Wikipedia Louis XVI

8/6/2019 Wikipedia Louis XVI

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Louis XVI (23 August 1754 21 January 1793) ruled as King of France andNavarre from 1774until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested as part ofthe insurrection of the 10th of August during the French Revolution, he was tried by theNationalConvention, found guilty ofhigh treason, and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. He isthe only king of France ever to be executed.

Although Louis XVI was beloved at first, his indecisiveness and conservatism led some elementsof the people of France to eventually view him as a symbol of the perceived tyranny of theAncien Rgime. After the abolition of the monarchy in 1792, the new republican governmentgave him the surname Capet, a nickname in reference to Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetiandynasty - which the revolutionaries wrongly interpreted as a family name. Louis was alsoinformally nicknamedLouis le Dernier(Louis the Last), a derisive use of the traditionalnicknaming of French kings.

Contents

[hide]

y 1 Childhoody 2 Family lifey 3 The Absolute Monarch of France, 1774-1788

o 3.1 Foreign policyo 3.2 Concerning the American Revolutiono 3.3 Concerning Indiao 3.4 Concerning Vietnam and Indo-Chinao 3.5 Concerning World Exploration

y 4 Revolutionary constitutional reign, 17891792y 5 The imprisonment and execution of Louis, 1792-1793y 6 The image and memory of Louis

o 6.1 Louis XVI in films and in literaturey 7 Ancestorsy 8 Bibliography

o 8.1 Primary sourcesy 9 Referencesy 10 External links

[edit] ChildhoodLouis Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palaceof Versailles. Out of eight children, he was the third son ofLouis, theDauphin of France, andthus the grandson ofLouis XV of France and of his consort, Maria Leszczyska. His mother wasMarie-Josphe of Saxony, the daughter ofFrederick Augustus II of Saxony, Prince-ElectorofSaxony and King of Poland.


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Louis-Auguste had a difficult childhood because his parents neglected him in favor of his, said tobe, bright and handsome older brother, Louis, duc de Bourgogne, who died at the age of nine in1761. A strong and healthy boy, but very shy, Louis-Auguste excelled in his studies and had astrong taste for Latin, history, geography and astronomy, and became fluent in Italian andEnglish. He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather, Louis XV, and

rough-playing with his younger brothers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence, and Charles-Philippe, comte d'Artois. From an early age, Louis-Auguste had been encouraged in another ofhis hobbies: locksmithing, which was seen as a 'useful' pursuit for a child.[1]

Upon the death of his father, who died oftuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-oldLouis-Auguste became the newDauphin. His mother, who had never recovered from the loss ofher husband, died on 13 March 1767, also from tuberculosis.[2] The strict and conservativeeducation he received from the Duc de La Vauguyon, "gouverneur des Enfants de France"(governor of the Children of France), from 1760 until his marriage in 1770, did not prepare himfor the throne that he was to inherit in 1774 after the death of his grandfather.

[edit] Family life

Marie AntoinetteQueen of France with her three eldest children, Marie-Thrse, Louis-Charles and Louis-Joseph. Princess Sophie Hlne Batrix of France, originally in the cradle,was painted out after her death. By Marie Louise lisabeth Vige-Lebrun


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Nevertheless, the royal couple failed to parent any children for several years after this, placing astrain upon their marriage,[6] whilst the situation was worsened by the publication of obscenepamphlets (libelles) which mocked the infertility of the pair. One questioned, "Can the King doit? Can't the King do it?"[7]

The reasons behind the couple's initial failure to have children were debated at that time, andthey have continued to be so since. One suggestion is that Louis-Auguste suffered from a sexualdysfunction,[8] perhapsphimosis, a suggestion first made in late 1772 by the royal doctors.[9]Historians adhering to this view suggest that he was circumcised (the common cure for phimosis)to relieve the condition seven years after their marriage. Louis's doctors were not in favor of thesurgery the operation was delicate and traumatic, and capable of doing "as much harm asgood" to an adult male. As late as 1777, the Prussian envoy, Baron Goltz, reported that the Kingof France had definitely declined the operation.[10]

