#montagnarde1793

[usergreenpixel]

Dear Frev community, check this out!

Aside from the usual black myths about Frev, we have… ✨ a portable guillotine ✨.

(And I’m questioning what the fuck the author was smoking and how did the revolutionaries managed to wheel a GUILLOTINE inside a chateau… unless they assembled it INSIDE like IKEA furniture…)

@maggiec70 @stalinistqueens @18thcenturythirsttrap @amypihcs @on-holidays-by-mistake @michel-feuilly @montagnarde1793 @pobodleru @nesiacha

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

I have been reading McPhee‘s book. My first Robespierre biography, yay!

I see him argue that Buissart is Robespierre’s best friend. Whom I have never met from the fandom. Do historians fight about who this best friend is? What‘s your opinion on this?

You’re right, Buissart is not discussed much on here, although he definitely could be, since he provides more drama yet another case of Robespierre’s friendships falling apart due to the revolution (he and his wife Charlotte fell out with Maximilien because of the politics carried out in their hometown Arras over the spring and summer of 1794 and the latter’s unwillingness to do something about it. After thermidor both of them were quick to abandon him and his brother, Buissart even publicly denouncing the former as a ”dastardly tyrant, dripping with blood” on August 11 1794. They did however keep up contacts with Charlotte Robespierre, who had taken their side in the struggle over Arras already before thermidor). The most complete study I know of regarding Buissart is Un ami de Robespierre: Buissart (d’Arras) from 1934.

As for if there exists a debate among historians regarding who Robespierre’s best friend was, I would answer no. I think @montagnarde1793 already put it pretty well in this old post, in that there would be assuming a lot to suppose Robespierre even had a strict hierarchy of friends to begin with. That McPhee takes the liberty to give Buissart the title of ”best friend” can probably be traced to both the fact that the relationship between him and the Robespierres lasted a good while (the first proof of contacts between them is from 1783) as well as the fact he undeniably is the person Robespierre is proven to have corresponded with the most (we have nine conserved letters from Maximilien to Buissart 1789-1792, eighteen from Augustin to Buissart 1789-1793 and five from Buissart to Maximilien 1794). In all the letters to Buissart, Robespierre also adresses him in a warm tone, which, when looking over the rest of his correspondence, is actually one he’s far from using with everyone. However, I do not know of any instance where Robespierre is confirmed to have referred to Buissart (or anyone else for that matter) as his best friend. 

The only other pieces I know of regarding this matter are a letter from Lucile Desmoulins and another one from her mother, in which both refer to Desmoulins as Robespierre’s best friend, as well as the memoirs of Charlotte Robespierre, in which she claims that ”[Maximilien] often he said to me that Camille was perhaps the one among all the key revolutionaries whom he liked best, after our younger brother and Saint-Just.” But seeing as all these are secondary sources (and not very balanced ones at that) they should be treated with caution.

[silver-whistle]

Tell Me Why children's annual 1970

@suburbanbeatnik @trashpoppaea @montagnarde1793 @patientsisavertu @taleon-arts @vivelareine

If you thought Jackie 1976 was bad… This is from Tell Me Why, a non-fiction annual from 1970. Good to see a piece on Vidocq, but Marie-Antoinette has the Julie Christie/Jean Shrimpton/Catherine Deneuve look of the Jackie heroine, and I'm not sure how old the artist thought Max was…! They've made him look older than Marat! In the children's books of this era, the Brissotins were generally presented as the only Revolutionaries you were allowed to like.

[flo-nelja]

Book meme

I've been tagged by @nikita-not-nikola some time ago and I'm only doing it now because I was lazy.

Not counting comics (personal bias, if you do it you can count them)

1) The last book I read:

Last I finished is Flaubert's Trois Contes

2) A book I recommend:

The Mirror Visitor / La passe-miroir is very good French fantasy.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

The Hunger Games

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

I reread Les Misérables about every ten years (I've read it 4 times)

5) A book on my TBR:

Lots, last one I've added is Nalo Hopkinson's The Salt Roads

6) A book I’ve put down:

I tried Tom Jones in English and I shouldn't have. It was some times ago, maybe I would be able to read it now.

7) A book on my wish list:

Alecto the Ninth!

8) A favorite book from childhood:

Trois garçons en Amazonie by Antonieta Dias de Moraes

9) A book you would give to a friend:

It depends on the friend a lot. Of what they already love, and already know. Shaun Tan's Tales from the outer suburbia is a classic to me.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

La nuit remue by Henri MIchaux

11) A nonfiction book you own:

Archives des anges by Alix de Saint-André

12) What are you currently reading:

Barbara Hambly's Bride of the Rat God. Also, rereading Lord of the Rings.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

Ursula Vernon's Nine Goblins.

