#Philippe Le Bas

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Which revolutionaries had earrings?

All I really know of are Éléonore Duplay, Lucile Desmoulins and Philippe Le Bas, who all wear hoop earrings in the most famous (and, in Éléonore and Philippe’ case, only) portraits presumed to be depicting them. Since these are just portraits, it’s however hard to say if they wore earrings everyday or just put them on for this specific occasion.

The common claim that Saint-Just had earrings does interestingly enough not appear to be that well backed up. There is only a single depiction where ”he” has one, and it’s not one of the four that we can be almost certain is Saint-Just. You can read more about it here: 1, 2, 3, 4.

[nesiacha]

Thank you, Elisabeth Le Bas!

Thank you for these touching memoirs. Her modesty also moved me, as she is clearly one of those women behind the scenes who encouraged their revolutionary husbands, who would not have been as effective without them. She possesses an extraordinary strength of character and integrity that many men should have been inspired by instead of placing their individual interests first. The revolution could have been saved (no need to specify who I am targeting here). Although her memoirs may at first seem to portray a woman who simply supports those she loves, it is actually much deeper than that. She attended political debates with Charlotte Robespierre, showing that they were far more politically engaged than they appeared. By the way, I have a theory about Philippe Le Bas based on an excerpt from Elisabeth Le Bas:

"It was the day when Marat was borne in triumph to the Assembly that I saw my beloved Philippe Le Bas for the first time.

I found myself, that day, at the National Convention with Charlotte Robespierre. Le Bas came to greet her; he stayed with us for a long time and asked who I was. Charlotte told him that I was one of her elder brother’s host’s daughters. He asked her a few questions about my family; he asked Charlotte if we came to the Assembly often, and said that on a particular day there would be a rather interesting session. He urged her to come to it."

I haven’t found any evidence that Le Bas defended the rights of womens citizens (I hope I’m wrong because I really like him as a revolutionary, so feel free to correct me). Yet, I have no valid reason to doubt what he said to Charlotte Robespierre about encouraging these two women to attend a session of the Assembly. I get the impression that Le Bas was one of those men who valued women’s political opinions, had no problem with them attending political sessions, but didn’t see the point of them participating more actively in political life. I imagine he had no objections to discussing it privately with Elisabeth.

Philippe and Elisabeth Le Bas form such a touching couple (I almost applauded when they were finally able to marry), and I really liked that, together with Henriette Le Bas (another woman who is too unknown in the revolution, but fortunately Tumblr is here to bring them out of the shadows), she accompanied her husband and Saint-Just (she was one of the many women who accompanied the revolutionaries on their missions, like Charlotte Robespierre, Sophie Momoro, etc.).

I also really appreciated the relationship she had with Eleonore Duplay, where we also see the courage of her sister in adversity. Paradoxically, it’s in Elisabeth Le Bas’s memoirs that I began to appreciate Charlotte Robespierre. Charlotte Robespierre’s memoirs contain quite a few inaccuracies, as other Tumblr users have pointed out, and I thought to myself, it’s impossible, she’s way too “saintly,” I don’t believe it for a second (not to mention that she comes across as too apolitical, but I imagine those who helped write the memoirs didn’t want a thinking woman). Here, thanks to certain passages from Elisabeth and what we know from the Mathons, we have proof that she is certainly not a saint (no one is), but she’s not a heartless, toxic, or selfish woman as I’ve seen (not on Tumblr but on other forums, where they oddly bash Robespierre but blame Charlotte for disowning her brother; those who say these things are inconsistent, plus I’d like to see how they would have reacted if they had faced the same threat as Charlotte). She is a woman with touching qualities (like her kindness towards Elisabeth, her desire to accompany her brother on a mission, when she designated Mademoiselle Mathon as her heir, or that at the end of her life, she wanted to rehabilitate her brothers) but also with weaknesses (I would start with her completely inaccurate memoirs, I think the disagreement between Madame Duplay, Eleonore, and Charlotte involved shared faults, just like the dispute between Augustin and Charlotte, especially the letter Augustin wrote to Maximilien about Charlotte, etc.). Thanks to Elisabeth Le Bas’s memoirs, Charlotte Robespierre is neither a monster nor a too-perfect being, she is just a human being. By the way, I don’t blame her for disowning her family name and her brothers temporarily because the danger could have been real. She was a civilian who didn’t seek trouble, and in that respect, it was trouble (more precisely, the Thermidorians) that came to her. I also don’t blame her for asking Bonaparte for a pension and continuing to receive one under Louis XVIII because life for a single woman was very hard at that time. It took extraordinary strength of character to avoid doing all that, and not many people had it. Where I do criticize Charlotte Robespierre is for embellishing the reality concerning her in her memoirs.But it was very sad that she was not able to reconcile with her brothers especially Augustin before she died because none of them seem toxic to me. If France and the revolution had no longer been in danger, if they had survived, I think they would have reconciled, but I can't speak for them.

