Melissa's Blog

The research that I have thus far been able to do has consisted solely of looking around the internet as I have not yet managed to find the time to get to the library. I have searched the library database and found twenty or so secondary sources that I will be looking at in the near future. Currently, I have been attempting to track down some primary sources and was able to find a few online. Specifically, I have been searching vigorously for letters written by Marie Antoinette. I have found her last letter before her death, but this does not help me since I would like to focus on the early part of her life.

Two primary sources I have found consist of letters that were written by men who knew Marie Antoinette. One of the sources contains letters written by Florimond, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, who was the Austrian Ambassador to the Court of Versailles, as well as the guardian of Marie Antoinette. There are also a few letters in the book that were written from Marie Antoinette and her mother, Marie Thérèse. Many of the letters particularly pertain to my topic because they are written by the Comte de Mercy-Argenteau to Marie Thérèse about Marie Antoinette. These letters will help provide insight into Marie Antoinette’s daily life, an important aspect of my topic.

As for my question and hypothesis, both of them remain the same as of now. I will probably have to alter or completely change them as I do even more research, especially if I cannot find enough primary documents to support them. If so, I could probably switch my question and hypothesis to something that has to do with Marie Antoinette’s role in the French Revolution and the last few years before her death since many more primary documents seem to be focused on this.