzing indecisiveness. During these indecisive moments, his wife, the unpopular queen, was essentially forced into assuming the role of decision-maker for the Crown.
The revolution's principles of popular sovereignty, though central to democratic principles of later eras, marked a decisive break from the absolute monarchical principle that was at the heart of traditional French government. As a result, the revolution was opposed by many of the rural people of France and by practically all the governments of France's neighbors. As the revolution became more radical and the masses became more uncontrollable, several leading figures in the initial formation of the revolution began to doubt its benefits. Some like Honoré Mirabeau secretly plotted with the Crown to restore its power in a new constitutional form.
However, Mirabeau's sudden death, and Louis's indecision, fatally weakened negotiations between the Crown and moderate politicians. On one hand, Louis was nowhere near as reactionary as his brothers, the
Comte de ProvenceLouis XVIII , Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, was King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815. Louis XVIII spent twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, due to the French Revolution, and was exiled again in 1815, upon the return of Napoleon Bonaparte...
and the
Comte d'ArtoisCharles X ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. His short rule of almost six years came to an end when he instituted his July Ordinances in July 1830, suspending most of the liberties granted in the Charter of 1814...
, 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, the
Cardinal Loménie de BrienneÉtienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne was a French churchman, politician and finance minister of Louis XVI.-Life:...
. 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, where his wife was being humiliatingly forced to have revolutionary soldiers in her private bedroom watching her as she slept, 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 ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
.
On 21 June 1791, Louis attempted to
secretly fleeThe Flight to Varennes was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family were unsuccessful in their attempt to escape, disguised as the servants of a Russian baroness, from the radical agitation of the Jacobins in Paris...
with his family from Paris to the royalist fortress town of
MontmédyMontmédy is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-Citadel of Montmédy:In 1221 the first castle of Montmédy was built on top of a hill by the Count of Chiny. Montmédy became soon the capital of his territory - later it belonged to Luxembourg, Burgundy, Austria and...
on the northeastern border of France in order to conduct a struggle to overthrow the Legislative Assembly. However, flaws in its plan and lack of rapidity were responsible for the failure of the escape. The royal family was arrested at
Varennes-en-ArgonneVarennes-en-Argonne or simply Varennes is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.Population : 691.-Geography:Varennes-en-Argonne lies on the river Aire to the northeast of Sainte-Menehould, near Verdun.-History:...
shortly after
Jean-Baptiste DrouetJean-Baptiste Drouet , was a French politician of the 1789 Revolution, chiefly noted for the part he played in the arrest of King Louis XVI during the Flight to Varennes.-Early life, Varennes, and in the Convention:...
, postmaster of the town of
Sainte-MenehouldSainte-Menehould is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.It was important in the Champagne Riots.The town and its several restaurants pride themselves on serving a local specialty called pied de cochon or pig's trotters....
, had recognised the king from his profile on a golden écu, and had given the alert. Louis XVI and his family were brought back to Paris where they arrived on 25 June. Viewed suspiciously as traitors, they were placed under tight
house arrestIn justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
upon their return to the Tuileries.
The other
monarchiesThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
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, the Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold IILeopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1790 to 1792, King of Hungary, archduke of Austria, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
. 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 and King
Frederick William II of PrussiaFrederick William II was the fourth King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death...
, in consultation with émigrés French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pilnitz, 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 in
AlsaceAlsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km²...
, and the concern of members of the
National Constituent AssemblyThe National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
about the agitation of émigrés nobles abroad, especially in the Austrian Netherlands and the minor states of
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
.
In the end, the
Legislative AssemblyDuring the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from October 1 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.-Background:The...
, supported by Louis, declared war on the Holy Roman Empire first, voting for war on 20 April 1792, after a long list of grievances was presented to it by the foreign minister,
Charles François DumouriezCharles François Dumouriez was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revolutionary Army and became a royalist intriguer during the reign of Napoleon.-Early life:Dumouriez was born in...
. 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 the forces raised were insufficient for the invasion. The soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, deserting
en masse and in one case, murdering their general.
While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganised its armies, a mostly Prussian allied army under
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of BrunswickCharles II William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel was a sovereign prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and a professional soldier who served as a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia...
assembled at Coblenz on the Rhine. In July, the invasion commenced, with Brunswick's army easily taking the fortresses of
LongwyLongwy is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.The inhabitants are known as Longoviciens.-Economy:...
and Verdun. The duke then issued on 25 July a proclamation called the Brunswick Manifesto, written by Louis's émigré cousin, the
Prince de CondéLouis Joseph of Bourbon-Condé was Prince of Condé from 1740 to his death.-Life:He was the only son of Louis Henry I and Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg . He was usually an irresponsible ruler. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang...
