Glossary of Terms

Dauphin/Dauphine: Title given to the heir apparent to the French throne and his wife

Dame d'Honneur: Chief lady-in-waiting to the queen

Gouvernante des Enfants de France: Governess of the royal children

Grand Almoner: Chief religious officer of the royal household

Lever: Morning ceremony of the king or queen rising and dressing

Coucher: Evening ceremony of the king or queen retiring

Ancien Régime: The political and social system of France before the Revolution

Estates-General: Assembly representing the three estates of the realm (clergy, nobility, commoners)

Parlement: High courts of justice in pre-revolutionary France

Lit de Justice: Ceremony where the king imposed his will on the parlements

Libelles: Defamatory pamphlets, often pornographic, attacking public figures

Émigrés: French nobles who fled abroad during the Revolution

Hofburg Palace: Main imperial palace in Vienna, birthplace of Marie Antoinette

Versailles: Principal royal palace outside Paris

Petit Trianon: Small château given to Marie Antoinette as private retreat

Hameau de la Reine: Rustic retreat built for Marie Antoinette at Versailles

Tuileries Palace: Royal residence in Paris where the family lived after leaving Versailles

Temple: Medieval fortress used as prison for the royal family

Conciergerie: Prison where Marie Antoinette spent her final weeks

Sans-culottes: Working-class revolutionaries

Jacobins: Radical revolutionary political club

Revolutionary Tribunal: Court established to try enemies of the Revolution

Committee of Public Safety: Executive body during the Terror