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The Rose of Versailles |  |
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The Rose of Versailles | |
While the character of Oscar is fictional, Ikeda used many real historical characters and events to help frame her story. Here are brief descriptions of the actual people and happenings which appear in her work, as well as a Timeline of the major events.
Marie Antoinette: (b. Nov 2, 1755, Vienna - d. Oct. 16, 1793, Paris). Queen consort of Louis XVI of France (1774-93). Frivolous, imprudent, and an enemy of reform, she contributed to the popular unrest that led to the Revolution and to the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792. The 11th daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I and Marie Theresa, Marie was married to the dauphin Louis, grandson of France's King Louis XV in 1770. The timid, uninspiring Louis was an inattentive husband and by the time he ascended the throne in 1774, Marie Antoinette had withdrawn into the companionship of a small circle of frivolous court favorites. Her extravagant expenditures and associations with the more dissipated court aristocracy prompted her enemies to circulate many rumors about her alleged extramarital affairs. This culminated in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which discredited the monarchy and encouraged the nobles to oppose all the financial reforms proposed by the King's ministers. When the Revolutionary crisis began, Marie proved to be stronger and more decisive than her husband. Unfortunately, she encouraged him to resist attempts to restrict the royal preogative, and became the main target of the popular agitators, who attributed to her the callous remark on being told the people had no bread, "Let them eat cake!". Attempts by her to secretly negotiate with members of the National Assembly to restore the crown failed, as did an attempt to flee Paris. Finally, Marie's communications with her brother, the Holy Roman emperor Leopold II, to conduct a counterrevolutionary crusade against France, enraged the French after war was declared on Austria in April 1792. Popular hatred of the Queen helped propel the insurrection that overthrew the monarchy on Aug. 10, 1792. Marie Antoinette spent the rest of her life in Parisian prisons, before she was brought before the Revolutionary tribunal on Oct 14, 1793, and guillotined two days later.
Hans Axel von Fersen: (b. Sept. 4 1755, Stockholm - d. June 20, 1810, Stockholm). Swedish-French soldier, diplomat, and statesman who was active in counter-revolutionary activity after the French Revolution of 1789 and the rise of Napoleon. He fought in the American War of Independence (1775-83), distinguishing himself during the Siege of Yorktown (1781). He became a close friend of Queen Marie Antoinette during the early 1780s before returning to Sweden to join the diplomatic service. He later returned to Paris as a diplomatic agent, and when the Revolution broke out, arranged a failed escape attempt for the King and Queen, himself driving the coach in which they left Paris. Later, Fersen worked in Vienna and Brussels for a European coalition against the Revolution. After Sweden's King Gustav IV was overthrown in an 1809 revolution, he supported the candidacy of the king's son against that of the popular Christian August. When August died suddenly in 1810, a rumor that Fersen had conspired in his murder caused his death at the hands of a mob.
Louis XV: (b. Feb. 15, 1710, Versailles - d. May 10, 1774, Versailles) King of France for 1715-1774, whose ineffectual rule contributed to the decline of royal authority that led to the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789. Because of the death of his parents and only surviving brother in 1712, he became King at the age of five on the death of Louis XIV (Sept. 1, 1715). Until he attained his legal majority in Feb. 1723, France was governed by a regent, Philippe II, duc d'Orleans. In 1744, he proclaimed that he would rule without a chief minister, but was too indolent and lacking in self-confidence to coordinate the activities of his secretaries of state and give firm direction on national policy. While his government degenerated into factions of scheming ministers and courtiers, Louis isolated himself at court with a succession of mistresses, several of whom exercised considerable political influence. Louis was not completely passive; in 1748 he set up a system of secret diplomacy to advance France's interests, but neglected to inform his official ministers about it, throwing foreign policy into confusion. Later, he concluded an alliance with Austria in 1756, and the two went to war with Great Britain and Prussia (Seven Years' War 1756-63). Louis' committments to the Austrians prevented him from concentrating on the colonial struggle with Britain and as a result, by 1763, France had lost to Britain almost all her colonial possessions in North America and India. Later, the failure of his secret diplomacy resulted in the near elimination of French influence in central Europe. In the later years of his reign, reforms was carried out that did greatly improve the judicial system, but apart from this, Louis XV's long reign was a decline in the crown's moral and political authority, and had seen great reverses in foreign and military affairs. The King died in 1774, generally hated by his subjects.
