Madame du Barry: Louis XV’s Favorite Mistress

It has very much been said that it is the school schoolmistress who truly wields the power on the throne. According to the BBC article The Kings Mistress A gallant Tradition (2005), for centuries, kings across Europe eat dark to mistresses for sex, advice and conversation (BBC News, n. pag. ). In exchange for the sex and smart set that they provided to their respective paramours, these women were able to obtain great personalized wealth, security and a rare chance of governmental power (BBC News, n. pag.). But in the case of Madame du Barry (1743-1793), a kings mistress can similarly bring nearly the end of his regime (BBC News, n. pag. ).Madame Jeanne Becu Comtesse du Barry was born as Marie-Jeanne Becu at Vaucouleurs, Lorraine on August 19, 1743 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). She was the illigitimate daughter of Anne Becu, who was said to impart worked either as a seamstress or a cook in Paris (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Marie-Jeannes biologic father was believed to be Jean Baptis te Gormand de Vaubernier, a beggar who went by the name of Brother Angel (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). However, it was Annes lover, Monsieur Billard-Dumonceaux, who pay for her education at the convent of St. Aure (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).Marie-Jeanne left the convent at come on 15 and moved to Paris, where she assumed the name Jeanne Rancon (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). She held variant jobs during her stay in Paris, which included being an follower to a young hairdresser named Lametz (with whom she was rumored to have a daughter), a companion to Madame de la Garde (kn give to be a lonely aristocrat) and a miliners assistant in A La Toilette, an enterprise of a certain Monsieur Labille (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). In 1763, her beauty caught the eye of well-heeled pimp and casino owner Jean du Barry (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).He then proceeded to turn her into his mistress and groomed her career as a paramour that catered only to the Parisian elite (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Marie-Jeanne became a concubine for four years (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ), working under the a.k.a. of Mademoiselle Lange (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Although several of her wealthy customers eventually became her benefactors, Du Barry wanted to use her to control King Louis XV (1715-1774) (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Du Barrys competition was realized when Marie-Jeanne and his brother, Comte Guillaume du Barry, were married in 1769 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).Marie-Jeannes marriage to a nobleman qualified her to become Louis XVs official imperial mistress (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). On April 2, 1769, Madame du Barry was formally intoroduced to the family of the king and the cut royal court (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). In sharp distinguish to Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), another of Louis XVs mistresses, Du Barry had minimal political type slug over the king (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Her only participation in politcs was her membership in the faction that deposed Etienne Francois de Choiseul from his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1770 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ).Du Barry sort of spent her time having new gowns made and purchase order jewelry of every shape, size and colour (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). She also took the place of De Pompadour as Louis XVs favorite mistress (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ). However, Du Barrys genteel life in Versailles Palace was not without problems. She had a bitter feud with cut Dauphine Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) in the beginning because of the latters erect of De Choiseul (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Marie Antoinette also refused to have anything to do with Du Barry callable to her disgust with the latters personal background (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ).Furthermore, Louis XV pass a tenacious prior to his demise in May 1774 that Du Barry be banished to the Abbey of Pont aux-Dames, where her letters and visits were strictly monitored (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ). Historians believed that the kings relationship with Du Barry might have hindered him from receiving an absolution before his death hence, his decision to fling her away (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Du Barry lived in the convent for two years, before locomote to the Chateau de Louveciennes (Wikipedia, n. pag. ) in 1776 (Marie Antoinette, n. pag. ).Although Du Barry was noted for her her good nature and support of artists (Wikipedia, n. pag. ), the French people despised her due to the luxuriant lifestyle that the king subjected her to (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). By the late 1780s, France was in the midst of a severe fiscal crisis (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Its delivery suffered due to the monarchys tedious and archaic bookkeeping transcription (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Furthermore, the country also did not have a national bank (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Even if the majority of Frances nobility and clergy were extremely well-off, they were taxed considerably less than the poor peasants (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ).The royal house likewise had to take on crippling debts in effect(p) to finance the very expens ive wars it got itself into the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), the Seven Years War (1756-1763) and the American innovation (1775-1783) (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). While the countrys upper classes wallowed in wealth and the monarchy diligent in one expensive hostility after(prenominal) another, ordinary French citizens starved due to skyrocketing prices of staff of life (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ).The increasing animosity between Frances nobility and middle class resulted in the French Revolution (1789-1799) (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Under the Revolution, France was temporarily transformed from an absolute monarchy, where the king monopolized power, to a land of theoretically free and equal citizens (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Simply put, the French Revolution served as the retribution for all the injustices that the French royalty inflicted upon its people. At the height of the Revolution, revolutionaries guillotined nobles, their allies and anyone who unconnected the uprisi ng (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ). Du Barry went to England several times in 1792 to purportedly recover stolen jewelry (MSN Encarta, n. pag. ).As a result, she was accused of on the QT providing financial assistance to the England-based opponents of the new French land (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). The Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris apprehended Du Barry on treason charges in 1793 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Following a moot trial, she was finally guillotined at the Place de la Concorde on December 8, 1793 (Wikipedia, n. pag. ). Mistresses like Madame du Barry lived lives of wealth, comfort and power. But their prolificacy and prominence did not come without a tragical price, as they attained these at the expense of so many impoverished citizens.The hedonistic existence of these women sickened their countrymen to the token that they finally rose up and demanded change for their resepctive countries and governments. It would be fair to say that mistresses can serve as the ultimate warning to an y leader who go forth use his position to enrich himself and his associates. The people may tolerate corruption for a remarkably long time. But once they take power into their own hands, there is no government on ball that they cannot overthrow. Works Cited French Revolution. 2007. MSN Encarta.22 April 2008 . Madame du Barry. 2008. Marie Antoinette. 22 April 2008 . Madame du Barry. 9 April 2008. Wikipedia. 22 April 2008 . Marie Jeanne Becu du Barry. 2007. MSN Encarta. 22 April 2008 . The Kings Mistress A Royal Tradition. 27 April 2005. BBC News. 22 April 2008 .