#1724 records

[nofatclips]

Rainy Mod by Hualun (Chinese: 花伦) from the EP wʌndərlænd+3

[1724]

China Post-Rock GO! serial tour,presented by 1724 Records

The Beijing based label, 1724 Records, has steadily been building its fanbase and roster for over fifteen years, focusing on post-rock and ambient music. Unsung and steadfast heroes, they’re going all out with a two night gathering of post rock’s longest standing acts from all across China.

Night one features Kunming based oNEwAY, who started out twenty years ago and have integrated more and more Chinese folk music in their sound. They will join Xi’an heavyweights Amber, whose low-key, slow-burning sound has never sounded better - finding ways to shake up their arrangements with math rock flourishes, ambient electronica, heightened Britpop aplomb, and of course, soaring, ‘bursting at the seams’ crescendos that the genre is so well known for. Post rock heaven.

Night two features Guangzhou juggernauts Zhaoze, whose distinct and definitive guqin-laced post-rock is transcendent. They join Zhangjiajie’s Muggle, who bring an atmospheric mountain-esque beauty to their delicate sound, and Deng Yongpeng, whose seemingly minimalist piano instrumental music has taken on new forms over the years

Amber Amber's music is one of the few things in the world where cold and warm coexist. Formed in the ancient city Xi 'an in 2010, Amber has graciously displayed such imprints in their albums. With a clear and bright timbre that blends traditional spirit and contemporary charm with iconic melodies, Amber is a name you'd love to hear in a post-rock band.

oNEwAY The band started in 2003 or earlier by Wangwei, in Kunming, Yunnan. The band took shape on National Day in 2006. They have melodies and soundscapes that you can indulge in. At present, oNEwAY puts its creative direction under the framework of instrumental music and post-rock and focuses on the experiment and exploration of organic integration of Chinese folk music elements and modern music elements, and in the future, it will be much more than that.

Muggle

Muggle is a music project that began in Zhangjiajie, a small city in western Hunan Province, China, with compositions involving elements such as post-rock and ambient.

Muggle was nominated for Record of the Year by Abilu Music Awards and featured by Apple Music. It is called "dreamy, even dazzling" by music critics both at home and abroad.

Deng Yonpeng

In addition to being the keyboardist of the band Summer Fades Away, Deng Yongpeng is also an excellent piano player and creator.

The project all began in his youth, accompanied by the noise of factories, nurtured in the streets of Changsha, and was gathered in 2014 because of the album If Changsha is What You Imagine, then I was Never Here. The album includes 5 original minimalist piano pieces, about the glory of youth passing away, but also another voice away from the noise. It was released by 1724 Records.

Deng Yongpeng's work continues.

Zhaoze

Zhaoze has a genre of its own. In 2006, Zhaoze began to explore the integration of the ancient Chinese musical instrument - guqin and gradually developed a paradigm of Guqin and rock. Zhaoze, in its unique way, integrates guqin and rock so thoroughly and comprehensively, infusing the sketching and feelings like Chinese landscape painting into their music.

"Zhaoze is China's Pink Floyd," says Christoph Borkowsky, founder of WOMEX in Berlin. Rockaxis Colombia named the Zhaoze South American Premiere one of the best performances of 2017, alongside such famous acts as U2 and Sigur Ros.

1724 Records https://1724records.com/ https://www.facebook.com/1724Records https://www.instagram.com/1724records/

[ca-dmv-bot]

Customer: (not on record) DMV: NUKE Verdict: DENIED

[ritualvirtuality]

for books this is about the printing date of the physical object you have! not publication date!! dont count things that only incidentally have writing on them (like a record sleeve, a box for something, an engraved metal object, or a photograph with a caption on it) but you can count associated materials if the writing is the main focus (like a booklet with the record, instruction booklets in a box, sales receipts or certificates for other objects, or a diary which the photo is pasted into

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Fun historical Calico Jack fact: he probably wasn't ever actually called "Calico" Jack. The very first record of him being called "Calico" Jack is in Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of Pirates, which is both an amazing primary source on the golden age of piracy written during the golden age of piracy and so full of horseshit Johnson made up to sound cool. The very first time he was called Calico Jack was in the 1728 reprint; it's not even in the original 1724 version of the book. We know he probably wasn't ever actually called this because it's not in court records and pirate trials LOVED to ham up pirate nicknames (one of the reasons we know the irl Stede Bonnet was actually called "the gentleman pirate").

Most likely, Johnson called him "Calico" Jack because calico was considered a very girly fabric. He was basically making fun of Jack Rackham for being effeminate and possibly gay (knowing Johnson, it was probably a dig based on how Rackham was known for occasionally sailing with female pirates).

Where this turns really, really funny from an OFMD standpoint - Stede refers to Jack by just "Calico" a few times. I am positive this wasn't the intention of the writers but when you know the historical context it sounds like Stede is just walking around calling Jack a homo at every turn. He's agreeing to play nice for Ed's sake and then immediately going up to Jack and saying "hey gayboy 😀"

[quiltofstars]

A heavily cratered region of the Moon // Georges

Read below the cut for an annotated image and some naming history!

Nasireddin crater is named after Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274), a Persian polymath who recorded the most accurate observations of the planets of his time.

Baco crater is named after Roger Bacon (c. 1219 - c. 1292), an English philosopher who put heavy emphasis on studying nature through scientific methods.

Walther crater is named after Bernhard Walther (1430-1504), a German astronomer who made precise measurements of the position of Venus.

Stöfler crater is named after Johannes Stöffler (1452-1531), a German astronomer who published a book on how to make and use astrolabes.