Returning to Elisabeth’s memoirs, I smiled when she idealized the revolutionaries she was close to, like the Robespierre brothers or Saint-Just, although after recognizing many of his qualities, she said he could sometimes be severe due to his great love for the country and the revolution. But it’s normal that she idealized them and defended them loyally because she was simply being loyal to the revolutionary struggles they were leading and in which she believed, even though it would have been good to see their flaws in her memoirs. Memoirs are always subjective, even from an honest person like Elisabeth Le Bas. Despite everything, she is attached to her country and is capable of making a judgment when she says in the excerpt, “Nevertheless, he needed to leave; Robespierre, who had great confidence in Le Bas because he knew his wise and prudent character well, had chosen him to accompany Saint-Just, whose burning love of the patrie sometimes led to too much severity, and who had a tendency to get carried away.” On the other hand, what troubles me about this statement is that normally, a person is not sent on a mission based on the will of just one other person; it usually requires the majority of votes within the CPS or the CSG (sometimes in the Convention). But we see that Elisabeth stays in the background yet makes a thoughtful political judgment to better safeguard the endangered French Revolution.

However, I didn’t like that Elisabeth constantly put herself down by describing herself as scatterbrained when everything indicated that she was not. I was saddened by the tragic fate of Philippe Le Bas, even though we all knew it was inevitable. At least they were able to say goodbye. At least he died before seeing the tragic outcome of the revolution. I found Madame Duplay’s death unfair. Poor Duplay family, who went through one tragedy after another but found the strength to bounce back. I admired Eleonore for helping Elisabeth during her most tragic moments in prison. I applauded when Elisabeth Le Bas showed astonishing courage in front of her adversaries from prison to her release. She never asked for anything and displayed extraordinary strength.

Even though I wouldn’t have blamed her for abandoning the revolution to survive with her son in such difficult times, she didn’t do it, whereas some “revolutionaries” greedy for their wallets destroyed the revolution, endangered France, and undermined the revolutionary people's efforts for social progress that had begun since 1789. The obligation of loyalty to the revolution that deputies like Fouché, Barras, or a general named Bonaparte should have respected was found in the daughter and wife of an authentic revolutionary (especially in the worst moments). Honor to her (and to the many men and women like Elisabeth) and shame on all those greedy ones (I must admit that my language is blunt and could be more nuanced if making a historical judgment, but I’m more in the realm of value judgment, so I feel I can allow myself some liberties, sorry for the fans of theses characters it's only my view).

On a more positive note, thank you, Elisabeth Le Bas, for fighting against this all-too-common black legend of the revolution through your memoirs.

Thank you for your journey as a fighter. If only the greedy deputies I mentioned earlier had a quarter of your integrity and courage and remembered that they were there to serve the people, as they are in their positions solely because of the people and thanks to them, the revolution would surely have lasted longer.

Thank you, Elisabeth, for all you did with so many others. May your life serve as an example and a source of strength for us.

[keepthyfaithandthylight]

Bringing back the frev barista story again. In said story, it is canon that Philippe Le Bas calls his coworkers (which are basically just Robespierre and Saint Just) “babe” . This coming from my own experience working in restaurant industry where all of my coworkers call each other (and me) “babe”. It’s a nice little thing.

[plrle]

at this point i don't think i will be able to explain the thought process that led to the creation of the emo commissioner uniform

[thatsideofacorner]

I just think he's neat

[montagnarde1793]

Hello, in a recent post you mentioned that we have Philippe Le Bas' passport (or just its text?) Do you maybe have a source for the full text/do you know what it said? I'd love to read the rest of the description.

Yes! Paul Coutant, alias Stéfane-Pol, published two passports for Le Bas in his Autour de Robespierre : Le Conventionnel Le Bas, and I would be surprised if there aren’t other passports for him at the National Archives as well, as a representative on mission. NB: It seems I misremembered his height. Le Bas was only 5 pieds 5 pouces; in other words, around 176 cm.

The published ones read as follows:

ÉGALITÉ, LIBERTÉ.

                       Au nom de la Nation.

