Tea at Trianon: The Duel

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

Saturday, August 6, 2016

The Duel

Geri Walton discusses the famous duel between the Comte d'Artois and the Duc de Bourbon, which I also discuss in my book Marie-Antoinette, Daughter of the Caesars.To quote:

Madame Carrillac had been mistress to the Duke of Bourbon, but she left the Duke for the Count of Artois. In addition, the Duke’s wife, the Duchess of Bourbon had feelings for the Count of Artois. One night at a masked ball the Count offered his arm to Madame Carrillac, and the Duchess of Bourbon, who was upset about Madame Carrillac, recognized the Count and Madame Carrillac. She then began following the pair spewing sarcastic remarks at Madame Carrillac.

When confronted, Madame Carrillac was annoyed and attempted to escape through the crowd. She was facilitated in her escape by the Count of Artois, and, it was at this point that Duchess of Bourbon tried to rip off the Count of Artois’s mask, snapping the mask’s strings. The Count of Artois, in defending himself, fought back, and, forgetting his position, he rudely crushed the Duchess’s mask on her face and then fled the ballroom.

The incident would have been forgotten if not for a grand supper that the Duchess gave two days later. At the supper she mentioned the masked ball and the insult she received from the Count of Artois. In addition, she accused the Count of being nothing more than a ruffian, which in turn whipped up all the women the Count of Artois had ever offended. They supported the Duchess and denounced the Count’s actions, and, despite his rank, the women encouraged the Duchess to receive satisfaction, which then fell to her husband to call out Count of Artois for his supposed offense. (Read more.)