Tea at Trianon: Blood in the Gourd

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, April 28, 2014

Blood in the Gourd

It is not Louis' blood after all. I wonder what went wrong with the first round of tests. From the BBC:

Early forensic tests suggested it was possible that this was the blood of the French king. But this latest research casts doubt on its royal provenance. To investigate, the scientists examined stretches of the sample's genome that relate to physical appearance. Portraits of Louis XVI depict him with blue eyes, but this sample belongs to a person who was far more likely to have had brown eyes.

"The probability of this guy having blue eyes is very low - it is about 3%," said Prof Lalueza-Fox.

Historical records, including correspondence from Louis XVI's wife, Marie-Antoinette, also state that the king was very tall. While the average height was about 167cm (5ft 5in) at this time, the King was thought to be at least 185cm (6ft 1in) in height. Prof Lalueza-Fox said: "Not all the genetic basis of height is known. However, we do know the genetic markers in extreme cases for very tall people or very small people.

"But this sample doesn't have an excess of markers that could be related to a very tall person. It really looks like we don't have the king here."

The scientists also looked at genetic ancestry, which shows which parts of Europe a person's ancestors came from. The DNA from the sample suggests the individual had roots that traced mainly back to France and Italy, while many of Louis XVI's ancestors came from Germany and Poland. The team concludes that it's extremely unlikely that this is Louis XVI's blood. (Read more.)