In the long run, and in spite of all their earlier difficulty, the Royal couple became the parents offour children:

y Marie-Thrse-Charlotte (19 December 1778 19 October 1851)y Louis-Joseph-Xavier-Franois, theDauphin (22 October 1781 4 June 1789)y Louis-Charles (the future titular King Louis XVII of France) (27 March 1785 8 June

1795)y Sophie-Hlne-Batrix, who died in infancy (9 July 1786 19 June 1787)

[edit] The Absolute Monarch of France, 1774-1788

Louis XVI by Antoine-Franois Callet, 1786

When Louis XVI succeeded to the throne in 1774, he was not yet 20 years old. He had anenormous responsibility, as the government was deeply in debt, and resentment towards'despotic' monarchy was on the rise. Louis also felt woefully unqualified for the job. King, hisbrothers and Marie Antoinette bacame fellows of the masonic lodge Trois Frres l'Orient deVersailles. [11]


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He aimed to earn the love of his people by reinstating theparlements. While none doubtedLouis's intellectual ability to rule France, it was quite clear that, although raised as theDauphinsince 1765, he lacked firmness and decisiveness. In spite of his indecisiveness, Louis wasdetermined to be a good king, stating that he "must always consult public opinion; it is neverwrong."[12] Louis therefore appointed an experienced advisor, Jean-Frdric Phlypeaux, comte

de Maurepas who, until his death in 1781, would take charge of many important ministerialfunctions.

Radical financial reforms by Turgot and Malesherbes angered the nobles and were blocked bytheparlements who insisted that the King did not have the legal right to levy new taxes. So, in1776, Turgot was dismissed and Malesherbes resigned, to be replaced by Jacques Necker.Necker supported the American Revolution, and he carried out a policy of taking out largeinternational loans instead of raising taxes. When this policy failed miserably, Louis dismissedhim, and then replaced him in 1783 with Charles Alexandre de Calonne, who increased publicspending to "buy" the country's way out of debt. Again this failed, so Louis convoked theAssembly of Notables in 1787 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform proposed by Calonne.

When the nobles were informed of the extent of the debt, they were shocked into rejecting theplan. This negative turn of events signaled to Louis that he had lost the ability to rule as anabsolute monarch, and he fell into depression.[13]

As power drifted from him, there were increasingly loud calls for him to convoke the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614, at the beginning of the reign ofLouis XIII. As a last-ditch attempt to get new monetary reforms approved, Louis XVI convoked the Estates-Generalon 8 August 1788, setting the date of their opening at 1 May 1789. With the convocation of theEstates-General, as in many other instances during his reign, Louis placed his reputation andpublic image in the hands of those who were perhaps not as sensitive to the desires of the Frenchpublic as he was. Because it had been so long since the Estates-General had been convened, therewas some debate as to which procedures should be followed. Ultimately, theparlement de Parisagreed that "all traditional observances should be carefully maintained to avoid the impressionthat the Estates-General could make things up as it went along." Under this decision, the Kingagreed to retain many of the divisionary customs which had been the norm in 1614, but whichwere intolerable to a Third Estate buoyed by the recent proclamations of equality. For example,the First and Second Estates proceeded into the assembly wearing their finest garments, whilethe Third Estate was required to wear plain, oppressively somber black, an act of alienation thatLouis would likely have not condoned. He seemed to regard the deputies of the Estates-Generalwith at least respect: in a wave of self-important patriotism, members of the Estates refused toremove their hats in the King's presence, so Louis removed his to them. [14]

This convocation was one of the events that transformed the general economic and politicalmalaise of the country into the French Revolution, which began in June 1789, when the ThirdEstate unilaterally declared itself theNational Assembly. Louis's attempts to control it resulted inthe Tennis Court Oath (serment du jeu de paume), on 20 June, and the declaration of theNational Constituent Assembly on 9 July. Within three short months, the majority of the king'sexecutive authority had been transferred to the elected representatives of the people's nation. Thestorming of the Bastille on 14 July served to reinforce and emphasize this radical change in themind of the masses.


