# Did the Peasants Really Throw Their Feces at Marie Antoinette? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799 "2004-11-20T04:30:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/1 "2004-11-20T04:30:22Z")
This is not a joke. And it is something I have wondered for a long time, but I guess I never quite had the courage to ask it. Some years back, British actress Jane Seymour did a tv movie on Marie Antoinette. And apparently being someone who sympathized alot with the ill-fated queen, she wanted to dispell many of the negative rumors people still associate with the queen. For example, Seymour explained, Antoinette never said “let them eat cake”. Actually, she explained, it was something originally applied to another noble woman that had been misapplied to the queen. But this is the thing that really surprised me. Apparently not being a fan of the French peasants who so despised the queen, Seymour explained that as they led her to the scaffold, the peasants literally threw their feces at her. Does anyone know if this is true? And if so, do you have a (tasteful) link you could include? As I’ve said, this is not a joke. I really wonder if there is any record of this. Thank you in advance to all who reply 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/2 "2015-02-18T14:48:10Z")
Don’t know the answer to this question, but in modern times, [it did happen to Twisted Sister.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIbqvwS1TcM&t=1022) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/3 "2015-02-18T16:17:47Z")
[The Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/550/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake) on the cake quote. I can’t find any account that says the crowds threw feces, garbage, rotten fruit or anything else at Marie on her way to the guillotine. However, there are stories that she [lost control of her bowels](http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/marie-antoinette-queen-guillotine/) while being taken there. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/4 "2015-02-18T16:19:59Z")
So maybe they threw _her_ feces at her? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/5 "2015-02-18T17:50:11Z")
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it were true. Chimps are not the only primates who fling their poo. We upright, tool making, spacefaring, iPhone using monkey folk do as well. Prison guards know not to walk too close to the underside of the upper-tier railings, lest somebody dumps a bucket of shit on them. And the behavior is not limited to marginalized populations. Madeline Levine in The Price of Privilege describes an incident in which a group of high school cheerleaders from highly affluent families got into a confrontational situation with a group of equally affluent cheerleaders from a rival school. It escalated into a full blown brawl, with both sides throwing their feces at each other. It’s the original form of biological warfare, and the materials needed to implement it are free and readily obtainable. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/6 "2015-02-18T18:24:45Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it were true. Chimps are not the only primates who fling their poo. We upright, tool making, spacefaring, iPhone using monkey folk do as well. Prison guards know not to walk too close to the underside of the upper-tier railings, lest somebody dumps a bucket of shit on them. And the behavior is not limited to marginalized populations. Madeline Levine in The Price of Privilege describes an incident in which a group of high school cheerleaders from highly affluent families got into a confrontational situation with a group of equally affluent cheerleaders from a rival school. It escalated into a full blown brawl, with both sides throwing their feces at each other. It’s the original form of biological warfare, and the materials needed to implement it are free and readily obtainable. You realize that this just reinforces what we’ve always suspected about affluent cheerleaders. No wonder they’re the female “heavies” in high school movies with nerd heroes/heroines ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/7 "2015-02-18T21:08:11Z")
Monkeys have tails. Apes do not have tails. Humans are not monkeys, they are apes. Unless you find that offensive, in which case we can pretend you are \_\_\_\_\_\_\_. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/8 "2015-02-18T22:01:21Z")
There is no known, written, contemporary documentation of anybody flinging feces at Marie Antoinette. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/9 "2015-02-18T22:04:32Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Monkeys have tails. Apes do not have tails. Humans are not monkeys, they are apes. Unless you find that offensive, in which case we can pretend you are \_\_\_\_\_\_\_. Not this again. Apes are a particular type of monkey, just like humans are a particular type of ape and primates are a particular type of mammal. Therefore humans are apes, humans are monkeys, humans are primates, humans are mammals, and humans are animals. This pseudo-pedantic insistence that apes aren’t monkeys is just wrong-headed. Here’s the best way to explain it. Spider monkeys are monkeys, right? And baboons are monkeys, right? Well, a baboon is more closely related to a chimp than it is to a spider monkey. A natural group such as “monkey” that contains both spider monkeys and baboons has to include chimpanzees. > **[Primate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Historical_and_modern_terminology)** > > sister: Dermoptera > Plesiadapiformes (cladistically including crown primates) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/10 "2015-02-18T22:35:40Z")
