William Godwin's Diary

Events

Louis XVII (1785-1795) died in prison, where he had been kept in terrible conditions for three years. Under the republic, his father had been known as 'Citizen Louis Capet' - 'Capet' being one name of the French royal dynasty - hence 'Young Capet'. He had also been the claimant to the French throne as Louis XVII since Louis XVI's execution in January 1793.

See William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution, 2nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 672-73.