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[edit] Foreign policy

Main articles:Franco-American alliance,Franco-Indian alliances, andFrench assistance toNguyn nh

Surrender of Cornwallis to French (left) and American (right) troops, at the Siege of Yorktown in1781, by John Trumbull.

Louis XVI receives the ambassadors ofTippu Sultan in 1788, Voyer after Emile Wattier, 19th

century.

French involvement in the Seven Years Warhad left Louis XVI a disastrous inheritance.Britain's victories had seen them capture most of France's colonial territories. While some werereturned to France at the 1763 Treaty of Paris a vast swathe of North America was ceded to theBritish.

This had led to a strategy amongst the French leadership of seeking to rebuild the French militaryin order to fight a war of revenge against Britain, in which it was hoped the lost colonies couldbe recovered. France still maintained a strong influence in the West Indies, and in Indiamaintained five trading posts, leaving opportunities for disputes and power-play with Great

Britain.[15]

[edit] Concerning the American Revolution

In the spring of 1776, Vergennes, the Foreign Secretary, saw an opportunity to humiliateFrance's long-standing enemy, Great Britain, as well as recover territory lost during the SevenYears' War, by supporting the American Revolution. Louis XVI was convinced by BenjaminFranklin to secretly send supplies, ammunition and guns from 1776, sign a formal Treaty of


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Alliance in 1778, and go to war with Britain. Spain and the Netherlands joined the French.France sent Rochambeau, Lafayette and de Grasse, to help the Americans, along with large landand naval forces. The appearance of French fleets in the Caribbean was followed by the captureof a number of the sugar islands, including Tobago and Grenada. [16] French aid proved decisivein forcing the main British army to surrender at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.[17]

The Americans gained their independence, and the war ministry rebuilt the French Army.However, the British defeated the main French fleet in 1782 and successfully defended the islandofJamaica. France gained little from the Treaty of Paris (of 1783) that ended the war, except thecolonies of Tobago and Senegal. The war cost 1,066 million livres, financed by new loans athigh interest (with no new taxes). Necker concealed the crisis from the public by explaining onlythat ordinary revenues exceeded ordinary expenses, and not mentioning the loans. After he wasforced from office in 1781, new taxes were levied.[18]

[edit] Concerning India

Louis XVI also wished to expel the British from India.[15]

In 1782, Louis XVI sealed an alliancewith the PeshwaMadhu Rao Narayan. As a consequence Bussy moved his troops to the le deFrance (Mauritius) and later contributed to the French effort in India in 1783.[15][19]Suffrenbecame the ally ofHyder Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore Waragainst British rule in India, in1782-1783, fighting the British fleet along the coasts of India and Ceylon.[20][21]

[edit] Concerning Vietnam and Indo-China

Louis XVI giving La Prouse his instructions

France also intervened in Vietnam following MgrPigneau de Behaine's intervention to obtainmilitary aid. A France-Vietnam alliance was signed through the Treaty of Versailles of 1787,

between Louis XVI and PrinceNguyn nh. As the French regime was under considerablestrain, France was unable to follow through with the application of the Treaty, but Mgr Pigneaude Behaine persisted in his efforts and with the support of French individuals and tradersmounted a force of French soldiers and officers that would contribute to the modernization of thearmies of Nguyn nh, contributing to his victory and his reconquest of all of Vietnam by 1802.

[edit] Concerning World Exploration


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Louis XVI also encouraged major voyages of exploration. In 1785, he appointed La Prouse tolead a sailing expedition around the world.

[edit] Revolutionary constitutional reign, 17891792

On 5 October 1789, an angry mob of Parisianworking women was incited by revolutionariesand marched on the Palace of Versailles,where the royal family lived. During the night,they infiltrated the palace and attempted to killthe queen, who was associated with a frivolouslifestyle that symbolized much that wasdespised about theAncien Rgime. After thesituation had been defused, the king and hisfamily were brought by the crowd to theTuileries Palace in Paris. The reasoning behind

this forced departure from Versailles was theopinion the king would be more accountable tothe people if he lived among them in Paris.