Maurolycus crater is named after Francesco Maurolico (1494-1575), a Sicilian astronomer who described a method to measure the size of the Earth.

Fernelius crater is named after Jean Fernal (1497-1558), a French physician who coined the term "physiology" and was the first person to describe the spinal canal.

Nonius crater is named after Pedro Nunes (1502-1578), a Portuguese mathematician who made improvements to the geocentric model of the universe.

Gemma Frisius crater is named after Gemma Frisius (1508-1555), a Dutch mathematician who constructed very accurate globes of the Earth and night sky.

Aliacensis crater is named after Pierre d'Ailly (1351-1420), a French astrologer who wrote about the size of the Earth.

Barocius crater is named after Francesco Barozzi (1537-1604), an Italian mathematician who studied the cosmology of Ptolemy.

Licetus crater is named after Fortunio Liceti (1577-1657), an Italian physician who wrote books defending the Aristotelian universe from the new heliocentric universe.

Clairaut crater is named after Alexis Claude Clairaut (1713-1765), a French mathematician who used Newton's calculus to work on the three-body problem.

Büsching crater is named after Anton Friedrich Büsching (1724-1793), a German geographer who published several books on the geography of Europe.

Breislak crater is named after Scipione Breislak (1748-1826), an Italian geologist who studied the geology of Rome.

Ideler crater is named after Christian Ludwig Ideler (1766-1846), a German astronomer who studied ancient cultures and their time-keeping methods.

Cuvier crater is named after Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), a French zoologist, sometimes called the "father of paleontology."

Faraday crater is named after Michael Faraday (1791-1867), an English physicist who established the concept of electromagnetic fields.

Kaiser crater is named after Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872), a Dutch astronomer who popularized astronomy in the Netherlands and directed the Leiden Observatory.

Miller crater is named after William Allen Miller (1817-1870), a British scientist who studied the composition of the stars and wrote textbooks on chemistry.

Huggins crater is named after William Huggins (1824-1910), British astronomer who studied the spectra of several objects, including the first to take the spectrum of a planetary nebula.

[fatehbaz]

Nothing in the past, moreover, gave any cause to suspect ginseng’s presence so far away. Or even closer by: since antiquity, for well over a millennium, the ginseng consumed in all of East Asia had come from just one area -- the northeast mountainous lands straddling Manchuria and Korea. No one had found it anywhere else. No one was even thinking, now, to look elsewhere. The [...] [French traveler] Joseph-Francois Lafitau didn’t know this. He had been [...] visiting Quebec on mission business in October of 1715 [...]. He began to search for ginseng. [...] [T]hen one day he spotted it [...]. Ginseng did indeed grow in North America. [...]

Prior to the nuclear disaster in the spring of 2011, few outside Japan could have placed Fukushima on a map of the world. In the geography of ginseng, however, it had long been a significant site. The Edo period domain of Aizu, which was located here, had been the first to try to grow the plant on Japanese soil, and over the course of the following centuries, Fukushima, together with Nagano prefecture, has accounted for the overwhelming majority of ginseng production in the country.

Aizu’s pioneering trials in cultivation began in 1716 – by coincidence, exactly the same year that Lafitau found the plant growing wild in the forests of Canada. [...]

---

Since the 1670s the numbers of people [in Japan] clamoring for access to the drug had swelled enormously, and this demand had to be met entirely through imports. The attempt to cultivate ginseng in Aizu -- and soon after, many other domains -- was a response to a fiscal crisis.

Massive sums of silver were flowing out of the country to pay for ginseng and other drugs [...]. Arai Hakuseki, the chief policy maker [...], calculated that no less than 75% of the country’s gold, and 25% of its silver had drained out of Japan [to pay for imports] [...]. Expenditures for ginseng were particularly egregious [...]: in the half-century between 1670s through the mid-1720s that marked the height of ginseng fever in Japan, officially recorded yearly imports of Korean ginseng through Tsushima sometimes reached as much as four to five thousand kin (approx. 2.4–3 metric tons).

What was to be done? [...] The drain of bullion was unrelenting. [...] [T]he shogunate repeatedly debased its currency, minting coins that bore the same denomination, but contained progressively less silver. Whereas the large silver coin first issued in 1601 had been 80% pure, the version issued in 1695 was only 64% silver, and the 1703 mint just 50%. Naturally enough, ginseng dealers in Korea were indifferent to the quandaries of the Japanese rulers, and insisted on payment as before; they refused the debased coins. The Japanese response speaks volumes about the unique claims of the drug among national priorities: in 1710 (and again in 1736) a special silver coin of the original 80% purity was minted exclusively for use in the ginseng trade. [...]

[T]he project of cultivating ginseng and other medicines in Japan became central to the economic and social strategy of the eighth shogun Yoshimune after he assumed power in 1716. [...]

---

China and Korea were naturally eager to retain their monopolies of this precious commodity, and strictly banned all export of live plants and seeds. They jealously guarded as well against theft of mature roots: contemporary Chinese histories, for example, record that the prisons of Shenjing (present day Shenyang) overflowed with ginseng poaching suspects. So many were caught, indeed, that the legal bureaucracy couldn’t keep up. 

In 1724, the alarming numbers of suspected poachers who died in prison while awaiting trial led to the abandonment of the regular system of trials by judges dispatched from Beijing, and a shift to more expeditious reviews handled by local officials. [...]

