During her examination Marie Antoinette preserved almost invariably a calm and assured demeanor. During the first hours it was noticed that she kept running her fingers along the arm of her chair in an absent-minded way and as if she were playing the pianoforte.

When she heard the sentence pronounced, no trace of emotion appeared in her face and she left the court without addressing a word to the judges or the public.

It was then half-past four in the morning on the 25th day of the first month (16th October, old style) ; she was led back to the condemned cell in the prison of the Conciergerie.

At five o' clock the call to arms was sounded in all the sections and at seven the armed forces were already at their posts. Cannons were placed at the ends of the bridges and in the squares and crossroads from the Palais as far as the Place de la Revolution and by ten o'clock numerous patrols were circulating in the streets.

At eleven Marie Antoinette, the widow Capet, wearing a white morning dress was led to the scaffold in the same manner as other criminals accompanied by a constitutional priest dressed as a layman, and escorted by numerous detachments of mounted and dismounted gendarmerie.

Published in French at the Moniteur of 27th October 1793

Back to Cover