Texas Journal of Genealogy and History, Volume I, Fall 2002 Page: 17
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The Reputation of Marie Antoinette: Justified
Or Not?
Stacy Adams, Senior History Major Howard Payne UniversityP princess Maria Antonia of Austria,
daughter of Empress Maria
Theresa, arrived in France with a new
name, Marie Antoinette, and an opti-
mistic outlook about her marriage to
Louis XVI and life in a new country.
From the moment she entered France,
however, certain factions has already
targeted her for ruin. Marie Antoi-
nette became the object of ridicule and
scandal for the pamphleteers and lam-
poonists, who created an image, which
caused French subjects to focus their
resentments and hatreds on her. Was
she responsible for this disparagement
of her character or just a scapegoat for
both the royalists and revolutionaries
who attacked her? In researching the
ill-fated queen of France, one discov-
ers that many key elements played a
role in the formation of the character
created by the events of the French
Revolution. By examining the reasons
why she was targeted (her nationality,
imperfect education, extravagances),
her enemies, and the scandal, specifi-
cally the Diamond Necklace Affair, it
is possible to discover whether or not
the character and behavior of Queen
Marie Antoinette justified the written
attacks printed in the pamphlets, lam-
poons, and newspapers during this tu-
multuous period in French history.
The young, naive princess of Austria
became a primary character in the
Franco-Austrian alliance at the early
age of thirteen, subjected to a new cul-
ture, without the benefit of a complete
education. Her first two French tutors,
Messieurs Aufresne and Sainville, were
quickly dismissed when the French
court expressed its horror at such
lowly instructors, and insisted on send-
ing a tutor of its own. (This action
demonstrated the contrast between the
stuffiness of the Bourbon Court in con-
trast to that of the Habsburgs.) Her
new tutor, Abbe Jacques de Vermond,
a doctor of the Sorbonne and librarian
of the College Mazarin, was sent from
France to instruct Maria (her name as
a child) in French manners and eti-
quette, as well as other subjects. He
quickly won the respect of the
Habsburgs and was full of admiration
for them and their simple ways. Intent
on ingratiating himself in the Austrian
court, he taught Maria to think of Pa-risian manners as contemptible and
encouraged her to frolic carelessly like
a mountain maid.1 This freedom is
documented by Maria in her diary on
May 5, 1769, when she writes about
going riding astride, not sidesaddle,
through a sparse woods and creek bed.
She became splattered with mud and
drenched, and when she returned to
the courtyard, her mother, Empress
Maria Theresa, was waiting for her,
along with a delegation from the court
of Versailles.2 In her diary, given to
her by Abbe de Vermond, Maria listed
the lessons that she must learn before
marrying Louis XVI and arriving at
the French Court:
"-to write and read French (I speak
it well, as it is the language of the
court here)
-gambling
-to dance in the French manner
-to walk, in the manner of the
French Court, as if I float in the
immense panniers, or side hoops, of
the French ladies' dresses
-to read better
-to write better"3
In her memoirs, Madame Campan,
Marie Antoinette's companion and lady-
in-waiting, comments about de Ver-
mond's tutorage of Marie Antoinette,
" ... it was very easy to see that he had
taken pains only to render himself be-
loved by his pupil, and had troubled
himself very little with the care of in-
structing her. He might have even been
accused of having, by a sharp-sighted,
but culpable policy, left her in igno-
rance."4
Marie Antoinette later realized that
she had received an inadequate educa-
tion and was embarrassed by this defi-
ciency. Her imperfect education was no-
ticed by intellectuals at the French
Court and became the brunt of salon
gossip. She made attempts while at Petit
Trianon to regain the lost hours of study
during her childhood, but her duties as
queen caused constant interruptions in
this endeavor. Having a love for music,
she did, however, teach herself to sight-
read music and to play various instru-
ments.5
French etiquette was quite different
from that of the Austrians, and the
French nobility lived their social lives
according to a strict, regimented sched-ule. Life at Schonbrunn had been sim-
pler and more relaxed, and Marie Antoi-
nette was never comfortable with these
differences. While still in Austria, Marie
Antoinette began to worry about the
etiquette and the restraints that would
be placed on her personal freedoms, and
writes in her diary on July 19, 1769:
Despite all this etiquette, I must learn
for Versailles, I am determined to en-
joy the rest of the summer and the
special freedom I find here at Schon-
brunn. Titi and I went wading in the
fountains in our night rails last
night .. I wager that I should never
be permitted this at Versailles, even if
I were Queen and commanded it-
... what is the point of being the
Queen of France if one cannot wade
barefoot in one's nightclothes?6
Upon arriving in France, she was at
first awkward, and sometimes amused,
with the tedious court etiquette, later
becoming appalled and disgusted, and
she was constantly insulting someone
by her unintentional (and occasionally
intentional) breaches. At the time of
her marriage, while still a dauphiness,
it was a French custom that royal
meals be open to spectators in railed-
off sections of the dining room. This
custom greatly annoyed Marie Antoi-
nette, and upon becoming queen, she
discontinued it. This caused angry
complaints against the "interfering
Austrian."7 She once expressed her
frustration in a letter to her mother,
stating that the "falseness" of the
French courtiers never failed to amaze
her, fretting about the manner in
which they dressed, but thinking noth-
ing about urinating in the hallways of
Versailles.8
Marie Antoinette had been prompted
by Abbe de Vermond to ridicule both
the lessons on etiquette and those that
gave them, and therefore, she later felt
tormented by the constant remonstrance
of her lady of honor, Madame Noailles.
Madame Campan felt that Abbe de Ver-
mond had failed Marie Antoinette in
her education by not stressing the im-
portance of blending into the French
social etiquette. She also placed blame
as well on the Comtesse de Noailles
(whom Marie Antoinette referred to as
"Madame Etiquette") for not making
Marie Antoinette sensible to the impor-
tance of French etiquette; instead she17
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Howard Payne University. Texas Journal of Genealogy and History, Volume I, Fall 2002, periodical, 2002; Brownwood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth599838/m1/20/: accessed May 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Howard Payne University Library.