164-638: Louis XVI (Louis Auguste; French: [lwi sɛːz] ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution . The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765) (son and heir-apparent of King Louis XV ), and Maria Josepha of Saxony , Louis became the new Dauphin when his father died in 1765. In 1770, he married Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (Marie Antoinette). He became King of France and Navarre on his grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, and reigned until
328-581: A character in Purgatorio , the second canticle of the Divine Comedy . The pilgrim meets Capet on the fifth terrace of Mount Purgatory among souls performing penitence for avarice ( Purgatorio 20). In this portrayal, Capet acknowledges himself as the "root of the obnoxious plant / that shadows all the Christian lands" ( Purg. 20.43-44). The metaphor of the root of the plant is reminiscent of
492-711: A counter-revolution. Louis himself held reservations against depending on foreign assistance. Like his mother and father, he thought that the Austrians were treacherous and the Prussians were overly ambitious. As tensions in Paris rose and he was pressured to accept measures from the Assembly against his will, Louis XVI and the Queen plotted to secretly escape from France. Beyond escape, they hoped to raise an "armed congress" with
656-472: A country. Mirabeau's death on 7 April, and Louis XVI's indecision, fatally weakened negotiations between the Crown and moderate politicians. The Third Estate leaders also had no desire in turning back or remaining moderate after their hard efforts to change the politics of the time, and so the plans for a constitutional monarchy did not last long. On one hand, Louis was nowhere near as reactionary as his brothers,
820-605: A dangerous foreign attempt to undermine France's sovereignty. In addition to the ideological differences between France and the monarchical powers of Europe, there were continuing disputes over the status of Austrian estates in Alsace , and the concern of members of the National Constituent Assembly about the agitation of émigrés nobles abroad, especially in the Austrian Netherlands and
984-673: A distant cousin who claimed descent from Louis XIII . The French Revolution of 1848 brought an end to the monarchy again, instituting a brief Second Republic that lasted four years, before its President declared himself Emperor Napoleon III , who was deposed and replaced by the Third Republic , and ending monarchic rule in France for good. The Bourbon Restoration came to an end with the July Revolution of 1830 which deposed Charles X and replaced him with Louis Philippe I ,
1148-455: A distant cousin with more liberal politics. Charles X's son Louis signed a document renouncing his own right to the throne only after a 20-minute argument with his father. Because he was never crowned he is disputed as a genuine king of France. Louis's nephew Henry was likewise considered by some to be Henry V, but the new regime did not recognise his claim and he never ruled. Charles X named Louis Philippe as Lieutenant général du royaume ,
1312-634: A domestic tribunal, and convoked a synod at Reims in June 991. There, Gerbert testified against Arnulf, which led to the archbishop's deposition and Gerbert being chosen as replacement. Pope John XV rejected this procedure and wished to convene a new council in Aachen , but the French bishops refused and confirmed their decision in Chelles (winter 993–994). The pope then called them to Rome, but they protested that
1476-525: A family tree. Dante thus condemns Hugh as a main source of the evil that has pervaded and corrupted the French monarchy. Dante's personal resentment towards Hugh's legacy likely stemmed from the fact that his exile had been caused by interference in Florentine politics by the French crown and Pope Boniface VIII in the early fourteenth century. In this way, the "obnoxious plant" of the Capetians casts
1640-584: A formal Treaty of Alliance , and later that year France went to war with Britain . In deciding in favor of war, despite France's large financial problems, the King was materially influenced by alarmist reports after the Battle of Saratoga , which suggested that Britain was preparing to make huge concessions to the Thirteen Colonies and then, allied with them, to strike at French and Spanish possessions in
1804-402: A great gamble, but Hugh made it anyway, and chose him as archbishop instead of Gerbert, in order to appease Carolingian sympathizers and the local populace. Following the customs of those times, he was made to invoke a curse upon himself if he should break his oath of fidelity to Hugh. Arnulf was duly installed, and was confirmed by the pope. Yet to Arnulf the ties of blood with his uncle Charles
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#17327881046441968-445: A pension; Ernestine Lambriquet (1778–1813), daughter of two servants at the palace, who was raised as the playmate of his daughter and whom he adopted after the death of her mother in 1788; and finally "Zoe" Jeanne Louise Victoire (born in 1787), who was adopted in 1790 along with her two older sisters when her parents, an usher and his wife in service of the king, had died. Of these, only Armand, Ernestine and Zoe actually lived with
2132-584: A period known as Direct Capetian rule. Afterwards, it passed to the House of Valois , a cadet branch that descended from Philip III . The Valois claim was disputed by Edward III , the Plantagenet king of England who claimed himself as the rightful king of France through his French mother Isabella . The two houses fought the Hundred Years' War over the issue, and with Henry VI of England being for
2296-518: A position more favorable to Austria, which in the Treaty of Teschen was able to get in compensation the Innviertel , a territory whose population numbered around 100,000 persons. However, this intervention was a disaster for the image of the Queen, who was named " l'Autrichienne " (a pun in French meaning "Austrian", but the "chienne" suffix can mean "bitch") on account of it. Louis XVI hoped to use
2460-670: A principality at Hugh's expense and that of the Bretons . The royal diplomas of the 960s show that the nobles were faithful not only to the Duke of the Franks, as in the days of Hugh the Great, but also to King Lothair. Indeed, some in the royal armies fought against the Duchy of Normandy on behalf of Lothair. Finally, even Hugh's position as second man in the kingdom seemed to slip. Two charters of
2624-629: A regent to the young Henry V, and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to the Chamber of Deputies , the lower house of the French Parliament at the time, the French equivalent at the time of the UK House of Commons. Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession. As a consequence, and because the French parliamentarians were aware of his liberal policies and of his popularity at
2788-493: A sailing expedition around the world (La Pérouse and his fleet disappeared after leaving Botany Bay in March 1788. Louis is recorded as having asked, on the morning of his execution, "Any news of La Pérouse?".). There is a lack of scholarship on the subject of Louis XVI's time as a constitutional monarch, though it was a significant length of time. The reason as to why many biographers have not elaborated extensively on this time in
2952-501: A series of unsuccessful foreign military campaigns, leaving France in a state of financial difficulty. The young Louis XVI felt woefully unqualified to resolve the situation. As king, Louis XVI focused primarily on religious freedom and foreign policy. Although raised as the Dauphin since 1765, he lacked firmness and decisiveness. His desire to be loved by his people is evident in the prefaces of many of his edicts that would often explain
3116-476: A shadow over both the papacy and the chance for an emperor that might bring order to Italy, Dante's "two suns." The myth of Capet's humble origins is another crucial component of Dante's representation of this historical figure in Purgatorio . Though the notion that Capet was the son of a butcher is rightfully reported by critics to be untrue—he was the son of a duke—situating Capet in a lower social position
3280-574: A thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Both of his sons died in childhood, before the Bourbon Restoration ; his only child to reach adulthood, Marie Thérèse , was given over to her Austrian relatives in exchange for French prisoners of war, eventually dying childless in 1851. Louis-Auguste de France , who was given the title Duke of Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles on 23 August 1754. One of seven children, he
3444-555: A time partially recognized as King of France . The Valois line died out in the late 16th century, during the French Wars of Religion , to be replaced by the distantly related House of Bourbon , which descended through the Direct Capetian Louis IX . The Bourbons ruled France until deposed in the French Revolution , though they were restored to the throne after the fall of Napoleon. The last Capetian to rule