Louis-August (Louis XVI): (b. Aug. 23, 1754, Versailles - d. Jan. 21, 1793, Paris) The last King of France (1774-93) in the line of the Bourbon monarchs preceding the Revolution of 1789. He became heir to his grandfather's throne upon his father's death in 1765. His education was indifferently handled, but he possessed an excellent memory and took an interest in history and geography. In 1770, he married the Austrian archduchess Marie Antoinette. He succeeded to the throne on May 10, 1774 after his grandfather's, Louis XV, death. At the time, he was still immature, lacking in self-confidence, and because of a physical defect (later remedied by an operation) frigid in his relations with his young wife. Although well-disposed toward his subjects and interested in foreign policy, Louis had not sufficient strength of character or power of decision to combat the court factions or give support to reforming ministers. His undoing of the judicial reforms of his grandfather cost him presige, and his reign was marked by the increasing strength of the aristocrats, who opposed most economic and administrative reforms. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, he allowed himself to be controlled by reactionary court factions into defending the privileges of the nobles and clergy, and continued to believe that the Revolution would burn itself out. After a failed attempt to escape the capital in 1791, he lost all credibility and subsequently appeared to be under the control of the Queen. Under her guidence, he attempted to secretly encourage an intervention into France by Austria, hoping to restore his throne this way. When papers detailing this, along with other dealings with counterrevolutionaries, were discovered in Nov. 1792, Louis was charged with treason. Condemned to death, he was guillotined in Paris on Jan 21, 1793. His courage on June 20, 1792 when the palace was invaded by a mob, and his dignified bearing during his trial and execution did something to restore, but not reestablish, his reputation.
Louis-Charles (Louis XVII): (b. March 27, 1785, Versailles, - d. June 8, 1795, Paris). Titular King of France from 1793. Second son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he became dauphin (heir to the throne) on the death of his older brother, Louis-Joseph, in June 1789, shortly after the outbreak of the Revolution. Imprisoned with the rest of the royal family in Paris, the French nobles in exile proclaimed him King with the execution of the father on Jan 21, 1793. On July 3, 1793, he was taken from his mother and put under the surveillance of a cobbler. Marie Antoinette was executed on Oct. 16, 1793, and in Jan. 1794, Louis was again imprisoned. The harsh conditions of his confinement quickly undermined his health and he died in June, his death a severe blow to the constitutional monarchists who has once again become a powerful political force. The secrecy surrounding his last months gave rise to many rumours that he had been murdered or had escaped. During the next few decades, more than 30 people claimed to be Louis XVII.
Louis-Joseph: First son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he died in June 1789 at the age of eight, shortly after the outbreak of the Revolution.
General de Jarjayes: his wife was one of the "dames de compagnie" of Marie Antoinette, and he also organized a escape attempt of the Queen, together with her children and the King's sister, for the Temple where they were held prison in Paris after the outbreak of the Revolution. But when the children's tutor backed out from the plan, leaving it only possible for the Queen to escape, she refused to leave alone, and asked Jarjayes to leave France before it was too late for him.
