The Last Days of Marie Antoinette

What it is

This is a book written by G. Lenôtre, translated from the French, published in 1907. It covers Marie Antoinette's imprisonment at the Feuillants, the Temple, and the Conciergerie, her trial, execution, will, and the later exhumation of her remains.

Why it matters

Written over a century after the events, this book draws on records and testimony to reconstruct the queen's final months. It shows how later historians pieced together the end of her life using documents and witness accounts, and how fascinated people remained with her fate long after the Revolution.

Look closer

• Why might a historian in 1907 still be writing about events from the 1790s?
• What kinds of sources might Lenôtre have used to reconstruct these final days?
• How might a secondary account differ from a firsthand witness report?