Tinted etching of Louis XVI, 1792. The caption refers to the date of the Tennis Court Oath andconcludes "The same Louis XVI who bravely waits until his fellow citizens return to theirhearths to plan a secret war and exact his revenge."

Initially, after the removal of the royal family to Paris, Louis maintained a certain level ofpopularity by acquiescing to many of the social, political, and economic reforms of therevolutionaries. Unbeknownst to the public, however, recent scholarship[citation needed] has

Silver Ecu of Louis XVI, struck 1785

Obverse: (Latin)

LUD[OVICVS] XVI D[EI]

G[RATIA] FR[ANCIA] ET

NA[VARRE] RE[X] or in

English, "Louis XVI, By

the Grace of God, King of

France and Navarre."

Reverse: (Latin) SIT

NOMEN DOMINI

BENEDICTUM1785, or in

English, "Blessed Be the

Name of the Lord, 1785."


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concluded that Louis began to suffer at the time from severe bouts ofclinical depression, whichleft him prone to paralyzing indecisiveness[citation needed]. During these indecisive moments, hiswife, the unpopular queen, was essentially forced into assuming the role of decision-maker forthe Crown[citation needed].

The revolution's principles of popular sovereignty, though central to democratic principles oflater eras, marked a decisive break from the absolute monarchical principle that was at the heartof traditional French government. As a result, the revolution was opposed by many of the ruralpeople of France and by practically all the governments of France's neighbors. As the revolutionbecame more radical and the masses became more uncontrollable, several leading figures in theinitial formation of the revolution began to doubt its benefits. Some like Honor Mirabeausecretly plotted with the Crown to restore its power in a new constitutional form.

Beginning in 1791, Montmorin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, started to organize covert resistanceto the Revolutionary forces. Thus, the funds of the Civil List (la Liste civile), voted annually bytheNational Assembly were partially assigned to secret expenses in order to preserve the

monarchy. Arnault Laporte was in charge of the Civil List and he collaborated with bothMontmorin and Mirabeau. After the sudden death of Mirabeau, Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix, a noted financier, took his place. In effect, he headed a secret council of advisers to theKing that tried to preserve the Monarchy; these schemes proved unsuccessful, and were exposedlater as the armoire de ferscandal.

Mirabeau's death, and Louis's indecision, fatally weakened negotiations between the Crown andmoderate politicians. On one hand, Louis was nowhere near as reactionary as his brothers, thecomte de Provence[citation needed] and the comte d'Artois, and he repeatedly sent messages to themrequesting a halt to their attempts to launch counter-coups. This was often done through hissecretly nominated regent, the Cardinal Lomnie de Brienne. On the other hand, Louis was

alienated from the new democratic government both by its negative reaction to the traditionalrole of the monarch and in its treatment of him and his family. He was particularly irked bybeing kept essentially as a prisoner in the Tuileries, where his wife was being humiliatinglyforced to have revolutionary soldiers in her private bedroom watching her as she slept, and bythe refusal of the new regime to allow him to have confessors and priests of his choice ratherthan 'constitutional priests' pledged to the state and not the Roman Catholic Church.

On 21 June 1791, Louis attempted to secretly flee with his family from Paris to the royalistfortress town ofMontmdy on the northeastern border of France.[22] While the NationalAssembly worked painstakingly towards a constitution, Louis and Marie-Antoinette wereinvolved in plans of their own. Louis had appointed the baron de Breteuil to act asplenipotentiary, dealing with other foreign heads of state in an attempt to bring about a counter-revolution. As tensions in Paris rose and Louis was pressured to accept measures from theAssembly against his will, the King and Queen plotted to secretly escape from France. Beyondescape, they hoped to raise an "armed congress" with the help of the migrs who had fled, aswell as assistance from other nations, with which they could return and, in essence, recaptureFrance. This degree of planning reveals Louis determination to do what he thought was right forhis country beneath his superficial appearance of apathy, although unfortunately it was for thisdetermined plot that he was eventually convicted of high treason. [23] However, flaws in its plan


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and lack of rapidity were responsible for the failure of the escape. The royal family was arrestedat Varennes-en-Argonne shortly afterJean-Baptiste Drouet, postmaster of the town ofSainte-Menehould, had recognised the king from his profile on a golden cu, and had given the alert.Louis XVI and his family were brought back to Paris where they arrived on 25 June. Viewedsuspiciously as traitors, they were placed under tight house arrest upon their return to the

Tuileries.

