Marie Antoinette (IPA: [maʁi ɑ̃twanɛt]; Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess The title of Archduke (German: Erzherzog, feminine form: Erzherzogin) denotes a rank above Grand Duke and under King. It was rare and has uses too diverse to be given a fixed relative position within the former Holy Roman Empire to which it was restricted. It has only ever been continuously borne by princes of the House of Habsburg and later of Austria Austria /ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/ (German: Österreich (help·info)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Empress Maria Theresa Maria Theresa was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, German Queen and Holy Roman Empress of Austria and Emperor Francis I Francis I was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.
At the age of fourteen, on the day of her marriage to Louis-Auguste Louis XVI of France ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792, he was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of treason, and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. He was the only king of France to be, Dauphin of France The Dauphin of France —strictly, The Dauphin of Viennois (Dauphin de Viennois)—was the title given to the heir apparent of the throne of France from 1350 to 1791, and from 1824 to 1830. The word is literally the French for Dolphin, as a reference to the animal they bore on their flag, she became Dauphine de France. At the death of King Louis XV Louis XV ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774. Coming to the throne at the age of five, Louis initially reigned with the aid of the Régent, Philippe, duc d'Orléans, his great-uncle. He took formal personal control of the government of France on his thirteenth birthday, 15 February 1723, in May 1774, her husband ascended the throne of France as King Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette assumed the title of Queen of France and of Navarre. After seven years of marriage she gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte Marie Thérèse Charlotte de France was the eldest child of King Louis XVI of France and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France, and as the eldest daughter of the king, she was given the traditional honorific Madame Royale at birth, the first of their four children.
Initially charmed by her personality and beauty, the French people generally came to dislike her, accusing "the Austrian" of being profligate, promiscuous, and harboring sympathies for France's enemies.
At the height of the French Revolution The French Revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political, Louis XVI was deposed and the royal family was imprisoned. Nine months after her husband's execution, she was tried, convicted of treason In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of betrayal of one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife . A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor, and executed by guillotine The guillotine was a device used for carrying out executions by decapitation. It consisted of a tall upright frame from which a blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, separating the head from the body. The device is noted for long being the main method of execution in France and, more particularly, for its on 16 October 1793.
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Early life
Marie Antoinette by Jean-Etienne Liotard, 1762 Marie Antoinette at the age of twelve, by Martin van Meytens.Born on 2 November 1755 at the Hofburg Palace Hofburg Imperial Palace is a palace in Vienna, Austria, which has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria. It was the Habsburg's principal winter residence, while Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area,[citation needed] more than 25% of Austria's population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and, Austria, Maria Antonia was the youngest daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor Francis I was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, and Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia and ruler of the Habsburg dominions. She was described as "a small, but completely healthy Archduchess."[1] She was known at the Austrian court as Madame Antoine.[2]
Maria Antonia and her older sister, Maria Carolina, were the two youngest girls and were raised together. They shared the same governess until 1767. They became extremely close. She thoroughly enjoyed music and learned to play the harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed, which she played for many people at the court. She also excelled at dancing – an accomplishment often remarked by those who saw her, whether friendly or hostile, having been carefully trained in it since her early youth.[3] She had an "exquisite" poise and a famously graceful deportment.[3] She also loved dolls from when she was young, as captured by a family portrait in which seven-year-old "sweet Antonia" excitedly holds up a doll dressed as fancily as she is.[3] Numerous dolls arrived at the Hofburg as soon as Marie Antoinette turned thirteen, wearing miniature versions of the ball gowns, afternoon dresses, and gold-trimmed gowns proposed for her.[3]
The laxity of court life[citation needed] was compounded by the private life which was developed by the Habsburgs The House of Habsburg, often Anglicised as Hapsburg and sometimes referred to as the House of Austria, was one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empires and several other countries, who resided mainly in the Schönbrunn Palace Schönbrunn Palace is a royal residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs. In their private life, the family dressed in bourgeois attire, played games with "normal" (non-royal) children, had their schooling, and were treated to gardens and menageries. Maria Antonia later attempted to recreate this atmosphere through her renovation of the Petit Trianon The Petit Trianon is a small château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France in France.
By many accounts, her childhood was somewhat complex. On the one hand, her parents had instituted several innovations in court life which made Austria one of the most progressive courts in Europe. While certain court functions remained formal by necessity, the Emperor and Empress nevertheless presided over many basic changes in court life. This included allowing relaxations in who could come to court (a change which allowed people of merit as well as birth to rise rapidly in the imperial favour), relatively lax dress etiquette, and the abolition of certain court protocols, including a ritual in which dozens of courtiers A courtier is a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together. Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them could be in the Empress' bedchamber, watching when she gave birth – the Empress disliked the ritual, and would eject courtiers from her rooms when she went into labour.[4]
While she had an idyllic "private" life, her initial role in the political arena – and in her mother's main aim of alliance through marriage – was relatively minuscule. As there were so many other children who could be married off, Maria Antonia was sometimes neglected by her mother; as a result, Maria Antonia later described her relationship with her mother as one of awe-inspired fear.[5] She also developed a mistrust of intelligent older women as a result of her mother's close relationship with Maria Antonia's older sister, the Archduchess Maria Christina Marie Christine Johanna Josepha Antonia von Habsburg-Lothringen , (→Family Tree) called "Mimi", was the fourth daughter and fifth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, who shared their mother's birthday and was her favorite child.[6] The lack of supervision also resulted in a sub-par education in many regards, and she could barely read or write properly in her native German by the time she was twelve. This was due in large measure, however, to the fact that French, not German, was the language most commonly spoken at the Austrian court. It was for that reason that the young archduchess was usually referred to as "Madame Antoine" and signed herself as "Antoine Archiduchesse" in French.[7]
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Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:04:12 GMT+00:00
TheChronicleHerald.ca Others mention a tie to Marie Antoinette and her love of the pastry from her homeland of Austria, and that was the reason it ended up in France. ...
