this is not the picture I intended to use today—stupid Windows decided to down load their Windows 10 and proceeded to mess up my day —I am not a happy camper and can not access directly off my camera card no matter what I do so I had to go to save pictures or throw my computer against the wall………………GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long. Marie Antoinette
No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my breast, who does not know the heart of a mother. Marie Antoinette
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After my rambling on Anne yesterday I was surprised to see A Man for All Seasons on TV this morning, the Story of Sir Thomas More: “an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a councilor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532….More opposed the King’s separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More Judging him to be a martyr, the Roman Catholic Church later made him a saint. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Henry_VIII_of_England
So here is a man who basically died because of Anne or at least the deluded king who seemed more in love with love and romance than those he said to hold in that affection….at least till something or someone else came into view. But before we get too carried away mourning More please remember that in the name of the Church and the King (then still a stanch—well as much as Henry could be true to anyone or thing but himself—Catholic) More supervised and had men carry out persecution, arrests, torture and assorted methods of execution in the name of religion and king–so dry those tears–Karma is a bitch.
I have seen all, I have heard all, I have forgotten all. Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette was a French Queen that died due to her country’s dissatisfaction with her and especially her royal husband. Born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793), an Archduchess of Austria, was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress Maria Theresa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette
We all know the story….but did you know that she was just a little over 14 years of age when she was married to the future king of France?
and not yet 18 when she became queen—her husband becoming king on the death of his grandfather was only 20.
Somehow I’m not surprised that they weren’t the world’s best rulers…
. “I think, first and foremost ,Marie Antoinette was intellectually impoverished. She really had never been introduced to the notion of abstract thinking – of thinking at all in any profound way.”
Author: Kathryn Lasky
The young couple originally popular, soon became the symbol of the excesses of the French Society with Marie the center of gossip and hatred. In fact it was reported that “After learning of the bread shortages that were occurring in Paris at the time of Louis XVI’s coronation in Rheims…Tradition persists that Marie Antoinette joked “Let them eat cake!” (Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.) This phrase, however, occurs in a passage of Jean-Jacques Rousseau‘s Confessions, written in 1766, when Marie Antoinette was 11 years old and four years before her marriage to Louis XVI. Cf. The Straight Dope, “On Language” by William Safire at The New York Times.
Marie herself was not happy with the living conditions as a Royal, and complained that she was required to put on her rouge and wash her hands in front of dozens of courtiers who apparently wandered the palaces at will.
and she was so bored from lack of any real activity that she had a model farm built on the grounds of the palace and she and her ladies in waiting could be found dressed in gaudy pseudo milkmaid and shepherdess costumes filling their time pretending.
Eventually the queen’s excessive behavior would be broadcast and even greater fallacies, even crediting her with base and slutty behavior was bandied about and she became the scapegoat for the terrible conditions in the country.
‘They are going to force us to go to Paris, the King and me, preceded by the heads of our bodyguards on pikes.’ Marie Antoinette
Of course Marie was not the only queen to die because of the distemper of their subjects: During the early morning of 16 July, (Russian Czar) Nicholas, (Czarina) Alexandra, their children, their physician, and several servants were taken into the basement and shot. There is still a question as to exactly gave the order. They too had lived in comfort while the peasants toiled in pain and poverty.
Unlike Alexandra she did receive a trial: On 21 September 1792, the monarchy was abolished (with her husband’s execution 9 months earlier). After a two-day trial (one day longer than Anne Boelyn) begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason, and she was executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette (seems like when you’ll killing a queen haste is a must)
The charges look like someone took a page from Henry VIII’s accusations with the former queen being charged with high treason, sexual promiscuity and incestuous relationship with her own son…..and of course the ALL MALE tribunal found her guilty…deja vu all over again?!!!
‘I am calm, as people are whose consciences are clear.’
Marie Antoinette
Like someone else we’ve discussed her body was placed in a common grave behind a church (instead of under the floor) only to be dug up again when the monarchy was restored in 1815 and placed in a proper grave with her husband inside Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis.
She was blamed for so much but appears to have actually had control for so little. For a woman that didn’t have sex with her husband for 7 or more years after her marriage I would greatly wonder if he paid much attention to her at all.
The real causes:
International: struggle for hegemony and Empire outstrips the fiscal resources of the state
Political conflict between the Monarchy and the nobility over the “reform” of the tax system led to paralysis and bankruptcy.
Reform efforts intensified political conflicts
Social antagonisms between two rising groups: the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie
Ineffective ruler: Louis XVI (yeah no mention of Marie as usual it’s always the powerless woman’s fault)
Economic hardship generated discontent and disorders caused by food shortages.
History 151 The French Revolution: Causes, Outcomes, Conflicting Interpretations Schwartz
Spoken to the executioner at the guillotine, after she stepped on his foot. Monsieur, I beg your pardon.
Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father.