The return of the royal family to Paris on 25 June 1791, colored copperplate after a drawing ofJean-Louis Prieur

The othermonarchies of Europe looked with concern upon the developments in France, andconsidered whether they should intervene, either in support of Louis or to take advantage of thechaos in France. The key figure was Marie Antoinette's brother, the Holy Roman EmperorLeopold II. Initially, he had looked on the revolution with equanimity. However, he becamemore and more disturbed as it became more and more radical. Despite this, he still hoped toavoid war.

On 27 August, Leopold and King Frederick William II of Prussia, in consultation with migrsFrench nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which declared the interest of the monarchs ofEurope in the well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequencesif anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as an easy way toappear concerned about the developments in France without committing any soldiers or financesto change them, the revolutionary leaders in Paris viewed it fearfully as a dangerous foreignattempt to undermine France's sovereignty.

In addition to the ideological differences between France and the monarchical powers of Europe,there were continuing disputes over the status of Austrian estates in Alsace, and the concern of

members of theNational Constituent Assembly about the agitation ofmigrs nobles abroad,especially in the Austrian Netherlands and the minor states of Germany.

In the end, the Legislative Assembly, supported by Louis, declared war on the Holy RomanEmpire first, voting for war on 20 April 1792, after a long list of grievances was presented to itby the foreign minister, Charles Franois Dumouriez. Dumouriez prepared an immediateinvasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the local population to rise againstAustrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganised the army, and the forces


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raised were insufficient for the invasion. The soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, deserting enmasse and, in one case, murdering their general[citation needed].

The Storming of the Tuileries Palace.

While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganised its armies, amostly Prussian allied army underCharles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswickassembled atCoblenz on the Rhine. In July, the invasion commenced, with Brunswick's army easily taking thefortresses ofLongwy and Verdun. The duke then issued on 25 July a proclamation called theBrunswick Manifesto, written by Louis's migr cousin, the Prince de Cond, declaring theintent of the Austrians and Prussians to restore the king to his full powers and to treat any personor town who opposed them as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law.

Contrary to its intended purpose of strengthening the position of the King against therevolutionaries, the Brunswick Manifesto had the opposite effect of greatly undermining Louis'salready highly tenuous position in Paris. It was taken by many to be the final proof of a collusionbetween Louis and foreign powers in a conspiracy against his own country. The anger of thepopulace boiled over on 10 August when a group of Parisians with the backing of a newmunicipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Communebesieged the Tuileries Palace. The king and the royal family took shelter with the LegislativeAssembly.

[edit] The imprisonment and execution of Louis, 1792-1793

See also: trial of Louis XVIandexecution of Louis XVI


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Louis XVI imprisoned at the Tour du Temple, by Jean-Franois Garneray (1755-1837)

Louis was officially arrested on the 13th of August, 1792, and sent to the Temple, an ancientfortress in Paris that was used as a prison. On 21 September, the National Assembly declaredFrance to be a Republic and abolished the Monarchy.

The Girondins were partial to keeping the deposed king under arrest, both as a hostage and aguarantee for the future. The more radical members mainly the Commune and the Parisiandeputies who would soon be known as the Mountain argued for Louis's immediate execution.The legal background of many of the deputies made it difficult for a great number of them toaccept an execution without the due process of law of some sort, and it was voted that thedeposed monarch be tried before the National Convention, the organ that housed therepresentatives of the sovereign people.

