Barnave

Although Barnave began as a committed revolutionary, he played an interesting role in trying to save the crown. To quote from Vive la Reine:

Antoine Barnave was one of three men chosen to personally travel with the royal family as they were forced back to Paris after their capture at Varennes. Although Barnave had previously attacked the monarchy, he became sympathetic towards the royal family - and Marie Antoinette in particular - after witnessing their courage and misfortune during the return to Paris.

In July 1791, Marie Antoinette began a secret correspondence with him, believing that he could use his influence in the Assembly to work towards restrengthening the position of the king and restoring order to the government. He was a member of the Feuillant party, which split from the Jacobin party in July 1791, primarily due to desiring a constitutional monarchy.

However, his influence and that of the Feuillant party faded and he left Paris in early 1792, seeing that his continued efforts were hopeless.

Share

Christiada (2011)

Now THIS is a film I must see. Some Carmelite Monasteries in America were founded by nuns fleeing the brutal persecution of the Church in Mexico. Share

The Bridal Gown of Marie-Louise

Madame Delors describes what Napoleon's Habsburg Archduchess, Marie-Antoinette's  grand niece, wore at her wedding. To quote:

Like her grand-aunt Marie-Antoinette, Marie-Louise had to strip off her Austrian clothes upon crossing the French border, and was presented with a new, splendid trousseau (complete set of clothing, shoes and undergarments for all occasions.) Caroline Bonaparte, Queen of Naples and Napoléon’s sister, had been put in charge of greeting the bride at the border. Carried away by the zeal of the neophytes, or out of sheer nastiness, Caroline even demanded that Marie-Louise, already terrified at the idea of marrying the man she had been brought up to loathe and call The Ogre, send back her pet spaniel to Vienna.

So Marie-Louise wore the wedding clothes that had been chosen for her in France: a magnificent dress of silver tulle, embroidered with pearls and gold thread, and hemmed with gold fringe. A diamond tiara held a veil of Alençon lace over her blonde hair.

Marie-Louise wore white satin slippers, embroidered in silver thread. There was a minor, or not so minor from her standpoint, problem. Maybe due to a miscommunication between Vienna and Paris, the dainty shoes had been ordered too small and caused the new Empress a great deal of pain.

Share

The Art of Business Development

What entrepreneurs can learn from Ben Franklin.

For the 100 years leading up to American independence, the rivaling superpowers of the day were England and France. But, France had recently faced scarring defeats at the hands of the English in the Seven Years' War, so American leaders needed a great envoy to convince King Louis XVI to join forces with them. They chose Benjamin Franklin, who got on a ship bound for Pairs... to do some Business Development work.

Much has been written about Benjamin Franklin and his effort to convince the French to partner with fledgling United States. Interestingly, so many of the concepts apply to today's Internet world.  By observing the circumstances of the time, entrepreneurs can learn what are the best practices in Business Development which are still applicable today.

Share

Chocolate and the Queen

Leah writes of Marie-Antoinette's affinity for hot chocolate. Share

What Changed in 1800?

What caused the world to change so quickly? Gary North reflects, saying:

The world of 1800 would have been recognizable to Socrates, except for the printed book. In contrast, the world of 1889 would not have been recognizable to the young John Tyler.

By 1889, these post-1800 inventions had arrived: gas lighting, electric lighting (arc light), the steam powered ship, the tin can, the macadamized road, photography, the railroad, portland cement, the reaper, anesthesia, the typewriter, the sewing machine, the Colt revolver, the telegraph, the wrench, the safety pin, mass-produced newspapers, pasteurization, vulcanized rubber, barbed wire, petroleum-based industry, dynamite, the telephone, Carnegie's steel mills, the skyscraper, the internal combustion engine, the automobile, and commercial electricity.

So, as I move toward the day when I am a footnote rather than a participant, I propose a thesis. One unanswered question above all others constitutes the most important historical question in recorded history.

(Via Lew Rockwell) Share

The Montgolfier Brothers

Artist Daniel Mitsui has a post on the amazing men who invented the first hot air balloon. Share

Monastic Beehives

Here are some remarkable photos of the ancient Irish monastery on Skellig Michael, which I have blogged about before. Share

"Solid, Engrossing and Beautiful"

A. Amber of Vive la Reine has reviewed Trianon on her Marie-Antoinette book blog, saying:

Trianon by Elena Maria Vidal is the story of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, told through a series of vignette-like chapters. The vignettes, through flashbacks and active events, flesh out the lives of the royal couple and their family throughout the revolution. Trianon is unique not only because of its format, but because it tells the story through many different and often underused points of view - you have a chapter from the perspective of an often neglected figure in fiction, Louis XVI's aunt who has retired to a convent; you have a chapter told from the point of view of Marie Antoinette's young daughter as she watches her parents at mass, etc. It's also unique in that it starts near the end of the couple's lives. Though it does have flashbacks to their youth, at the start of the novel, it's already the end of their world--the days of ballrooms and late nights in Paris are over, replaced by a devotion to children and state....

Vidal's writing is solid, engrossing, and beautiful. Some of the best parts of the novel are seemingly simple scenes, such as Marie Antoinette wandering the Trianon in heart ache after the death of her first son. These scenes are written with such poignancy and emotion that you really feel as if you are an invisible spectator at a moment in their lives. (Read entire review.)

Share