Louis XVII of France

1785–1795

Born: 27 Mar 1785, Versailles
Country of birth: Kingdom of France, today France
Died: 8 Jun 1795, Paris

facts: 9
sources: 1
images and files: 0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

Birth27 Mar 1785, VersaillesProbable1 source
TitleDauphin of France, 1789Confirmed1 competing claim1 source
TitleKing of France and Navarre, 1793–1795Confirmed1 competing claim1 source
Death8 Jun 1795, ParisProbable1 source
ParentLouis XVI of FranceConfirmed1 source
ParentMarie AntoinetteConfirmed1 source

A life in time

27 Mar 1785
Born · Versailles
Birth, Versailles
1789
Event · Dauphin of France
Event
1793–1795
Event · King of France and Navarre
Event
8 Jun 1795
Died · Paris
Death, Paris

What was it like?

The world around Versailles, 1785: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Louis was born around the same time as François Arago, Ludwig I of Bavaria, and Niccolò Paganini.

Known for

Titles held

Dauphin of France1789
King of France and Navarre1793–1795

Born around the same time

François Arago
1786 · French mathematician, physicist, astronomer and politician (1786-1853)
Ludwig I of Bavaria
1786 · King of Bavaria (1786-1868)
Niccolò Paganini
1782 · Italian violinist and composer (1782–1840)
Carl Maria von Weber
1786 · German Romantic composer (1786–1826)
Daniel François Esprit Auber
1782 · French composer (1782-1871)
Friedrich Fröbel
1782 · German educator

Fashion

Commoners often went barefoot and wore secondhand

Ordinary rural people in France often went barefoot during the warmer seasons and relied heavily on secondhand clothing, as buying new outfits was exceptional.

Around 1789–1799

Sans-culottes wore trousers as a badge of honor

During the French Revolution, working-class men known as sans-culottes distinguished themselves by wearing long trousers instead of the tight knee breeches worn by the nobility.

Music

Popular dances included minuet and contredanse

The minuet and the contredanse were the two most popular dances, with the latter being a favorite figure dance involving four couples. People frequently organized and enjoyed balls in the provinces during this period.

Wind instruments dominated outdoor civic festivals

Wind instruments, especially the bassoon-serpent, were highly prized for outdoor festivities and civic celebrations because they were loud enough to be heard by large crowds. During the Revolution, the government promoted powerful patriotic hymns like La Marseillaise, often played by wind ensembles to help mobilize and unify citizens.

Getting around

Dangerous conditions on poorly maintained roads

Travelers in carriages sometimes had to pay local peasants to walk alongside and support the carriage to prevent it from tipping over on flooded or muddy roads. In severe weather, travelers were occasionally forced to wait for days in miserable inns until conditions improved.

Fast winter mountain descent by sled

Adventurous travelers crossing the Alps at Mont-Cenis in winter could descend into France on a sled in a 15-minute thrill ride called the ramasse. The sleds were guided by a conductor who steered the craft down the snowy slopes at high speed.

Daily life

Limited rural schooling

In many rural areas, primary education was inconsistently provided by the local priest or his vicar, focusing only on basic reading, writing, and catechism.

Simple peasant housing

Most peasant homes were single-room structures built of mud with thatched roofs, lacking ceilings and window glass.

Food

Typical Peasant Diet in Rural France

Ordinary rural diets consisted of rye or oat bread, vegetable soups, and dairy, while meat was rarely eaten except for occasional pork.

Around 1789–1799

Bread Rationing During the Revolution

During the Revolution, bread was rationed and sold for 14 sous per 60 grams, often of such poor quality that even sheepdogs would refuse to eat it.

Prices and wages

Meat as a luxury item

Meat was considered a luxury product for workers; a master worker could afford 300 grams of meat per day, while in 1771 some bourgeois complained of meat prices rising to 12, 14, or 15 sous per pound.

The high cost of footwear

Heavy taxes on leather made shoes very expensive, often forcing poor peasants to own only one pair for their entire lives or rely on wooden shoes. A pair of wooden shoes cost 9 sous 6 deniers in the countryside in 1790.

Work

Common jobs in 18th-century France

Most ordinary people worked in manual agriculture or as urban day-laborers, while others labored in domestic industries like weaving and spinning. In cities, workers were often employed in construction, shipbuilding, or as unskilled laborers in factories and workshops.

The reality of the daily workday

The workday typically began at sunrise and could last up to 14 hours in summer, though it was often shorter in winter. Workers frequently had only two meals a day, with a common breakfast consisting of coffee with milk bought from street vendors for two sous.

During their lifetime

1789
Storming of the Bastille in 1789
On July 14, 1789, Parisian citizens stormed the Bastille prison, a pivotal event that signaled the start of the French Revolution and the collapse of royal authority.

Family

Parents

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.