Tea at Trianon: Anne of Austria

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

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Anne of Austria

Catherine Delors has a fascinating post about Anne of Austria, Queen of France and mother of Louis XIV. Like Marie-Antoinette, Queen Anne was married at age fourteen. However, while Marie-Antoinette had her first child when she was twenty-two years old, Anne was thirty-seven when, after twenty-three years of marriage and many, many prayers, she gave birth to the future Sun King. Share

5 comments:

Catherine Delors said...: Many thanks for the link, Elena! Glad you liked my modest homage to Anne.; October 29, 2008 at 10:09:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: You have such a beautiful and very interesting blog, Catherine.; October 29, 2008 at 10:38:00 AM EDT
Alexandra said...: A beautiful queen, and she looks quite striking with the deep blue accents in her dress. I wonder who painted this? I love the realistic quality. You really get a sense of her personality. Thanks for the link - so interesting.; October 29, 2008 at 11:36:00 PM EDT
Alexandra said...: Oh, it's a Rubens!; October 29, 2008 at 11:42:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: She was a very devout lady, one of the Spanish Habsburgs, and had a lot to contend with throughout her life.; October 30, 2008 at 8:35:00 AM EDT