The French queen is attributed to a phrase that has become a symbol of misunderstanding of how heavily lives poor. We checked whether she really said it.

The statement, which supposedly belongs to Maria-Antoinette, executed in 1793, has long become one of the most famous in mass culture. Of course, it is found in numerous collections of quotes, it is used in critical texts on Political And Economic themes. In 2006, Sofia Coppola about Maria Antoinette, in which the expression “let the cakes” was released on the screens. pronounces Queen performed by Kirsten Dunst.

To begin with, we note that the established translations of both Russian and English are not entirely true. In French, the phrase sounds like Qu'ils Mangent de la Brioche, that is, literally-"Let Brioshi eat." Briosh is such a sweet oil bun, traditional in France. It is this phrase that must be sought in historical sources.

The earliest mention of the expression Qu'ils Mangent de la Brioche is the “confession” of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, written in the mid-1760s and first published in 1782. In the sixth volume of this autobiographical book It is said: “Finally, I remembered at least the great princess, who, when she was told that the peasants had no bread, replied:“ Then let Brioshi eat. ” It is worth noting three details. Firstly, Rousseau does not attribute this expression directly to Maria Antoinette-on the contrary, he uses the word “princess” with an indefinite article (D’ Une Grande Princesse). Secondly, the future French queen at the time of writing the text was only about ten years old, and she married the French king she I went out Only in 1770. Thirdly, in the sixth book "Confession", it is generally It goes About the events of the first half of the 18th century.

The earliest written mention of the phrase about Brioshi in connection with Maria Antoinette we find already in the 1840s, half a century after the execution of the Queen. Alfons Carr, journalist and editor of the LE Figaro newspaper, in 1843 He wrote: “We remember how indignation they (the enemies of the queen.-Approx. Ed.) Crimeed at one time against Queen Maria Antoinette, spreading the rumor that she heard that people have no bread, replied:“ Let Brioshi eat! ” According to the journalist, the very idea of the phrase of the Queen’s enemies was borrowed from the source of 1760 (the future Maria Antoinette was then five years old), where it was attributed to a certain Italian aristocrat.

And yet: could the very young Maria Antoinette (in the 1760s, by the way, the Austrian Erzduzogini Maria Anthony Joseph Johann Habsburg-Lotaring) be the author of this phrase, despite the reservations listed above? We were not able to find any historical research in support of this version. Some attributed The authorship of the phrase about Brioshi to various court ladies: the daughter of Louis XV Madame Victuer, his favorite Madame Du Barry and even the famous Madame Pompadur. However, Veronik Campion-Vincent and Christine Shoji Kavan in his article on the famous expression Assess Many of such attributes are as doubtful.

The same researchers Offer Search the roots of phrases in the history of another revolution - religious, not political. The Reformation in Germany of the 16th century led to peasant wars, economic problems and, as a result, hunger. It is not surprising that in several sources of that time you can meet a plot about a noble lady who does not understand how difficult the commoners live. Phrases, very similar to the attributed to Maria-Antoinette, became among local sayings. Moreover, there is evidence that Maria Teresia, the wife of Louis XIV, made a very similar statement, but there, instead of Briosha, she appeared “a crust of the pie” (la croûte de pâté).

At the same time, as scientists note, Maria Antoinette was not just extremely unpopular in pre-revolutionary France-she was considered depraved, extravagant and simply not far. Many other ladies who were attributed to such statements were also similar. Campion-Vincent and Shoji Kavan see this as a typical manifestation of folklore, and not only in relation to representatives of the nobility, but also to women whose position at that time (even in the aristocratic environment) remained quite infringed. The last role was played by the fact that Maria-Antoinette was not by the Frenchwoman, but by Austria.

However, the use of similar designs is attributed to men, and both the contemporaries of Maria Antoinette, and in those who lived later and later. It is interesting that usually in such cases an alternative to bread is not Briosh, but something much less pleasant, and the phrase itself is associated not with frivolity, but with aggression. So, in the testimonies of the times of the Great French Revolution, a hay or grass appears instead of a sweet bun, and in the German sources of the time of the Reformation - and completely “shit”. True, there are many more “kind” examples. For example, in chronicles of the VII century Fixed The case when Emperor Jui-di from the Chinese dynasty Jin said that his people are starving due to a lack of rice. He allegedly answered: "Then why don't they eat meat porridge?" By the way, this expression has become Idiomatic In Chinese.

Thus, there is no reliable evidence that the authorship of the phrase “Let Brioshi then eat” belongs to the French Queen of Maria Antoinette. Even if she really pronounced her, she was hardly a “discoverer” of such a turn. Many evidence of varying degrees of reliability have been preserved, which put expression in the mouth of its contemporaries and, which is much more important, who lived much earlier than people. Apparently, we are dealing with a rather archetypal statement, a kind of meme, which from at least the 16th century attributed to various noble ladies (often unnamed). Later it is “stuck” to Maria Antoinette as the most famous and at the same time the most stereotypical embodiment of this image.