WASHINGTON —
“Not with out you.” “My pricey good friend.” “You that I really like.”
Marie Antoinette despatched these expressions of affection — or extra? — in letters to her shut good friend and rumored lover Axel von Fersen. Somebody later used darkish ink to scribble over the phrases, apparently to dampen the effusive, maybe amorous, language.
Scientists in France devised a brand new methodology to uncover the unique writing, separating out the chemical composition of various inks used on historic paperwork. They examined their methodology by analyzing the personal letters between the French queen and the Swedish rely, that are housed within the French nationwide archives.
That allowed them to learn the unique phrases and even establish the one that scratched them out — Fersen himself.
“It is all the time thrilling if you uncover that you would be able to know extra concerning the previous than you thought you may,” mentioned historian Rebecca L. Spang, who research the French Revolution at Indiana College, and was not concerned within the examine.
The letters had been exchanged between June 1791 and August 1792 — a interval when the French royal household was saved below shut surveillance in Paris, after having tried to flee the nation. Quickly the French monarchy can be abolished, and the subsequent 12 months each Marie Antoinette and her husband, Louis XVI, can be beheaded.
“On this time, individuals used lots of flowery language — however right here, it is actually robust, actually intimate language. We all know with this textual content, there’s love relationship,” mentioned Anne Michelin, a cloth analyst on the Sorbonne’s Analysis Middle for Conservation and co-author of the analysis printed Friday within the journal Science Advances.
The wide-ranging letters, penned on thick cotton paper, talk about political occasions and private emotions. The redacted phrases, akin to “madly” and “beloved,” do not change the general that means, however tone of the connection between the sender and receiver.
Marie Antoinette and Fersen met in France after they had been each 18. They saved in contact till her demise.
“In 18th century western Europe, there is a type of cult of the letter as a type of writing that offers you entry to an individual’s character like no different,” mentioned Deidre Lynch, a historian who research the interval’s literary tradition at Harvard and was not concerned within the examine.
“Like a metaphorical state of undress, they’ve let their head down and present are who they are surely,” she mentioned.
However savvy writers had been additionally conscious that their letters could also be learn by a number of audiences. Some correspondents in 18th century Europe famously employed secret codes and so-called “invisible ink” to cover their full that means from sure eyes.
The letters exchanged between Marie Antoinette and Fersen, who by no means married, had been altered after the actual fact. Sure parts of textual content had been scribbled out in darkish ink. His household saved the correspondence till 1982, when the letters had been bought by the French nationwide archives.
In eight of the 15 letters the researchers analyzed, there have been enough variations within the chemical composition of the inks — the proportion of iron, copper and different components — that they might map out every layer individually, and thus get better the unique textual content.
“That is wonderful,” mentioned Ronald Schechter, a historian who research Marie Antoinette’s library at William & Mary and was not concerned within the examine. He mentioned that the method may additionally assist historians decipher redacted or censored “phrases and passages in diplomatic correspondence, delicate political correspondence, and different texts which have eluded historic evaluation as a result of redactions.”
Michelin mentioned probably the most stunning discovering was that her staff may additionally establish the one that censored the letters. It was Fersen, who used the identical inks to write down and redact a number of the letters.
His motivations, nevertheless, stay a matter of hypothesis.
“I wager he was making an attempt to guard her advantage,” mentioned Harvard’s Lynch. “To throw out her letters can be like throwing out a lock of her hair. He needs two incompatible issues: He needs to maintain the letters, however he additionally needs to alter them.”
