-One of the anecdotes of the French Revolution
The disaster of St. Danny's church
1793 65438+1October 12 in the morning, Saint-Denis Church in the north of Paris.
This Gothic building, built in 12 century, has almost turned into a gloomy skeleton, and only two months ago, it was one of the most beautiful and elegant churches in Paris. Legend has it that this is the burial place of martyr St. Denis. For this reason, successive monarchs and royal families of Bourbon dynasty have chosen this holy place as their resting place. In the past 200 years, St. Denis Church has buried 54 kings, queens and other members of the royal family. Because of this, in the eyes of Parisians, this church is undoubtedly one of the highest symbols of absolute monarchy.
1793 is the fourth year after the French Revolution broke out, and it is also the year when the revolution reached the climax of terror and madness step by step. In June this year, King Louis XVI was guillotined, but the radical people were not satisfied, but began to look for the next target to vent their anger and hatred. They found the church where Louis XVI's ancestors were buried. 1In August, 993, people rushed into the church with hammers, destroying all the tombs, sculptures and church decorations. After the bronze statue melted, it was cast into a cannon. The Statue of Liberty, which symbolizes the ideal of the Republic, was erected at the gate, and people danced around her all night.
The disaster in Saint-Denis's church did not end there. Today, two months later, another group of more thorough vandals entered the church. Holding torches, they walked down the dark stairs and entered the underground hall of the church. In front of them, there are rows of oak coffins on iron bases, covered with crimson velvet, totaling 54. The grave on the ground was destroyed in August, but the coffin in the ground has not been touched. Today's target is the bodies of these kings and dignitaries.
The first target chosen by the saboteurs was the coffin of Henry IV, the founder of Bourbon Dynasty. Split the oak board with an axe, and there is a lead coffin inside. Then cut it with a chisel and remove the shroud. Henry IV's body appeared, almost intact, without decay, and his face was as calm as if he were asleep. Incredibly, he has been lying here for 183 years.
Henry IV's body, together with the coffin, was erected on a pillar and displayed for two days. People flocked to Paris mostly out of curiosity, but many radicals put their hatred of the autocratic emperor into action. A soldier drew his sword, cut off Henry IV's white beard and put it under his nose, shouting, "Now I have confidence, and we will surely defeat all the enemies!" " "Others knocked out the front teeth of the old king, or tore up the shroud that wrapped his body. Two days later, the black-and-blue body was carried out of the church and thrown into a newly dug deep pit in the nearby Valoa public cemetery.
After Henry IV, it was Louis XIII's turn, and after Louis XIII, it was the famous "Sun King" Louis XIV. After the lead coffin was opened, people saw a black but dignified face, and the body was even more intact than Henry IV. The reason why the body won't rot for a long time lies in the lead coffin. If the lead coffin can be welded without gaps, air and moisture cannot enter the coffin, the body will not deteriorate. But this requires high welding technology and is not easy to do. In fact, among the 54 coffins, except Henry IV and Louis XIII, all the other bodies were corroded to some extent, and the most terrible one was the wandering king Louis XV.
Louis XV liked to pursue women, and finally he died of syphilis. When he died, his whole body rotted and his skin fell off, which was terrible. The craftsman just cut a hole in the lead coffin with a chisel, and an unbearable stench came on his face, making people around him rush headlong into it. I finally opened all the lead coffins, only to see clouds of purple carrion floating in the salt water, and I could hardly see the shape of people. After the body was transported to the cemetery in Valoa, it was first burned, then spread with quicklime and buried in the soil. At the same time, the stench can't be dispersed. The soldiers of the guard can't stand it, so they have to shoot into the air frequently and use smoke to relieve the stinking air. Louis XV was the last king to be moved out of Saint-Denis. It is 65438+1October 65438+June. Also on this day, almost at the same time, in the Revolution Square in the center of Paris, the last Queen Mary? Antoinette was guillotined.
Time has passed, the storm of the Great Revolution has long passed, and the once-prosperous Napoleon Empire has vanished. On 18 17 and 1 month after the restoration of the monarchy, the royal remains of Valoa cemetery were excavated again, put into two huge coffins and sent back to the newly renovated saint-denis Church. This time, they finally got a permanent sleep-no, this sentence is only half right.
Looking for the heart of Louis XIV
Why is it only half right? They still haven't found a home because of another part of the king's body.
