Abstract:
When the French Revolution erupted in 1789, revolutionaries strove to foster a sense of freedom of expression, guaranteeing a brief freedom of the press. The eleventh article of the 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Man asserts that "The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of man's most precious rights; all citizens may therefore speak, write, print freely, except to answer for the abuse of this liberty in cases determined by law." However, as France became further embroiled in the Revolution, it abandoned its allegiance to the universality of these rights, propagating pro-republican thought, and persecuting anyone who did not share these views. The royalist press was a major concern to the new republican government, because it continued to speak out in support of the king and criticize the Revolution. The existence of royalist journalists and writers thus posed a problem for revolutionaries who wanted to establish a monolithically-minded republic. Therefore, over time, they enacted repressive censorship and punishment to crack down on royalist sympathizers. Although they sent many royalist writers to prison or the guillotine, the revolutionaries ultimately failed to silence their political enemies. This thesis uses newspapers, images, and other printed media to explore royalist coverage of three events that diminished royal power: Louis XVI's flight to Varennes in June 1791, his execution in January 1793, and the death of his nine-year-old son and heir, Louis XVII, in June 1795. These were also moments in which royalists had to prove the innocence of the king. To do so, they used tearful, melodramatic language common in contemporary novels and plays. Their goal was to cause their readers to feel pity for the abuses that the Revolution caused for him and his family. This emotional language also applied to both his sacred and worldly "bodies," especially in recurrent themes such as the king's affection for his family; allusions to Jesus Christ; and the idea that the revolutionaries barred him from speaking directly to his loving subjects. Royalists also referred to the motif of blood in their writings as a symbol of the king's sanctity and the carnage caused by the revolutionaries. By creating a body of literature centered around pity to defend the king, royalist writers fostered a community of like-minded individuals who resisted revolutionary repression. By triggering readers' emotions, royalist writers used a direct method to attempt to save the king, his memory, and hope for the restoration of the monarchy.