, 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 the position of the king against the revolutionaries, the Brunswick Manifesto had the opposite effect of greatly undermining Louis's already highly tenuous position in Paris. It was taken by many to be the final proof of a collusion between Louis and foreign powers in a conspiracy against his own country. The anger of the populace boiled over on 10 August when a group of Parisians — with the backing of a new municipal government of
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
that came to be known as the "insurrectionary"
Paris CommuneThe Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795, and especially from 1792 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take...
—
besieged the Tuileries PalaceOn 10 August 1792, during the French Revolution, a mob—with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune—besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly. This proved to...
. The king and the royal family took shelter with the
Legislative AssemblyDuring the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from October 1 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.-Background:The...
.
Arrest and execution, 1792-1793
His cousin, the Duke of Orleans was the one responsible for spreading rumors about Louis' wife which caused people to get very angry. Louis was officially arrested on 13 August and sent to the
TempleThe Temple was a medieval fortress in Paris, located in what is now the IIIe arrondissement. It was built by the Knights Templar from the 12th century, as their European headquarters. In the 13th century it replaced earlier works of the Vieille Temple in Le Marais...
, an ancient Paris fortress used as a prison. On 21 September, the
National AssemblyThe National Assembly is either a legislature, or the lower house of a bicameral legislature in some countries. The best known National Assembly, and the first legislature to be known by this title, was that established during the French Revolution in 1789, known as the Assemblée nationale...
declared France to be a republic and
abolished the monarchyDuring the French Revolution, the proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy was a proclamation by the National Convention of France announcing that it had abolished the French monarchy on 21 September 1792.-Prelude:...
.
The Girondins were partial to keeping the deposed king under arrest, both as a hostage and a guarantee for the future. The more radical members – mainly the Commune and Parisian deputies who would soon be known as
the MountainThe Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
– 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 due process of some sort, and it was voted that the deposed monarch should be tried before the National Convention, the organ that housed the representatives of the sovereign people.
On 11 December, among crowded and silent streets, the deposed king was brought from the Temple to stand before the Convention and hear his
indictmentIn the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal accusation that a person has committed a criminal offence. In those jurisdictions which retain the concept of a felony, the serious criminal offence would be a felony; those jurisdictions which have abolished the concept of a felony often...
, an accusation of High Treason and Crimes against the State. On 26 December, his counsel, Raymond de Sèze, delivered Louis's response to the charges, with the assistance of François Tronchet and
MalesherbesGuillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, often referred to as Malesherbes or Lamoignon-Malesherbes was a French statesman, minister, and afterwards counsel for the defence of Louis XVI....
.
On 15 January 1793, the Convention, composed of 721 deputies, voted out the verdict, which was a foregone conclusion – 693 voted guilty, and none voted for acquittal. The next day, a voting roll-call was carried out in order to decide upon the fate of the king, and the result was, for such a dramatic decision, uncomfortably close. 288 deputies voted against death and for some other alternative, mainly some means of imprisonment or exile. 72 deputies voted for the death penalty, but subject to a number of delaying conditions and reservations. 361 deputies voted for Louis's immediate death.
The next day, a motion to grant Louis reprieve from the death sentence was voted down; 310 deputies requested mercy, 380 voted for the execution of the death penalty. This decision would be final. On Monday, 21 January 1793, stripped of all titles and honorifics by the republican government,
Citoyen Louis Capet was guillotined in front of a cheering crowd in what today is the
Place de la ConcordeThe Place de la Concorde is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. In fact, in terms of area, its 86,400 square metres make it the largest square in the French capital...
. The executioner,
Charles Henri SansonCharles Henri Sanson , public executioner of Paris from 1788 to 1795. Sanson was the great grandson of Charles Sanson de Longval who had received the office of executeur des hautes oeuvres de Paris in 1688. The post became hereditary to the family.-The lineage:The eldest Sanson ceased his...
, testified that the former King had bravely met his fate.
As Louis mounted the scaffold he appeared dignified and resigned. He attempted a speech in which he reasserted his innocence and pardoned those responsible for his death. He declared himself willing to die and prayed that the people of France would be spared a similar fate. He seemed about to say more when Antoine-Joseph Santerre, a general in the
National Guard (France)The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
, cut Louis off by ordering a drum roll. The former king was then quickly beheaded.
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 as the blade severed Louis’s spine. It is agreed however that, as Louis's blood dripped to the ground, many in the crowd ran forward to dip their handkerchiefs in it.
Legacy
- Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 , with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville...
is named for Louis XVI. In 1780, the Virginia General AssemblyThe Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members, and an upper house, the Senate of Virginia, with 40 members...
bestowed this name in honor of the French king, whose soldiers were aiding the American side in the Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , also sometimes known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers...
