Versailles/The Women's March on Versailles

What is the context of the women’s march on Versailles?

In May of 1789, the Estates-General (oxford dictionary defines this as the legislative body in France until 1789, representing the three estates of the realm (i.e., the clergy, the nobility, and the commons) was considering reforms, and then in July the Bastille was stormed. Then, in August, “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” caused feudalism and some privileges of the nobility and royalty to be abolished.

It was clear at this point that disruption of regular order was happening in France. There was hope for change in government, but also fear, as radical action increased. Many nobles who were not French actually left France because they feared for their lives or money.

At this point, there had been poor harvests for years, and grain was very scarce. The price of bread increased rapidly, to the point that poorer citizens could not buy it. The market for sellers decreased as well, as less and less people could afford their product. This caused tensions to rise rapidly.

How did it start?

The women’s march on Versailles is one of the earliest significant parts of the French revolution. Bread was a staple in these people’s diets, yet they could no longer afford it. On October 5, 1789, one young woman began to beat a drum at the market in Paris. More women began to gather, and eventually they gathered a large crowd, marching through the streets. They reached the city hall in Paris, and had gathered about 6,000 – 10,000 women at this point. They were armed with simple weapons, like kitchen knives, and some even had muskets and swords. They gathered more weapons at the city hall, and any food they could find there.

Keeping the march calm-ish

Stanislas-Marie Maillard was a well-known leader among the market women, and he has been credited with calming the march as to make sure that marchers did not burn or destroy the city hall or any other buildings.

In the meantime, Marquis de Lafayette attempted to assemble guardsmen who sympathized or supported the marchers. Lafayette led 15,000 troops to Versailles to protect the marchers, and hoped this would keep the marchers from becoming an uncontrolled mob as well.

The march!

The objective of the marchers became to bring the king (Louis XVI) to Paris, so he could take responsibility for the people and the reforms. Essentially, they would march to the Palace of Versailles. The next morning, a smaller group invaded the palace, attempting to find the Queen. At least two guards were killed.

Lafayette eventually convinced the King to come out and address the people. He appeared, and as the people demanded to see the queen as well, she appeared.

The objective was fulfilled, as the group of marchers (about 60,000 now), accompanied the royal family back to Paris. The march ended on October 7.

Why is it important?

The women’s march on Versailles is particularly significant because it was a turning point in the revolution. Their successful storming of the palace proved that the monarchy is subject to the will of the people.

 

Works Cited

Hibbert, Christopher. “The Day of the Market-Women.” The Days of the French Revolution, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, 1981, pp. 85–106.

Lewis, J. J. (2019, August 7). Women's March on Versailles: Turning point in the French Revolution. ThoughtCo. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.thoughtco.com/womens-march-on-versailles-3529107

Stephens, H. Morse. “Women During the Terror.” A History of the French Revolution, C. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1911, pp. 357–358.

 

Parent Map

Romantic Tensions Map

Coordinates

Latitude: 48.801085200000
Longitude: 2.120185300000

Timeline of Events Associated with Versailles/The Women's March on Versailles

Date Event Manage
5 Oct 1789

Women's March on Versailles

Following the storming of the Bastille in July of 1789, rural unrest, poor harvests, food shortages, and rising prices of grain contributed to rising tensions all throughout France. There was the constant fear of “famine pacts” (Doyle, 21), where many people believed there were others possibly manipulating the grain supply in order to kill off numbers of the population. Violent riots were instigated with mere rumors of food shortage, and France sat on edge, waiting to see how their monarch would react. These riots, ideas for protests, and marches led to the events of October 5, 1789, otherwise known as the Women’s March on Versailles. 

After the mutiny of members of the French Guards after the events at the Bastille, the royal family was left with relatively less protection. The Garde du Corps (Body Guard) had taken over the protective duties in their absence, but this did not bode well with King Louis XVII in regard to the looming reality of the Revolution. He summoned the Flanders Regiment to Versailles, and in honor of their arrival, a banquet was thrown. On October 1, 1789, the event commenced, producing the exact provocation needed for uproarious protests. The guests and militia at the banquet enjoyed drinks, food, and “rowdy demonstrations of loyalty to the throne” (Hibbert, 96). News of the event made its way to the people in the capitol who were struggling to afford food at all, and an idea for a march was contrived.

On the morning of the 5th of October, women attending the central markets, and also in what was known as Faubourg Saint-Antoine, were met with more of the same trying circumstances. Bread, a main staple in people’s diet, had become virtually impossible to obtain, where “the bread queues had been growing ever longer” and the people demanded, “a reduction in the price” (Hibbert, 96). Thousands of Parisian women took to the streets in protest, led by “poissardes, fishwives, working women, prostitutes, and market stall-holders.” The march began with “shouting for bread, forcing the bell-ringer of the Sainte-Marguerite church to ring the tocsin and calling upon the citizens to take up arms to force the Government to help them” (Hibbert, 97). The crowd of women then, “dragging cannon and brandishing whatever makeshift weapons they could lay hands-on,” (Doyle, 121) set out to bring their grievances to King Louis XVII’s doorstep.

The significance of this event has echoed throughout history as one of the first examples of uprisings led primarily by women, and a relatively successful one. These women were in demand of more than just a day's worth of grain, but the assurance that fair prices and abundance of food would once again be a possibility in France. They marched for the purpose of bringing back these necessities, but also to bring King Louis back to Paris; making sure that the monarchy was on more common ground with their subjects. The women of Paris accomplished this. The Women's March on Versailles had an impact that resembled that of Bastille, “the people, by solidarity and by their action, had paralysed the plots of the Court and dealt a heavy blow at the old régime” (Kropotkin, 157). These market women were “treated as heroines” (Stephens, 358) and government after government of Paris treasured them as history makers and fighters, not just for the Revolution, but for early women’s rights.

Sources:

Doyle, William. “The Principles of 1789 and the Reform of France.” The Oxford History of the French Revolution, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989, pp. 112–135. 

Hibbert, Christopher. “The Day of the Market-Women.” The Days of the French Revolution, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, 1981, pp. 85–106. 

Stephens, H. Morse. “Women During the Terror.” A History of the French Revolution, C. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1911, pp. 357–358. 

Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, and N. F. Dryhurst. “October 5 and 6, 1789.” The Great French Revolution 1789 to 1793, Kessinger, Whitefish, M.T., 2005, pp. 146–157.

Photo source: Bibliothèque nationale de France