Elisabeth Philippe Marie Hélène de Bourbon

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Madame Elisabeth, portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

Élisabeth Philippe Marie Hélène de Bourbon, called Madame Élisabeth (born May 3, 1764 in Versailles , † May 10, 1794 (executed) in Paris ), was a French princess. She was the youngest sister of King Louis XVI. and remained unmarried. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, she was on the side of her brother and family. Some time after the execution of the royal couple, she was also guillotined .

Descent and youth

Madame Elisabeth as a child, 1768

Elisabeth de Bourbon was the youngest child of the Dauphin Ludwig , son of Louis XV. , and his second wife Maria Josepha von Sachsen , daughter of the Saxon Elector Friedrich August II. and Polish King August III. She had four older siblings, three of whom became Kings of France: Louis XVI. , Louis XVIII. and Charles X. Her sister Marie-Clotilde became the wife of King Charles Emanuel IV of Sardinia . Three other siblings died in childhood.

Since she was of weak constitution, Elisabeth was on the day she was born by the Archbishop of Reims, Charles-Antoine de la Roche-Aymon , in the presence of the royal couple, their three brothers and other close relative of the royal family in the chapel of Louis XIV. Baptized . Her nominal godfather was the Infanta Philip of Spain , who was represented by her eldest brother. Elisabeth therefore considered her brother Louis XVI throughout her life. as her godfather and had a particularly close bond with him. Her parents died early - father in 1765, mother in 1767 - and Elisabeth was an orphan when she was three years old. Like her sister Marie-Clotilde, who was four years her senior, her upbringing was placed in the hands of Marie Louise de Rohan , Comtesse de Marsan, governess of the Children of France and sister of Marshal Charles de Rohan-Soubise .

Elisabeth Philippe Marie Helene de France with Pierre François Léonard Fontaine , c. 1775

Elisabeth's character during her early teens is described as proud, quick-tempered, passionate and confident. She was well aware of her status as a royal princess and used her privileges to get her way. When the Comtesse de Marsan needed support in bringing up the children, the choice fell on the Alsatian Angélique de Mackau, who, as sub-governess, took over the education of Elisabeth and knew how to control her temperament. As a young woman, the princess was already very pious, kind, frank and generous.

Marriage projects with Emperor Joseph II and the Duke of Aosta failed due to Elisabeth's rejection because she wanted to stay close to her beloved brother. In contrast to her sister-in-law, Queen Marie Antoinette , who was nine years her senior , she acted very cautiously and stayed away from interference in politics and court intrigues. Rather, she devoted herself to religious exercises and charitable works. She used some of her income to raise orphans and support the needy. Often for religious reasons she attended the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis in Saint-Cyr , which had been transformed into a convent school, and the Carmelite convent in Saint-Denis , where Louise Marie de Bourbon , a daughter of King Louis XV, had stayed since 1770.

Louis XVI In 1783 he gave his sister the Montreuil country estate in Versailles , where Elisabeth often lived with a select group of people. Here she set up a clinic in part of her property, in which she had the poor people of the area treated by the plant researcher and doctor Louis Guillaume Le Monnier . He gave her lessons in the science of botany, which she valued . She was also a gifted draftswoman; several preserved works by her hand are in the Museum of the Palace of Versailles. She was also an excellent rider. She was in regular correspondence with her childhood friends, especially Madame de Bombelles , the daughter of her governess Madame de Mackau.

Role during the French Revolution

When the revolution broke out, Elisabeth was already 25 years old and was simply called Madame Elisabeth . While most of the high nobility left the country for safety, including her brother Karl X. in July 1789, and although it would have been easy for her to flee at the time, she decided to stand by her family. Madame Elisabeth told her warners that she had received so many benefits in the good days that she considered it shameful not to stand by her brother and his children in the hour of danger.