Countess Jeanne du Barry: (b. Aug 19, 1743, Vaucouleurs - d. Dec. 8 1793, Paris). Last of the mistresses of Louis XV. Although, unlike other of Louis' mistresses, she exercised little political influence at the French court, her unpopularity contributed to the decline of the prestige of the crown in the early 1770s. Born the illegitimate daughter of lower-class parents, she received a convent education and got a job as a shop assistant in a Paris fashion house. There, she became the mistress of Jean du Barry. He introduced Jeanne to Parisian high society. where her beauty won her a score of noble lovers until she attracted the attention of Louis XV in 1768. However, she could not qualify as an official royal mistress unless she was married to a noble. du Barry arranged a nominal marriage between her and his brother, and in April 1769, she joined Louis XV's court. She helped to bring about the downfall of Louis's powerful minister of foreign affairs in 1770. She spent much of her time on the estates that Louis had given her, and she earned a reputation as a generous patron of the arts. On the death of Louis XV (May, 1774) she uas banished to a nunnary; from 1776 until the outbreak of the Revolution, she lived on her estates with the Duc de Brissac. In 1792, she made several trips to London, probably to provide financial assistance to French emigres. Condemned as a counter-revolutionary, she was guillotined in Dec. 1793.
Maria Theresa: (b. May 13, 1717 - d. Nov. 29, 1780). Wife and empress of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I (reigned 1745-65) and mother of the Holy Roman emperor Joseph II (reigned 1765-90). Marie Theresa was the eldest daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI. The death of his only son prompted Charles to declare that female issue could succeed to the domains of the Habsburgs. In 1736 she married Francis Stephen of Lorraine; it proved to be a love match and they had 16 children, 10 of which survived to adulthood. On Charles' death on Oct. 20, 1740, she astounded Europe by assuming her heritage (and making her husband co-regent). She defended her actions with considerable diplomatic skill and eventually secured for her husband the imperial crown, which the law denied to women. Led by practical considerations, she carried out many reforms and reduced the nobles' powers, along with innovations such as modernizing the army, and subordinating the church to the authority of the state. She did experience many disappointments with her children, such as Marie Antoinette's follies; Marie Theresa bombarded her with practical advice and dire warnings to her dying day. In her later years, she disagreed often with her favorite son Joseph who had become emperor at Francis's death in 1765, and her health began to fail. She died in November 1780, called by one historian, "the most human of the Habsburgs."
Count Florimund Mercy d'Argenteau: (b. April 20, 1727, Liege, Austrian Netherlands - d. Aug. 25, 1794, London). Austrian diplomat who, at the outset of the French Revolution, attempted to maintain the Austro-French alliance and to save the life of the Austrian-born French Queen Marie Antoinette. Entering the diplomatic service in 1751, Marcy served at the Sardinian court, as ambassador to Russia, and from 1766, as ambassador to Paris. As an advisor to Marie Antoinette, he was active on behalf of the French monarchy during the Revolutionary crisis of 1789-90, but was recalled in 1790. After his attempts to save Marie Antoinette from the guillotine had failed, he became political charge d'affaires with the Austro-Prussian army in the Netherlands, and later became Austrian ambassador to London in July 1974, dying there shortly after his arrival.
Count Louis Phillipe Joseph d'Orleans: (b. April 13, 1747, Saint-Cloud Fr. - d. Nov. 6, 1793, Paris) Bourbon prince who became a supporter of popular democracy during the Revolution of 1789. The cousin of Louis XVI, as well as of the lineage of the old Valois dynasty, he succeeded to his father's title of duc d'Orleans in 1785. Orleans's hostility to Louis XVI's queen, Marie Antoinette, caused him to live away from the royal court of Versailles. In the 1780s, he became leader of the nobles who opposed the King through the Paris parliament, and his Paris residence became a center of popular agitation. During the Revolution, he took a seat in the National Assembly, and after the fall of the monarchy in August 1792, he renounced his nobility and took the name Phillipe-Egalite. He supported the more radical democratic elements, and voted in favor for the execution of Louis. However, he fell under suspicion when his son defected to Austria. Placed under arrest in April 1793, he was sent to the guillotine in November.