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#17327881046443608-445: A war against Otto . In August 978, accompanied by the nobles of the kingdom, Lothair surprised and plundered Aachen , residence of Otto II, forcing the imperial family to flee. After occupying Aachen for five days, Lothair returned to France after symbolically disgracing the city. In September 978, Otto II retaliated against Lothair by invading France with the aid of Charles. He met with little resistance on French territory, devastating
3772-422: A wider perspective, the failure was attributable to the king's indecision—he repeatedly postponed the schedule, allowing for smaller problems to become severe. Furthermore, he totally misunderstood the political situation. He thought only a small number of radicals in Paris were promoting a revolution that the people as a whole rejected. He thought, mistakenly, that he was beloved by his subjects. The King's flight in
3936-695: Is never wrong." He, therefore, appointed an experienced advisor, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas who, until his death in 1781, would take charge of many important ministerial functions. Among the major events of Louis XVI's reign was his signing of the Edict of Versailles , also known as the Edict of Tolerance, on 7 November 1787, which was registered in the Parlement of Paris on 29 January 1788. Granting non-Roman Catholics – Huguenots and Lutherans , as well as Jews – civil and legal status in France and
4100-442: Is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet . The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony , he was elected as the successor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V . Hugh was descended from Charlemagne 's son Pepin of Italy through his paternal grandmother , and was also a nephew of Otto the Great . The dynasty he founded ruled France for nearly nine centuries: from 987 to 1328 in
4264-652: The Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The family consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary and becoming the real powers behind the Merovingian kings . The dynasty is named after one of these mayors of the palace, Charles Martel , whose son Pepin the Short dethroned the Merovingians in 751 and, with
4428-585: The Carolingian Empire in the 9th century. The kings used the title "King of the Franks" ( Latin : Rex Francorum ) until the late twelfth century; the first to adopt the title of "King of France" ( Latin : Rex Franciae ; French : roi de France ) was Philip II in 1190 (r. 1180–1223), after which the title "King of the Franks" gradually lost ground. However, Francorum Rex continued to be sometimes used, for example by Louis XII in 1499, by Francis I in 1515, and by Henry II in about 1550; it
4592-501: The Count of Provence and the Count of Artois , and he repeatedly sent messages to them requesting a halt to their attempts to launch counter-coups. This was often done through his secretly nominated regent, Cardinal Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne . On the other hand, Louis was alienated from the new democratic government both by its negative reaction to the traditional role of the monarch and in its treatment of him and his family. He
4756-567: The Declaration of Pillnitz , which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as an easy way to appear concerned about the developments in France without committing any soldiers or finances to change them, the revolutionary leaders in Paris viewed it fearfully as
4920-541: The Estates General , which had not met since 1614 (at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII ). As a last-ditch attempt to get new monetary reforms approved, Louis XVI convoked the Estates General on 8 August 1788, setting the date of their opening on 1 May 1789. With the convocation of the Estates General, as in many other instances during his reign, Louis XVI placed his reputation and public image in
5084-723: The Holy Roman Empire , were ruled by the Ottonian dynasty, represented by Hugh's first cousin Otto II and then by Otto's son, Otto III . The lands south of the river Loire had largely ceased to be part of the West Francia kingdom in the years after Charles the Simple was deposed in 922. Both the Duchy of Normandy and the Duchy of Burgundy were largely independent, and Brittany entirely so—although from 956 Burgundy
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5248-567: The House of Capet , ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by cadet branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe , and all royals since then, have belonged to the dynasty. Furthermore, cadet branches of the House continue to reign in Spain and Luxembourg . All monarchs of the Kingdom of France from Hugh Capet to Philip II of France were titled 'King of
5412-466: The Hundred Years War to enforce their claims. The Valois were ultimately successful, and French historiography counts their leaders as rightful kings. One Plantagenet, Henry VI of England , enjoyed de jure control of the French throne following the Treaty of Troyes , which formed the basis for continued English claims to the throne of France until 1801. The Valois line ruled France until
5576-731: The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 . One month later, the monarchy was abolished and the French First Republic was proclaimed on 21 September 1792. The former king became a desacralized French citizen, addressed as Citoyen Louis Capet (Citizen Louis Capet) in reference to his ancestor Hugh Capet . Louis was tried by the National Convention (self-instituted as a tribunal for the occasion), found guilty of high treason and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. Louis XVI's death brought an end to more than
5740-578: The Montier-en-Der Abbey (968 and 980) refer to Herbert III, Count of Vermandois , while Count of Chateau-Thierry, Vitry and lay abbot of Saint-Médard of Soissons, bearing the title of "Count of the Franks" and even "count of the palace" in a charter of Lothair. For his part, Lothair also lost power with the ascendance of the Ottonian monarchy. It waned by participating in the gathering of relatives and vassals of Otto I in 965. However, from
5904-480: The Moorish armies harassing Borrel II, Count of Barcelona (a vassal of the French crown), and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition. Ralph Glaber , however, attributes Hugh's request to his old age and inability to control the nobility. Modern scholarship has largely imputed to Hugh the motive of establishing a dynasty against the pretension of electoral power on
6068-687: The National Assembly . Louis XVI's attempts to control it resulted in the Tennis Court Oath ( serment du jeu de paume ), on 20 June, the declaration of the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July, and eventually to the storming of the Bastille on 14 July, which started the French Revolution. Within three short months, the majority of the King's executive authority had been transferred to the elected representatives of
6232-413: The Parlement , who opposed his reforms, on 6 May 1788, and even dissolving and depriving of all power the "Parlement", replacing it with a plenary court, on 8 May 1788. The failure of these measures and displays of royal power is attributable to three decisive factors. First, the majority of the population stood in favor of the Parlement against the King, and thus continuously rebelled against him. Second,
6396-649: The Seven Years' War . Vergennes, supported by King Louis, refused to go to war to support Austria in the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, when the Queen's brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor tried to partition Bavaria over a disputed inheritance. Vergennes and Maurepas refused to support the Austrian position, but the intervention of Marie Antoinette in favor of Austria obliged France to adopt
6560-525: The Testament politique de Louis XVI ("Political Testament of Louis XVI"), explaining his rejection of the constitutional system as illegitimate. The National Assembly was quick to decide to publish the theory that the King had been kidnapped, thus avoiding any challenge to the Constitution, which was then nearing completion, while at the same time ordering that the carriage be placed under arrest. It
6724-402: The abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic became an ever-increasing possibility. The growth of anti-clericalism among revolutionaries resulted in the abolition of the dîme (religious land tax) and several government policies aimed at the dechristianization of France . In a context of civil and international war , Louis XVI was suspended and arrested at the time of