18 19 One day in February, a Parisian named Xie Ke was walking in the street and was attracted by an advertisement on the bulletin board. The advertisement goes like this: the furniture and collectibles left by the architect Radel who died last year are scheduled to be auctioned today. Xie Ke likes collecting antiques. Although he didn't know what Ladle had collected, he decided to have a look. There are 13 pieces of copper plates engraved with complex patterns in the lot, which are exquisite and abnormal. Xie Ke liked it very much and bought one of them. When he got home, Sheikh took out the copper plate and looked at it carefully. He found a line in the middle of the pattern: the heart of Louis XIV. What's going on here?
It turned out that after the death of members of the French royal family, their bodies were not put into coffins like ordinary people, but went through several complicated preservation procedures, similar to the process of mummification in ancient Egypt. First cut open the abdomen, take out all the internal organs, and squeeze out all the blood in the body. Carefully apply sesame oil, wrap it in fine cloth, then put it in a lead coffin, and put it in a larger oak coffin after welding. The heart taken from the body is soaked in a glass bottle filled with alcohol, sealed with spices such as cinnamon, myrrh and benzoin, then welded in a lead box, and finally preserved in an enamel box. There is no doubt that the copper plate bought by Xie Ke is embedded in the enamel box that put Louis XIV's heart. The heart of the royal family was originally placed in several churches belonging to the royal family in Paris, and it has long since disappeared in the turmoil of the Great Revolution. However, since there are clues such as copper coins, it may be possible to find the heart left after the robbery, and the loyal royalist Xie Ke is determined to trace it to the end.
After some efforts, Sheikh got an important clue: Madan, a close friend of Radel and a painter, may have something to do with it. Sheikh knocked on Martan's door under the pretext of buying paintings. After explaining the real purpose, Martin first said that he didn't know anything, but under Xie Ke's repeated entreaties, he finally told the truth. The truth of the matter, completely out of scheck's accident.
When St. Denis's Church was destroyed, Radel, an architect, was appointed as the site supervisor. In those crazy years, it was not only Saint-Denis's church that suffered, but almost all churches, castles and villas related to the royal family in France were doomed. In addition to St. Denny's Church, Radel is also the on-site supervisor of the destruction project of the Glass Church and St. Louis Church. When going to these two churches, Radel took his two friends: painter Martin and painter Delaulin.
The purpose of both painters is the same, that is, to win people's hearts. There are 38 royal hearts in these two churches, of which 1 1 was sold to Delaurin by the supervisor, and Martin bought two, the largest of which is the heart of Louis XIV. Why do painters collect hearts? It is incredible to say that at that time, the clear oil produced by dissolving embalmed corpses and internal organs with sesame oil could be painted on canvas, which could produce luster that could not be produced by any other raw materials, so it became a treasure that painters dreamed of. The main way to get this corpse oil is to import it from the Middle East. Because Jews have the habit of smearing asphalt and spices on corpses, unscrupulous businessmen dig up Jews' graves and collect corpse oil for sale, but the price is extremely expensive, which makes unknown painters like Ma Dan and Delaulin only sigh. Unexpectedly, the chaos of the Great Revolution brought them unexpected opportunities.
Martan took the two hearts he bought home, but he didn't have time to open them. After all, this is not the heart of ordinary people! In the end, he only used a small part of Louis XIV's heart, while the other part, Louis XIII's heart, didn't move at all. Xie Ke immediately reported the news to the ruling Louis Stanislas Xavier, and the court sent someone to buy back the hearts of two late kings from Martan and put them in the St. Denny's Church where they once belonged.
Delaulin's heart is much harder than Matan's. 1 1 has no heart left, and he has used it on the canvas. As a painter, Martin has long been forgotten, but Delaulin has not been completely forgotten. Today, his works are still displayed in the Palace of Versailles, Strasbourg Museum and other art halls. I wonder which king's heart will shine on the picture?
French Louis XVII of France and gene identification.
Maybe someone will ask: Who is the French Louis XVII of France? Didn't France become a Republic after King Louis XVI went to the guillotine? Yes, but Louis XVI left a son. Louis? Charles, although he has never been a politician for a day, the French still call him king in name only. The Earl of Provence, who ascended the throne after the restoration of the monarchy, also called himself Louis Stanislas Xavier, in order to leave the blank after Louis XVI to his son.