Even in 1721. the secret orders that the shogunate sent the domain of Tsushima called for procuring merely three live plants [...]. Two other forays into Korea 1727 succeeded in presenting the shogun with another four and seven plants respectively. Meanwhile, in 1725 a Manchu merchant in Nagasaki named Yu Meiji [...] managed to smuggle in and present three live plants and a hundred seeds. [...]

Despite its modest volume, this botanical piracy eventually did the trick. By 1738, transplanted plants yielded enough seeds that the shogunate could share them with enterprising domains. [...] Ginseng eventually became so plentiful that in 1790 the government announced the complete liberalization of cultivation and sales: anyone was now free to grow or sell it.

---

By the late eighteenth century, then, the geography of ginseng looked dramatically different from a century earlier.

This precious root, which had long been restricted to a small corner of the northeast Asian continent, had not only been found growing naturally and in abundance in distant North America, but had also been successfully transplanted and was now flourishing in the neighboring island of Japan. […]

---

Colonial Americans, for their part, had developed their own new addiction: an unquenchable thirst for tea. […] This implacable need could have posed a serious problem. [...] [I]ts regular consumption was a costly habit.

Which is why the local discovery of ginseng was a true godsend.

When the Empress of China sailed to Canton in 1784 as the first ship to trade under the flag of the newly independent United States, it was this coveted root that furnished the overwhelming bulk of sales. Though other goods formed part of early Sino-American commerce – Chinese porcelain and silk, for example, and American pelts – the essential core of trade was the exchange of American ginseng for Chinese tea. [...]

---

Yoshimune’s transplantation project had succeeded to the point that Japan actually became a ginseng exporter. As early as 1765, Zhao Xuemin’s Supplement to the compedium of material medica would note the recent popularity of Japanese ginseng in China. Unlike the “French” ginseng from Canada, which cooled the body, Zhao explained, the “Asian” ginseng (dongyang shen) from Japan, like the native [Korean/Chinese] variety, tended to warm. Local habitats still mattered in the reconfigured geography of ginseng. [...]

What is place? What is time? The history of ginseng in the long eighteenth century is the story of an ever-shifting alchemical web. [...] Thanks to the English craving for tea, ginseng, which two centuries earlier had threatened to bankrupt Japan, now figured to become a major source of national wealth [for Japan] .

---

Text by: Shigehisa Kuriyama. “The Geography of Ginseng and the Strange Alchemy of Needs.” In: The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century, edited by Yota Batsaki, Sarah Burke Cahalan, and Anatole Tchikine. 2017. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[stephensmithuk]

Sent to America for trying to steal cheesecake and apple pies

Looking through the records of the Old Bailey, which I have discussed in some of my LFW and LFB posts, I came across this interesting case from April 1724:

A man was brought up before the court being charged with stealing 3 shillings worth of cakes - specifically 18 cheesecakes and 12 apple pies. It seems from the evidence that the baker had encountered several thefts from his premises and so put a watch to catch the perpetrator.

Cue Henry Millmash, a former employee - hence the dogs ignoring him after initially barking at him, being caught by the other servants, literally with cheesecake in his mouth.

Interestingly the jury knocked the value of the goods down to 10d; which made the matter petty rather than grand larceny. This deliberate reduction of value was commonplace in this era as the value determined whether you would get the death penalty or not.

Millmash was sentenced to transportation and probably ended up in America. Perhaps he has descendants still living there!

[ltwilliammowett]

hiya, i just read ur 2022(i think??) post about israel hands and the connection with israel hynde, and i was wondering if u remembered ur source?? i cant find anything linking him to cpt. bartholomew roberts, or any specifics regarding his personal characteristics (such as the leg injury u mentioned). ive gone through execution records and found his notation of his trial and hanging, but nothing else. no probs if u dont have it anymore or dont recall, or got the info another way. thanks!!

Hi, I can still remember four of them because I wrote them down somewhere else than the others. Unfortunately, I lost my notebook, which contained all the sources, texts and so on. But here are the four sources.

Tom B. Haber: Robert Louis Stevenson and Israel Hands. In: The English Journal, Vol. 32, No. 7

Travers: Pirates: A History. The History Press, 2012

Breverton: The Pirate Dictionary. Pelican Publishing, 2007

Charles Johnson: A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates. Ch. Rivington, J. Lacy, and J. Stone, 1724

[klainelynch]

Now that Royai Week is over, a few stats and final thoughts! All time stamps are the final version, which are usually anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute or two longer.

Day 1, curiosity: there's something I've been meaning to say to you

Fic: 1724 words

Podfic: 15:45

What I'm proudest of: This story moves beautifully and fluidly between action and internal narration. It can be tricky to figure out how to make those transitions clear with one's voice, but I managed it here.

Day 2, appreciate: By My Side

Fic: 1123 words

Podfic: 11:33

What I'm proudest of: This one has a lot of "I hope others like this, but I'm making ME happy with these choices" moments, so here are just a few of those: 1. Figuring out the cover art, especially getting to use the photographs of the moment that inspired the fic 2. Layering the instrumental and vocal versions of the song that was included before the fic as both an intro and outro 3. My reading of "My dearest Riza" 4. Indulging in some talk at the end (even if I meant to say "inspired by a prompt" at the start whoops)

Day 3, pressure: Every Day's a Test of Our Camaraderie and Bravery

Fic: 1722 words

Podfic: 16:05

What I'm proudest of: I much prefer editing to recording, and this multivoice gave me so many opportunities to just have a blast! All of my collaborators gave wonderful performances, and I'm proud of the pacing in conversations. I'm also proud of the sound effects in Riza's letters to Ling—I recorded the crumpling paper at the last minute when I couldn't find a version that worked for me. Lastly, look at how close I was able to match the cover art to the Hamilton logo!!