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6888-405: The abolition of the monarchy on 21 September 1792. From 1791 onwards, he used the style of King of the French . The first part of Louis XVI's reign was marked by attempts to reform the French government in accordance with Enlightenment ideas. These included efforts to increase tolerance toward non-Catholics as well as abolish the death penalty for deserters . The French nobility reacted to
7052-471: The Île-de-France . His grandfather had been King Robert I . King Odo was his granduncle and Emma of France , the wife of King Rudolph , was his aunt. Hugh's paternal grandmother Beatrice of Vermandois was a patrilineal descendant of Charlemagne. After the end of the ninth century, the descendants of Robert the Strong became indispensable in carrying out royal policies. As Carolingian power failed,
7216-853: The American Revolutionary War as an opportunity to expel the British from India. In 1782, he sealed an alliance with the Peshwa Madhavrao II . As a consequence, the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau moved his troops to the Isle de France (now Mauritius ) and later contributed to the French effort in India in 1783. Pierre André de Suffren became the ally of Hyder Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore War against
7380-686: The American rebels was a disappointment, with defeats at Rhode Island and Savannah . In 1780, France sent Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau and François Joseph Paul de Grasse to help the Americans, along with large land and naval forces. The French expeditionary force arrived in North America in July 1780. The appearance of French fleets in the Caribbean was followed by
7544-458: The Assembly created the Comité des Finances, and while Louis XVI attempted to declare his concern and interest in remedying the economic situations, inclusively offering to melt crown silver as a dramatic measure, it appeared to the public that the King did not understand that such statements no longer held the same meaning as they did before and that doing such a thing could not restore the economy of
7708-515: The Austrian court did hope for the princess to exert influence over her husband. Letters sent between the Empress and the Ambassador express a desire for Marie Antoinette to exercise authority in the French court and to encourage Louis XVI to dedicate more attention to his role as prince. To their disappointment, however, the princess did not seem overly interested in "serious affairs". Over time,
7872-695: The British East India Company from 1782 to 1783, engaging the Royal Navy along the coasts of India and Ceylon . France also intervened in Cochinchina following Pierre Pigneau de Behaine 's intervention to obtain military aid. A France-Cochinchina alliance was signed through the Treaty of Versailles of 1787 , between Louis XVI and Prince Nguyễn Ánh . Louis XVI also encouraged major voyages of exploration. In 1785, he appointed Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse to lead
8036-411: The British. This had led to a strategy amongst the French leadership of seeking to rebuild the French military in order to fight a war of revenge against Britain, in which it was hoped the lost colonies could be recovered. France still maintained a strong influence in the West Indies , and in India maintained five trading posts , leaving opportunities for disputes and power-play with Great Britain. In
8200-532: The Carolingian cause. Charles took Laon, the seat of Carolingian royalty. Hugh Capet and his son Robert besieged the city twice, but were compelled to withdraw each time. Hugh decided to make an alliance with Theophano (regent for her son Otto III ), but she never replied. When Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, died, the archbishopric was contested by his right-hand man, Gerbert of Aurillac, and Arnulf, illegitimate son of King Lothair of France (and nephew of Charles of Lorraine). Choosing Arnulf to replace Adalberon seemed
8364-462: The Children of France), from 1760 until his marriage in 1770, did not prepare him for the throne that he was to inherit in 1774 after the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities. His instructors may have also had a good hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became. Abbé Berthier, his instructor, taught him that timidity
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#17327881046448528-414: The Crown to restore its power in a new constitutional form . Beginning in 1791, Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin , Minister of Foreign Affairs, started to organize covert resistance to the revolutionary forces. Thus, the funds of the Liste Civile , voted annually by the National Assembly, were partially assigned to secret expenses in order to preserve the monarchy. Arnault Laporte , who was in charge of
8692-433: The Franks'. Documents during Philip II's reign began using the title 'King of France' as dawn of the intimate unification of medieval French population even though Latin was the main language. Hugh Capet married Adelaide , daughter of William Towhead , Count of Poitou . Their children are as follows: A number of other daughters are less reliably attested. According to tradition, sometime in 981, Hugh Capet recovered
8856-406: The French aristocracy and to the absolute monarchy , of which Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were representatives. Increasing tensions and violence were marked by events such as the storming of the Bastille , during which riots in Paris forced Louis to definitively recognize the legislative authority of the National Assembly . Louis's indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of
9020-425: The French public. France's alliance with its traditional enemy Austria had pulled the country into the disastrous Seven Years' War , in which it was defeated by the British and the Prussians , both in Europe and in North America . By the time that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were married, the French people generally disliked the Austrian alliance, and Marie Antoinette was seen as an unwelcome foreigner. For
9184-476: The French throne. The Valois claimed the right to the succession by male-only primogeniture through the ancient Salic Law , having the closest all-male line of descent from a recent French king. They were descended from the third son of Philip III , Charles, Count of Valois. The Plantagenets based their claim on being closer to a more recent French king, Edward III of England being a grandson of Philip IV through his mother, Isabella . The two houses fought
9348-540: The King agreed to retain many of the traditions which had been the norm in 1614 and prior convocations of the Estates General, but which were intolerable to a Third Estate (the bourgeoisie) buoyed by recent proclamations of equality. For example, the First and Second Estates (the clergy and nobility respectively) proceeded into the assembly wearing their finest garments, while the Third Estate was required to wear plain, oppressively somber black, an act of alienation that Louis XVI would likely have not condoned. He seemed to regard
9512-422: The Nation. The Menus-Plaisirs du Roi was under the direction of Papillon de la Ferté and he gave details in his journal about the costs of the performances over the years 1756–1780 in three different palaces. The wedding in 1771 was especially costly. The performance of Castor et Pollux in 1779 when he was visited by his brother-in-law, Joseph II, involved more than 500 people. Royal household spending in 1788
9676-401: The North American colonists , who were seeking their independence from Great Britain , which was realised in the Treaty of Paris (1783) . The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime . This led to the convening of the Estates General of 1789 . Discontent among the members of France's middle and lower classes resulted in strengthened opposition to
9840-409: The Ottonians. The Archbishop was assisted by one of the most advanced minds of his time, the schoolmaster and future Pope Sylvester II Gerbert of Aurillac. Adalberon and Gerbert worked for the restoration of a single dominant empire in Europe. King Lothair, 13 years old, was under the tutelage of his uncle Otto I. But upon reaching his majority, he became independent, which defeated their plans to bring
10004-530: The Parlement of Paris to register the new laws and fiscal reforms. Upon the refusal of the members of the Parlement , Louis XVI tried to use his absolute power to subjugate them by every means: enforcing in many occasions the registration of his reforms via Lit de justice (6 August 1787, 19 November 1787, and 8 May 1788), exiling all Parlement magistrates to Troyes as a punishment on 15 August 1787, prohibiting six members from attending parliamentary sessions on 19 November, arresting two very important members of
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#173278810464410168-405: The Prussian envoy, Baron Goltz, reported that Louis XVI had definitely declined the operation. Louis XVI was frequently declared to be perfectly capable of sexual intercourse, as confirmed by Joseph II , and during the time he was supposed to have had the operation, he went out hunting almost every day, according to his journal. This would not have been possible if he had undergone a circumcision; at
