Marie Antoinette
Rachael Curry
Who is she:
- Marie Antoinette was the Dauphine of France from 1770 to 1774 and Queen of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1792
- She was born in Vienna, Austria on November 2, 1755
- Her death took place in Paris, France on October 16, 1793
- She was 37 years old when she died
Marie's Background:
Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was born in 1755. Fifteen years later, she was married to the French King, Louis XVI, and they soon became a symbol of all excesses of the reviled French Monarchy. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the royal family was forced to live under suspensions.
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette's Family:
King Louis XVI
Louis XVI was married to Marie Antoinette for 23 years. He was put to death by the guillotine on January 21, 1793. They had had four children: two boys and two girls.
Marie Therese
Marie Therese was the oldest daughter of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. She was the only child of the four that survived the killing of her whole family, and is known as the "horror child" of the four.
Louis XVII
At the age of 8, Louis XVII was recognized as the rightful heir to the throne after the killing of his older brother, Louis Joseph. Knowing this, he was kept in captivity until he died in Paris on June 8, 1795, when he was 10 years old.
Louis Joseph Xavier
Louis Joseph was the second child of Marie Antoinette. As a young child, he developed a series of fevers that quickened the seriousness of his illness. He later died, at the age of 8, of tuberculosis.
Sophie Helene Beatrix
Sophie was the youngest child of Marie Antoinette. Not much is known about her because she dies of tuberculosis at the age of 1.
How Marie Antoinette croaked...
Marie Antoinette was guillotined, which is the reason for her death, but she was thought to have had womb cancer before hand.
Symptoms of womb cancer:
- Pain in lower abdomen
- Abnormal bleeding
- Enlarged/swollen womb
- Loss of weight and appetite
- Fatigue
- Sickness
- Constipation
- Pain in the back of the legs
How illnesses would be dealt with then vs. now (and side effects of current treatments):
Before, womb cancer would have been treated by:
- Sitting over a burning object
- Recite an ancient spell and/or ritual
- Breaking up a rock, soaking it in water for a day, and placing the rocks in the womb
Now, Womb cancer would be treated by:
- Removing the womb
- Radiotherapy
- Chemotherapy
- Hormone Therapy
Current treatments of womb cancer can cause the following side effects:
- Leg swelling
- Hair loss
- irritable bladder
- Soreness
- Irregular bleeding
Important dates in Marie Antoinette's life:
- May 16, 1770- Married King Louis XVI
- December 19, 1778- Birth of first daughter, and oldest child, Marie Therese
- October 21, 1781- Birth of first son, and second child, Louis Joseph Xavier
- March 27, 1785- Birth of second son, and third child, Louis Charles
- June 4, 1789- Death of oldest son, Louis Joseph Xavier
- July 10, 1789- Beginning of French Revolution
- April 20, 1792- France declares war on Austria
- September 21, 1792- Fall of French Monarchy
Vocabulary:
- Guillotine: Device created by Dr. Guillotine as a more "humane" way of killing people
- Byzantine: Predominately the Greek-speaking continuation of the eastern half of the Roman empire
- King Louis XVI: King of France up until he was taken out of position and executed
- Profligate: Recklessly extravagant or wasteful use of resources
- French Revolution: An influential period of social and political upheaval in France, inspired by Liberal and Racial ideas
The French Revolution: Crash Course World History #29