McPhee Peter - Robespierre: a revolutionary life

Published with assistance from the Annie Burr Lewis Fund.

Copyright 2012 Peter McPhee

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McPhee, Peter, 1948

Robespierre : a revolutionary life / Peter McPhee.

P. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 9780300118117 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Robespierre, Maximilien, 17581794. 2. RevolutionariesFranceBiography. 3. StatesmenFranceBiography. 4. FranceHistoryRevolution, 17891799. 5. FranceHistoryReign of Terror, 17931794. 6. FrancePolitics and government17891799. I. Title.

DC146.R6M38 2012

944.04092dc23

[B]

2011027640

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Lily and Jack

Charlotte Robespierre, 1830

It is for history to recognize one day whether Maximilien Robespierre was really guilty of all the revolutionary excesses of which he was accused by his colleagues after his death.

Marc Bloch, 1941

Can we be so sure of ourselves and our times as we distinguish between the just and the damned among our forebears? Robespierristes, anti-Robespierristes, we beg for mercy: for pity's sake, just tell us who was Robespierre.

Contents

Illustrations

Anonymous, Arras in the late eighteenth century, c. 1793. Bibliothque nationale de France.

Anonymous, The College of Louis le Grand, c. 1780. Bibliothque nationale de France.

The Latin Quarter, from the Plan de Turgot by Louis Bretez, c. 1739. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Louis-Lopold Boilly, Maximilien de Robespierre, 1783. Muse des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Runion des muses nationaux.

Jean-Baptiste Isabey, Charlotte Robespierre, c. 179294. Muse des Beaux-Arts d'Arras.

Dominique Doncre, Louis-Hilaire de Conzi, 1775. Association Diocsaine d'Arras.

Louis-Lopold Boilly, Ferdinand Dubois de Fosseux, 1783. Archives dpartementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4Fi 270.

Anonymous, Bon-Albert Briois de Beaumez, c. 1789. Archives dpartementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4J 472/9.

Anonymous, Robespierre's house in Arras, early nineteenth century. Archives dpartementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4J 472/93.

Dpartement du Pas-de-Calais, c. 1790. Archives dpartementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4J 437/10.

Vignette of the Arras Society of Friends of the Constitution, c. 1790. Archives dpartementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4J 167.

Anonymous, Festival of Federation at Arras, c. 1790. Archives dpartementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4J 485/26.

F. G. Fiesinger, Robespierre, c. 1789, based on a sketch by Jean-Urbain Gurin. Archives dpartementales du Pas-de-Calais, 4J 472/128.

Anonymous, the Duplay house, Robespierre's home in 179194, post 1789.

lonore Duplay, probably a self-portrait, c. 179194. Roger Viollet.

Louis Masquelier, The Paris Jacobin Club, 1791. Bibliothque nationale de France.

Pierre Vigneron, Maximilien Robespierre, c. 1860, likely to have been painted from a sketch (now lost) for a portrait by Adlade Labille-Guiard, c. 1791. Roger Viollet.

F. Bonneville, A. P. J. Robespierre, c. 1792. Roger Viollet.

Anonymous, Procession symbolique d'Arras, le 10 octobre 1793, c. 1793. Roger Viollet.

Anonymous, Robespierre, c. 1792. Roger Viollet.

The Centre of Revolutionary Government, from Plan de Turgot by Louis Bretez, c. 1739. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Anonymous, Robespierre at the Rostrum, c. 179293. Bibliothque nationale de France.

Anonymous, Salle du Mange, c. 1791.

Robespierre's catechism, 1793. Runion des muses nationaux.

Attributed to Jacques-Louis David, Camille and Lucile Desmoulins with their son Horace, c. 1793. Roger Viollet.

Franois Grard, Robespierre in the Convention, c. 1793. Roger Viollet.

Franois-Auguste de Parseval-Grandmaison, Robespierre under attack, 9 Thermidor. Bibliothque nationale de France

Robespierre's call to arms, 10 Thermidor. Roger Viollet.

Pierre-Gabriel Berthault, Robespierre lying wounded in the meeting-room of the Committee of Public Safety, c. 1794, based on a painting by Jean Duplessi-Bertaux. Roger Viollet.

Anonymous, Robespierre, after having had all the French guillotined, beheads, the executioner with his own hand, c. 1794. Roger Viollet.

Jean-Joseph Tassart, The Triumvir Robespierre, c. 1794. Bibliothque nationale de France.

1 Arras in the late eighteenth century. To the left is the army citadelle, separated by the narrow Crinchon River from the administrative town and cathedral, top centre, and the new Basse Ville, lower centre. The old heart of Arras is at right, dominated by the Abbey of St-Vaast, with the two main squares at lower right.

2 The College of Louis-le-Grand, c. 1780. The main entry to the College, on the Rue St- Jacques opposite the Sorbonne, and the inner courtyard where the boys took their recreation, surrounded by classrooms and the dining room. The chapel is at the rear. Maximilien lived here for twelve years.

3 The Latin Quarter. The remarkable map of Paris by Louis Bretez, c. 1739 (known as the Plan de Turgot'), shows the College of Louis-le-Grand (here still the Collge des Jsuites) at bottom right. It was a short walk down the Rue St-Jacques through the Latin Quarter to the le de la Cit, or up the hill to the city walls and the countryside. Bretez has deliberately widened the streets.

4 Maximilien de Robespierre, 1783. The young Louis-Lopold Boilly (1761-1845) painted this portrait while studying under Dominique Doncre in Arras after 1778. The young barrister may be flushed with his recent success in the case of the lightning conductor. Maximilien always enjoyed the companionship offered by dogs.