What happened to Charles Jr. during the Great Revolution was a tragic and bizarre story. 1792 After overthrowing the constitutional monarchy and deposing the king in August, five members of the king's family were sent to Dimpleborg for imprisonment, including King Louis XVI and Queen Mary? Antoinette, Princess Elizabeth, the sister of Louis XVI, and Princesse Marie, the couple's two children, 14 years old? Darius and 7-year-old Prince Louis? Charles. With the increasingly radical revolution, disasters came to this family one after another. First, in June 5438+1993 10, the king was put to death by the guillotine. Half a year later, the National Association suddenly ordered the little prince to be taken away from his "reactionary mother" and received a civilian education. It is said that at the moment when officials forcibly took the little prince away, Mary, who was arrogant by nature? Antoinette knelt down and cried and begged for her son to be with her. In fact, the time for the Queen to go to the guillotine is not long. She and her beloved son "Where are you going" are only a few months early. Then Princess Elizabeth was executed, leaving only two orphans in Fort Dimpley isolated from the world and unable to even meet each other.
After the little prince was taken away from his mother, he still lived in Fort Dimpley, and the shoemakers Simon and his wife appointed by the National Association were responsible for raising and disciplining him. Simon is a hard-core Republican, with a rough personality but a kind heart. The young prince quickly adapted to his new life and fell in love with Simon. Strangely, however, at the beginning of 1994, Mr. and Mrs. Simon suddenly resigned inexplicably, packed their bags and left Fort Dimpler. From then on, the little prince was kept indoors and never appeared in the yard again.
Six months later, robespierre finally fell, and the politics of terror came to an end. As soon as pallas took office, he immediately led his entourage to Fort Dimpley to see what happened to the child who might become the "heir to the French throne". What he saw was a shocking sight: the room was messy, filled with pungent smell, and the food brought in had not been touched for several days. A teenager was lying on the floor beside the bed wrapped in dirty sheets, his knees were swollen and purulent, and he was so weak that he could hardly speak. Pallas immediately ordered doctors to treat children and improve their living and eating conditions, but it was too late. Nearly a year later,1June 8, 795, this terminally ill child passed away quietly.
The French government announced that Louis XVI's son Louis? At that time, no one doubted the death of French Charles Louis XVII of France. But gradually, there is a rumor circulating in the streets of Paris that the child who died in Dimpleborg is not the real French Louis XVII of France!
If so, where is the real French Louis XVII of France? The most popular story is that Mr. and Mrs. Simon secretly took the little prince out of prison in his luggage and exchanged his bag with another unrelated child. When robespierre fell, Simon himself and his leaders were beheaded, and his wife Jenny was poor and ill, so she had to spend the rest of her life in the workhouse. In the workhouse, Jenny repeatedly told people the story that she and her husband rescued little Charles and sent him out of Paris. Eight years later, the child came back to visit her! Another theory is that Louis XVII of France actually died in 1794 1. At that time, the National Association was afraid that the child's death would stimulate the domestic royalist forces and attract protests and attacks from European countries, so it hid it and disguised itself as another child. Mr. and Mrs. Simon were driven away and the children were locked in their rooms because they were afraid that the plot would be exposed.
French officials ignored these rumors at first, but the rumors spread more and more widely. After the restoration of the monarchy, there were even many people who claimed to be the French Louis XVII of France. 1846, the government ordered that the remains buried in those years be dug up to check whether it was French Louis XVII of France himself. The test results show that the dead age of this corpse is between 15 and 18 years old. It can't be French Louis XVII of France. He was only 10 years old when he died. Is the rumor actually true?
There are more than 150 people who call themselves Louis XVII of France of France. Besides the French, there are also people from Britain, Denmark, Canada and other countries. One of the most famous is Rudolf, a German. He came to Paris to recognize his ancestors and was recognized by Louis XVII of France, a French childhood nurse, and even by the British and Dutch governments, but the French government always refused to recognize him. Louis XVII of France, the fate of France, has become a great mystery in French history. Amateur and professional historians have studied it endlessly and published more than 800 monographs. Everyone thinks that the real answer will never be found under different opinions. Unexpectedly, in the last year of the 20th century, modern scientific and technological means completely solved this mystery.
Let's go back to Fort Dimpley when the boy dies. On the second day after the boy died, four doctors were ordered to dissect the remains and investigate the cause of death. One of the doctors, Perdan, secretly cut off the teenager's heart while others were not looking, wrapped it in cloth and took it home as a precious souvenir. After Perdan's death, the heart changed hands several times and was finally sent to St. Denny's Church, where the royal family's remains were buried. It is this heart that has become the key to solving the mystery. At the end of 1999, researchers from the University of Ruben in Belgium and the University of Mü nster in Germany took samples from the heart, analyzed its genetic structure, and compared them with the hearts of other members of the Bourbon royal family. The comparison samples include the mother of French Louis XVII of France, Marie? Antoinette's hair, and the blood of the living bourbon descendants. In April 2000, the results of genetic identification were published: the genetic structure of this heart is completely consistent with other samples, that is to say, the teenager in Dimpleborg must be Louis XVII of France himself.