Maximilien Robespierre: (b. May 6, 1758, Arras, Fr. - d. July 28, 1794, Paris). One of the principle figures of the French Revolution. The son of a lawyer in Arres, he was trained as a lawyer at the Paris College of Louis-le-Grand, and became an accomplished man, well known for his altruism. He alarmed the privileged classes by his protests against royal absolutism and arbitrary justice. Elected to the Estates-General (a national assembly that had not been called since 1614) in 1789, he was noted as a skillful orator, and passionately fought for wide-scale reform in both government and society, making many enemies. After defeats in the war on Austria and Prussia, which he had forseen, the people rallied to him, and was elected by the people of Paris on Sept. 5, 1792, to head the delegation to the National Convention. As France faced invasion and civil war, he noted in his diary what was needed was 'one single will'. In 1793 he became head of the Committee for Public Safety and took control of the government, starting the Reign of Terror, destroying Royalist and opposition revolutionaries alike. But as hardships continued, and his health weakened, opposition to him grew, and he died with his followers on the guillotine on Jun 28, 1794.
Louis Saint-Just: A controversial ideologue of the French Revolution and one of the most zealous advocates of the Reign of Terror. Born of an well-to-do parents, he acquired a law degree in 1788. He wished to participate in the Revolutionary upheaval breaking out, but had few leadership skills and did not approve of the violence he had witnessed. Deciding his only route was through election to political office, he established himself in his hometown, and worked to become a candidate for the National Assembly. In 1791 he published a tract calling for a new society in France. Elected to the Assembly in 1792, he quickly became an energetic leader of the extreme left, along with Robespierre. He lead military victories against Austria, and passed propoals for the new constitutions, and for the confiscation of property of enemies of the Revolution. But he had changed into a cold bloodthirsty fanatic. Isolated and hated, he was arrested in July, 1974 and guillotined the next day. St. Just has, by turns, been lauded as a principled hero of the Revolution, or abhorred a monster of pride and cruelty.
Jacques Necker: Swiss banker and director general of finance under Louis XVI of France. A prominent and wealthy banker, he first was placed in charge of France's finances in 1777, where he made cautious experiments in reform, but after bungling attempts to finance France's participation in the American War of Independence, he was forced to resign in 1781. Brought back in 1788 when France was almost bankrupt, he proposed a program of social and constitutional reforms to the Estates General. But his program was drastically modified by court reactionaries, who later dismissed him again in July 1789. This did much to provoke disturbances in Paris, leading to the storming of the Bastille. He was called back again later that year, but was unable to cope with the mounting deficit, and retired for good in 1790.
Countess Yolande de Polignac: became a special friend to young Queen Antoinette approximately 1777. The Queen dispensed numerous favors on her favorite lady-in-waiting, and promoted her husband to the post of First Equerry, which caused some jealousy among the other ladies of court. Historians are divided on whether Polignac was a naive, sweet friend or a grasping, deceiving manipulator
Cardinal de Rohan: Grand Almoner of France, the highest religious authority in the country, and presided over the chapel at Versailles. His past as Prince de Rohan had included duty as France's ambassador to Austria, where he earned the disdain of Marie's mother, Queen Maria Teresa, for his vulgarity and womanizing. Widely regarded as a greedy, drunken womanizer, he was an apparent dupe in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. He was tried for his part in that scandal, but was acquitted, and retired to his abbey.
Countess Jean de la Motte-Valois: a scheming con-woman who talked her way into the Versailles court. Her father, a distant descendant of the old Valois kings (who preceded the Bourbon dynasty of Louis XVI) died penniless, but with guile and deceit (and the help of a forger named Retaux de Villette) she presented herself as a friend of Queen Antoinette, and manipulated Cardinal Rohan in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. Found out and imprisoned, she managed to escape to England.
Rosale Lamorliere: the girl who took care of the Queen while she was imprisoned during the Revolution, until the end.
Countess Noailles: Officially Marie Antoinette's guardian, lady of honor, and head lady-in-waiting from the daupine's arrival in France. She was prim and proper, insisting on the forms of ceremony, and chided Marie Antoinette constantly on proper behavior, and so was dubbed "Madame Etiquette". She resigned in 1781.
Prince deGuemenee: A minor noble at court, whose wife was a minor maid to Marie Antoinette. His chief historical achievement was a bankruptcy in 1782 that exposed the debts of the noble class.
