Note 36 — Chapter II · Abbot Suger and St. Denis-en-France

During three days in August, 1793, and again in October of the same year, the tombs at St. Denis were violated. Robespierre stood long studying the chivalrous head of Henry IV, then plucked some hairs from the king’s white beard and put them in his portfolio; Henry IV had abjured Calvinism in this very church of St. Denis in 1593. The corpse of Louis XIV presented an air of serene majesty. When the coffin of Louis XV was opened the air was infected insupportably. On that same day in October, 1793, Marie Antoinette mounted the scaffold. Her remains and those of Louis XVI are to-day laid in the inner core of St. Denis’ crypt.