Day 4, compose: two tickets to the rabbit hole, please

Fic: 2912 words

Podfic: 28:34

What I'm proudest of: I'm definitely proud of the music (the selections repeat, but they also change, and those changes reflect the emotions as the plot progresses) and cover art (successfully blurring out the address and replacing it with the title), but I'm proud of my acting choices in a way that I often am not, so I wanted to highlight a few of those. First, Riza's voice in early letters fluctuating between warmth in the common/ordinary topics and coolness/detatchment in anything about Berthold; second, drunk!Roy calling himself "Major"; finally, conveying Roy's stream-of-consciousness in the letter he didn't send.

Day 5, gift: morning toasts and thunderstorms

Fic: 3201 words

Podfic: 26:45

What I'm proudest of: Roy and Riza are coming from such different emotional places in this story. That's my favorite part of this fic, and it's the thing I worked hardest on capturing; I'm happy with the choices I made to achieve that end.

Total: 10,682 words, 1:38:42

I'm not always able to accomplish the lofty goals I set for myself, so I'm really proud of what I've done here this week, both in the volume and quality of work. Thank you again to all of the authors for having transformative works permission statements in your profiles—you're helping to make fandom a more collaborative space, and I love getting to surprise authors with a show of my love of your writing!

And as promised in my progress update last week, a small taste of things that did not need to make the final cut, but can be laughed at here.

[nofatclips]

FF by Hualun (Chinese: 花伦) from the wʌndərlænd EP

[1724]

Doggy Daydream - highlights from 2 Post Rock bands Summer Fades Away + Amber with dogs:)

One afternoon,one yard,two bands Summer Fades Away - 时过夏末 and Amber - 琥珀乐队 ,and,dogs.Doggys daydream.recorded & edited by 25. https://www.facebook.com/amberpostrock https://www.facebook.com/summerfadesaway

[earthwormspaghetti]

I feel simultaneously very sad about the Thing (ffs there’d better be an AU fanfic where everything’s absolutely the same, except Izzy’s still there) and very happy that Stede and Ed finally got to be silly little innkeepers together.

Also, why, though. Why Izzy, of all people? You just give him a lovely redemption arc, a good story of acceptance from the crew and the journey to self-love, AND a killer speech to that asshole with the wooden schnoz, but then YOU FUCKING RUN IT INTO THE GROUND LIKE A BOAT WITH A MADMAN AT ITS PROW!

Do you UNDERSTAND what you did? The character everyone enjoyed watching grow and hurt and feel happy and learn, who finally got a chance at happiness after basing his whole life off something that only hurt him, who survived all the curveballs thrown at him, you just ABANDONED him so the story had a bit of drama in it?!

Also, if I correctly calculate, Stede & Ed (the real people!) do only 1 year at sea: this is correctly mirrored in the show; they leave seafaring after about a year (1717-1718)

Meanwhile, Isreal Hands is said to have continued after Ed Teach and Stede Bonnet stopped; he’s on PHYSICAL records (for testimony against Ed’s corruption, but such details are not the most important in the show’s contents. [what IS, you mothers and sons of fuckers, is how long he fucking LIVED!]) as being alive and well after both pirates’ end of careers: he was recuperating from a bullet wound (see what you could’ve DONE THERE, you?! See how symbolic it could’ve been for him to recover from that bullet he took, this time not ferreted away in secrecy, but cared for by the crew, and, most importantly, in the place where he finally felt welcome? To heal and get better, becoming captain like he was [IRL] of Blackbeard’s ship the Adventure? TO FINALLY FEEL AT HOME AND SAFE?! To have CLOSURE?!)

But NOOOOOO, you just HAD to kill the guy off, and for what? Was the intent to make it more dramatic? To amplify people’s feelings while watching the show? Because what has been done here is a deliberate killing off of a very prominent character, with no obvious or logical reason for doing so in view.

Now, this is certainly a complaint against the writing choices for the show, but can’t we also blame HBO, who crammed it into 8 episodes instead of 10? Would it be better if they had more stuff to work with; would there have been less need for drama and melancholy? I would strongly prefer slower episodes, to cramming the storyline into only eight, and just throwing random shit at the whiteboard and seeing what sticks. You understand? That drama is not the answer? That having him recover, or better yet, just not have him get shot at all, would be so much funner to wrap up ROMANTIC COMEDY with?!

For fuck’s sake, we don’t even really know when Izzy died; the only record we have is from 1724, when Captain Charles Johnson said in his book “A General History Of The Pyrates” that he died a beggar in London.

See how fucking open ended that is? Just a questionable source, giving a rather vague claim? How EASY it would be to have him… well, pretty much do anything except get randomly shot in 1718? They did it for Ed and Stede, they could very easily do it for Izzy.

At least, if they wanted something exciting/dramatic, have him be captured by the English and testify against Ed as an innocent bystander who Teach maimed; and somehow build from there. Maybe he could become a craftsman and fade into obscurity, enjoying a quiet life on land. Maybe become a singer at a bar, having a good time as himself (he wasn’t bad at the party, he could sure use that to his advantage!) Maybe he could run into the crew, just as he’s about to be executed, or as he’s being hanged, and be liberated by them; to rejoin their crew as their beloved unicorn. Maybe he could get lost and presumed dead in the chaos, only to be found alive and his usual slightly damp, permanently cranky state of being a while later.

I now feel quite disappointed to be deprived of my, and a lot of people’s, favorite weird little one-legged grouch.

