Assassination, Politics, and Miracles

by Skuy, David

• ISBN13: 9780773524576
• ISBN10: 0773524576
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-06-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ

Summary

On 13 February 1820 the Duke of Berry, the only Bourbon prince capable of siring an heir, was assassinated. Seven months later the Duchess of Berry gave birth to a boy, the Duke of Bordeaux, and the Bourbon lineage was saved. The boy was immediately nicknamed "the miracle child." The Duke's assassination and the birth of his son gave rise to the Royalist Reaction of 1820, a ten-month period that forever altered France's political landscape. This remarkable story provides the backdrop for David Skuy's analysis of the Royalist Reaction and its place in the history of the French Restoration. Skuy argues that the Royalist Reaction was the product of two divergent forces: historical echoes of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire and the psychological consequences of the assassination and the miracle child. Skuy discusses Restoration political theory and the development of modern political parties. He follows the strategems of anti-royalist extremists plotting to overthrow the Bourbon regime, and details the complexities and intrigues that characterized the royal court and parliament. Skuy reveals how the assassination and the birth of the miracle child triggered a popular Royalist Reaction that changed millions of French citizens from passive observers into ardent royalists.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Prologue: The Assassination of the Duke of Berry and the Birth of the Miracle Child	3	(11)
Introduction: Restoration France and the Royalist Reaction of 1820	14	(11)
PART ONE SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION
The Law: Cracks in the Edifice	25	(17)
Conspiracy: Who Killed the Duke of Berry?	42	(25)
Politics: The Viability of the Bourbon Regime	67	(36)
PART TWO THE ROYALIST REACTION OF 1820
February: The Royalist Reaction Commences	103	(29)
March--April: The Royalist Reaction in Earnest	132	(43)
May--June: The Law of the Double Vote	175	(19)
August--September: Conspiracy and Providence	194	(13)
October--November: Celebrating the Miracle	207	(24)
Postscript: Leap into the Abyss	231	(10)
Appendix One: Political Background of Isere and Haute-Garonne	241	(4)
Notes	245	(36)
Bibliography	281	(18)
Index	299