Louis XVI

Louis XVI (1754-1793), King of France, (1774-1792). A weak figure he and his wife Marie Antoinette were executed by the leaders of the French Revolution. His fate is iconic with extreme revolutionary measures.

Family

He was the grandson of King Louis XV and the third son of Louis, Dauphin of France, and of the Dauphiness, Marie Josèphe of Saxony. Born at Versailles on Aug. 23, 1754, he was baptized Louis Augustus, and during the lifetime of Louis XV bore the title of the Duke of Berry. He was tutored in religion, literature, science, mathematics, history, drawing, music, and foreign languages. The man never outgrew the shyness and dullness of the boy; he was best at his locksmith hobby, or out hunting.

Upon his father's death in 1765 he became the Dauphin of France. In 1767 his mother died. In 1770 his grandfather arranged a marriage alliance between the Bourbon and Hapsburg dynasties, and Louis Augustus was married at Versailles to an Austrian archduchess, Marie Antoinette (1755–93), daughter of Maria Theresa and the Emperor Francis I. Their unhappy marriage remained unconsummated for seven years, as the queen surrounded herself with a dissolute clique and threw herself into a life of pleasure and careless extravagance. On May 10, 1774 Louis XV died, and his 19-year-old grandson succeeded to the throne as Louis XVI.

King

At first the youthful king was popular with his subjects, and his appointment of Turgot (1727–81) as controller-general of finances seemed to presage the beginning of a period of reform of the political, economic, and social structure of France. The reforms were too little and too late, as his reign marked the culmination of long-term financial difficulties which for decades had sapped the financial stability of the government.

A weak and vacillating leader, Louis XVI proved incapable of pursuing any consistent policy. A series of finance ministers worsened the fiscal crisis, which led to louder and more urgent demands by supporters of liberal reforms. Turgot’s program—"No bankruptcy, no increase in taxes, no borrowing, but economy"—demanded stringent reforms, so he abolished some monopolies, tried to reform the extraordinarily wasteful system of farming the taxes (i.e. having private persons collect them for a fee), and drastically cut spending; he managed to reduce part of the public debt. In 1774 his restoration of free circulation of grain inside the country antagonized the grain speculators; it was followed by a crop failure and widespread bread riots, as Turgot's popularity plunged. Turgot was ousted in 1776, and replaced by Jacques Necker as director of the treasury. Louis supported most of Necker’s reforms and economies, but the decision to financially aid the American Revolution and declare war on Britain in 1777 overwhelmed Necker's savings, and his borrowings greatly swelled the debt. Necker’s attempt to gain greater control over policy by courting public opinion was rebuffed at court, and he quit in May, 1781.

Necker’s successors, Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1783–87) and Étienne Charles Loménie de Brienne (1787–88), discovered that France simply lacked a taxation system that would support its mounting debts, in contrast to Britain which successfully handled its debt. To deal with the looming bankruptcy Louis XVI called an Assembly of Notables in 1787, but this body, generally hostile to reform, refused to raise taxes. Necker was recalled and in May 1789, the Estates General, meeting for the first time in 175 years, was called into session at Versailles. With this event the French Revolution was put in motion.

French Revolution

see also French Revolution

In the Estates General, a sharp quarrel broke out between representatives of the two privileged orders, the clergy and the nobility, and the members of the Third Estate, the bourgeoisie. Conceivably if Louis XVI had definitely taken the part of the ordinary people he might have become the leader of the Revolution. But the vacillating monarch paid more heed to the conservative aristocrats at court and eventually decided upon the use of military force to destroy the reform movement. Necker was dismissed but before the king acted the Parisians, fearing a coup d'etat, rose in rebellion on July 14, 1789. They captured and sacked the Bastille, an ancient fortress and prison in Paris which to many symbolized the despotism of the Bourbon regime. Early in October 1789, a Parisian mob went to Versailles and forced the royal family and the National Assembly (as the Estates General was then called) to return with them to Paris.

The royal family (Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their two children) were placed under strict guard in the palace of the Tuileries. In June 1791 Louis disguised his family and fled to the eastern frontier to join an army of émigrés assembled there with which he hoped to bring about a counterrevolution. At Varennes the royal family was intercepted and brought back to the Tuileries as a state prisoner. Meanwhile, the National Assembly continued its political and economic reorganization of the French state. In September 1791 Louis XVI was forced to assent to the Constitution of 1791 which created a limited monarchy; royal powers were sharply curtailed. The secret opposition of Louis XVI to the progress of the Revolution, however, and the intrigues of his wife and the aristocrats continued. On Aug. 10, 1792, a Parisian insurrection caused Louis and his family to be interned in the Temple. In September the monarchy was abolished and the republic proclaimed. Evidence of the king's intrigues with foreign enemies was uncovered and in December 1792 Louis was formally arraigned before the Convention; his trial lasted for more than a month. Found guilty by a unanimous vote, he was sentenced to death by a vote of 361 to 288, with 72 calling for a delay; he was publicly guillotined in Paris on the morning of Jan. 21, 1793. Marie Antoinette was guillotined Oct. 16, 1793, and the young dauphin (known as Louis XVII) (1785-1795?) was given over to a poor family and apparently died in 1795. Louis XVI's younger brother Louis XVIII (1755-1824) became King of France after the abdication of Napoleon in 1814.

Bibliography

• Doyle, William. Origins of the French Revolution (3rd ed. 1999) online edition
• Doyle, William. "The Execution of Louis XVI and the End of the French Monarchy." History Review. (2000) pp 21+ online edition
• Hardman, John. Louis XVI (1994) 280 pages, the standard scholarly biography
• Jones, Colin. The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon (2002) excerpt and text search
• Padover, Saul K. The Life and Death of Louis XVI (1939) online edition
• Schama, Simon. Citizens. A Chronicle of the French Revolution (1989), highly readable narrative by scholar excerpt and text search

Primary sources

• Marie Antoinette. Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Wife of Louis XVI: Queen of France (1910) complete edition online