The March on Versailles, also known as The Bread March of Women, and The Women's March on Versailles, was an event in the French Revolution. Although the National Assembly had taken the Tennis Court Oath and the Bastille had fallen at the hands of the crowd, the poor women of Paris still found that there was a considerable bread shortage and the prices were very high. A crowd had once killed a baker for overpricing his bread. For a while, rumors ...
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The March on Versailles, also known as The Bread March of Women, and The Women's March on Versailles, was an event in the French Revolution. Although the National Assembly had taken the Tennis Court Oath and the Bastille had fallen at the hands of the crowd, the poor women of Paris still found that there was a considerable bread shortage and the prices were very high. A crowd had once killed a baker for overpricing his bread. For a while, rumors had been spreading in Paris that the royals were hoarding all the grain. A hungry mob of 7,000 largely working-class women decided to march on the Versailles, taking with them pieces of cannon and other weaponry.
Many in the crowd blamed Queen Marie Antoinette for the lack of bread and gleefully sang songs about killing her and raping her. One of the king's courtiers, the young duc de Fronsac, was in the city at the time and ran through the woods to the palace to warn the queen of the rowdy crowd's deadly intentions. He warned her to seek...
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