Godspeed to the fic makers, I wish you all the best of winds in your sails, which sadly appears to have left that small part of the story itself. Make me proud and use as many adjectives as you like; I’d love to learn how many words you can find to convey “strange and slightly greasy”.

[todaysdocument]

Cottongrass at Katmai National Park and Preserve, July 10, 1973. 

Record Group 79: Records of the National Park Service

Series: Alaska Task Force Photographs

File Unit: Katmai

Image description: Cottongrass in the wind. It has thin stems tipped by round balls of white fluff. 

Transcription: 

[stamp] Katmai National Monument

Katmai 1724-8

MASTER FILE

DATE 7/10/73 

FIELD # 1724-8

SUBJECT cottongrass, Eriphorum sp. 

LOCATION [blank]

CREDIT: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PHOTOGRAPH BY Philip Vaughan

ALASKA TASK FORCE MASTER FILE 

1777-73

[piratesofnassauarchive]

Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Notorious Pirate Women

Anne Bonny (left) and Mary Read (right) from  A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson 1724

We know very little about either of them before they entered piracy in 1720 but we do know that they sailed together with Anne Bonny’s spouse John Rackham, otherwise known as ‘Calico Jack’ who was captain of the ship.

The pair earned the respect of their crew mates and were often in charge of leading raids on other ships, showing how much trust the crew had in them as well as their skill in fighting.

Two victims who testified against them, Dorothy Thomas and Thomas Spenlow, described them as wielding pistols and cutlasses as they fought, using foul language and fighting with their blouses open exposing their breasts to prove they were women and scare their enemies.

Their capture happened while the crew were drunk, celebrating a recent raid so they couldn't defend themselves well, leaving Bonny and Read to fight off pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet and his crew. Both were overpowered and captured, put on trial and sentenced to death in Jamaica, set to be hanged but both declared they were pregnant and as English law declared you couldn't hang pregnant women they were given a stay of execution.

Bonny and Read were never executed, Read died in jail likely of typhoid fever or complications due to the pregnancy and was buried on April 28th 1721 but Anne disappeared from the records. Theories for Anne range from her being released to her family, freed by a governor who took pity on her or died in jail.

They were both first written about in the book ‘A General History of the Pyrates’ by Captain Charles Johnson who in the book wrote some of the first biographies of many of the pirates from the Golden Age. Although their time as notorious pirates was short and what he wrote was largely fictionalised it inspired many others writing about pirates and cemented much of how we view their stories today.

Sources and Secondary Reading:

Book: Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas by  Laura Sook Duncombe

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Some info on Simone Évrard? :3

I’m basing the majority of this answer on this great article, so if I’m not citing a source for where I’ve found something, just assume it’s from there.

Simonne was born and baptised on February 6 1764. Here is her baptism record:

Simonne, legitimate daughter of Sr Nicolas Évrard, boat carpenter, and of Dame Catherine Large, her father and mother, was baptized on February 6, 1764 by the vicar of Saint-André, undersigned. The godfather was Sr Jacques Rivaud, and the godmother Dame Simone Rivard who signed with the present father.” Signed: Nicolas Évrard, Jacques Rivaud, Simone Rivard and Fontanel, vicar.

Simonne’s father Nicolas (born May 4 1724) had already been married to one Catherine Baret, with whom he had had a daughter, Philiberte (born February 28 1762). After remarrying Simonne’s mother Catherine Large he had three daughters more, Simonne, Etiennette (born October 4 1766) and Catherine (born September 16 1769). It’s most probable is that they benefited from a certain education at the free school of the hospice of charity of Tournus.

Nicolas Évrard was was a boat worker-carpenter and owned a house located in the Pêcherie district, Saint-André parish, on the Quai du Nord, in Tournus. Catherine Large owned a copse in Charne and another piece of land, of little value, five kilometers from Tournus. In 1774, she died, and two years later, on February 18, her husband did as well. Philiberte was 14, Simonne, 12, Etiennette, 10 and Catherine, 7. According to oral tradition, the girls were then sent to Paris where they worked for a lingerie workshop ran by a woman from Tournus. It’s indicated that Etiennette and Catherine, the two youngest sisters, married Antoine Bezancenot, a cook, and Jean-Antoine Corne, a printer, respectively.

A brochure written by Jacques Roux (Jacques Roux à Marat) in response to an attack made by Marat on July 4 1793, reveals both the adress on which Simonne lived on during the revolution, as well as the fact that she lived with two of her sisters (we know one of these was Catherine, the youngest).

You (Marat) must remember that about fifteen months ago you sent Citizen Fainault, sculptor, to my house to ask me to come and speak to you on important business. You were then staying with the three Hevrard (sic) sisters, rue Saint-Honoré, n. 243, opposite the Café Richard, Maison du Pelletier.

That Marat lived at Simonne's home, was also confirmed by Simonne herself during the unsealing of her apartent on July 26, 1793. Here we also learn that Simonne played an active role in the printing and distribution of Marat’s works:

When citizen Marat came to live with her (Simonne), he was in the greatest distress; to help him with the printing and distribution of his newspaper she consumed the greater part of her fortune in order to serve him and stand up for what she believed right.

