As most of you probably know, the quote above translated into English means: "Let them eat cake."
This quote has been attributed to Marie Antoinette whio during the revolution was told that the peasants had no bread. The Princess replied by saying the above quote, her (And the rest of the French aristocracy's) obliviousness to the hardship that French serfs lived under in Bourbon France. The origin of the quote however, is disputed.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
The quotation, as attributed to Marie Antoinette, was claimed to have been uttered during one of the famines that occurred in France during the reign of her husband Louis XVI. Upon being alerted that the people were suffering due to widespread bread shortages, the Queen is said to have replied, "Then let them eat brioche."[4] Although the phrase was seldom cited by opponents of the monarchy at the time of the French Revolution, it did acquire great symbolic importance in subsequent histories when pro-revolutionary historians sought to demonstrate the obliviousness and selfishness of the French upper-classes at that time. As one biographer of the Queen notes, it was a particularly useful phrase to cite because "the staple food of the French peasantry and the working class was bread, absorbing 50 per cent of their income, as opposed to 5 per cent on fuel; the whole topic of bread was therefore the result of obsessional national interest."[5]
However, there is no evidence that Queen Marie-Antoinette ever uttered this phrase and substantial evidence that she did not. Objections to the legend of Marie-Antoinette and the cake/brioche centre on arguments concerning the real queen's personality, internal evidence from members of the French royal family, the date of the saying's origin and its frequent citation in works pre-dating Marie-Antoinette's life. For example, the Queen's best-selling English-language biographer, Lady Antonia Fraser, wrote in 2002:
"[Let them eat cake] was said 100 years before her by Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV. It was a callous and ignorant statement and she, Marie Antoinette, was neither." -Wikipedia
[6]
So, what do you think, was it the famed Marie Antoinette or the less known Marie Thèrese?
NOTE: This thread will be updated with new quotes and Revolution info soon. Feel free to add whatever you want to this thread.
Mon ami, I think there's a spelling mistake in the topic title!
...Surely it's mangent?
Anyway, I know next to nothing about the French Revolution so I can't contribute much to this thread really.
I never saw what's so bad about that quote - she's willing to give them cake! Unless there is no cake...
Most of my knowledge of the French Revolution come from the British and French royalist viewpoint - Burke's prediction that the French Revolution would culminate in a popular general becoming leader strikes me as somewhat prophetic. Then there was Thomas Paine who was forced out of Britain for his radical views, etc.
If you would like me to make you a similar signature to this one, feel free to PM me.
"Qu'ils magent de la brioche!"
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