In those days, it was common for chamberpots to be dumped out of upper-story windows directly into the street gutters. People walking on the sidewalks below were at risk from bad aim. Doesn’t seem at all unlikely that when a hated person was traveling by on a cart, that they could deliberately aim their chamberpot loads at her vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/11 "2015-02-18T22:44:09Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Not this again. Apes are a particular type of monkey, just like humans are a particular type of ape and primates are a particular type of mammal. Therefore humans are apes, humans are monkeys, humans are primates, humans are mammals, and humans are animals. No, you’re wrong. Monkeys and apes are both primates, but one isn’t a subset of the other. Just like baseball players and football players are both athletes, but they aren’t the same thing. (Unless you’re Bo Jackson.) Oddly, your link actually establishes the opposite of what you claim. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/12 "2015-02-18T23:29:04Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > There is no known, written, contemporary documentation of anybody flinging feces at Marie Antoinette. Well-written footnote, reminiscent of the classic “Subsequently, Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/13 "2015-02-18T23:47:09Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > This pseudo-pedantic insistence that apes aren’t monkeys is just wrong-headed. Here’s the best way to explain it. Spider monkeys are monkeys, right? And baboons are monkeys, right? Well, a baboon is more closely related to a chimp than it is to a spider monkey. A natural group such as “monkey” that contains both spider monkeys and baboons has to include chimpanzees. > > [Primate - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Historical_and_modern_terminology) First of all, you’re clearly a prosimian, so… But in all seriousness, monkeys are generally defined as Simiformes who aren’t Hominoidea. Apes are cladistically monkeys, like you’ve said, but you don’t have to use monophyletic definitions. ---
**Author:** ![vomit\_comet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/73ab20/32.png) [@vomit\_comet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vomit_comet)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/14 "2015-02-19T01:45:11Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Don’t know the answer to this question, but in modern times, [it did happen to Twisted Sister.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIbqvwS1TcM&t=1022) It must have been the 800 Lb gorilla in the room. ---
**Author:** ![vomit\_comet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/73ab20/32.png) [@vomit\_comet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vomit_comet)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/15 "2015-02-19T02:00:47Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Monkeys have tails. Apes do not have tails. Humans are not monkeys, they are apes. Unless you find that offensive, in which case we can pretend you are \_\_\_\_\_\_\_. I find it surprising/intriguing that you say “they” as if you are not one. ---
**Author:** ![buddy431](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@buddy431](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddy431)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/16 "2015-02-19T02:40:20Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > No, you’re wrong. Monkeys and apes are both primates, but one isn’t a subset of the other. Just like baseball players and football players are both athletes, but they aren’t the same thing. (Unless you’re Bo Jackson.) Oddly, your link actually establishes the opposite of what you claim. :dubious: Fine, we are not monkeys, only because we humans have decided that we don’t want to be monkeys, and have arbitrarily defined the term “monkey” to exclude us and our closest relatives. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/17 "2015-02-19T02:46:57Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Not this again. Apes are a particular type of monkey, just like humans are a particular type of ape and primates are a particular type of mammal. Therefore humans are apes, humans are monkeys, humans are primates, humans are mammals, and humans are animals. > > This pseudo-pedantic insistence that apes aren’t monkeys is just wrong-headed. Here’s the best way to explain it. Spider monkeys are monkeys, right? And baboons are monkeys, right? Well, a baboon is more closely related to a chimp than it is to a spider monkey. A natural group such as “monkey” that contains both spider monkeys and baboons has to include chimpanzees. > > [Primate - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Historical_and_modern_terminology) How would you know, you are a freaking strepsirhini! Damned lemurs, always sticking their long ass tails in where they aren’t wanted… ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/18 "2015-02-19T05:23:18Z")
In fact, it was Martin Luther who nailed his 95 feces…never mind. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/19 "2015-02-19T06:09:18Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Madeline Levine in The Price of Privilege describes an incident in which a group of high school cheerleaders from highly affluent families got into a confrontational situation with a group of equally affluent cheerleaders from a rival school. It escalated into a full blown brawl, with both sides throwing their feces at each other. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > You realize that this just reinforces what we’ve always suspected about affluent cheerleaders. That they’re effluent as as well as affluent? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799/20 "2015-02-19T20:12:27Z")
> [@buddy431](#): > > Fine, we are not monkeys, only because we humans have decided that we don’t want to be monkeys. You, English speakers, decided that, rather. The distinction between apes and monkeys isn’t universal, but an artifact of the English language. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-peasants-really-throw-their-feces-at-marie-antoinette/275799.md?page=2)