Tea at Trianon: Chevalier de Bayard: The Knight Without Fear and Beyond Reproach

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

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Chevalier de Bayard: The Knight Without Fear and Beyond Reproach

From The Medieval Scholar:

Pierre Terrail, known as Chevalier de Bayard, a man who’s resolve was unyielding. Praised by his contemporaries for his gaiety and kindness he was known as “The Good Knight.” Fearless and unwavering in battle, he’d be remembered as the knight without fear and beyond reproach. Bayard, a descendant of a noble French family with a strong military tradition, was born at Château Bayard in Dauphiné, near Pontcharra in southern France. His family had a history of sacrifice in battle, with three generations of his Terrail ancestors falling in combat from 1356 to 1465.
Bayard began his career as a page to Duke Charles I of Savoy, but in 1490, the Duke passed away. At just thirteen, Bayard impressed King Charles VIII of France with his exceptional horsemanship during a display for the Duke of Savoy, earning him the nickname “piquet” which means spur. In 1490, Bayard began serving as a man-at-arms in the household of Louis de Luxembourg, seigneur de Ligny, a close confidant of King Charles VIII of France. Even in his youth, Bayard was admired for his good looks, charm, and skill in jousting. On July 20, 1494, Bayard took part in a tournament in Lyons attended by King Charles and his court. Although not yet eighteen, he won the highest honors, impressing the king once more. (Read more.)