           Département du Pas de Calais, district de Saint-Pol, municipalité de Saint-Pol. Laissez passer Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas, homme de loi et député pour la Convention nationale, citoyen français, domicilié à la municipalité de Saint-Pol, district du même lieu, département du Pas-de-Calais, âgé de vingt-huit ans, taille de cinq pieds cinq pouces, cheveux et sourcils châtains, yeux gris-bleu, nez court un peu retroussé, bouche petite, menton rond, front large, visage ovale ; et prêtez-lui aide et assistance en cas de besoin.

           Délivré à la maison commune le 15 septembre 1792, l’an IV de la Liberté.

&

La loi.

           Laissez passer le sieur Philippe Le Bas, français domicilié en la ville de Saint-Pol, département du Pas-de-Calais, district de Saint-Pol, âgé de vingt-huit ans, taille de cinq pieds cinq pouces, cheveux et sourcils châtains, yeux gris, nez élargi, bouche moyenne, menton long, visage ovale, front haut ; et prêtez-lui aide et secours en cas de besoin.

           Donné à Frévent, même département et district, sous notre signature et la sienne, le seize septembre mil sept cent quatre-vingt-douze, l’an quatre de la Liberté, le 1er de l’Égalité.

Which back in my LJ days, when I still did (admittedly rather mediocre) translations, I translated like this:

EQUALITY, LIBERTY.

                               In the name of the Nation.

               “Department of Pas-de-Calais, district of Saint-Pol, municipality of Saint-Pol. Let pass Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas, man of law and deputy for the National Convention, French citizen, domiciled in the municipality of Saint-Pol, district of the same place, department of Pas-de-Calais, aged twenty-eight years, height five feet five inches, chestnut-brown [châtain] hair and eyebrows, grey-blue eyes, short- and slightly snub-nosed, small mouth, round chin, large forehead, oval face; and lend him aid and assistance in case of need.

               Delivered to the maison commune on 15 September 1792, Year IV of Liberty.

&

                                                               The law.

               Let pass the sieur Philippe Le Bas, Frenchman domiciled in the city of Saint-Pol, department of Pas-de-Calais, district of Saint-Pol, aged twenty-eight years, height five feet five inches, chestnut-brown [châtain] hair and eyebrows, grey eyes, broad nose, medium-sized mouth, long chin, oval face, high forehead; and lend him aid and help in case of need.

               Given in Frévent, same department and district, under our signature and his, the sixteenth September seventeen ninety-two, year four of Liberty, the 1st of Equality.

[frevandrest]

Hello! I was wondering if you could talk a bit about Philippe Le Bas and what his personality was like/what he was like as a person. In the novel I'm writing about Robespierre Le Bas is a minor character in it and I want to have an accurate characterization since I'm working on revisions. Thanks!

We don't know that much about Philippe; his wife's memoirs are the best source on him, as far as I know.

I would say that he was one of the rare well-adjusted revolutionary: he is described as calm and kind. He had a beautiful singing voice. He was smitten by Babet and they were a love match. He comes off in descriptions as polite and patient, and Babet said that this is why he was paired with Saint-Just, to kind of balance each other out, but this is her interpretation I think (?) SJ and Le Bas do seem like very different people but they worked well together and were close in that period. Not to reduce Le Bas to a "generic nice guy" but that is actually a rarity during frev (to have a well-adjusted person with no notable family trauma and issues. And I mean this with love, to both Le Bas and others).

He was one of the 16 children. His younger sister Henriette was engaged (or something) to SJ, and it seems that Le Bas and Babet were rooting for this relationship and tried to make it happen. Henriette lived them during that time and when Babet was pregnant and there is a series of letters between Babet and Philippe, including one (or was it a few?) about Henriette being disappointed about SJ changing his mind/rejecting her (?) and SJ absolutely refusing to talk to Philippe about it, and Philippe was very ??? about it. There is nothing indicating in the letter that he was angry with SJ (more weirded out by SJ's refusal to discuss Henriette), but I've read somewhere (though I forgot where, or how (un)reliable it is), that Philippe was disappointed and angry with SJ and that their friendship suffered for it and never fully recovered before Thermidor. Though no idea how anyone could know this; Babet herself I believe insisted (not in her memoirs) that SJ and Henriette just had a minor disagreement and that they would have married if not for Thermidor, but not sure how reliable this is. It might be simply Babet's view of the situation. I am mentioning Henriette and SJ because we can glean a bit of Philippe's behaviour and personality through it.

