The 11rd District It is not known as a particularly touristy area because it is a working-class district of Paris and as such does not have luxurious palaces, huge squares or any famous tourist brand. And in the middle of this relatively unknown district stands a church, which is unknown even to a large part of Parisians. The name of the church is Sainte-Marguerite and within its beautiful walls it has hidden a secret that has occupied France for more than 200 years.
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When a paralyzed woman starts walking but someone else takes the credit
The Church of Sainte-Marguerite began its journey in the 17th century as a kind of “little sister” of the magnificent Church of Saint-Paul, which is located in the Marais district. Despite its somewhat humble beginnings, in 1725 an event occurred there that made it famous overnight. On May 31 of that year, Madame Anne Charlier de la Fosse, who had been an invalid for about 20 years, was instantly healed when she arrived at the church.
The Archbishop of Paris He immediately declared it a miracle and ordered an annual procession to be held in the church. Madame de la Fosse became a local celebrity as a result of the incident, and when she died some 35 years later, a large crowd attended her funeral. The leaders of the church of Saint-Paul, the “elder sister” of Saint-Marguerite, were jealous of the success of the little sister and exerted considerable political pressure, which meant that, although Anne became famous for the miracle attributed to her in the church of Saint-Marguerite, she was brought to be buried there.
For years, the leaders of Sainte-Marguerite fought to have Madame de la Fosse's body transferred to them, but without success, and all that remains of the event is a small plaque commemorating the miracle that took place there. Yet another funeral, which took place some 35 years after the event, was to make the church even more famous.
The mystery of the death and burial place of Louis XVII
On June 10, 1795, at 5 p.m., a funeral procession consisting of eight soldiers, a sergeant, and four other mysterious figures arrived at the church, carrying a coffin. The body was buried in an unmarked grave without any ceremony. According to the official claim, the person buried there was Louis XVII, the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who had died of tuberculosis, neglect, and abuse by his captors the day before.
However, many questions soon began to arise about the circumstances of his death, and rumors began to spread that the body that had been buried belonged to someone else. The desire of both the revolutionaries and Louis XVIII, Louis XVIII's brother, to bury the affair as quickly as possible only fueled rumors that Louis XVIII was still alive, and as a result, during the 18th century, nearly 16 people appeared on the stage of history, claiming to be the true heir of Louis XVI.
Claimants to the crown
The most famous claimant to the throne was Karl Wilhelm Naundorff (1785-1845), who arrived in Paris in 1833 and claimed that Josephine, Barras' mistress and Napoleon's future wife, had demanded that he be hidden as a bargaining chip in case the royal family returned to France. From there, he claimed, he was taken to Prussia, where he grew up knowing that he was king. France The legal one.
Although Neuendorf spoke French He managed to convince quite a few of Louis XVI's courtiers that he was his real son, thanks to his intimate knowledge of the royal family. In 16, he sued his "sister" Maria Theresa in a French court, demanding the return of property that he claimed belonged to him.
In response, the French King Louis Philippe exiled him and he was forced to move to England. There, Naundorff was a partner in the invention of the hand grenade. However, Naundorff was eventually forced to move to the Netherlands and he died in 1845 in the city of Delft, apparently as a result of poisoning, which only adds to the mystery surrounding him. His tombstone reads “Louis XVII, King of France and Navarre” and for many years afterwards there were quite a few people who believed that he was the rightful heir to the kings of France.
The mystery of Louis XVII's death lasted until 17 and was only solved thanks to his heart. The doctor who dissected his body kept it as a souvenir. The doctor's assistant stole the heart and decades later, when he was on his deathbed, he confessed to it and gave the heart to the Archbishop of Paris.
From there, the heart began its journey throughout Europe, passing through the hands of Carlos, Duke of Madrid, and arriving in Austria at the beginning of the 20th century. From there, the heart was passed on to a Portuguese princess who inherited it, and eventually in 1975 it was returned to France in a crystal vessel and placed inBasilica of Saint-Denis, where most of the kings of France are buried.
In 2000, the government decided to do a DNA test on the heart, and it was discovered that it undoubtedly belonged to the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The heart was buried in a magnificent ceremony in Saint-Denis, attended by the mayor of Paris and quite a few royals.
Thus, a mystery of more than 200 years has been solved. The Church of Sainte-Marguerite has returned to its obscurity and therefore you will not find many tourists there. Nevertheless, if you are passing by, do not miss it, enter for a few moments and pay your respects to the Child King, undoubtedly the most tragic figure of French Revolution.
Too bad they only invented DNA tests 180 years later.
On the other hand, the lack of DNA testing led to quite a few conspiracy theories that provided quite a bit of action for the French during the 19th century 🙂