Tea at Trianon: The Murder of Louis of Orleans

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, August 5, 2020

The Murder of Louis of Orleans

Orleans' son Dunois was a staunch comrade-in-arms of the Maid. From Royal Central:

Prince Louis de Valois, Duke of Orleans was born 13 March 1372 as the second-born son of the French monarch, King Charles V. Louis de Valois had a close relationship with his older brother, who had become the King of France by the age of twelve. Louis was intelligent and relatively well educated and thrived in the shadow of his brother.

In 1374, Louis was betrothed to Catherine, heir presumptive to the throne of Hungary. Louis and Catherine were expected to reign either over Hungary or over Poland, as Catherine’s father, Louis I of Hungary, had no sons. Catherine’s father also planned to leave them his claim to the Crown of Naples and the County of Provence. After several unforeseen events, the marriage did not materialise, and Louis had to look further away for his Hungarian and Polish royal crown. Instead, he married Valentina Visconti of Milan. (Read more.)

thickerthantalk said...: The most pressing of the "unforseen events" was the death of Catherine of the seven year old Catherine.; August 5, 2020 at 4:57:00 PM EDT
thickerthantalk said...: The most pressing if the "unforseen events" was the death if the seven year old Catherine but that opened the succession to one of Poland's greatest rulers, her sister St Jadwiga and brought about the conversion of Lithuania with her marriage.; August 5, 2020 at 5:09:00 PM EDT
thickerthantalk said...: It seems amiss to leave out the Ball de Aredents, a ball thrown by the queen ostensibly to celebrate the wedding of her widowed lady in waiting but really to cheer up the young king in recovery from his first bout of insanity in which he had murdered four of his own retinue. The Bal went disasterously wrong when a drunk Louis introduced a flaming torch during a costumed dance by six men accoutered in ferociously inflammable costumes of flax and resin. One of these dancers was his brother who was saved from the conflagration by the fifteen year old Duchess du Berry who threw her skirts around him. Four men suffered appalling deaths. U; August 5, 2020 at 5:28:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: How fascinating! Thanks!; August 5, 2020 at 5:58:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, a blog post is not a complete biography. Can you recommend one?; August 5, 2020 at 6:57:00 PM EDT