10332-512: The Simple , from his exile at the court of Athelstan of England to become king as Louis IV. This maneuver allowed Hugh to become the most powerful person in France in the first half of the tenth century. Once in power, Louis IV granted him the title of dux Francorum ("Duke of the Franks"). Louis also (perhaps under pressure) officially declared Hugh "the second after us in all our kingdoms". Hugh also gained power when Herbert II of Vermandois died in 943, because Herbert's powerful principality
10496-443: The West Indies. Spain and the Netherlands soon joined the French in an anti-British coalition. After 1778, Great Britain switched its focus to the West Indies , as defending the sugar islands was considered more important than trying to recover the Thirteen Colonies. France and Spain planned to invade the British Isles themselves with the Armada of 1779 , but the operation never went ahead. France's initial military assistance to
10660-486: The abbeys while other contenders continued to distribute church revenues to their own partisans. Such conduct could only appeal to Reims, who was very close to the Cluniac movement . With the support of Adalberon of Reims , Hugh became the new leader of the kingdom. Gerbert d'Aurillac stated that "Lothair is king of France in name alone; Hugh is, however, not in name but in effect and deed." In 979, Lothair sought to ensure his succession by associating his eldest son with
10824-412: The age of 13. In 954, Otto I appointed his brother Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lorraine , as guardian of Lothair and regent of the kingdom of France. In 956, Otto gave him the same role over Hugh and the Robertian principality. With these young princes under his control, Otto aimed to maintain the balance between Robertians, Carolingians, and Ottonians. In 960, Lothair agreed to grant to Hugh
10988-425: The archbishop claimed the primacy of Gaul and the privilege to crown kings and direct their chancery. Therefore, the Archbishop of Reims traditionally had supported the ruling family and had long been central to the royal policy. But the episcopal city was headed by Adalberon of Rheims, nephew of Adalberon of Metz (a faithful prelate to the Carolingians), elected by the King Lothair in 969, but who had family ties to
11152-418: The capture of a number of the sugar islands, including Tobago and Grenada . In October 1781, the French naval blockade was instrumental in forcing a British army under Cornwallis to surrender at the Siege of Yorktown . When news of this reached London in March 1782, the North ministry fell and Great Britain immediately sued for peace terms; however, France delayed the end of the war until September 1783 in
11316-422: The civil list, collaborated with both Montmorin and Mirabeau. After the sudden death of Mirabeau, Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix , a noted financier, took his place. In effect, he headed a secret council of advisers to Louis XVI, which tried to preserve the monarchy; these schemes proved unsuccessful, and were exposed later when the armoire de fer was discovered. Regarding the financial difficulties facing France,
11480-431: The claim of a Carolingian. By 987, however, times had changed. For ten years, Hugh Capet had been openly competing against his king, and appeared to have subjected the great vassals. And his opponent Charles of Lorraine was accused of all evils: he wanted to usurp the crown (978), had allied himself with the emperor against his brother, and had defamed Queen Emma of Italy , his brother's wife. The archbishop of Reims convened
11644-439: The condition seven years after their marriage. Louis XVI's doctors were not in favour of the surgery – the operation was delicate and traumatic, and capable of doing "as much harm as good" to an adult male. The argument for phimosis and a resulting operation is mostly seen to originate from Stefan Zweig 's 1932 biography of Marie Antoinette. Most modern historians agree that Louis XVI had no surgery – for instance, as late as 1777,
11808-689: The consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, was crowned King of the Franks . Under Charles the Great (r. 768–814), better known as " Charlemagne ", the Frankish kingdom expanded deep into Central Europe , conquering Italy and most of modern Germany . He was also crowned " Emperor of the Romans " by the Pope, a title that was eventually carried on by the German rulers of the Holy Roman Empire . Charlemagne
11972-459: The country's way out of debt. Again this failed, so Louis convoked the Assembly of Notables in 1787 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform proposed by Calonne. When the nobles were informed of the true extent of the debt, they were shocked and rejected the plan. After this, Louis XVI and his new Controller-General of Finances , Étienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne , tried to simply force
12136-422: The couple became closer, though while their marriage was reportedly consummated in July 1773, it did not actually happen until 1777. The couple's failure to produce any children for several years placed a strain upon their marriage, exacerbated by the publication of obscene pamphlets ( libelles ) mocking their infertility. One such pamphlet questioned, "Can the King do it? Can't the King do it?". The reasons for
12300-401: The couple's initial failure to have children were debated at that time, and they have continued to be debated since. One suggestion is that Louis XVI suffered from a physiological dysfunction, most often thought to be phimosis , a suggestion first made in late 1772 by the royal doctors. Historians adhering to this view suggest that he was circumcised (a common treatment for phimosis) to relieve
12464-524: The crisis from the public by explaining only that ordinary revenues exceeded ordinary expenses, and not mentioning the loans. After he was forced from office in 1781, new taxes were levied. This intervention in America was not possible without France adopting a neutral position in European affairs to avoid being drawn into a continental war which would be simply a repetition of the French policy mistakes in
12628-535: The crowd to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, the reasoning being that the King would be more accountable to the people if he lived among them in Paris. The Revolution's principles of popular sovereignty, though central to democratic principles of later eras, marked a decisive break from the centuries-old principle of divine right that was at the heart of the French monarchy. As a result, the Revolution
12792-545: The death of Judas." That night the bishop seized Charles and Arnulf in their sleep, and delivered them to Hugh. Charles was imprisoned in Orléans until his death. His sons, born in prison, were released. After the loss of Reims by the betrayal of Arnulf, Hugh demanded his deposition by Pope John XV . But the pope was then embroiled in a conflict with the Roman aristocracy. After the capture of Charles and Arnulf, Hugh resorted to
12956-402: The death of the emperor in 973, Lothair wanted to revive the policy of his grandfather to recover Lorraine. Otto's son and successor, Otto II, appointed his cousin, Charles , brother of Lothair, as Duke of Lower Lorraine. This infuriated both Lothair and Hugh, whose sister, Beatrice was the regent for the young Duke Theodoric I of Upper Lorraine . In 978, Hugh thus supported Lothair in opening
13120-519: The deputies of the Estates General with respect: in a wave of self-important patriotism, members of the Estates refused to remove their hats in the King's presence, so Louis removed his to them. This convocation was one of the events that transformed the general economic and political malaise of the country into the French Revolution . In June 1789, the Third Estate unilaterally declared itself
13284-526: The developments in France, and considered whether they should intervene, either in support of Louis or to take advantage of the chaos in France. The key figure was Marie Antoinette's brother, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor . Initially, he had looked on the Revolution with equanimity. However, he became more and more disturbed as it became more and more radical. Despite this, he still hoped to avoid war. On 27 August, Leopold and Frederick William II of Prussia , in consultation with émigrés French nobles, issued
13448-487: The eastern and western parts of the land had already developed different languages and cultures. The Capetian dynasty is named for Hugh Capet, a Robertian who served as Duke of the Franks and was elected King in 987. Except for the Bonaparte-led Empires, every monarch of France was a male-line descendant of Hugh Capet. The kingship passed through patrilineally from father to son until the 14th century,