Tagging: @chonaku-things, @rolls-of-the-tongue-nicely, @sauvechouris, @calimera62, @0xjuro, @montagnarde1793, @lafcadiosadventures, @monstersqueen, @demoiselledefortune, @trinitrine, @forest-of-stories, @allen-kunekune, @profiterole-reads

[helshades]

@dooareyastudy et @montagnarde1793, vous devriez tout particulièrement goûter cette savoureuse (et navrante.) anecdote.

[nesiacha]

You just said all the names I was going to say :) I will bring new names in addition to those mentioned above. I will add in the category of great contributors of essential historical knowledge on this Tumblr site @anotherhumaninthisworld and @montagnarde1793 Category also to bring very relevant information on a lot of soldiers of the French Revolution and of the napolenic era @chickenmadam. Special mention also to a person who brings a lot of historical information and very good thoughts @bunniesandbeheadings and @amateurvoltaire

P.S: Thank you so much for your kinds words but my posts would not have been possible without the knowledge of many Tumblr users :)

Edit: I knew I was forgetting someone very important who is the pride of Tumblr regarding the very well documented comics, shame on me. It’s @theorahsart of course.

REBLOG if you have amazing, talented WRITER friends.

Because I certainly do, and I love every single one of them and their work.

[needsmoreresearch]

Claret, cherry, rose quartz?

claret: do you play an instrument? do you want to learn to play any? The only thing I do currently at all is picking out tunes on the piano to sing along to.  I’d like to get better at piano (the trouble with growing up learning the flute is that you don’t really get the hang of whatever the hell is going on down in the bass clef) and guitar, and I’d love to be able to play like a wee concertina?  Things you can sing along to?  I can sing a millionty folk songs.  But I have to acknowledge that if I really wanted to learn an instrument I’d put in the effort to make it happen.  (also, not to brag >_>  but i am a pretty good whistler does that count)

cherry: YouTubers you enjoy watching? For a couple of days I was grooving on the soothing Scottish voice of the Hoof Doctor and the combination of beautiful scenery and cow shit, but I kind of lost interest. I don’t really follow any YouTubers.  Oh--but Abby Franquemont is an excellent resource for handspinning videos.

rose quartz: rings or necklaces?  Man, I love looking at jewelry, I love studying unusual necklaces--but I hardly ever wear anything but my wedding ring. 

[janeaustentextposts]

montagnarde1793 replied to your post “what were the rules in regency England on how women have to wear their...”

I hope you don't mind my putting my two cents in, but I would pay attention to the time frame too. Not only did fashions evolve over the course of the period, but mores also became more conservative. I'm also not sure how widespread the "à la Titus" hairstyle actually was, particularly outside France and outside a pretty narrow window in the mid to late 1790s.

Don’t mind at all! Yes, the more extreme hair-styles would certainly be seen more and more as belonging to the young and eccentric, especially as fashions shifted rather dramatically around the turn of the century. It’s important to look at who people are and where they are and when they are, so a Mrs. Jennings certainly won’t be swanning around with short-cropped hair. Marianne’s being young, romantic, poor, and probably set more in the late 1790s than the early 1800s, wears her hair in a looser, naturalistic style in keeping with her means and mood. I’m not saying Elinor definitely ties her own hair back all the time, but she probably ties her own hair back most of the time. And, in my opinion, after she’s married, she probably LOVES a good linen cap, honestly.

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JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 38: THE EXECUTIONER’S HEIR (2013)

1. The Introduction

Greetings, Citizens! Welcome back to Jacobin Fiction Convention!

So, we have a new book on display today, and luckily not on the chopping block, but more on that later.

This book was actually recommended to me a long ass time ago by @maggiec70 in the comments section of my announcement that I was NOT going to review Shinichi Sakamoto’s manga “Innocent” due to the detailed visuals of gore and torture depicted there and a barrage of inaccuracies that even I cannot stomach.

Luckily, @maggiec70 turned out to be my savior in recommending that I review THIS book instead. “The Executioner’s Heir”, written by Susanne Alleyn (yes, I AM using the author’s name because she deserves to be known!), tells the story of Charles Henri Sanson, an infamous executioner who had to execute many prominent people before and during Frev. While this book takes place before Frev and serves as an origin story for Sanson, I am counting it as Frev fiction anyway because it talks about someone who lived in that time period.

The book can be found on Amazon and Kindle, or borrowed on archive.org for up to 14 days at a time for registered users. Is it worth the money? Spoiler: It is, but let’s find out why.

Let the Jacobin Fiction Convention open!

(This review is dedicated to @maggiec70 , @montagnarde1793 and @on-holidays-by-mistake .)

2. The Summary

As mentioned above, the book tells the story of Charles Henri Sanson, the famous executioner who would go on to behead quite a few other Frev figures. This book is his origin story, showcasing how he became the executioner and the struggles he faced in his early life both from his lack of desire to do that job and society’s prejudices towards his profession.