Then, of course, we have Thermidor. We know Philippe was openly suicidal in days before it; he even told Babet that he would shoot her and then kill himself "so at least they can die together", only if there wasn't for their baby son. This is very sad and extreme, but I am not sure if it tells us something specific about Philippe or were all of them in the same mood. We know SJ was in a dark mood in his late notebook entries, so it is possible that all of them were thinking along those lines.

Also, let's remember that while Philippe was the only one successfully committing suicide on Thermidor, there is a high probability that others wanted to do it. Collective suicide pact to avoid execution was also seen among the Girondins, and it made sense in the context - to do it was to deny the enemies the chance to have their justice over them and to inflict the official punishment. So, in that context, I would not see Philippe's decision as his personal state of mind, and I am not sure we can conclude anything about his character through it.

More notable is the fact that he volunteered to share his friends' fate on 9 Thermidor; he and Bonbon deserve special recognition for this. It tells us about their ideals and loyalties, and that they were ready to die for them.

That's all I can think of. It's not much, but if Philippe is just a minor character, there's no problem in making him simply a "nice guy", although he was not a doormat or meek at all.

[filipinawritcr]

I feel like SJ and Le Bas would have this kind of matching earrings; wherein one has to wear one earring from a pair of earrings, and the other would wear the other earring.

Idk if anyone thought about this.

[fei-tu]

🥰

[silver-whistle]

In memoriam.

And many others.

[perfectlysweatypanda]

Représentant en mission

[plrle]

saw a tiktok thus the idea was born

[edgysaintjust]

When people ask why I'm suddenly smiling while reading a SJ bio

[robespapier]

I'm begging you to tell us more about Le Bas' dog

as far as I know the only legit source we have on Le Bas' dog is Elisabeth Duplay-Le Bas,' Mémoires, here (page 175):

My husband had a dog named Schillichem, of a German breed; he only returned three days after the death of his master; he was panting, his tongue hanging out; that poor beast had passed that time on his master's grave.

Then, on the secondary, shady sources side:

There's Lenôtre (1855-1935), who claimed Schillichem went with his master (and Elisabeth, Saint-Just and Le Bas' sister, Henriette) to the armies of the Rhin, sleeping at their feet in the carriage while Saint-Just was reading to his friends to pass the time, or him and Le Bas were singing Italian songs. Source

André Stil (1921-2004), French writer and journalist, in a book about Danton and Robespierre published in 1988, claims Le Bas brought Schillichem back with him from Alsace, which doesn't necessarily contradicts Lenôtre: Elisabeth and Henriette travelled with Le Bas and Saint-Just for their second mission to the armies of the Rhin (they left Paris in December 1793); it's possible Le Bas brought Schillichem back from his first mission in Alsace in October 1793. Source

But Stil also claims Schillichem died of grief on Le Bas' grave, which contradicts Elisabeth's story about the dog coming back to her? Unless Schillichem went back to Le Bas' grave after Elisabeth was arrested and, having no one to return to (The Duplay were all imprisonned), died there.

I've found another souce for Le Bas getting Schillichem in Alsace!! In a 1948 magazine from l'Union des Femmes Française (communists, so they see the robespierrists in a positive light):

In memory of this glorious campaign around all of Alsace, Le Bas brought back a beautiful dog from the region, Schillichem, who would never leave him, Schillichem who, later, would stay on his master's grave, whinning painfully about his absence. Source

Also, there's a town called Schiltigheim, in the North surburb of Strasbourg. Knowing Le Bas was in Strasbourg in October 1793, it's possible he indeed got his dog there and named him after the town? It's not the exact same name, but maybe Le Bas misheard it? Or purposefully modified it?

And then there's this, that I've found here, the author is compiling extracts of letters regarding the Saint-Just x Henriette Le Bas drama, but Le Bas mentions Schillichem in a letter to his wife Elisabeth, from sping 1794 (27 Floréal an II):

idk how to translate "Schillickem (sic) me caresse beaucoup et je le lui rends bien", but Le Bas is saying his dog is being very affectionate/gentle with him, and him as well with the dog.

Then the author adds a note saying Le Bas got Schillickem (sic) in Alsace, probably from Schiltigheim near Strasbourg (!!!), and that "it is said" the dog died on his master's grave.

To end on an happier note, I've found a drawing of Le Bas and Schillichem, by @thebrassglass here!

[frostcluster]

I like this new dialogue in tokyo version where Le Bas talks of the terror and Saint Just asks him “Are you scared?” with a mocking voice

So another weird comic

[montagnarde1793]

David d’Angers, Médaillon de Philippe François Joseph Le Bas (1764-an II), première moitié du XIXe siècle (d’après un dessin fait de son vivant), musée Carnavalet.