13612-487: The establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I , king of the Franks ( r. 507–511 ), as the first king of France. However, historians today consider that such a kingdom did not begin until the establishment of West Francia , after the fragmentation of
13776-486: The excellence of [his] judgement," though flattery was to be expected when addressing a prince. Louis-Auguste's apparent mathematical skills are corroborated by his enjoyment of cartography, which would have required an understanding of scale and projections. He also enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather and rough play with his younger brothers, Louis-Stanislas, Count of Provence , and Charles-Philipe, Count of Artois . From an early age, Louis-Auguste
13940-427: The exertions of the legate, the deposition of Arnulf was finally pronounced illegal. To avoid excommunication of the bishops who sat in the council of St. Basle , and thus a schism, Gerbert decided to let go. He abandoned the archdiocese and went to Italy. After Hugh's death, Arnulf was released from his imprisonment and soon restored to all his dignities. Under the auspices of the emperor, Gerbert eventually succeeded to
14104-413: The fact that no one was punished illustrates how tenuous was his hold on power. Beyond his power base, in the rest of France, there were still as many codes of law as there were fiefdoms. Uniting all this into one cohesive unit was a formidable task and a constant struggle between those who wore the crown of France and its feudal lords. Therefore, Hugh Capet's reign was marked by numerous power struggles with
14268-521: The first ever accounting of the French Crown's expenses and accounts, the Compte-rendu au Roi . This misleading publication led the people of France to believe the kingdom ran a modest surplus. When this policy of hiding and ignoring the kingdom's financial woes failed miserably, Louis dismissed and replaced him in 1783 with Charles Alexandre de Calonne , who increased public spending to "buy"
14432-580: The goodness of his soul. Hugh was crowned rex Francorum on 1 June, in Noyon , and again on 3 July 987, in Paris . Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert . The archbishop, wary of establishing hereditary kingship in the Capetian line, answered that two kings could not be created in the same year. Hugh claimed, however, that he was planning an expedition against
14596-612: The great families of that time. The West was dominated by Otto I, who had defeated the Magyars in 955 , and in 962 assumed the restored imperial title. The new emperor increased his power over Western Francia with special attention to certain bishoprics on his border; although elected by Lothair, Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims , had imperial sympathies. Disappointed, King Lothair relied on other dioceses ( Langres , Chalons , Noyon ) and on Arnulf I, Count of Flanders . In 956, Hugh inherited his father's estates, in theory making him one of
14760-399: The great nobles of West Francia began to assert that the monarchy was elective, not hereditary, and twice chose Robertians ( Odo I (888–898) and Robert I (922–923)) as kings, instead of Carolingians. Robert I, Hugh the Great's father, was succeeded as King of the Franks by his son-in-law, Rudolph of Burgundy . When Rudolph died in 936, Hugh the Great had to decide whether he ought to claim
14924-544: The greatest lords of France at Senlis and denounced Charles of Lorraine for not maintaining his dignity, having made himself a vassal of the Emperor Otto II and marrying a woman from a lower class of nobility. Then he promoted the candidacy of Hugh Capet: Crown the Duke. He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for
15088-459: The growing power of Hugh, decided to reconcile with the Emperor Otto II by agreeing to renounce Lorraine . But Hugh did not want the king and the emperor reconciled, so he quickly took the fortress of Montreuil , and then went to Rome. There he met the emperor and the pope, with his confidants Burchard I of Vendôme and Arnulf of Orléans . Tension mounted between Lothair and Hugh. The king married his 15-year-old son Louis to Adelaide of Anjou , who
15252-515: The hands of those who were perhaps not as sensitive to the desires of the French population as he was. Because it had been so long since the Estates General had been convened, there was some debate as to which procedures should be followed. Ultimately, the Parlement of Paris agreed that "all traditional observances should be carefully maintained to avoid the impression that the Estates General could make things up as it went along." Under this decision,
15416-438: The help of the émigrés , as well as assistance from other nations with which they could return and, in essence, recapture France. This degree of planning reveals Louis's political determination, but it was for this determined plot that he was eventually convicted of high treason. He left behind (on his bed) a 16-page written manifesto, Déclaration du roi, adressée à tous les François, à sa sortie de Paris , traditionally known as
15580-680: The hope of overrunning more British colonies in India and the West Indies. Great Britain recognized the independence of the Thirteen Colonies as the United States of America, and the French war ministry rebuilt its army . However, the British defeated the main French fleet in 1782 at the Battle of the Saintes and successfully defended Jamaica and Gibraltar . France gained little from the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended
15744-519: The journey back to Germany, Otto's rearguard, unable to cross the Aisne in flood at Soissons , was completely wiped out, "and more died by that wave than by the sword." This victory allowed Hugh Capet to regain his position as the first noble of the Frankish kingdom. Until the end of the tenth century, Reims was the most important of the archiepiscopal seats of France. Situated in Carolingian lands,
15908-488: The king from his profile on a 50 livres assignat (paper money), had given the alert. Louis XVI and his family were taken back to Paris where they arrived on 25 June. Viewed suspiciously as traitors, they were placed under tight house arrest upon their return to the Tuileries. At the individual level, the failure of the escape plans was due to a series of misadventures, delays, misinterpretations, and poor judgments. In
16072-530: The king's life is due to the uncertainty surrounding his actions during this period, as Louis XVI's declaration that was left behind in the Tuileries stated that he regarded his actions during his constitutional reign as provisional; he reflected that his "palace was a prison". This time period was exemplary in its demonstration of an institution's deliberation while in their last standing moments. Louis XVI's time in his previous palace came to an end on 5 October 1789, when an angry mob of Parisian working men and women
16236-406: The land around Rheims, Soissons , and Laon . Otto II then had Charles crowned as King of France by Theodoric I , Bishop of Metz . Lothair then fled to the French capital of Paris where he was besieged by Otto II and Charles. Sickness among his troops brought on by winter, and a French relief army under Hugh Capet, forced Otto II and Charles to lift the siege on 30 November and return to Germany. On
16400-474: The last monarch to rule France. Various pretenders descended from the preceding monarchs have claimed to be the legitimate monarch of France, rejecting the claims of the president of France and of one another. These groups are: Hugh Capet Hugh Capet ( / ˈ k æ p eɪ / ; French : Hugues Capet [yɡ kapɛ] ; c. 940 – 24 October 996) was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He
16564-426: The legacy of his father, the margraviate of Neustria and the title of Duke of the Franks. But in return, Hugh had to accept the new independence gained by the counts of Neustria during Hugh's minority. Hugh's brother, Otto received only the duchy of Burgundy (by marriage). Andrew W. Lewis has sought to show that Hugh the Great had prepared a succession policy to ensure his eldest son much of his legacy, as did all
16728-677: The legal right to practice their faiths, this edict effectively nullified the Edict of Fontainebleau that had been law for 102 years. The Edict of Versailles did not legally proclaim freedom of religion in France – this took two more years, with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 – however, it was an important step in eliminating religious tensions and it officially ended religious persecution within his realm. Radical financial reforms by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes angered
16892-509: The line became extinct in 1589, in the backdrop of the French Wars of Religion . As Navarre did not have a tradition of male-only primogeniture, the Navarrese monarchy became distinct from the French with Joan II , a daughter of Louis X. The Valois line looked strong on the death of Henry II , who left four male heirs. His first son, Francis II , died in his minority. His second son, Charles IX , had no legitimate sons to inherit. Following
