The Knight of Maison-Rouge_ A Novel of Marie Antoinette - Alexandre Dumas [197]
32. FAITH SWORN
1. Enceladus: In Greek mythology, the many-armed Enceladus was one of the Titans who rose up in rebellion against the gods of Olympus.
2. Monsieur Latude … ladies of Les Halles: an adventurer who called himself the Chevalier de Latude, he had been imprisoned in the Bastille and Vincennes prisons. He became a popular hero based on his three escapes from prison, and in the propaganda of the Revolution was portrayed as a victim of despotism. He was an honored guest at a ceremony commemorating the fall of the Bastille; the ladies of Les Halles—The market-women of Les Halles—called the poissardes—often played a part in the violence of the Revolutionary years. It was these women who led the march from Paris to Versailles on October 5, 1789.
3. Osselin … marquise de Charny: the revolutionary politician Osselin, who proposed some of the harshest anti-emigré laws, fell in love with the beautiful Marquise de Charny. Probably under her influence, he began assisting certain prisoners and was expelled from the Jacobin club and then arrested. Osselin was eventually guillotined.
4. “a tyrant who knew the fair sex well”: a reference to the very gallant Francis I (born 1494, reigned 1515–47).
34. THE CONCIERGERIE
1. the old palace of Saint Louis: the Conciergerie (for Saint Louis, see ch. 5, note 7, p. 405).
2. the place de Grève: historically the site of public tortures and executions in Paris; the placement of the guillotine in the place de la Révolution was a temporary political calculation.
3. Richard: The sympathetic M. et Mme. Richard were the concierges of the Conciergerie prison when Marie Antoinette arrived there. They were replaced by more “patriotic” guardians after the discovery of the Carnation Plot. Their maid later published her memories of looking after the Queen.
4. Widow Capet: There was in fact some confusion about how the ci-devant royal prisoner should be registered on her arrival at the Conciergerie.
5. fleur-de-lys: the three lilies against a blue background was the traditional heraldic symbol of the Kings of France.
6. Le Voyage du jeune Anarcharsis: immensely popular 1788 work by the priest Jean-Jacques Barthélemy; the Voyage recounted the fictional travels of a young Greek in the time of Plato, as a device for presenting ancient Greece to contemporary readers.
35. THE HALL OF LOST FOOTSTEPS
1. Fouquier-Tinville: Antoine Fouquier-Tinville (1746–95), the relentless chief prosecutor of aristocrats during the Terror. He was executed in 1794 with Robespierre and the other leaders of the Convention.
2. “Nero’s confession to Narcissus”: from Racine’s Britannicus, the young Emperor, not yet the monster of legend, confesses to the scheming servant Narcissus his love for Junia, the beloved of Britannicus, Nero’s cousin and rival for the Imperial throne. Narcissus encourages the Emperor to eliminate Britannicus as a romantic and political rival.
36. CITIZEN THÉODORE
1. sabots: heavy wooden shoes worn by peasants.
2. Gracchus: another name taken from the Classical era; the Gracchus family rose from the plebeian class to the aristocracy in the last years of the Republic; several were known as patriots and reformers.
38. THE ROYAL CHILD
1. Messalina … Agrippina: Two legendary Roman empresses to whom Marie Antoinette was frequently compared in anti-Royalist propaganda. Messalina, first wife of the Emperor Claudius, was made a legend by Tacitus and Suetonius for her lusty immorality. After Claudius had her killed, he married Agrippina, who is said to have used poison to assassinate her enemies—including her husband—to advance her son, Nero, to the throne. Nero had her killed anyway.
2. Hébert:Jacques-René Hébert (1757–94), journalist and politician, his newspaper, Le Père Duchesne—named for a popular figure in French theater—was the organ for the most radical elements in Revolutionary