History Events

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[PAST EVENT] Spring 2019 Tack Faculty Lecture

March 28, 2019
7pm
Location
Sadler Center, Commonwealth Auditorium
200 Stadium Dr
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
  • Open to the public
  • Registration/RSVP
Ron Schechter
  • Ron Schechter, Professor of History
  • "The Secret Library of Marie Antoinette: Revealing the Inner Life of a Conflicted Queen"
  • Thursday, March 28, 2019 
  • 7 p.m. 
  • Commonwealth Auditorium, Sadler Center
  • RSVP requested

Marie Antoinette has been characterized as stupid. Historians and biographers have called her "empty-headed," "dizzy," and a "feather brain," among other epithets. They couldn't have been more wrong. Marie Antoinette was highly intelligent. She spoke three languages. She could sight-read music. Her tutor said she remembered everything he taught her. And she read … a lot.

Professor Ron SchechterMarie Antoinette's favorite books were tucked away in her most private space: the boudoir of her country house, La Petite Trianon. A handwritten catalog from the time shows that she had over 500 volumes in her boudoir. Nearly all of them were officially forbidden. They were books that attacked the Catholic Church – the only one allowed in France – made fun of the aristocracy and even suggested that the country would be better off without a king or queen.

The fact that she owned and cherished these books tells us that she must have been conflicted, that there was a gulf between her beliefs and her position. It tells us that she had a turbulent inner life. Professor Ron Schechter will dive into her secret library and more during his Tack Faculty Lecture on March 28, 2019.