Madame
The identity of the 'Madame' to which these Letters are addressed remains a mystery, but information gleaned from across the duchess's correspondence points to someone of similar standing in French society, well-known within the duchess's own social circle and living outside Paris. However, the possibility cannot be ruled out that these Letters are (or had become by 1788 or afterwards) a fictional correspondence, either with an imaginary recipient or one who had pre-deceased the duchess. More information on the possible identity of 'Madame', as well as discussion of the Letters as an unusual source type, is available via the 'Resources' tab.
Appears in these Letters:
1788
13 December: Pre-Revolutionary Political Tensions
This extract covers the first two paragraphs of the first surviving Letter from the duchess's notebook series. We are in the period known as the...
1789
10 February: Pre-Revolutionary Violence
Although many of the Letters focus on Paris, they also show that the duchess made considerable efforts to stay informed about events elsewhere in the...
9 May: The Opening of the Estates General
The Estates General was the national representative body called by Louis XVI to solve the state’s financial problems. It was set up with ornate...
16 July: Aftermath of the Fall of the Bastille
The duchess provides an immediate response to the dramatic Revolutionary events of early July 1789. Momentum had shifted from Versailles and the new...
22 July: Revolutionary Paris in July 1789
The duchess reflects on events in the Revolution so far and the rising power of Paris's new municipal government. She castigates a...
8 August: The Duchess Rides Through the Great Fear
The duchess felt trapped in Paris following the Revolutionary events of July 1789. She decided to leave Paris for her provincial estates at Moreuil in...
14 October: A King Imprisoned? The October Days
On 5-6 October 1789, a Parisian crowd led by thousands of women marched out to demonstrate at Versailles and forced the royal family to relocate to...
1790
15 April: The Riddle of Louis XVI
Although a staunch royalist, the duchess, like many nobles, feared that the king might be tempted to enter an alliance with influential members of the...
31 July: Celebrating the Revolution on the Duchess's Moreuil Estate
The first anniversity of the Storming of the Bastille was celebrated on an epic scale in Paris. Out in Moreuil the duchess and the relations she had...
30 August: Confrontation at Moreuil
This entry details a lengthy confrontation between the duchess and local inhabitants at her Moreuil estate. The new political landscape taking shape...
29 December: The Duchess Reflects
The duchess takes stock of the Revolution thus far, and considers what it has meant for her and for the country. Her decision to begin this review...
1791
30 June: Capture at Varennes: The Humiliation of a King
Here the duchess sifts through the wreckage of the royal family's thwarted attempt to escape Paris in June 1791. Before leaving on what would become...
3 October: Life as an Émigré. Part 1
The duchess recounts her departure from France for Tournai in the Austrian Netherlands, which had become a rallying post for the expanding French...
7 November: Life as an Émigré. Part 2
The duchess gives a more positive report of life in Tournai than in her Letter of the previous month, comparing the fear she would have been enduring...
1792
25 May: Revolutionary France Faces Military Disaster
After much triumphalist rhetoric in Parisian political circles ahead of France's declaration of war against Austria on 20 April 1792, the harsh...
14 August: The August Revolution: The Fall of the Monarchy
The summer of 1792 was a perfect storm for the French monarchy, with rising demands for a Republic amid military defeats and the lasting resentment...
4 September: Revolutionary Massacre: Paris in September 1792
At the start of September 1792 Revolutionary tensions boiled over in the capital in the wake of the fall of the monarchy and news of...
15 December: The Criminality of Revolutionary France
The deposed king Louis XVI is going on trial for crimes against the Revolution and the duchess regards this as further evidence of Revolutionary...
1793
5 June: Reflections on Political Repression
The duchess explains how the balance of political power in the capital has recently shifted in a more radical direction, and considers the...
31 July: Revolutionary Justice in the summer of 1793
The duchess offers news and personal reflections on recent developments in the French Revolution (as seen from her home in the heart of the capital)...
22 October: The Execution of Marie-Antoinette
The execution of the former queen Marie-Antoinette on 16 October 1793, after a highly politicised show trial at the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal, was...
6 November: The Terror Gathers Pace
The duchess describes the execution of Brissot and a group of his fellow Girondin deputies. She combines this with broader reflections on the...