17056-477: The literal interpretation, Capetian kingship would thus have ended with Philip Augustus , the seventh king of his line. Figuratively, seven meant completeness, and would mean that the Capetians would be kings for ever. In fact, Capetian kingship lasted until 1848 in France, although the current King of Spain and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg are Capetians. Italian poet Dante Alighieri features Hugh Capet as
17220-407: The local population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the Revolution had thoroughly disorganised the army, and the forces raised were insufficient for the invasion. The soldiers fled at the first sign of battle and, in one case, on 28 April 1792, murdered their general, Irish-born Théobald Dillon , whom they accused of treason. King of France France was ruled by monarchs from
17384-450: The marriage bed and Marie Antoinette's lack of interest in conjugal activity. Joseph described the couple as "complete fumblers"; however, with his advice, Louis XVI began to apply himself more effectively to his marital duties, and in the third week of March 1778 Marie Antoinette became pregnant. Eventually, the royal couple became the parents of four children. According to Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan , Marie Antoinette's lady-in-waiting,
17548-548: The minor states of the Holy Roman Empire . In the end, the Legislative Assembly , supported by Louis XVI, declared war on Austria ("the King of Bohemia and Hungary") first, voting for war on 20 April 1792, after a long list of grievances was presented to it by the foreign minister, Charles François Dumouriez . Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected
17712-525: The monarchs had clearly been heading for the Austrian border . War now seemed imminent, and the King seemed to have been politically involved with France's traditional enemies, who were still widely hated despite recent cooperation. Many citizens felt betrayed, and as a result, Republicanism now burst out of the coffee houses and became a dominating philosophy of the rapidly radicalized French Revolution. The other monarchies of Europe looked with concern upon
17876-403: The most powerful nobles in the much-reduced kingdom of West Francia . As he was not yet an adult, his mother acted as his guardian, and young Hugh's neighbours took advantage. Theobald I of Blois , a former vassal of Hugh's father, took the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun . Farther south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou , another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out
18040-399: The nature and good intention of his actions as benefiting the people, such as reinstating the parlements . When questioned about his decision, he said, "It may be considered politically unwise, but it seems to me to be the general wish and I want to be loved." In spite of his indecisiveness, Louis XVI was determined to be a good king, stating that he "must always consult public opinion; it
18204-576: The new king wished to launch an offensive against Reims and Laon because of their rapprochement with the empire. Sources are vague on Hugh's role at this time, but it would be his interest to limit the king's excessive pretensions. Louis summoned the archbishop of Reims at his palace at Compiègne to answer for his actions. But while hunting in the forest of Senlis, Louis was killed in a riding accident on 22 May 987. In May 987, chroniclers, including Richerus and Gerbert of Aurillac , wrote that in Senlis "died
18368-483: The night of 2–3 November 1783. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were the parents of four live-born children: In addition to his biological children, Louis XVI also adopted six children: "Armand" Francois-Michel Gagné ( c. 1771 –1792), a poor orphan adopted in 1776; Jean Amilcar ( c. 1781 –1796), a Senegalese slave boy given to the queen as a present by Stanislas de Boufflers in 1787, but whom she instead had freed, baptized, adopted and placed in
18532-482: The nobles and were blocked by the parlements who insisted that the King did not have the legal right to levy new taxes. So, in 1776, Turgot was dismissed and Malesherbes resigned, to be replaced by Jacques Necker . Necker supported the American Revolution , and he carried out a policy of taking out large international loans instead of raising taxes. He attempted to gain public favor in 1781 by publishing
18696-647: The northeastern border of France, where he would join the émigrés and be protected by Austria. The voyage was planned by the Swedish nobleman, and often assumed secret lover of Queen Marie Antoinette, Axel von Fersen . While the National Assembly worked painstakingly towards a constitution , Louis and Marie-Antoinette were involved in plans of their own. Louis had appointed Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil to act as plenipotentiary, dealing with other foreign heads of state in an attempt to bring about
18860-406: The papacy as Pope Sylvester II , the first French pope. Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers . Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles (1,000 km ). A plot in 993, masterminded by Adalberon, Bishop of Laon and Odo I of Blois , was to deliver Hugh Capet into the custody of Otto III. The plot failed, but
19024-481: The part of the aristocracy, but this is not the typical view of contemporaries and even some modern scholars have been less skeptical of Hugh's "plan" to campaign in Spain. Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December that same year. Charles of Lorraine, the Carolingian heir, contested the succession. He drew support from the Count of Vermandois, a cadet of the Carolingian dynasty; and from the Count of Flanders, loyal to
19188-485: The people of France to view him as a symbol of the perceived tyranny of the Ancien Régime , and his popularity deteriorated progressively. His unsuccessful flight to Varennes in June 1791, four months before the constitutional monarchy was declared, seemed to justify the rumors that the king tied his hopes of political salvation to the prospects of foreign intervention . His credibility was deeply undermined, and
19352-469: The possession of the territory of France. With the House of Bonaparte , the title " Emperor of the French " ( Empereur des Français ) was used in 19th-century France , during the first and second French Empires, between 1804 and 1814, again in 1815, and between 1852 and 1870. From the 14th century down to 1801, the English (and later British) monarch claimed the throne of France , though such claim
19516-457: The premature death of his fourth son Hercule François and the assassination of his third son, the childless Henry III , France was plunged into a succession crisis over which distant cousin of the king would inherit the throne. The best claimant, King Henry III of Navarre , was a Protestant, and thus unacceptable to much of the French nobility. Ultimately, after winning numerous battles in defence of his claim, Henry converted to Catholicism and
19680-418: The proposed reforms with hostility, and successfully opposed their implementation. Louis implemented deregulation of the grain market , advocated by his economic liberal minister Turgot , but it resulted in an increase in bread prices. In periods of bad harvests, it led to food scarcity which, during a particularly bad harvest in 1775, prompted the masses to revolt . From 1776, Louis XVI actively supported
19844-401: The queen also suffered two miscarriages. The first one, in 1779, a few months after the birth of her first child, is mentioned in a letter to her daughter, written in July by Empress Maria Theresa. Madame Campan states that Louis XVI spent an entire morning consoling his wife at her bedside, and swore to secrecy everyone who knew of the occurrence. Marie Antoinette suffered a second miscarriage on
20008-494: The race of Charles ". However, even if Louis died childless, there remained a Carolingian who could ascend the throne: Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine , brother of Lothair, uncle of Louis V, first cousin of Hugh Capet through their mothers. This was nothing extraordinary; it was not the first time that a Robertian would be competing with a Carolingian. In the time of Hugh the Great, the Robertians found it expedient to support
20172-461: The relics of St. Valery , which had been stolen by the Flemings, and restored them to their proper resting place. The saint appeared to the duke in a dream, and said: "For what you have done, you and your descendants shall be kings unto the seventh generation". When he became king, Hugh refused to wear the insignia of royalty, hoping that it would extend his descendants' reign by one generation. By