Everything comes to the bottom: Jenny's words are completely delusional, Rudolph is a liar, and the excavation of 1846 must be in the wrong place, because there was no monument at the time of burial, and the excavation was entirely based on the vague memory of the grave keeper. I just don't know how it ends. For historians who have spent countless words on this and countless ordinary people who feel romantic from historical mysteries, is it satisfaction or disappointment?
The last king and queen before and after the four punishments
Place de la Concorde in the center of Paris is a must for tourists. 1793, its name is Revolution Square, and the guillotine stands in the northwest corner of the square, becoming a place to show public execution. Many leaders of the Great Revolution, including madame roland, Dandong and robespierre, were beheaded here. Louis XVI, the last monarch of Bourbon in France for more than 200 years, and his queen Mary? Antoinette also finished the last journey of her life here.
Louis XVI's death sentence, 1793 65438+ 10/6, voted by the National Assembly. In fact, until the moment when the death penalty was decided, most members of parliament and the public did not believe that the king's death penalty would become a reality. The result of the vote was 36 1 to 360, and only 1 supported the death penalty, and this crucial 1 vote actually came from Louis XVI's cousin, Duke of Orleans, who joined the revolutionary camp!
On October 20th, 65438/KLOC-0, the execution order was sent to Fort Dimpley, where the king's family was imprisoned. For the Queen, Wang Mei and the children, the terrible news was like a blow to the head. The only person who remained calm was Louis XVI himself. That evening, he bid farewell to his family, especially telling the little prince never to seek revenge again, and promised to go downstairs the next morning to see them for the last time. Louis XVI talked with the priest until late at night, then fell asleep as usual, slept soundly and died until grilli, the only attendant, came in to wake him up.
The noise outside the castle is getting louder and louder. Louis XVI called grilli to his side and gave him a ring and a small bag, which contained the hair of all his family and asked him to give it to the queen and the prince. The king told him that although he promised his family to see him for the last time, he couldn't stand the cruel scene in Where are you going, so he was asked to make a final farewell instead of himself. When he said this, Louis XVI shed tears, which was the only time he felt emotional in front of others after receiving the death sentence.
At about 9 o'clock, a large group of members of parliament, gendarmes and soldiers poured in at the Daimon Masaru in Fort Dimpler. They came to escort Louis XVI to the execution ground. When he left the room, Louis XVI wanted to give his suicide note to a gendarme and let him give it to the National Assembly, but he was rudely refused: "This is none of my business. I'm not here to run errands for you, but to send you to the guillotine! " "That's true." Louis XVI sighed slightly.
Louis XVI's carriage, surrounded by armed gendarmes, slowly left Fort Dimpley. Because the League of Nations got the information that the royalists planned to rescue the king on the way, many sentries were set up along the way, and the doors and windows of every household were closed. However, when the carriage entered the Revolution Square, there were loud cheers, and more than 20,000 people gathered here to witness the king's execution.
The executioner Sang Song cut off the king's hair and tied his hands behind his back. Louis XVI labored up the narrow and steep stairs, stood on the platform and began to make a speech to the people in front of him:
"French, I died innocently. I forgive all my compatriots who sent me to death. I pray to God that the tragedy of my blood will never happen again on French soil ... "
The field commander immediately raised his sword and ordered the drummers to beat the drums. Louis XVI's voice was drowned in the deafening drums, and no one heard it. As the blade of the guillotine fell, the cheers of "Long live the Republic" resounded throughout Paris. People ran frantically to the guillotine, washed their hands with blood flowing down from the guillotine, and even stuck out their tongues and licked them, shouting, "Cape's blood is so salty!" People smeared the blood of Louis XVI on handkerchiefs, scraps of paper, hats, sleeves and everything they carried with them, or bought a pile of dead people's hair and clothes fragments and took them home contentedly. Drums and cheers also reached Fort Dimpley. The little prince and princess have been crying, but Mary didn't sleep a wink all night? Antoinette sobbed and fell on the bed, but she straightened up at once, went to the prince and knelt down to pay tribute to her beloved son, the "new king" of France.
Louis XVI's body was transported to Delane cemetery and placed in a wooden coffin. Like all executed prisoners, his head was sandwiched between his legs and his shoes fell off, so his feet were bare. The tomb more than three meters deep was dug the day before. After two priests made short prayers, they began to fill the soil. There is no mass, not even a tombstone. One of the two priests was named Ronald, who was very sympathetic to the king. He told the cemetery workers to fill in a layer of soil first, then a layer of quicklime, and so on for many times, forming an obvious interlayer. Needless to say, this is to leave a sign to determine the location of the grave for reburial in the future. It will take Father Ronal 22 years to realize this foresight.