Mme Bertin: She did own an exclusive dress shop in Paris, where Marie Antoinette spent an enormous amount of money.
The Bastille: Medieval fortress on the east side of Paris that became, in the 17th and 18th centuries, a French state prison and a place of detention for important persons charged with miscellaneous offences. It was seen as a symbol of the despotism of the Bourbons and held an important place in the ideology of the Revolution after its fall. With its eight 100 foot towers, linked by walls of equal height, and surrounded by an 80 foot wide moat, the Bastille dominated Paris. The first stones were laid in 1370 on the orders of Charles V who had it built to protect his wall around Paris; it later became an independent fortification. Cardinal Richelieu was the first to use the Bastille as a state prison in the 17th century. Imprisoned by direct order of the King, from which there was no recourse, prisoners included political troublemakers and individuals imprisoned at the request of their families, often to coerce a young member into obedience or to prevent a disreputable member from marring the family name. During the opening days of the Revolution, on the morning of July 14, 1789, when only seven prisoners were confined to the building, a mob advanced on the Bastille with the intention of asking the prison governor to release the arms stored there. Angered by his evasiveness, the people stormed and captured the prison; this dramatic action came to symbolize the end of the old regime. The Bastille was subsequently demolished by orders of the Revolutionary government. Bastille Day, on July 14, was chosen as a French national holiday in 1880.
The Palace of Versailles: The 17th century palace built by Louis XIV, and the principle residence of the kings of France and the seat of government for more than 100 years. It was originally a hunting lodge, but was expanded in 1669. Its classical architecture was complemented by extensive gardens. About 20,000 people were attached to its court, of which about 5000 lived at the palace itself; about 15,000 soldiers and servents were quartered in annexes and in the town of Versailles. Louis XV continued the building program of his predecessor, and the palace became a symbol of royal extravagance. A mob forced the royal family to leave Versailles for Paris in October, 1789. During the French Revolution it was stripped of most of its furnishings, and Tuileries, in Paris, became the royal residence. The palace was restored in 1837 and turned into a museum. In the late eighteen hundreds, it was the seat of the French parliament. Today, it is part of the French national heritage and one of the most visited historical sites in Europe.
Affair of the Diamond Necklace: A scandal at the court of Louis XVI in 1785 that discredited the French monarchy at the eve of the Revolution. It began as an intrigue on the part of the Countess de La Motte to procure a diamond necklace worth 1,600,000 livres, using Cardinal de Rohan as a pawn. The Cardinal had aroused the dislike of the Queen's mother, Marie Theresa, and of the Queen herself and was anxious to be restored to favor at the French Court. The Countess used forged letters, and at one point, a prostitute disguised as the Queen, to convince the Cardinal that Marie Antoinette would formally accept him back at court if he would secretly negotiate with the jewellers for the purchase of the necklace on behalf of the Queen. However, when the Cardinal failed to raise the money for the first installment and the jewellers applied directly to the Queen, the scheme was found out. Louis XVI had the Cardinal arrested; he was later acquitted of fraud, but stripped of his office. The Countess de La Motte was sentenced to flogging, branding and imprisonment for life; she later escaped to England and published her memoirs, vilifying the Queen. Though Marie Antoinette was guiltless, the scandal reinforced the general belief in her moral laxness and frivolity. The arbitrary arrest of the Cardinal furthered the impression of the King's weakness and the autocratic nature of his government.
French Revolution: The revolutionary movement that shook France between 1787 and 1799, reaching its first climax in 1789, which ended the ancient regime in France. A large, poorly fed populance, an anachronistic feudal system, ruined state finances, and a population systematically excluded from political power all contributed to its outbreak. The revolt began in 1787 when a proposal from the government to reduce the deficit by increased taxation of the privileged was rejected by the nobles. With the Crown and the Parliments completely deadlocked, and France on the verge of collapse, Louis XVI agreed to call the Estates-General, an assembly of nobles, clergy and the Third Estate (composed of most of the French people) which had not met since 1614. Meeting on May 5, 1789, the Third Estate was joined by reformers from the nobility and clergy and took control of the body, vowing to bring in a new constitution, and formed the National Assembly. Louis began assembling troops to dissolve it, but the poor harvest combined with resentment against the privileged caused widespread uprisings among the poor, including the attack on the Bastille. Louis was forced to back down, and the Assembly saw only one way to check the peasants; on Aug 4, 1789 it abolished the feudal regime and later that month declared the Right of Man and of the Citizen, proclaiming liberty and equality. When Louis refused to recognize these decrees, the mob forced him out of Versailles to Paris where he could be watched.
