Marie-Antoinette (-Josèphe-Jeanne d’Autriche-Lorraine) summary

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Marie-Antoinette (-Josèphe-Jeanne d’Autriche-Lorraine), (born Nov. 2, 1755, Vienna—died Oct. 16, 1793, Paris, France), Queen consort of Louis XVI of France. The daughter of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, she was married in 1770 to the French dauphin. After he became king (1774), she was criticized for her extravagance and frivolous circle of court favourites. She was unjustly implicated in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace (1786), which discredited the monarchy. After the French Revolution began, she influenced Louis to resist attempts by the National Assembly to restrict the royal prerogative. She became the target of agitators, who attributed to her the celebrated remark, after being told the people had no bread, “Let them eat cake!” She tried to save the crown by negotiating secretly with monarchist factions and with her brother, Emperor Leopold II. News of her intrigues further enraged the French and led to the overthrow of the monarchy (1792). After a year in prison, she was tried and guillotined in 1793.

Louis XVI Summary

Louis XVI was the last king of France (1774–92) in the line of Bourbon monarchs preceding the French Revolution of 1789. The monarchy was abolished on September 21, 1792; later Louis and his queen consort, Marie-Antoinette, were guillotined on charges of counterrevolution. Louis was the third son

Maria Theresa Summary

Maria Theresa was the archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740–80), 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). Upon her accession, the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48)

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni: portrait of Joseph II

Joseph II Summary

Joseph II was the Holy Roman emperor (1765–90), at first coruler with his mother, Maria Theresa (1765–80), and then sole ruler (1780–90) of the Austrian Habsburg dominions. An “enlightened despot,” he sought to introduce administrative, legal, economic, and ecclesiastical reforms—with only measured

Affair of the Diamond Necklace Summary

Affair of the Diamond Necklace, scandal at the court of Louis XVI in 1785 that discredited the French monarchy on the eve of the French Revolution. It began as an intrigue on the part of an adventuress, the comtesse (countess) de La Motte, to procure, supposedly for Queen Marie-Antoinette but in