author
Maxime de La Rocheterie
1837–1917
A French historian of the late 19th century, he is best remembered for his deep research into Marie Antoinette and the final years of the French monarchy. His work helped shape a more sympathetic, human portrait of figures often reduced to legend.
2 Audiobooks
Histoire de Marie-Antoinette, Volume 2 (of 2)
by Maxime de La Rocheterie
Histoire de Marie-Antoinette, Volume 1 (of 2)
by Maxime de La Rocheterie
About the author
Born in 1837 and active as a French historical writer, Maxime de La Rocheterie is chiefly known for books on the last decades of the Ancien Régime and the French Revolution. Records from the Bibliothèque nationale de France list him as the author or editor of works connected with Marie Antoinette, including Histoire de Marie-Antoinette and Lettres de Marie-Antoinette.
His best-known work is his large study of Marie Antoinette, later translated into English as The Life of Marie Antoinette. In the preface to the French text, he describes years of careful archival research and the use of major collections of correspondence and memoirs, showing the method behind his narrative history.
La Rocheterie died in 1917. The surviving records and editions linked to his name suggest an author drawn to documentary evidence and to the complicated personal stories behind the French Revolution's most famous court figures.