The Assembly began a series of land, social, and judical reforms, Elements also tried to create a monarchical regime where the King and Assembly could share power, but the King's attempted escape greatly weakened these plans. Many nobles began to emigrate, while other European governments began to worry about the implications of the Revolution when the Assembly declared that the people had the right to self-determination. When war broke out with Prussia and Austria in April 1792, France suffered initial defeats. Blaming betrayal by the Royal Family and nobles, on Aug. 10 the Royal Family was imprisoned. In Sept. the mob massacred imprisoned nobles and clergy. The Revolution had awakened nationalism and volunteers poured into the army, which checked the Prussians on Sept. 20. The same day, a new assembly, the National Convention, met and next day, abolished the monarchy and established the republic. In the coming months, the French armies repelled the invaders, while the National Convention was divided into two groups: the Girondins who wanted to organize a bourgiois republic in France and spread Revolution over all of Europe, and the Montagnards who, with Robespierre, wanted to give the lower classes more power and restrict their revolutionary action to France. The latter brought about Louis XVI's execution on Jan. 21, 1793.
The war turned against France when Great Britain entered in the spring of 1793, which gave the Montagnards the support to take power. Their policies - taxation of the rich, assistance to the poor, confiscation of property of fled nobles - provoked violent reaction and uprisings, which was broken by the Reign of Terror in which at least 300,000 were arrested and thousands were executed, often without trial. But more than a million men were raised for the army, turning the war yet again. But victory cost the extremists their support and Robespierre and his followers fell and were executed themselves in July, 1794. Reaction set in; many of the reforms were dismissed, an attempt by Royalists to seize Paris was crushed by the young Napoleon, and in early Oct. the National Convention dispersed.
The new government, composed of the executive Directory and two legislative houses, wished to restrict political power to the bourgiois. Frequent disputes, uprisings, and economic turmoil continued to plague France. Throughout the 1790's, the countries of Europe slowly began to make peace with France, which began to export its new institutions to the nations it occupied, such as Switzerland and Holland. The war with Great Britain continued however. A disasterous attempt by Bonaparte to threaten Britain by attacking Egypt led to new attacks on France, driving the French armies back to the frontiers. Bonaparte returned to France and led a coup against the Directory, proclaiming an end to the Revolution in 1799.
Attempted Escape by the Royal Family: During the early days of the Revolution, attempts were made by the National Assembly to create a monarchical regime where powers were shared between the King and Assembly. This plan may have worked with the King's help, but Louis XVI was weak and vacillating, the prisoner of his aristocratic advisers. Horrified by the changes taking place, Louis and his family tried to flee the country, in an escape attempt arranged by Fersen who obtained false passports and arranged carriages and disguises for them. Around midnight of June 20, 1791, the King disguised as a valet, left the Tuileries (his Paris residence) with his family. But they were stopped at Varennes after a day's travel, and brought back to Paris on June 25, this time as virtual prisoners between two lines of soldiers. This constituted one of the turning points of the Revolution. In France, it was seen as proof of the irreconcilable opposition between aristocratic royality and the Revolutionary nation, wrecking the ongoing experiment with constitutional monarchy, and totally destroying the King's credibility. In Europe, Louis's flight and arrest had aroused intense emotional reactions. In August 1792, the Habsburg emperor and Prussia king threated armed intervention, and persecution of supporters of the Revolution increased outside France. France finally declared war on Austria and Prussia on April 20, 1792.
1755: