#@robespapier

[frevandrest]

Blérancourt drama: Thérèse Gellé's mother attacks National Guard and tells them to fuck off

I was going through Monar and I found about an incident from 1790 Blérancourt, involving SJ's arch-enemy (from the village), Gellé. Or, more precisely, his wife, Thérèse's mother. It's a small thing but it's sending me so much. Background: Gellé doesn't want to serve in the National Guard because he is a royalist. So a delegation is sent (possibly/probably) by Saint-Just himself to check why he is neglecting his duties.

Monar writes (Google translated; emphasis mine):

At nine o'clock, under the command of Captain Clay-Lefebvre, four men of the National Guard, a cook, a carpenter, a white tanner, and a day laborer, presented themselves with the letter before the Gellé's house. If the social status of the delegation, which was unquestionably quite low in the eyes of a wealthy Notabein, was intended as a provocation, it achieved its goal: Mrs. Gellé stepped out and immediately indulged in such indelicate words against the guardsmen that the expressions in question were only indicated by the first letter in each case in the protocol that was later drawn up. She [...] continued to shout at the National Guardsmen: que son mari la [la garde] monterait pas, n'étant pas fait pour se trouver avec des bandes de canailles, de coquins et de geux comme eux et ceux qui composaient leur f... milice. [her husband won't stand guard, as he was not the kind to find himself among groups of scoundrels, rascals and bandits like them and those who make up their f...(probably "foutu" so "fucking") militia] - translation by @robespapier Having already thrown ashes at the speechless, she finally picked up a stick to strike a blow at the captain, who flinched and drew his rapier.

It ended up with Gellé and his brother appearing and the delegation went back. But! A detailed report was made about the incident by SJ's best friend Victor Thuiller. Which was later used as a proof of Gellé's anti-revolutionary behaviour.

This hilarious (?) anecdote is just one of the many (many many) instances of Blérancourt bickering and drama early in the Revolution. There were a lot of tensions, often at the Gellé vs SJ front (well, royalist vs revolutionary front), and it's so, so interesting to me. I need to make a list of all the incidents and research them in more depth.

But seriously? SJ had a LOT of practice with political bickering before he got to the Convention. But also, since this is a village of 2.5 600 people, it also reads like a total soap opera.

[robespapier]

Leman Lake (under the fog) and Jura mountains, seen from Habère-Poche (Haute-Savoie)

[mali-umkin]

Can we stop a moment to reflect on the fact the Frev community has made Thermidor a verb

Imma Thermidor him makes perfect sense now are you getting thermidored? no I'm Thermidoring them okay good luck then

[revolutionarywig]

Frev locations compile

Thought of compiling a list of frev significant locations so it can help with recommendations for anyone who happens to be travelling/visiting! This is only done to my knowledge and not a complete list, please feel free to suggest if you happen to know more locations that I completely missed!

so here is the frev pilgrimage list! Long post warning.

(Note: The items are not in any particular order)

(Note: I typed this post up a long time ago but couldn't finish, a lot of thanks to the people who helped out on contributing information and your patience with me.)

Musée Carnavalet (Paris)

This one is very obvious, it is a must go for seeing a collection of frev related artifacts and paintings, including Couthon’s wheelchair, Robespierre’s hair, the most iconic portraits etc. Also its FREE.

Panthéon (Paris)

You can see the statue of the National Convention deputies. It doesnt have too much related to frev directly, but Rousseau and Voltaire (and Carnot…..) are interred there

La Conciergerie (Paris)

If you want to see the Deseine bust of Robespierre, but cant go to Vizille, there is a copy of it here within Paris at the conciergerie. It is the place where most frev figures as well as Antoinette spent their last monents.

Musée des archives nationales (Paris)

(June 2023) There is a temporary exhibit featuring frev rn which I highly recommend (also its free to go so like GO)

But beyond the temporary exhibit, I believe there are still a few things in permanent collection (Robespierre’s note book page, Antoinette’s last letter in prison, Comte d’Artois’ letter etc), including the famous 9 thermidor table that Robespierre supposedly lied on. the museum is free to visit.

Père la Chaise (Paris)

@robespapier wrote a better post on navigating the cemetery. It helped me so much with finding the graves of Lebas, Elisabeth and Eleonore Duplay! Thank you so much for the guide!

Rue Saint Honoré (Paris)

the current address of the Duplays household is 398 rue saint-honoré, which is now next to a louboutin store…. There is a commemorative plaque there indicating Robespierre’s residence there. Im not sure about going inside the residence….There was construction when I visited and the door was open, heres how it looks on the inside.

SJ’s bust (Paris & Angers)

I have not visited either of the two locations yet, but you can find that white bust of Saint-Just (that seemed to be modelled after the pastel portrait in the Carnavalet) in either Petit Palais (Paris) or Galerie David d’Angers (Angers). @orpheusmori has posted some Petit Palais pictures here @robespapier has posted some Galerie David d'Angers pictures here

Marat sign (Paris)

i have an image of this plaque sitting on my phone, I forgot where it was located until @orpheusmori helped me track the location of it! It is in the Odéon area and should be in the small narrow street with the back side of Le Procope. It commemorates the location as an important area during the French Revolution as well as the place where Marat established his printing shop.

The front of the same building also has another Marat plaque! I didnt know about it before thank you @orpheusmori for finding and contributing the photo! This one is above an Jewellery store (Amour de Pierres) https://maps.app.goo.gl/8X9zgKYpMiLJcULq7

Olympe de Gouges sign (Paris)

Once again, i have a photo of the plaque proving its existence, but I took it years ago and i dont remember where it was exactly.... It was all in the Odéon area, it shouldn’t be too far from the other….

Danton statue (Paris)

there is a Danton statue! Right outside the Odéon metro! You cant miss it. Also the placement of the statue is where he once lived.

Procope (Paris)

Its a really old cafe frequented by a lot of philosophes as well as many frev figures. There is also a bicorn from Napoleon inside. Right now its still a restaurant establishment, and its difficult to visit unless you eat inside….which is expensive…. However ! This whole general Odéon area is full of other frev landmarks (some more mentioned below). Including the metro station which has a bust of Danton.

Versailles revolutionary room (Versailles)

Beyond the royal family, there is a room dedicated to a lot of major Revolutionary Army generals and battles. Theres that one painting of Lafayette if u into that

Musée des armes/Invalides (Paris)

It has a significant collection of military artefacts from the French Revolution and its a really good resource for armory researches. The museum also has a sword that belonged to Lafayette, as well as a sword belonging to Carnot during the Directoire (image below)

Louvre

The Louvre does not have a lot relating to the French Revolution but it has a few significant paintings and a lot of David’s work. One of the Death of Marat copies produced by David’s studio should be in the museum, as well as a painting featuring the battke of fleurus (with SJ cameo)

Tennis court (Versailles)

Near the palace of Versailles you can find the room where the deputies swore the famous oaths. It is free to enter, although last time I went it was undergoing construction, hopefully it should have finished by now.

Musée de la Révolution Française (Vizille)

If you can go to Vizille… GO TO VIZILLE! The easiest way by transport would be to stay at Grenoble then take one of the buses that runs between Grenoble and Vizille. It is a whole museum dedicated to the revolution (and it is free) and the park is really pretty. This is where you can find the statue of Marat,

The Deseine busts including dear Bonbon,

And DJ Saint-Just.

Also special thank you to @citizentaleo for taking me there, I would’ve otherwise been lost in the French mountains lol, thank you!

Maison Robespierre (Arras)

You can visit Robespierre’s residence in Arras. It is possible to visit the inside, but it has a very specific and short opening hours.

I wasn’t able to go in since I was only in Arras for a few hours….But I got to attend a conference by Hervé Leuwers aaa (He is very sweet and I learned quite few new things from the presentation, but thats post for another day)

Robespierre metro stop (Paris suburb)

There is in fact, a Robespierre metro station on line 9! Not much beyond name but at least some credit to him! Alas it is not exactly within Paris and just on the outskirt. (Oh and there is also Voltaire)

Cordeliers club (Paris)

I dont have much information on what happened to the original location of the Cordeliers club and how it was modified, but the location is part of the sorbonne campus now i believe. I'd be very curious if anyone knows more information on this.

Place de la Bastille (Paris)

The Bastille is of course not there anymore, but the ground around the square and including the metro stations near by have traces/marks of where the old prison would have stood.

(and yea the picture was taken during a manif)

Pavillon de flore (Paris)

The pavillon attached to the Louvre and next to the Pont Royale is the Pavillon de Flore, which is where the Committee de Salut Publique worked.

Jacobin club (Paris) Alas the original convent in which the Jacobin gathered is no more and replaced by a commercial centre instead (Passage de Jacobins) . There is a sign however recognizing the place for what it was.

Place de la Concorde (Paris) Originally Place de la Révolution, there is a plaque remembering the executions that took place here near the obelisk.

Maison SJ (Blérancourt) I have not been to Saint-Just's house yet, because it is very hard to commute there without a car. But it certainly is still there and (I believe) maintained by the Saint-Just Association.

Catacombs (Paris) According to wikipedia....The bone remains of many revolutionaries buried in Cimitière Errancis (which has a plaque indicating it in the 8th arrondissement, according to wikipedia) are transferred to the catacombs, including Robespierre, Danton, etc. The catacomb is roughly organized chronologically but there is obviously no sign indicating which bone it actually is.

Cluny La Sorbonne station (Paris) It is on metro line 10 and the waiting tunnel is decorated with signatures of prominent French figures. It doesn't have any actual frev artifacts, but it looks cool and you can spot Robespierre, Danton, and Camille Desmoulins' signatures on the ceiling.

Louis le Grand (Paris) The school that Robespierre attended is still under the same name and still in use as a school! (i've reached the image maximum alas i cannot add more images...)

And that is all I can think of so far! There is surely a lot more that are out there (including outside of France). Once again, please feel free to mention if you know more frev landmarks that I missed out on. And to whoever happens to be travelling I hope you find this list helpful to start with.

[major-knighton]

After @frevandrest and @robespapier , it was my turn to visit the French Revolution museum in Vizille. Here are my highlights :

Firstly, birbs.

This plate celebrating gay relationships in the middle of wedding plates.

The lads ft. Manon Roland

Tiny revolutionary brooches

This cat under Couthon's chair? As a disabled person myself I can't imagine how stressing this moment would have been.

[enlitment]

Frev Halloween I. 🦇

As we are getting into the spooky season, I remembered @robespapier 's great idea to do a Frev Community Halloween event .

I thought the concept was super fun, so I wrote a little something. French Revolution meets Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in a way, just with more blood and less electricity. It's only a start, but I'll do my best to keep at it.

Hope you enjoy & I wish everyone a great start of the Halloween season!

[wriothesleypieces]

"Dressed in a frock coat perfectly fitted, highlighting the elegance of his waist, his long legs delicately hugged by his grey culottes, Saint-Just looked at he had just come out of a fashion plate. Overwhelmed, Collot dropped his gaze. Nor the sun or Saint-Just could be looked at intently." Jacques Ravenne: La Chute, translated by: @robespapier I will be remiss if I dont offer this art to you, especially getting a good laugh out of the passage you shared.

[azzrael99]

Hello to the Frev community!! This month I don't have much time but with Frev I will make an exception ;P for #frev Halloweend event 2024 proposed by @robespapier

I would like to make a collaboration: I make an illustration and someone make a story inspired by drawing. Or it can be the other way around, if someone dares to write something and I draw the story

[monimarat]

Here are a few more photos from @burritofriedrich ‘s and my visit to Saint-Just’s house in Blérancourt!

There are five ground floor rooms that make up the museum, with reproductions of many portraits, documents and other objects. The first room is now a library and playroom for the local school:

The reproductions include a letter to Desmoulins, his baptismal record, and his sketch of the head of Antinous

@robespapier

[sieclesetcieux]

Collaborative Masterpost on Saint-Just

Primary Sources

Oeuvres complètes available online: Volume 1 and Volume 2

A few speeches

L'esprit de la révolution et de la constitution de la France (1791)

Transcription of the Fragments sur les institutions républicaines (1800) kept at the BNF by Pierre Palpant

Alain Liénard's edition and transcription of his works in Théorie politique (1976)

Some letters kept in Papiers inédits trouvés chez Robespierre, Saint-Just, Payan, etc. (1828)

Fragment autographe des Institutions républicaines

Une lettre autographe signée de Saint-Just, L. B. Guyton et Gillet (not his writing but still interesting)

Two files at the BNF with his writing (and other strange random stuff):

Notes et fragments autographes - NAF 24136

Fragments de manuscrits autographes, avec pièces annexes provenant de Bertrand Barère, de V. Expert et d'H. Carnot - NAF 24158

Albert Soboul's transcription of the Institutions républicaines + explanation of what's in these files at the BNF

Anne Quenneday's philological note on the manuscript by Saint Just, wrongly entitled De la Nature (NAF 12947)

Masterpost (inventory, anecdotes, etc.) - by obscurehistoricalinterests

Chronology

Chronology from Bernard Vinot's biography

Testimonies

Élisabeth Duplay-Le Bas on Saint-Just, as reported by David d'Angers - by frevandrest and robespapier

Élisabeth Duplay-Le Bas corrects Alphonse de Lamartine’s Histoire des girondins (1847) - by anotherhumaninthisworld

Many testimonies by contemporaries (in French) on antoine-saint-just.fr

Representations

Everything Wrong with Saint-Just's Introductory Scene in La Révolution française (1989) - by frevandrest

On Saint-Just's strange representation of "throwing tantrums" - by saintjustitude and frevandrest

Saint-Just as "goth/emo boy"? - by needsmoreresearch, frevandrest and sieclesetcieux

Recommended Articles

Bernard Vinot:

"La révolution au village, avec Saint-Just, d'après le registre des délibérations communales de Blérancourt", Annales historiques de la Révolution française, No. 335, Janvier-Mars 2004, p. 97-110

Alexis Philonenko:

"Réflexions sur Saint-Just et l'existence légendaire", Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 77e Année, No. 3, Juillet-Septembre 1972, p. 339-355

Miguel Abensour:

"Saint-Just, Les paradoxes de l'héroïsme révolutionnaire", Esprit, No. 147 (2), Février 1989, p. 60-81

"Saint-Just and the Problem of Heroism in the French Revolution", Social Research, Vol. 56, No. 1, "The French Revolution and the Birth of Modernity", Spring 1989, p. 187-211

"La philosophie politique de Saint-Just: Problématique et cadres sociaux". Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 38e Année, No. 183, Janvier-Mars 1966, p. 1-32. (première partie)

"La philosophie politique de Saint-Just: Problématique et cadres sociaux", Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 38e Année, No. 185, Juillet-Septembre 1966, p. 341-358 (suite et fin)

Louise Ampilova-Tuil, Catherine Gosselin et Anne Quennedey:

"La bibliothèque de Saint-Just: catalogue et essai d'interprétation critique", Annales historiques de la Révolution française, No. 379, Janvier-mars 2015, p. 203-222

Jean-Pierre Gross:

"Saint-Just en mission. La naissance d'un mythe", Annales historiques de la Révolution française, Année 1968, no. 191 p. 27-59

Marie-Christine Bacquès:

"Le double mythe de Saint-Just à travers ses mises en scène", Siècles, no. 23, 2006, p. 9-30

Marisa Linton:

"The man of virtue: the role of antiquity in the political trajectory of L. A. Saint-Just", French History, Volume 24, Issue 3, September 2010, p. 393–419

Misc

Saint-Just in Five Sentences - by sieclesetcieux

On Saint-Just's Personality: An Introduction - by sieclesetcieux

Pictures of Saint-Just's former school, with the original gate - by obscurehistoricalinterests

Saint-Just vs Desmoulins (the letter to d'Aubigny and other details) - by frevandrest

Saint-Just's sisters - by frevandrest

On Thérèse Gellé and Henriette Le Bas - by frevandrest

Saint-Just and Gellé being godparents - by frevandrest and robespapier

On Saint-Just "stealing" and running away to Paris and the correction house - by frevandrest and sieclesetcieux

How was/is Saint-Just pronounced - Additional commentary in French by Anne Quenneday

[frevandrest]

@saintjustitude I gazed alright. Thank Supreme Being for my unemotional expression because I spent a good hour trying to photograph it from so many angles, and from the outside it probably looked weird. So looking serious and poker face maybe helped to not get escorted from the premises.

But there is no doubt about his eye colour on the pastel! It is very light, soft blue, a bit lighter than the coat.

I took closeups of course but my camera is shit so not sure it shows properly:

I guess my camera made them look gray? But nah, light blue.

The close inspection of the portrait revealed a tiny curiosity, though: it was folded in te middle. You can see the line:

Since my camera is absolute trash indoors, I had to resort to ~creative angles.