As a result, Elisabeth took part steadfastly and courageously in all the unfortunate fortunes of her royal brother and his family. She acted as a shrewd advisor and, as a staunch monarchist, urged her good-natured brother, who was very reluctant to make decisions, to take more effective measures against the spread of the revolution, as long as he still had sufficient authority to do so. When thousands of angry and armed women moved to Versailles on October 5, 1789 and broke into the palace the next morning, Elisabeth brought several bodyguards to safety from the anger of the crowd. The royal family, including Elisabeth, were forced to move to Paris and live there in the Tuileries , a spacious palace. Louis XVI., His children and his sister Elisabeth took up quarters on the first floor, his wife Marie Antoinette alone on the ground floor.

Through the mediation of the Count of Virieu, among others, Elisabeth was able to correspond regularly with her brother Karl, who lived in exile. She was convinced of the need for military intervention by French emigrants and foreign powers to restore the monarchy. Charles, who held similar views, should, in their opinion, independently try to win other European rulers for these plans, since their royal brother was too weak and compliant. However, one of her letters was intercepted and forwarded to the National Assembly for investigation .

Elisabeth also strongly condemned the confiscation of church property, decided in 1790, as well as the obligation for the priests to take the oath on the newly introduced civil constitution of the clergy.

In view of the threatening situation, Louis XVI. in February 1791 his aunts, Madame Adélaïde and Madame Victoire , to leave France. Elisabeth was supposed to accompany them at his request, but she refused to leave her brother. In contrast, she took on 20./21. June 1791 on the amateurish attempt to escape Louis XVI. and his family, who wanted to move to Montmédy on the French eastern border. However, the small group was recognized in Varennes and forced to return to Paris, subjecting them to numerous humiliations along the way. During this return trip, Elisabeth, and especially Marie Antoinette, won the respect and pity of Deputy Antoine-Pierre-Joseph-Marie Barnave . The simultaneous escape of Elisabeth's brother Louis Stanislas Xavier (later Louis XVIII.) Was, however, successful.

When Louis XVI. Vetoed various bills requested by the National Assembly, including the decision to deport priests who refused to take the oath on the civil constitution of the clergy, thousands of sans-culottes invaded the Tuileries Palace on June 20, 1792 and tried to intimidate the king . In this dangerous situation, Elisabeth appeared courageously at her brother's side; she was mistaken for the queen and threatened by the rebels. To protect Marie Antoinette, Elisabeth did not reveal herself, despite the danger, until the knight Saint-Pardoux revealed her true identity. The king himself was unwilling to give in to the demands of the crowd.

On the morning of August 10th, 1792, huge crowds started the Tuileries Tower . Before that, Elisabeth, her brother and his family took shelter in the Legislative National Assembly . They had to spend 18 hours in the secretary's box and then several days in four cells in an adjacent monastery. On August 13, Elizabeth was finally incarcerated in the Temple with the royal family . Meanwhile, Louis XVI. been discontinued.

Elizabeth's appearance changed a lot under the conditions of detention in the Temple. A surgeon of Charles X, who she was at the time of the trial of Louis XVI. visited, said that she was barely recognizable. With the help of a few trusted ladies, she was able to maintain some connection with the outside world. She devoted herself to various sewing work with Marie Antoinette to pass the time and, like a second mother, took care of the upbringing of the two royal children imprisoned with her and the royal couple in the Temple, the seven-year-old Dauphin Louis XVII. and 14-year-old Marie Thérèse Charlotte , known as Madame Royale . She also tried to comfort her brother and sister-in-law as best she could. During the December 1792 against Louis XVI. Due to the high treason trial, the king had to spend his captivity in the Temple separated from his family. Elisabeth and his other relatives were only allowed to say their last farewell to him before his execution on January 21, 1793.