When it comes to Simonne’s first meeting with Marat (who was 19 years older than her), we only know it happened before January 1 1792. From that date we have this promise written in Marat’s hand:

The fine qualities of Mademoiselle Simonne Évrard having captivated my heart from which she received the homage, I leave her as a pledge of my faith, during the trip I am going to make to London, the sacred commitment to give her my hand immediately after my return; if all my tenderness were not enough for her to guarantee my fidelity, may the oblivion of this commitment cover me with infamy. Paris, 1 January 1792. Jean-Paul Marat, l’ami du peuple

Marat and Simonne were never officially married, just engaged. According to an article in Journal de la Montagne written ten days after Marat’s death — that is to be taken with some grain of salt — the two had had an unofficial wedding ceremony:

Marat, who did not believe that a vain ceremonial was what formed the engagement of the marriage, wishing nevertheless not to alarm the modesty of citoyenne Évard, called her one fine day at the window of his room; clasping his hand in that of his lover, both prostrate before the face of the Supreme Being, "It is in the vast temple of nature," he said to her, "that I take for witness to the eternal fidelity that I swear to you, the Creator who hears us.

Simonne was present when Marat was murdured. In the interrogation of Charlotte Corday, we can read the following:

I arrived at Marat’s in a carriage around eleven or eleven-thirty.

What did you do when you arrived?

I asked to speak with him

You asked to speak with him?

Having asked to see him in his antechamber, two or three women presented themselves and told me that I would not enter. I insisted and one of the women went to tell Marat that a citoyenne wanted to speak with him. He answered that I couldn't enter. I went back home where I returned around noon.

[…]

I went out seven o’clock in the evening to go home to Marat (again).

Did you find him there?

Yes.

Who introduced you?

The same women that had refused me that morning. The women here are Simonne, her sister Catherine and the portress Marie-Barbe Aubain.

Simonne was later called as a witness to Corday’s trial, during which she said the following:

Citoyenne Évrard deposes that the accused presented herself on the morning of July 13, at citizen Marat’s place, where she, deponent, lived; that on the replies that the deputy was ill and could receive no one, she withdrew, murmuring. 

The accused interrupts the testimony of the witness, saying: it was I who killed him.

”Citoyenne Évrard (Simonne) testified that the accused appeared on the morning of July 13 at the home of citizen Marat, where she, the deponent, lived; that she wrote a letter which made him receive her on Saturday at 8 o'clock in the evening; that a cry from the chamber where Marat's bathtub was made her come running; she found the accused standing against a curtain in the antechamber, grabbed her by the head and called for neighbors; these neighbors having come, she ran to Marat who looked at her without saying a word; she helped him out of the bath and he expired without uttering a word.”

Other witnesses were also called, many of which reported Marat’s last words to have been a call for help to Simonne:

”Laurent Basse, courier, testifies that being on Saturday, July 15 (sic), at Citizen Marat's house, between seven and eight o'clock in the evening, busy folding newspapers, he saw the accused come, whom citoyenne Évrard and the portress refused entrance. Nevertheless, citizen Marat, who had received a letter from this woman, heard her insist and ordered her to enter, which she did. A few minutes later, on leaving, he heard a cry: Help me, my dear friend, help me! (À moi, ma chere amie, à moi !). Hearing this, having entered the room where citizen Marat was, he saw blood come out of his bosom in great bubbles; at this sight, himself terrified, he cried out for help, and nevertheless, for fear that the woman should make an effort to escape, he barred the door with chairs and struck her in the head with a blow; the owner came and took it out of his hands.

The president challenges the accused to state what she has to answer.

I have nothing to answer, the fact is true.

One listens to another witness.

Jeanne Maréchal, cook, submits the same facts; she adds that Marat, immediately taken from his bathtub and put in his bed, did not stir.

The accused says the fact is true. 

One listens to another witness. 

Marie-Barbe Aubin, portress of the house where citizen Marat lived, testifies that on the morning of July 13, she saw the accused come to the house and ask to speak to citizen Marat, who answered her that it was impossible to speak to him at the moment, attenuated the state where he had been for some time, so she gave a letter to deliver to him. In the evening she came back again, and insisted on speaking to him. Aubin and citoyenne Évrard refused to let her in; she insisted, and Marat, who had just asked who it was, having learned that it was a woman, ordered her to be let in; which happened immediately. A few moments later, she heard a cry: "Help me, my dear friend (À moi, ma chere amie !);she entered, and saw Marat, blood streaming from his bosom; frightened, she fell to the floor and shouted with all her might: À la garde! Au secours !

The accused says that everything the witness says is the most exact truth.

Catherine Évrard gives the same story as her sister.

Once again, the accused answers that all the facts are true and she has nothing to respond.

As already mentioned, Simonne was present for the removal of seals of her apartment on July 26 1793, two weeks after the murder:

In front of us appeared citoyenne Simonne Évrard, an adult, residing in the apartment where we currently are [30 rue des Cordeliers] who told us and declared that she is the tenant of said apartment which she rents from citizen de Lafondée, that all its furniture and effects belong to her, with the exception of the mirrors and papers that belong to said de Lafondée and the papers, linens and clothes of the deceased Marat. S. Évrard

On 8 August, less than a month after the death of Marat, Simonne presented herself at the Convention and defended his memory, in her eyes hijacked by the Énrages:

”Citizens, you see before you the widow Marat; I do not come to ask you for favors coveted by cupidity or demanded by poverty. The widow Marat needs only a tomb. Before arriving at this happy end of the torments of my life, I come to ask you for justice for the new attacks committed against the memory of the most intrepid and most outraged defender of the people. These watches, how much gold they lavished! How many hypocritical libellists they have paid to cover his name with opprobrium! With what horrible obstinacy they endeavored to give him a colossal political existence, and a hideous celebrity, with the sole view of dishonoring the cause of the people which he faithfully defended; today all covered with his blood; they pursue him to the bosom of the tomb; every day they still dare to assassinate his memory; they strive at will to paint in the features of an interesting heroine the monster who plunged the parricide blade into his bosom. One sees even in this enclosure the most cowardly of all the folliculars, Carra, Ducos, Dulaure, boasting of it shamelessly in their periodical pamphlets, to encourage their equals to cut the throats of the rest of the defenders of liberty. I am not speaking of that vile Pétion who, at Caen, in the assembly of his accomplices, dared to say, on this occasion, that the assassination was a virtue. 