If Louis XVI's death sentence shocked everyone, what about Queen Mary? No one will be surprised by the trial result of Antoinette. This is the pinnacle of jacobin's terror dictatorship. Moderates and compromises in parliament are either exiled or guillotined. None of the jurors in the Revolutionary Court dared to say no to the Queen's death penalty. Antoinette's defense lawyer was arrested on the spot by the judge in court because he made an acquittal for his agent. So in the early morning of June 1793 65438+ 10/5, when the court read the death sentence to Antoinette, the queen's face did not waver. Since her beloved little son was taken away, Antoinette lost all hope. On the way back to the cell from the court, the queen, exhausted by the symptoms of continuous interrogation and bleeding, suddenly stopped and muttered, "I can't see anything, I can't walk." Pi Nuo, the guard beside him, silently reached out to help her. Pi Nuo was immediately condemned and arrested.
The next morning, when Rosalie, Antoinette's only maid, walked into the cell, she found the queen and her clothes lying on the bed, looking sleepless all night. There is a piece of paper on the desk, and the handwriting on it is wet with tears. This is a letter from the Queen to Princess Elizabeth. The queen didn't have the courage to leave her last words directly to the children. Drums sounded outside the window, which is a signal that the army and gendarmerie are out. Rosalie began to help Antoinette change. When the Queen took off her underwear at the bedside, Rosalie stood in front of her, blocking the view of the military police who monitored the Queen's every move for 24 hours, but the military police stepped forward and stared at the Queen closely. "Can you forgive us and let a woman change her clothes in peace?" Asked the queen. The gendarme's answer was firm: "No, our orders are to monitor your every move." The queen can only sigh and try to turn back.
Compared with Louis XVI who went to the execution ground in a carriage, Antoinette didn't get any privileges. She had to sit in a broken cart that was originally used to carry hay, cross the crowded street with her hands tied behind her back, and walk to the Revolution Square with insults and ridicule. The 38-year-old queen has white hair and an old face. The peerless beauty who dumped Paris in those days is hard to find even a trace. Her lips were tight and her face was frosty, as if she could not hear or see anything. Only once, when a little boy smiled and blew her a kiss in her mother's arms, Antoinette's pale face flushed and tears welled up. There is no doubt that she thought of her soon-to-be-orphaned child.
At the end of the scooter, no one reached out to help, and Antoinette got off alone. When she first saw the black monster-like guillotine, her eyes seemed to flash with panic, but then she calmed down and quickly climbed the stairs. At this time, she accidentally stepped on the foot of the executioner Sang Song, and the queen immediately apologized: "Please forgive me, sir, I didn't mean to." These were Antoinette's last words before his death.
After the execution, the body was loaded on the same scooter, dripping blood all the way to the Madeleine cemetery where Louis XVI was buried. But when I went to the cemetery, I found that not only the grave was not dug, but also the coffin was not ready. It was past noon, and the policeman in charge of carrying the body hurried home for lunch, threw the body into the grass and left. After that, without any instructions, the body lay in the grass for two weeks and was finally buried by the grave keeper. The grave keeper sent a reminder to the government to pay the coffin fee and labor fee. Four years later, the government paid off this small fee with the proceeds from the auction of Antoinette's property left in prison.
18151kloc-0/0 In October, Louis Stanislas Xavier, who ascended the throne with the fall of Napoleon, decided to look for the body of Louis XVI and hold a funeral. Fortunately, the cemetery of Madeleine was bought by a royalist, duclos Suo, and was protected as a holy place. The government called in workers who guarded and dug graves 22 years ago, entered the cemetery completely undamaged and began to dig. First, some women's bones were found, which were badly damaged and unrecognizable, but two complete shoe buckles were found on the edge of the bones, which helped to identify the deceased, namely Queen Antoinette herself.
The excavation of Louis XVI's body is progressing smoothly, because Father Ronal left a clear sign. 65438+1October 2 1, on the same day that the king went to the guillotine, Louis XVI's body was sent to saint-denis Church after a grand funeral. Soon after, a small atonement chapel was built where the remains were found. Louis XVI and Mary stood on the left and right sides of the entrance. A marble statue of Antoinette. This is the only surviving member of the royal family, Princesse Marie? Daisy's gift to her parents.
(I hope to adopt it, thank you)