In November 1792, theArmoire de fer(French: 'iron chest') incident took place at the TuileriesPalace. This was believed to have been a hiding place at the Royal apartments, where somesecret documents were kept. The existence of this iron cabinet was publicly revealed to Jean-Marie Roland, Girondinist Minister of the Interior. The resulting scandal served to discredit theKing.

On 11 December, among crowded and silent streets, the deposed King was brought from theTemple to stand before the Convention and hear his indictment, an accusation ofhigh treasonand crimes against the State. On 26 December, his counsel, Raymond de Sze, delivered Louis'sresponse to the charges, with the assistance ofFranois Tronchet and Malesherbes. ,


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Execution of Louis XVI in the Place de la Rvolution. The empty pedestal in front of him hadsupported a statue of his grandfather, Louis XV, now torn down during one of the manyrevolutionary riots, the great king louis XVI.

Paul Wranitzky: "Funeral March for the Death of the King Louis XVI" from theSymphony Op. 31 "The Revolution" or "La Paix", Mov. 2 Pt. 2.

Porticodoro / SmartCGArt Media Productions - Classical Orchestra.

Problems listening to this file? See media help.

On 15 January 1793, the Convention, composed of 721 deputies, voted on the verdict. Givenoverwhelming evidence of Louis's collusion with the invaders, the verdict was a foregoneconclusion with 693 deputies voting guilty, none for acquittal, with 23 abstaining. The nextday, a roll-call vote was carried out to decide upon the fate of the King, and the result wasuncomfortably close for such a dramatic decision. 288 of the Deputies voted against death and

for some other alternative, mainly some means of imprisonment or exile. 72 of the Deputiesvoted for the death penalty, but subject to a number of delaying conditions and reservations. 361of the Deputies voted for Louis's immediate death.

The next day, a motion to grant Louis XVI reprieve from the death sentence was voted down:310 of the Deputies requested mercy, but 380 of the Deputies voted for the immediate executionof the death penalty. This decision would be final. On Monday, 21 January 1793, stripped of alltitles and honorifics by the Republican Government, Citoyen Louis Capetwas beheaded byguillotine on thePlace de la Rvolution. The executioner, Charles Henri Sanson, testified thatthe former King had bravely met his fate.[24]

As Louis mounted the scaffold he appeared dignified and resigned. He delivered a short speechin which he reasserted his innocence and he pardoned those responsible for his death. Hedeclared himself willing to die and prayed that the people of France would be spared a similarfate. He seemed about to say more when Antoine-Joseph Santerre, a general in theNationalGuard, cut Louis off by ordering a drum roll. The former King was then quickly beheaded.

Some accounts of Louis's beheading indicate that the blade did not sever his neck entirely thefirst time. There are also accounts of a blood-curdling scream issuing from Louis after the blade


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fell but this is unlikely, since the blade severed Louis's spine. It is agreed that while Louis's blooddripped to the ground many members of the crowd ran forward to dip their handkerchiefs in it. [25]

[edit] The image and memory of Louis

Memorial to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, sculptures by Edme Gaulle and

Pierre Petitot in the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

The regicide has loomed as a shadow over French history. The 19th-century historian, JulesMichelet, attributed the restoration of the French monarchy to the sympathy that had beenengendered by the execution. Michelet's Histoire de la Rvolution Franaise and Alphonse deLamartine's Histoire des Girondins, in particular, showed the marks of the feelings aroused bythe revolution's regicide. The two writers did not share the same sociopolitical vision, but theyagreed that, even though the monarchy was rightly ended in 1792, the lives of the royal familyshould have been spared. Lack of compassion at that moment contributed to a radicalization ofrevolutionary violence and to greater divisiveness among Frenchmen. Because Louis XVI was amerciful man, the revolutionaries' passions needed to be balanced by compassion and by less

fanatical sentiments. For the 20th century novelist Albert Camus the execution signaled the endof the role of God in history, for which he mourned. For the 20th century philosopher Jean-Franois Lyotard the regicide was the starting point of all French thought, the memory of whichacts as a reminder that French modernity began under the sign of a crime. [26]