[lanterne]

tag 9 people you’d like to get to know better!

tagged by @tierseta tysmmm <3

1. Three ships: i tend to gravitate towards Maxime ships lol. My favs are the obvious Robespierre x SJ and Robespierre x Eleonore but im very intriged by the extremely cursed Robespierre x Pétion which im writing a post about lmao

2. Last song: spiracle by flower face

3. Last movie: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

4. Currently reading: i havent read anything this years, cringe i know :( but when i get my shit together i'll finish Marat's bio

5. Currently watching: im not much of a series person, i've been binging an obscure puppet show i liked as a kid

6. Currently consuming: i just had rice :)

7. Currently craving: chocy

tagging @frevandrest @robespapier and anyone who wants to do it <3

[your-disobedient-servant]

was tagged in this by @marquisevonobst

relationship status - very happily single, there's just so much stuff to do out there

favourite color - total sucker for phthalo green

song stuck in my head - something that was playing on the radio the last time I was in the kitchen, no idea what it was

last song i listened to - a random selection of Mountain Goats songs in an attempt to get the random popsong unstuck from my head

three favourite foods - chicken tikka masala, stir fry with crispy rice noodles, BREAD

last thing i googled - looked up a café to see what cakes they have lol

dream trip - this is more of a matter for my sideblog but I'd love to go to Namibia and maybe also South Africa to see my beloved antelopes in the wild. screw lions, I want to see the common bovids 😂

more realistically, I really really really want to go to Vienna again, I used to go once a year pre-pandemic but not at all since.

anything i want right now - my packages to arrive, waiting for some pretty new pens and a pack of screen protectors for my phone (I cracked one. AGAIN.)

tagging @frevandrest @frederick-the-great @handsome-enemy-you-despise @robespapier @clove-pinks if you want, no pressure!

[mali-umkin]

Thank you @robespapier for the most gorgeous postcard and cocarde ever literally did not expect this 😭❤️

[usergreenpixel]

@robespapier , I got a keychain too! @taleon-arts , you’re amazing! Now I have to choose if I want to use the keychain for my backpack, my suitcase or my apartment keys!

[robespapier]

J'ai publié 1 166 fois en 2022

C'est 238 billets de plus qu'en 2021 !

371 billets créés (32%)

795 billets reblogués (68%)

Les blogs que j'ai le plus reblogués :

@robespapier

@edgysaintjust

@lanterne

@frevandrest

@saintjustitude

J'ai étiqueté 979 billets en 2022

Seulement 16% de mes billets ne comportaient pas de tag

#robespierre - 190 billets

#saint-just - 59 billets

#eleonore duplay - 45 billets

#rousseau - 21 billets

#camille desmoulins - 18 billets

#pigeons - 17 billets

#voltaire - 17 billets

#saint just - 16 billets

#french politics - 16 billets

#charlotte robespierre - 15 billets

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i'll prob take forever to do it but i need to make a whole post about that serialised novel it is so long and wild and fucked up it's a lot

Mes billets vedette en 2022 :

n°5

Can’t believe the newspaper Paris-soir from the 10th August 1934 had an illustration of Robespierre untying Lucile’s garter at her and Camille’s wedding, but whoever numerized it decided to “censor” it??? 

I don’t really think that’s censorship, but I don’t understand the purpose of that random black square in the middle of the page (I’ll try asking the BNF about it). 

They didn’t “censor” Robespierre kissing Camille tho

Voir l'intégralité du billet

130 notes - publié le 10 janvier 2022

n°4

The guillotine of Geneva kept in the maison Tavel museum used to be just the blade and the lunette, and in 2019 I've seen a sign saying they were restoring it

I'm back today and I've just seen a teacher followed by their students dramatically go THE GUILLOTINE!!! with a theatrical arm gesture as their group reached a room

I had no idea they were going for the whole tall, threatening thing!

Voir l'intégralité du billet

170 notes - publié le 9 septembre 2022

n°3

obsessed with this 1934 header (source)

236 notes - publié le 19 janvier 2022

n°2

Thanks author, surely none of your readers would have guessed the meaning of raccourcissement patriotique, even in context.

383 notes - publié le 17 juin 2022

Mon billet n°1 en 2022

Of course they need to put Charles' face on the coins! How else are they gonna recognize and arrest him when the Revolution comes and he tries to flee the country in disguise??

1 495 notes - publié le 14 septembre 2022

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