Tea at Trianon: Bones of a Princess

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

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Bones of a Princess

Bones of a saint. From Ancient Origins:

Scientists have finally managed to solve a centuries-old mystery. They have been able to show with a high degree of probability that some bones located in a church wall belonged to a medieval saint and princess who played a very important role in the development of Christianity in England. The team of experts believe they have found the remains of St Eanswythe, who lived in the 7th century AD. In 1885 a number of human bones were found in in the wall of the Church of St Mary & St Eanswythe, on Church Street, Folkestone. Folkestone is a historic town in the County of Kent on the south coast of England. The bones were something of a mystery - no one was sure of their origin or who they belonged to. Recently a group of archaeologists used radiocarbon dating technology to study the remains. A team comprised of local archaeologists and experts from Kent along with scientists from Queen’s University Belfast collaborated on the project. (Read more.)