His daughter, Marie-Thrse-Charlotte, the future Duchess of Angoulme, survived the FrenchRevolution, and she lobbied in Rome energetically for the canonization of her father as a saint ofthe Catholic Church. Despite his signing of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy", Louis hadbeen described as a martyr by Pope Pius VI in 1793. In 1820, however, a memorandum of theCongregation of Rites in Rome, declaring the impossibility of proving that Louis had beenexecuted for religious rather than political reasons, put an end to hopes of canonization.

y TheRequiem in C minorfor mixed chorus by Luigi Cherubini was written in 1816, inmemory of Louis XVI.

y The city ofLouisville, Kentucky, is named for Louis XVI. In 1780, the Virginia GeneralAssembly bestowed this name in honor of the French king, whose soldiers were aidingthe American side in the Revolutionary War. The Virginia General Assembly saw theKing as a noble man, but many other Continental delegates disagreed. (At that time,


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Kentucky was a part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Kentucky became the 15th Stateof the United States in 1792.)

y There are numerous other places named "Louisville", such as Louisville, Alabama,Louisville, Georgia, Louisville, Illinois, Louisville, Kansas, Louisville, Nebraska,

Louisville, New York, Louisville, Ohio, and Louisville, Tennessee, all located in theUnited States.

[edit] Louis XVI in films and in literature

Louis XVI has been portrayed in numerous films depicting the French Revolution. In MarieAntoinette (1938), he was played by Robert Morley. In Sacha Guitry's Si Versailles m'tait cont,Louis was portrayed by one of the film's producers, Gilbert Bokanowski (using the alias GilbertBoka), who arguably resembled him. Several portrayals have upheld the image of a bumbling,almost foolish King, such as that by Jacques Morel in the 1956 French film Marie-Antoinettereine de France and that by Terence Budd in theLady Oscarlive action film. In Start the

Revolution WithoutMe, Louis XVI is portrayed by Hugh Griffith as a laughable cuckold. MelBrooks played a comic version of Louis XVI in The History of the World Part 1, portraying himas a libertine who has such a distaste for the peasantry he uses them as targets in skeet shooting.

In the two-part filmLa Rvolution franaise, Jean-Franois Balmergave a critically-acclaimedperformance as Louis XVI, whom he portrayed as an insecure, shy, yet decent and intelligentman. InRidicule, the king was played by Urbain Cancelier. InJefferson in Paris, Louis XVI wasplayed by Michael Lonsdale who, at 64 years old, greatly exceeded the King's actual age. InMarie Antoinette (2006), he was played by Jason Schwartzman, in a movie which is consideredhistorically inaccurate but not intended to be a detailed portrayal of his life.

In the American supernatural television dramaM

oonlight, Louis XVI is mentioned as theprogenitor of a vampiric bloodline who discovers a temporary cure forvampirism.

He was also depicted in Titanic as being the owner of the fictional diamond Heart of the Ocean.

[edit] Ancestors

[hide]Ancestors of Louis XVI of France

16. Louis,Dauphin of France

8. Louis,Dauphin of France andDuke of Burgundy

17. Maria Anna of Bavaria

4. Louis XV of France

18. Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia

9. Princess Marie-Adlade of Savoy


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2. Louis,Dauphin of France

20. Rafa Leszczyski

10. Stanisaw Leszczyski

21. Anna Jabonowska

5. Maria Leszczyska

22. Jan Karol Opaliski

11. Katarzyna Opaliska

23. Zofia Czarnkowska Opaliska

1. Louis XVIof France

24. John George III, Elector of Saxony

12. Augustus II of Poland

25. Anne Sophie of Denmark6. Augustus III of Poland

26. Christian Ernst, Margrave ofBrandenburg-Bayreuth

13. Christiane Eberhardine ofBrandenburg-Bayreuth

27. Sophie Luise of Wrttemberg

3. Princess Marie-Jospheof Saxony

28. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

14. Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

29. Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg

7. Archduchess MariaJosepha of Austria

30. John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lneburg

15. Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick

31. Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate

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