sourced story
16 October 1793Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Trial and Execution of Marie Antoinette

The former queen is convicted on rumor and hearsay and guillotined nine months after her husband

On the timeline · around 16 October 1793 · Republic and TerrorRepublic and TerrorThermidor to BrumaireThe Trial and Execution of Marie Antoinette1794

Quick facts

Location
Paris; executed at the Place de la Revolution
Date
16 October 1793 (trial opened 14 October)
Charge
High treason
Witnesses examined
40

What happened

Marie Antoinette's trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal opened on 14 October 1793 with hours of cross-examination across forty witnesses. Unlike her husband's trial, which had rested on documented evidence, the charges against her, including conspiring with foreign powers, were built largely on rumor and hearsay. Found guilty of high treason, she was executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793, in a public spectacle that drew a large crowd, a signal to Europe's other monarchies that the Republic would tolerate no counter-revolutionary sympathy regardless of rank.

Why it matters

Marie Antoinette's execution came at the formal opening of the Reign of Terror and made clear that no one, however highly born, stood outside its reach. Where Louis XVI's trial had proceeded on documented charges, hers showed how quickly the Revolutionary Tribunal's evidentiary standard was collapsing.

How we know

World History Encyclopedia's account of the trial draws on the Tribunal's own proceedings and contrasts the weaker evidentiary basis of her case with the documented charges used against Louis XVI.

Sources

See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.

Part of a timelineThe French Revolution28 events · How a bankrupt monarchy's tax crisis became a decade of upheaval that ended with a general seizing powerView all →
The Trial and Execution of Marie Antoinette · The French Revolution · SourcedStory