At the beginning of July 1793 the young Dauphin was taken from his family and given to a shoemaker for education. On August 2nd, Elisabeth had to say goodbye to Marie Antoinette, who was brought to the conciergerie . Elisabeth took care of her niece while she was in prison in Temple and taught her the values ​​of the Catholic religion. Shortly before the hated l'Autrichienne was executed after her show trial on October 16, 1793, she had written a last letter to Elisabeth, which, however, never reached its addressee and did not appear again until many years later.

Trial and Execution

Originally the National Convention only wanted to expel Elisabeth from the country, but due to some incriminating documents read during Marie Antoinette's trial in October 1793, a decree was passed calling her before the Revolutionary Tribunal . However, after the queen's death, she seemed forgotten for some time. Some deputies, like Robespierre , considered them harmless, but increasing criminal prosecution meant that it was their turn.

On May 9, 1794, after 21 months in prison, Elisabeth was brought from her previous prison to the Conciergerie and, on the orders of Fouquier-Tinville, brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal. She was accused of facilitating the king's attempt to escape, of providing financial support to her exiled brothers and of calling for armed resistance against the Tuileries storm. When she was dubbed the “sister of a tyrant”, she is said to have replied that if her brother had actually been a tyrant, it would not have given her any opportunity to try her. After a brief, completely biased trial, the convention sentenced her to death on May 10, 1794 .

Then Elisabeth was put on one of the carts that transported her and 24 other death row inmates to the Place de la Révolution . She indulged in the hooting of a fanatical crowd that followed her. As a staunch Catholic, she comforted and prayed for her fellow prisoners, whose respect she thereby earned. She witnessed their execution and was the last to climb the guillotine . Her last words are said to have been addressed to the executioner when he tore the scarf from her shoulders on the scaffold and she then said: “ In the name of God, monsieur, cover me again! “Implored.

Elisabeth had only reached the age of 30. Her body was buried in a mass grave in the Cimetière des Errancis cemetery in Paris. After the restoration of the monarchy , her brother Louis XVIII. found that their remains could no longer be identified. Those executed during the revolution and buried in the Errancis cemetery have now been transferred to the catacombs of Paris .

Editions of letters and memoirs

The Memoires de Madame Élisabeth de France, sœur de Louis XVI, published in 1858 by François de Barghon Fort-Rion . are of dubious authenticity. Count Antoine F. Ferrand published an Éloge historique de Madame Elisabeth in 1814 . This work contains 94 letters from Elisabeth, which, however, have a heavily distorted text and were only slightly corrected in the second edition from 1861. In 1868 F. Feuillet de Conches published a Correspondance de Madame Élisabeth de France , but many of the letters reproduced therein are suspect as apocryphal.

literature

  • Alcide-Hyacinthe de Beauchesne: La vie de Madame Élisabeth, sœur de Louis XVI. - Paris: Plon, 1869.
  • Marie Célestine Amélie de Ségur, comtesse d'Armaillé: Madame Elisabeth, sœur de Louis XVI. - Paris: Perrin, 1886.
  • Noëlle Destremau: Une sœur de Louis XVI, Madame Élisabeth , Nouvelles éditions latines, Paris 1983.
  • Monique de Huertas: Madame Élisabeth. La sœur martyre de Louis XVI. - Paris: Pygmalion, 2000. - ISBN 2-85704-659-6

Web links

Commons : Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène de Bourbon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Madame Elisabeth . In: Große Frauen der Weltgeschichte , 1987, ISBN 3-7043-3064-7 , p. 147.
  2. ^ Friedrich Weissensteiner , The Daughters of Maria Theresa , 1996, ISBN 3-404-64145-0 , pp. 272f.
  3. ^ Friedrich Weissensteiner, The Daughters of Maria Theresa , pp. 219f. and 275f.
  4. Élisabeth-Philippine-Marie-Hélène : In: Nouvelle biographie générale , Vol. 15, Col. 883f.
  5. ^ Br. Neveu: Elisabeth 3) de France . In: Dictionnaire de biographie française . 12: 1204-1205 (1970).