Tea at Trianon: The French Revolution and the Church

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, October 22, 2007

The French Revolution and the Church

My kind of article. Some of the main characters from my novels are mentioned here, including Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Talleyrand. The Church dies but rises again. To quote:

At one point Pope Pius VI warned King Louis XVI that he was leading France into heresy and error by approving the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. This warning from the Pope was the beginning of this truly believing and pious French King's total alienation from the Revolution; all along he had tended to fight harder against the revolutionary measures imposed on the Church than against those curbing his own royal power. In the end, of course, the King's opposition to the Revolution brought him death on the guillotine; King Louis XVI truly was a martyr for his Catholic faith.

Anonymous said...: Thanks for the article! I took a class on Church history as a sophomore in college so it was a good (long) refresher on the time period.
Messy and dirty politics--unsurprising. Yet French Catholics maintained the faith.; October 22, 2007 at 11:13:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Well, the royal family and the peasants in the Vendee certainly remained faithful. Not sure about everybody else though.; October 22, 2007 at 11:37:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: You have always described his death as that of a martyr.; October 22, 2007 at 5:54:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, because he was. Pope Pius VII thought so, too.; October 22, 2007 at 5:54:00 PM EDT