The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry

Thumbnail image of item number 1 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.
Thumbnail image of item number 2 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.
Thumbnail image of item number 3 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.
Thumbnail image of item number 4 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.
Showing 1-4 of 173 pages in this thesis.

PDF Version Also Available for Download.

Description

Jeanne Bécu, an illegitimate child from the Vaucouleurs area in France, ascended the ranks of the Ancien régime to become the Countess du Barry and take her place as Royal Mistress of Louis XV. During her tenure as Royal Mistress, Jeanne amassed a jewel collection that rivaled all private collections. During the course of the French Revolution, more specifically the Reign of Terror, Jeanne was forced to hatch a plot to secure the remainder of her wealth as she lost a significant portion of her revenue on the night of 4 August 1789. To protect her wealth, Jeanne enlisted Nathaniel … continued below

Physical Description

iii, 169 pages : illustrations (some color)

Creation Information

Lewis, Erik Braeden December 2015.

Context

This thesis is part of the collection entitled: UNT Theses and Dissertations and was provided by the UNT Libraries to the UNT Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 2170 times, with 28 in the last month. More information about this thesis can be viewed below.

Who

People and organizations associated with either the creation of this thesis or its content.

Author

Chair

Committee Members

Publisher

Rights Holder

For guidance see Citations, Rights, Re-Use.

  • Lewis, Erik Braeden

Provided By

UNT Libraries

The UNT Libraries serve the university and community by providing access to physical and online collections, fostering information literacy, supporting academic research, and much, much more.

About | Browse this Partner

Contact Us

Corrections Questions

What

Descriptive information to help identify this thesis. Follow the links below to find similar items on the Digital Library.

Degree Information

Description

Jeanne Bécu, an illegitimate child from the Vaucouleurs area in France, ascended the ranks of the Ancien régime to become the Countess du Barry and take her place as Royal Mistress of Louis XV. During her tenure as Royal Mistress, Jeanne amassed a jewel collection that rivaled all private collections. During the course of the French Revolution, more specifically the Reign of Terror, Jeanne was forced to hatch a plot to secure the remainder of her wealth as she lost a significant portion of her revenue on the night of 4 August 1789. To protect her wealth, Jeanne enlisted Nathaniel Parker Forth, a British spy, to help her plan a fake jewel theft at Louveciennes so that she could remove her economic capital from France while also reducing her total wealth and capital with the intent of reducing her tax payments. As a result of the theft, her jewelry was transported to London, where she would travel four times during the French Revolution on the pretext of recovering her jewelry. This thesis examines her actions while abroad during the Revolution and her culpability in the plot. While traveling to and from London, Jeanne was able to move information, money, and people out of France. Jeanne was arrested and charged with aiding the counter-revolution, for which the Revolutionary Tribunal sentenced her to death. Madame du Barry represented the extravagance and waste of Versailles and of Bourbon absolutism, and this symbolic representation of waste was what eventually inhibited Jeanne’s success.

Physical Description

iii, 169 pages : illustrations (some color)

Language

Item Type

Identifier

Unique identifying numbers for this thesis in the Digital Library or other systems.

Collections

This thesis is part of the following collection of related materials.

UNT Theses and Dissertations

Theses and dissertations represent a wealth of scholarly and artistic content created by masters and doctoral students in the degree-seeking process. Some ETDs in this collection are restricted to use by the UNT community.

About | Browse this Collection

What responsibilities do I have when using this thesis?

Digital Files

When

Dates and time periods associated with this thesis.

Creation Date

  • December 2015

Start & End Dates

  • 1743 - 1799

Added to The UNT Digital Library

  • March 20, 2016, 10:34 a.m.

Description Last Updated

  • April 17, 2020, 3:31 p.m.

Usage Statistics

When was this thesis last used?

Yesterday: 4
Past 30 days: 28
Total Uses: 2,170
More Statistics

Where

Geographical information about where this thesis originated or about its content.

Place Name

Publication Place

Map Information

  • map marker Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
  • Repositioning map may be required for optimal printing.

Mapped Locations

Interact With This Thesis

Here are some suggestions for what to do next.

Start Reading

Thumbnail image of item number 1 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.
Thumbnail image of item number 2 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.
Thumbnail image of item number 3 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.
Thumbnail image of item number 4 in: 'The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry'.

PDF Version Also Available for Download.

Citations, Rights, Re-Use

International Image Interoperability Framework

IIF Logo

We support the IIIF Presentation API

Links for Robots

Helpful links in machine-readable formats.

Archival Resource Key (ARK)

International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)

Metadata Formats

Images

URLs

Stats

Lewis, Erik Braeden. The Countess of Counter-revolution: Madame du Barry and the 1791 Theft of Her Jewelry, thesis, December 2015; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822775/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .

Back to Top of Screen