. The Virginia General Assembly saw the King as a noble man, but many other continental delegates disagreed.
In films and literature
Louis XVI has been portrayed in numerous films depicting the French Revolution. In
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Robert Morley, Anita Louise, Joseph Schildkraut and Gladys George...
(1938), he was played by
Robert MorleyRobert Morley CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
. In
Sacha GuitrySacha Guitry was a French film actor, director, screenwriter and playwright. He wrote the libretto to the 1925 pastiche Mozart which contains a story about the fictional adventures of Mozart on a visit to Paris....
's
Si Versailles m'était conté, he was portrayed by one of the film's producers, Gilbert Bokanowski (using the alias Gilbert Boka), who arguably resembled him. Several portrayals have upheld the image of a bumbling, almost foolish King, such as that by
Jacques MorelJacques Morel was a French film and television actor. He was, perhaps, best known as the French language voice of the cartoon character, Obelix, in the animated adpatation of the comic book, Asterix....
in the 1956 French film
Marie-Antoinette reine de France and that by Terence Budd in the
Lady OscarLady Oscar is a 1979 film, based on the manga/anime The Rose of Versailles, created by Riyoko Ikeda. The film was written and directed Jacques Demy, with music composed by Michel Legrand...
live action film. In
Start the Revolution Without MeStart the Revolution Without Me is a 1970 film directed by Bud Yorkin, starring Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Jack MacGowran, Billie Whitelaw, Orson Welles and Victor Spinetti. The comedy is set in revolutionary France where two peasants are mistaken for the famous swordsmen, the...
, Louis XVI is portrayed by
Hugh GriffithHugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh film, stage and television actor.-Life and career:Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, Wales and educated at local schools. He attempted to gain entrance to university, but failed the English examination. He was then urged to make a career in banking...
as a laughable
cuckoldStrictly speaking, a cuckold is a married man with an adulterous wife, but current usage sometimes extends the term informally to include cuckqueans , wittols , and non-married couples in analogous situations.-History of the term:Cuckold is derived from the Old French for the...
.
In the two-part film
La Révolution françaiseLa Révolution française is a two-part film, co-produced by France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada. The first part, titled La Révolution française : les Années lumière was directed by Robert Enrico. The second part, La Révolution française : les Années terribles, was directed by...
,
Jean-François BalmerJean-François Balmer is a Swiss actor. He has worked extensively in french cinema, television and stage productions since the early 1970s....
gave a critically-acclaimed performance as Louis XVI, whom he portrayed as an insecure, shy, yet decent and intelligent man. In
RidiculeRidicule is a 1996 French film set in the 18th century at the decadent court of Versailles, where social status can rise and fall based on one's ability to mete out witty insults and avoid ridicule oneself...
, the king was played by Urbain Cancelier. In
Jefferson in ParisJefferson in Paris is a 1995 American-French historical drama film directed by James Ivory. The screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is a semi-fictional account of Thomas Jefferson's tenure as the Ambassador of the United States to France prior to his Presidency, and his alleged relationships with...
, Louis XVI was played by
Michael LonsdaleMichael Lonsdale, sometimes billed as Michel Lonsdale is a French actor who has appeared in over 180 films and television shows....
who, at 64 years old, greatly exceeded the King's actual age. In
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is loosely based on the life of the titular French queen in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...
(2006), he was played by
Jason SchwartzmanJason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his starring roles in the films Rushmore, Spun, I ♥ Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, and Funny People. He is currently in the band Coconut Records; formerly, he was a member of...
, in a movie known not to be historically accurate because the historical Louis was quite tall and is known to have gained a great deal of weight towards the end of his life. In the 1997 movie
TitanicTitanic is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson and Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, two members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the...
, a necklace called the
Heart of the OceanThe Heart of the Ocean is the name of a fictional blue diamond featured prominently in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. It is based on the famous Hope Diamond...
held a precious, heart-shaped blue diamond, supposedly fashioned from Louis XVI's crown, which disappeared after his execution. The history of the necklace was inspired by that of the
Hope DiamondThe Hope Diamond is a large, , deep-blue diamond, housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. The Hope Diamond is blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron within its crystal structure, but it exhibits red phosphorescence under ultraviolet light...
.
In the American supernatural television drama
MoonlightMoonlight is an American paranormal romance television drama created by Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson, who also served as executive producers for all episodes alongside Joel Silver, Gerard Bocaccio, Gabrielle Stanton and Harry Werksman. The series follows private investigator Mick St...
, Louis XVI is mentioned as the progenitor of a vampiric bloodline which discovered a temporary cure for vampirism.
Ancestors
.
External links
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