20336-399: The royal family: Jean Amilcar, along with the elder siblings of Zoe and Armand who were also formally foster children of the royal couple, simply lived on the queen's expense until her imprisonment, which proved fatal for at least Amilcar, as he was evicted from the boarding school when the fee was no longer paid, and reportedly starved to death on the street. Armand and Zoe had a position which
20500-489: The royal houses of France and Germany. Through his mother, Hugh was the nephew of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor ; Henry I, Duke of Bavaria ; Bruno the Great , Archbishop of Cologne; and finally, Gerberga of Saxony , Queen of France. Gerberga was the wife of Louis IV, King of France and mother of Lothair of France and Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine . His paternal family, the Robertians , were powerful landowners in
20664-631: The royal treasury was financially destitute to a crippling degree, leaving it incapable of sustaining its own imposed reforms. Third, although the King enjoyed as much absolute power as his predecessors, he lacked the personal authority crucial for absolutism to function properly. Now unpopular with both the commoners and the aristocracy, Louis XVI was therefore only very briefly able to impose his decisions and reforms, for periods ranging from 2 to 4 months, before having to revoke them. As authority dissipated from him and reforms were clearly becoming unavoidable, there were increasingly loud calls for him to convoke
20828-540: The senior line, and until 1848 via cadet branches (with an interruption from 1792 to 1814 and briefly in 1815 ). Hugh was the son of Hugh the Great , Duke of the Franks , and Hedwige of Saxony , daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler . His birth date is not given by any source, but modern scholars often date his birth between 938 and 941. He was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to
20992-406: The short term was traumatic for France, inciting a wave of emotions that ranged from anxiety to violence to panic. The realization that the King had repudiated the Revolution was a shock for people who until then had seen him as a good king who governed as a manifestation of God's will. Many suspected the King of collaborating with the Austrians, due to Marie Antoinette's family ties and the fact that
21156-478: The spring of 1776, Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes , the Minister for Foreign Affairs, saw an opportunity to humiliate France's long-standing enemy, Great Britain , and to recover territory lost during the Seven Years' War , by supporting the American Revolution . In the same year Louis was persuaded by Pierre Beaumarchais to send supplies, ammunition, and guns to the rebels secretly. Early in 1778 he signed
21320-477: The throne for himself. To claim the throne would require him to risk an election, which he would have to contest with the powerful Herbert II, Count of Vermandois , father of Hugh, Archbishop of Reims , and allied to Henry the Fowler , King of Germany; and with Hugh the Black, Duke of Burgundy , brother of the late king. To block his rivals, Hugh the Great brought Louis d'Outremer , the dispossessed son of Charles
21484-421: The throne in 1774, he was nineteen years old. He had an enormous responsibility, as the government was deeply in debt, and resentment of despotic monarchy was on the rise. His predecessor, his grandfather Louis XV , had been widely hated by the time of his death. The public remembered him as an irresponsible man who spent his time womanizing rather than administrating. Furthermore, the monarchy had poured money into
21648-414: The throne. Hugh Capet supported him and summoned the great nobles of the kingdom. The ceremony took place at Compiègne , in the presence of the king, of Arnulf (an illegitimate son of the king), and of Archbishop Adalberon, under Hugh's blessing. The congregation acclaimed Louis V , following the Carolingian custom, and the archbishop anointed the new king of the Franks. The following year, Lothair, seeing
21812-498: The time with the French population, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon. The French Second Republic lasted from 1848 to 1852, when its president, Charles-Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte , was declared Emperor of the French under the regnal name of Napoleon III . He would later be overthrown during the events of the Franco-Prussian War , becoming
21976-476: The unsettled conditions en route and in Rome made that impossible. The Pope then sent a legate with instructions to call a council of French and German bishops at Mousson , where only the German bishops appeared, the French being stopped on the way by Hugh and Robert. Gerbert, supported by other bishops, advocates for the independence of the churches vis-à-vis Rome (which is controlled by the German emperors). Through
22140-584: The vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire. While Hugh Capet's military power was limited and he had to seek military aid from Richard I of Normandy , his unanimous election as king gave him great moral authority and influence. Adémar de Chabannes records, probably apocryphally, that during an argument with the Count of Auvergne , Hugh demanded of him: "Who made you count?" The count riposted: "Who made you king?". Hugh Capet died on 24 October 996, and
22304-407: The very least, he would have been unable to ride to the hunt for a few weeks afterwards. The couple's sexual problems are now attributed to other factors. Antonia Fraser 's biography of Marie Antoinette discusses Joseph II's letter on the matter to one of his brothers after he visited Versailles in 1777. In the letter, Joseph describes in astonishingly frank detail Louis XVI's inadequate performance in
22468-408: The war, except the colonies of Tobago and Senegal. Louis XVI was wholly disappointed in his aims of recovering Canada, India, and other islands in the West Indies from Britain, as they were too well defended and the Royal Navy made any attempted invasion of mainland Britain impossible. The war cost 1,066 million livres , financed by new loans at high interest (with no new taxes). Necker concealed
22632-414: The whole of Europe under a single crown. Therefore, they turned their support from Lothair to Hugh Capet. Indeed, for the Ottonian to make France a vassal state of the empire, it was imperative that the Frankish king was not of the Carolingian dynasty, and not powerful enough to break the Ottonian tutelage. Hugh Capet was for them the ideal candidate, especially since he actively supported monastic reform in
22796-611: The young couple, the marriage was initially amiable but distant. Louis XVI's shyness and, among other factors, the young age and inexperience of the newlyweds (who were near total strangers to each other: they had met only two days before their wedding) meant that the fifteen-year-old bridegroom failed to consummate the union with his fourteen-year-old bride. His fear of being manipulated by her for Austrian purposes caused him to behave coldly towards her in public. Correspondence between Marie Antoinette's mother and Austria's French ambassador Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau suggest that
22960-467: Was Louis Philippe I , king of the July Monarchy (1830–1848), a member of the cadet House of Bourbon-Orléans . The House of Capet are also commonly known as the "Direct Capetians". The death of Charles IV started the Hundred Years' War between the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet , whose claim was taken up by the cadet branch known as the House of Lancaster , over control of
23124-481: Was 13% of total state expenses (excluding interest on debts). French involvement in the Seven Years' War had left Louis XVI a disastrous inheritance. Britain's victories had seen them capture most of France's colonial territories. While some were returned to France at the Treaty of Paris (1763) , almost all of New France was ceded to the British, or to France's Spanish allies to compensate them for losses to
23288-473: Was a deliberately deceptive choice, since Louis XVI had left a manifesto in plain view, assuming and justifying the escape. La Fayette decided to censor the text. Letters were sent throughout the country to stop the royal carriage. Louis's indecision, many delays, and misunderstanding of France were responsible for the failure of the escape. Within 24 hours, the royal family was arrested at Varennes-en-Argonne shortly after Jean-Baptiste Drouet , who recognised
23452-453: Was a tumultuous time in French politics. The period is generally considered to have begun with the French Revolution , which deposed and then executed Louis XVI . Royalists continued to recognize his son, the putative king Louis XVII , as ruler of France. Louis was under arrest by the government of the Revolution and died in captivity having never ruled. The republican government went through several changes in form and constitution until France
