Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

For people today, the records about Marie Antoinette may not be true. In other words, during the French Revolution, a series of information transmission was somewhat distorted due to various reasons.

To take the simplest example, a well-known legend now is that Marie Antoinette once heard that the peasants were starving, and she said coldly, regardless of their life and death: "Then let them eat." Cake.”

Although this saying is widely circulated and has even evolved into a common saying, similar to the Chinese saying "Why not eat minced meat", there is a lack of evidence to prove that it was indeed said by Marie Antoinette.

According to scholars' research, it was French Jean-Jacques Rousseau who first wrote this sentence in his "Confessions". Rousseau said that he never had the habit of drinking without eating, but always left some bread with his meals.

Writing this, the philosopher said, "I am reminded of the folly of a noble princess, who was told that the peasants had no bread to eat, and she replied: 'Then let them eat cake!'"

Researchers analyzed that the original text of Rousseau's "Let them eat cake!" is "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!" This conceited tone is not like Marie Antoinette's usual speech.

What's more, Rousseau said "a noble princess" instead of "queen", so there is even less reason to add it to Queen Marie Antoinette.

In recent years, studies by scholars have proven that this sentence was actually said by Marie Theresa, Queen of Louis XIV of France, who lived more than a century before Marie Antoinette.

It can be seen that after having stereotypes, it is easy for people to make conclusions that violate the facts. However, from another perspective, those folk legends may not be all false, but have been maliciously exaggerated.

For example, Marie Antoinette did live a luxurious life for a time, but she was not as corrupt and stupid as people think. After coming to France, her mother taught her many times:

"A queen must not take it lightly at any time and let herself sink in luxury." "Don't imitate the frivolity of the French. You should be a serious German. You should be proud of it."

In fact, when she matured, she did become quite restrained and restrained in her previous lifestyle. She wore simpler clothes, and she also posed for portraits with her children, hoping to change her life in the future. The image among the people has only a minimal effect.

It's a pity that this simplicity is only compared to her previous life. Unlike Louis XVI, whose hobby was to be a locksmith, she was very sensitive to the fashion, fashion, and art of the time.

The problem is that art and fashion in any era require a lot of money to support. Therefore, there is no doubt that Mary was extravagant and extravagant.

But it is obviously nonsense to say that France's finances have been ruined by her. No matter how much a woman buys clothes and jewelry to decorate the palace, she will not empty the treasury unless there is no money in the treasury.

For example, Emperor Sui Yang of China was also such a prodigal. However, in Chinese history, it was believed that the money spent by the emperor was mainly used on the three conquests of Korea, the construction of the Grand Canal and the city of Daxing, which would be the future Chang'an. His court consumed most of the wealth.

In fact the same is true in France. The country's finances have been in decline since Louis XIV. Louis XV failed to solve the problem and made it worse - he kept so many mistresses that he had no money to marry his daughter. Even Louis XVI's wedding was borrowed It’s done with money——

Louis XVI, who had just succeeded to the throne, could not do it even more. So Mary, who spends extravagantly, is caught in the crosshairs. In fact, she didn't marry to be a queen, and the French people's life would not be better either.

To a certain extent, Louis XIV is a bit like China's Qianlong. His family did reach its peak, but it also left a lot of problems for the successors and laid the foundation for the fall of the dynasty. The seeds of destruction were planted.

In addition to this most obvious point, there are also many issues worthy of discussion in the remaining charges. For example, in the criticism of Mary's private life, it is most likely true that she has a lover, but other content related to personal morality is obviously Dirty water was poured out.

As for opposing the French Revolution, this is of course true. Historically speaking, this is her only unquestionable crime. After all, she blocked the trend of history.

She has accepted the idea of ​​divine right of kings since she was a child. Her mother is from the Habsburg family. She has been a Grand Duchess for forty years and is isolated from the world of ordinary people since she was born.

If a good politician with a keen political sense might weigh the pros and cons, a little princess without political foresight would nod her head and recognize that nobles and poor people are created equal... Thinking about it, this is impossible. After all, only a few people betray their own class.

So in summary, Marie Antoinette is an innocent and pure princess in nature. She not only has the Austrian personality of advocating nature, integrity, frankness and enthusiasm. She was also influenced by her parents' "a kind of citizen-style married life that was extremely unusual in that era." She was accustomed to being free and letting things take their own course, and disliked being serious and pretentious.

She is a woman who is complete in a purely human sense. She doesn't care about social things, the duties of a princess, the responsibilities of a princess, the qualities of a politician, etc.

So she paid the price with her life in exchange for her more than 30 years of luxurious life, so the final ending can be regarded as corresponding to what she did.

And her life happened to be in line with the description of the time when she was besieged in the Tuileries Palace in "The Beheaded Queen" by the biographer Zweig.

"She realized that fate was too favorable to her. She had a smooth journey. She was born in the royal family and became a queen. Good luck came one after another, and she did not make any effort for it.

For a long time, she had always thought that she didn't need to struggle. With ministers and subjects doing the work for her, and a lot of gold to spend, everything would go smoothly. She enjoyed all the blessings of fate without caring.

Only now do I realize that such a gift does not come without a price. It wasn't until she needed to use her talents and abilities to save her own life and that of her children that she discovered that her life had been empty and pale, and she had never accumulated any strength to fight against adversity. "

"She is not a bad person, and her execution is a tragedy, but it is inevitable." After hearing the story of the Austrian princess's life, Joan of Arc said, "At least from my point of view, there is no problem in sentencing her to death. "

After all, Joan of Arc has always regarded herself as an ordinary Frenchman, so after assuming the perspective of ordinary people, Joan of Arc felt that it was very reasonable for a queen like this to be executed.

"You are right." Liang En nodded, "But it seems that Marie Antoinette made preparations to escape after realizing that something was wrong, so we were able to find these batches hidden in the Swiss bank this time. jewelry.”

"These jewels were probably the fine jewels that Marie Antoinette had prepared for her future escape career. They would have been very valuable in that era, not to mention that today there are antiques as a bonus."

"But then again, that bank is indeed very powerful. If you put it in an ordinary bank, you might not be able to find it. Unlike this bank, which can be preserved for hundreds of years."