Sometimes the villainous perfidy of the conspirators, pretending to pay homage to his civic virtues, multiplies at great expense infamous engravings, where the execrable assassin is presented under favorable features, and the martyr of the fatherland, disfigured by the most horrible convulsions. But here is the most perfidious of their maneuvers: they have bribed Scelerais writers who impudently usurp his name, and disfigure his principles, to perpetuate the empire of calumny of which he was the victim. The cowards, they flatter first the pain of the people by their praise; they trace some true pictures of the evils of the country; they denounce some traitors dedicated to its contempt; they speak the language of patriotism and morality, so that the people believe they still hear Marat; but it is only to defame afterwards the most zealous defenders whom the patrie has preserved; it is to preach, in the name of Marat, extravagant maxims that his enemies have attributed to him, and that all his conduct disavows. 

I denounce to you in particular two men, Jacques Roux and the named Leclerc who claim to continue his patriotic sheets, and to make his shadow speak to outrage his memory and deceive the people: it is there that after having debited revolutionary common places, the people are told that they must proscribe all kinds of government; it is there that we order in his name to bloody the day of August 10, because from his sensitive soul, torn by the spectacle of the crimes of tyranny and the misfortunes of humanity, just anathemas have sometimes come out against public leeches, and against the oppressors of the people; they seek to perpetuate after his death the parricidal calumny which persecuted him, and presented him as a foolish apostle of disorder and anarchy. 

And who are these men who claim to replace him? It is a priest wh, the very day after the day when the faithful deputies triumphed over their cowardly enemies, came to insult the National Convention by a perfidious and seditious address: it is another man, no less perverse, associated with the mercenary furies of this impostor. 

What is quite remarkable is that these two men are the same as those who were denounced by Marat, a few days before his death, at the Cordeliers club, as people paid by our enemies to disturb the public tranquility, and who, in the same sitting, were solemnly driven from the bosom of this popular society. What is the purpose of the treacherous faction that continues these criminal plots? It is to debase the people who pay homage to the memory of him who died for his cause; it is to defame all the friends of the country, whom she has designated under the name of Maratists; it is to mislead perhaps all the Frenchmen of the entire Republic, who gather for the meeting of August 10, by presenting to them the perfidious writings of which I speak, like the doctrine of the representative of the people whom they slaughtered; it is perhaps to disturb these solemn days by some disastrous catastrophe. 

Gods! what would be the destiny of the people, if such men could usurp their confidence! What is the deplorable condition of its intrepid defenders, if death itself cannot save them from the rage of their assassins! Legislators, how long will you allow crime to insult virtue? Whence comes to the emissaries of England and Austria this strange privilege of poisoning public opinion, of devoting the defenders of our laws to daggers, and of undermining the foundations of our nascent Republic? If you leave them unpunished, I denounce them here to the French people, to the universe. The memory of the martyrs of freedom is the patrimony of the people: that of Marat is the only good that remains to me; I dedicate to his defense the last days of a languid life. Legislators, avenge the fatherland, honesty, misfortune and virtue, by striking down the most cowardly of all their enemies.”

A few days after the speech, August 22 1793, Marat’s siblings signed the following decree:

We therefore declare that it is with satisfaction that we fulfill the wishes of our brother by recognizing citoyenne Évrard as our sister, and that we will hold as infamous those of her family members who does not share the feelings of esteem and gratitude that we owe her, and if against our expectation there could be some, we ask that their names be known, as we do not want to share their infamy. Written in Paris, August 22, second year of the republic. Marie-Anne Mara (sic) f. Oliver Albertine Mara (sic) Jean-Pierre Mara (sic)

In her Réponse aux détracteurs de l’Ami du Peuple (1793) Albertine Marat also wrote the following regarding Simonne:

Finding no recourse except in the poor, he would have succumbed to his misfortunes. People, your good genius decided otherwise: he allowed a divine woman, whose soul resembled his own, to consecrate her fortune and her rest to keep you your friend. Heroic woman, receive the homage your virtues deserve: yes, we owe it to you. Inflamed with the divine fire of freedom, you wanted to preserve its most ardent defender. You shared his fate and his tribulations: nothing can stop your zeal, you sacrifice to the Friend of the People, and the fear of your family, and the prejudices of your century. Forced here to circumscribe myself, I would wait for the moment when your virtues will appear in all their brilliance.

Both this extract and the decree cited before would imply that someone(s) in Simonne’s family didn’t appriciate her attachment to Marat/the revolution, although I’ve not found more info regarding it.

On September 15 1794, Robert Lindet, by then president of the committee of public intruction, wrote to Simonne asking her opinion on a republication of Marat’s works — ”Write as soon as possible and make known to what extent you can contribute to the requested edition of the works of Marat. This enterprise must be executed in a way that honors the author and the nation equally.”

But Simonne rejected this invitation, answering in November the same year that she did not want to entrust anyone but herself with this duty. The 15 volumes of Oeuvres politiques de Marat were indeed published with Simonne as the editor. A reedition of Marat’s 1790 work Plan de législation criminelle was also published, but after this the revolution took a swing to the right, during which it no longer needed Marat as a martyr. On February 22 1795 the republishing of his works was ordered to be interrupted.