23616-401: Was a value in strong monarchs, and Abbé Soldini, his confessor, instructed him not to let people read his mind. On 19 April 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis XVI married the fourteen-year-old Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria , his second cousin once removed and the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa . This marriage was met with hostility from
23780-499: Was also used on coins up to the eighteenth century. During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect (1791–1792) and after the July Revolution in 1830, the style " King of the French " ( roi des Français ) was used instead of " King of France (and Navarre )". It was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarch's title to the French people rather than to
23944-459: Was careful not to join this expedition. When the king took Verdun and imprisoned Godfrey (brother of the Archbishop of Reims), Adalberon and Gerbert sought the aid of the duke of the Franks. But Lothair's enterprises came to naught when he died in March 986. Louis V, following Louis IV and Lothair, declared that he would take the counsels of the duke of the Franks for his policies. It seems
24108-494: Was crowned as King Henry IV, founding the House of Bourbon. This marked the second time the thrones of Navarre and France were united under one monarch, as different inheritance laws had caused them to become separated during the events of the Hundred Years Wars. The House of Bourbon was overthrown during the French Revolution and replaced by a short-lived republic . The period known as the "long nineteenth century"
24272-630: Was declared an empire, following the ascension of the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor Napoleon I. Napoleon was overthrown twice following military defeats during the Napoleonic Wars . After the Napoleonic period followed two different royal governments, the Bourbon Restoration , which was ruled successively by two younger brothers of Louis XVI, and the July Monarchy , ruled by Louis Philippe I ,
24436-481: Was encouraged in another of his interests, locksmithing, which was seen as a useful pursuit for a child. When his father died of tuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin . His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband and died on 13 March 1767, also from tuberculosis. The strict and conservative education he received from Paul François de Quelen de la Vauguyon , " gouverneur des Enfants de France " (governor of
24600-525: Was incited by revolutionaries and marched on the Palace of Versailles , where the royal family lived. At dawn, they infiltrated the palace and attempted to kill the queen, who was associated with a frivolous lifestyle that symbolized much that was despised about the Ancien régime . After the situation had been defused by Lafayette , head of the National Guard , the king and his family were brought by
24764-556: Was interred in the Basilica of Saint-Denis . His son Robert continued to reign. Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France as having initiated with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris , he made the city his power centre. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there. He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty . The direct Capetians, or
24928-483: Was more similar to that of Ernestine: Armand lived at court with the king and queen until he left them at the outbreak of the revolution because of his republican sympathies, and Zoe was chosen to be the playmate of the Dauphin, just as Ernestine had once been selected as the playmate of Marie Thérèse, and sent away to her sisters in a convent boarding school before the Flight to Varennes in 1791. When Louis XVI acceded to
25092-505: Was not used by his successors until the time of his descendant Philip II . Kings ruled as rex Francorum ("King of the Franks "), the title remaining in use until 1190 (but note the use of FRANCORUM REX by Louis XII in 1499, by Francis I in 1515, and by Henry II about 1550, and on French coins up to the eighteenth century.) The lands they ruled comprised only a small part of the former Carolingian Empire . The eastern Frankish lands ,
25256-462: Was opposed by many of the rural people of France and by all the governments of France's neighbors. Still, within the city of Paris and amongst the philosophers of the time, many of which were members of the National Assembly, the monarchy had next to no support. As the Revolution became more radical and the masses more uncontrollable, several of the Revolution's leading figures began to doubt its benefits. Some, like Honoré Mirabeau , secretly plotted with
25420-473: Was particularly irked by being kept essentially as a prisoner in the Tuileries, and by the refusal of the new regime to allow him to have confessors and priests of his choice rather than ' constitutional priests ' pledged to the state and not the Roman Catholic Church. On 21 June 1791, Louis XVI attempted to flee secretly with his family from Paris to the royalist fortress town of Montmédy on
25584-495: Was purely nominal excepting a short period during the Hundred Years' War when Henry VI of England had control over most of Northern France, including Paris. By 1453, the English had been mostly expelled from France and Henry's claim has since been considered illegitimate; French historiography commonly does not recognize Henry VI of England among the kings of France. The Carolingians were a Frankish noble family with origins in
25748-494: Was regarded as bright and handsome but died at the age of nine in 1761. Louis-Auguste, a strong and healthy boy but very shy, excelled in his studies and had a strong taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy and became fluent in Italian and English. His tutors in mathematics and physics had high praises for his work. Le Blonde, his mathematics instructor, wrote that the prince's studies were "proofs of [his] intelligence and
25912-413: Was ruled by Hugh's brothers Otto and Henry . In 956, when his father Hugh the Great died, Hugh, the eldest son, was then about fifteen years old and had two younger brothers. Otto I, King of Germany , intended to bring western Francia under his control, which was possible since he was the maternal uncle of Hugh Capet and Lothair of France , the new king of the Franks, who succeeded Louis IV in 954, at
26076-491: Was succeeded by his son Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), who eventually divided the kingdom between his sons. His death, however, was followed by a three-year-long civil war that ended with the Treaty of Verdun , which divided Francia into three kingdoms, one of which ( Middle Francia ) was short-lived. Modern France developed from West Francia , while East Francia became the Holy Roman Empire and later Germany . By this time,
26240-503: Was the predicament of Hugh, and he began doubting whether he could win the contest by force. Adalberon, bishop of Laon , whom Charles expelled when he took the city, had sought the protection of Hugh Capet. The bishop made overtures to Arnulf and Charles, to mediate a peace between them and Hugh Capet. Adalberon was received by Charles favorably, but was made to swear oaths that would bring curses upon himself if broken. Adalberon swore to them all, "I will observe my oaths, and if not, may I die
26404-466: Was the second surviving son of Louis , the Dauphin of France and the grandson of Louis XV and of his consort, Maria Leszczyńska . His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony , the daughter of Augustus III , Prince-elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria . Louis-Auguste was overlooked by his parents who favored his older brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy , who
26568-442: Was the stronger than the oath he had given Hugh. Gathering the nobles in his castle, Arnulf sent one of his agents and opened the gates of the city to Charles. Arnulf acted as if terrified, and took the nobles with him to a tower, which he had emptied out of supplies beforehand. Thus was the city of Reims compelled to surrender; to keep up appearances, Arnulf and Charles denounced each other, until Arnulf swore fealty to Charles. Great
26732-449: Was then divided among his four sons. Hugh the Great came to dominate a wide swath of central France, from Orléans and Senlis to Auxerre and Sens , while the king was rather confined to the area northeast of Paris ( Compiègne , Laon , Soissons ). The realm in which Hugh grew up, and of which he would one day be king, bore little resemblance to modern France. Hugh's predecessors did not call themselves kings of France, and that title
26896-457: Was then more than 40 years old. She brought with her Auvergne and the county of Toulouse , enough to pincer the Robertian territories from the south. However, the marriage failed and the couple separated two years later. At the death of Otto II in 983, Lothair took advantage of the minority of Otto III and, after making an alliance with the Duke of Bavaria , decided to attack Lorraine. Hugh
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