Simonne spent the rest of her life together with the four years older Albertine Marat, whose attachment to her is confirmed not only via what she wrote in Réponse aux détracteurs… but by M. Goupil-Louvigny as well:

I have reason to believe that the widow Marat was not an ordinary woman, because her sister-in-law spoke to me about her with enthusiasm. Albertine religiously kept all that had belonged to her. I was personally charged in the last years of her life, when necessity compelled her to do so, to sell various objects and clothes which came from her, which were of a certain elegance and of great distinction.

The two sister-in-laws at first settled on Rue Saint-Jacques, as revealed through an interrogation of Simonne held December 30 1800:

Your name, your adress, your means of living?

I’m 36 years old, I have a pension, I live with my sister on rue Saint-Jacques, n 674, division of Thermes.

Why have you been arrested?

I don’t know.

Where were you on 3 nivôse (December 24)?

I was at my place the whole day

Who was it you received at your place?

Nobody.

You did however have company in the evening, one saw some people sitting at a table lighted up by three candles.

I soaped the whole day, I wasn’t finished until nine in the evening. My sister had only her lamp, she works at the horology. I only went out to buy a bottle of wine, and I supped with my sister. I haven’t received three people in one décade.

Who are the people you have been seeing since one month?

We only see citoyen Ranus, a watchmaker who lives on rue de la Barillerie who provides work for my sister. There came a citizen from our country who’s name I don’t remember.

Who are your neighbors?

Citoyen Digard, baker and owner, the rest of the house is inhabitated by women.

By refusing to name the people you’re receiving, you make it sound like you’re receiving enemies of the government.

I’ve told you the exact truth. I haven’t received anyone, because I find myself in great distress.

The commissioner sends her off, the case had no consequences.

Simonne and Albertine eventually moved from rue Saint-Jacques to Rue de la Barillerie n. 33 (today boulevard du Palais), where they stayed up until their deaths in 1824 and 1841 respectively. In 1847, a neighbor gave the following details regarding their stay there (cited in Marat et ses calomniateurs ou Réfutation de l’Histoire des Girondins de Lamartine (1847) by Constant Hilbe):

-[Albertine] was not happy, and she died in great destitution.

-I was told that her sister-in-law, Madame Marat, lived with her.

-Yes, Madame, she died here.

-What kind of woman was she?

-Oh ! Madame, she was an excellent woman. You know, we called her Madame Marat, but she was not his wife, she was his maid. However, I assure you that she did not look like a maid; she was very distinguished; she never spoke to anyone. This poor woman died after falling down the stairs.

-Was she beautiful?

-Beautiful!…she was very good (très bien)! she was angelically sweet.

-Did they work for a living?

-Madame Marat did not work. Mademoiselle Marat made watch hands; she even made some for my brother and my godfather. Madame Marat took care of the home.

-Did they stay in this house for a long time?

-Mademoiselle Marat stayed here for about forty years; her sister died long before her. This is how they came here: they had rented under the name of the demoiselles Albertine. One day, there is a knock on our door, my mother goes to open it, the person on the other side asks for Mademoiselle Marat. I will not hide from you, Madame, that my mother had a horror of this name Marat, who had caused so many people to be guillotined... My mother received the person very badly and told him that there was no tenant of this name in the house. The person insisted and described what the two ladies were like. Yes, said my mother, we have two people like those you describe to me, but they are the demoiselles Albertine; they live on the fourth floor above the mezzanine, the door on the right. The next day, my mother called the grocer from downstairs: “What is this,” she said, “so we have Marats in our apartment? you rented to the demoiselles Marat!!!” — “But no, Madame, I rented to the demoiselles Albertines” Later, as they were very quiet people, we greeted them in the stairwell. My father and my godfather gave them work, but they didn't speak to each other. […] [Albertine] had a portrait of Marat by David, she also had a portrait of Madame Marat that was very pretty. She often told me: ”I shall burn this portrait.” - ”Oh, mademoiselle Marat, that would be unfortunate, it’s so good!” - ”To who do you want me to give this…?”

-Do you know if she burned it?

-I don’t know, but I think so, because when she said she would do something, she did it.

We have some descriptions of Simonne’s apperence. An official minute from 1792, shortly after Marat’s death, affirmed the following: “Height: 1m, 62, brown hair and eyebrows, ordinary forehead, aquiline nose, brown eyes, large mouth, oval face.” The minute for her interrogation instead say: “grey eyes, average mouth.”

Finally, we have the following anecdote told by doctor Joseph-Souberbielle:

In the year 1820 I was often called in to attend a woman who was known in the house where she lived as the widow Marat. I am convinced she was only Marat's mistress. She told me in confidence that, since the Restoration, she had been met with such cruel treatment at the hands of the neighbours that she intended to migrate to another part of the town and change her name. She was extremely plain and could never have had any good looks. She assured me that in the whole course of her "married life" Marat had never given her a single cause for contempt; that he had all gentleness and consideration in his home relations, but his fanaticism was so intense that he would cheerfully have sacrificed his life to bring about the triumph of his ideals. I know nothing more of the woman.

Like in the case of Gabrielle and Louise-Sébastienne, I found texts about Simonne that listed more details regarding her (1, 2, 3, 4), but once again, I don’t know if those details are actually legit or just embellishments, since the authors don’t cite any sources.

There actually exists a full biography on Simonne, but 1, I couldn’t find it online for free, and 2, it’s written in Italian which I don’t know a word of.