3. The Story

I’m not going to spoil anything, but at first there are two concurrent storylines, one from the POV of Sanson and another from the POV of a young aristocrat called François Lefebvre de la Barre. Both are historical people, so those who know La Barre might know what will happen already, but I sure did not while reading.

Again, without spoilers, while their stories start out being simply parallel to one another, which might confuse uninitiated readers (like me) at first, this narrative decision pays off towards the end, when the stories of these young men finally overlap, so the decision to include both POVs retroactively makes a ton of sense.

The pacing does include time skips, but they are not jarring at all and the characters develop in a very organic way that makes sense for them. Speaking of which!

4. The Characters

I do like Charles Sanson’s character. He is a kind man who inherited his father’s trade of executioner simply because he doesn’t have a choice in the matter and he has to commence the gruesome duties at a young age due to his father’s unexpected stroke.

While at first Charles does wish to escape his duties and study medicine instead, he eventually has to accept his role in society and simply tries to make the best of an awful situation by trying to make sure that the executed people don’t suffer too much before dying. He also never fully comes to terms with the brutal methods of torture and execution used at the time and begins to question the status quo, wondering if he is an instrument of justice or a tool of brutality and oppression of Ancien Régime in general and the monarchy and clergy in particular.

Charles’s father, Jean-Baptiste, is a strict but caring father, protecting his younger children from the scorn of the society that treats them as pariahs, while also preparing his sons for becoming executioners because he knows they would have no other option and someone simply has to do that job. He also tries to shield the children who are too young from the entire truth of his profession until they are older and can comprehend more.

Jeannette Sanson, Jean-Baptiste’s second wife, is a secondary character who is more in the background, but she does have her role. Jeannette is as far from an evil stepmother archetype as you get and she too tries to shield Charles until he is older. She is a homemaker who finds her joy in motherhood and marriage, but she is also Jean-Baptiste’s confidant and cares for her family, including her stepchildren.

Marthe Sanson, the paternal grandmother of Charles, is a harsh woman who rules the household with an iron fist, but she is a realist who correctly points out to Charles that if he refuses to take over when his father is sick, the family will not have enough money to survive and pay the servants. While manipulative, strict and rude, Marthe is simply a realist who thinks she is doing what is best. It’s still satisfying when Charles finally stands up to her though.

Charles’s full sister, Madeleine, is his closest confidant while they are growing up. She is a realist like Marthe, but in a more gentle way and she matures rather quickly too.

François Lefebvre de la Barre, the second protagonist, is the 18th century equivalent of a drunken frat boy, constantly getting into trouble and doing stupid shit like mooning (showing his bare ass) the town’s mayor at night. He is simply a stupid kid but relatable as a character.

In general, Susanne Alleyn really knows her stuff when it comes to writing complex characters.

5. The Setting

Oh my goodness, the setting! The vivid description and the obvious enormous amount of research pay off and make the story that much more realistic and entertaining to read.

6. The Writing

The writing is superb. Luckily lacking modern slang that wouldn’t realistically belong in the setting, but not being too complicated for the modern reader. There are some French words used in the story, but their meanings are organically included in the narrative to avoid confusion.

7. The Conclusion

I know it’s entertaining when I trash bad fiction, but I’m very happy to say that this one is a book I actually enjoyed and read from cover to cover. So please, if you aren’t very squeamish about scenes of execution in France before the invention of guillotine and before the abolition of torture (during Frev), do check it out!

As for me, I am going to respectfully bow out and work on my university research paper. Thus, I declare today’s meeting concluded.

Stay tuned for future reviews!

Love,

Citizen Green Pixel

[bunniesandbeheadings]

Oooh, thank you!

1.) Apex Predator from the Mean Girls Musical

2.) Take Back the Throne by NerdOut.

3.) Ruthlessness from the Odyssey Musical

4.) Dragon Queen by Karlene

5.) Mother of Flame by Miracle of Sound

I tag

@needsmoreresearch, @montagnarde1793 and @saintjustitude

Edit: I just saw how often @saintjustitude was tagged lol. I tag @empirearchives for variety

Tag game: five songs on repeat lately

Thank you to @icedteacatfish for the tag & the opportunity to share my questionable eclectic music taste!

1. Discipline – Nine Inch Nails

2. Cemetery Gates – The Smiths

3. Rigor Mortis Radio – The Hives

4. Purify – Placebo

5. Marat/Sade – Judy Collins

Tagging @gloomth-and-wanderings @chaotic-history @my-deer-friend @sparvverius @trzepotttt @latetotheparty – no pressure ofc ✨

[pilferingapples]

@montagnarde1793

replied to your

post

:

also I am well into the French Revolution era in...

Ok, but like, I kind of have a problem with the notion that “normal” government shouldn’t involve passionate debate. Unless by normal one means “non-democratic”, which seems to be the most frequent implication. :/

well yes I mean I also think MOST governments involve a certain amount of caffeine

ETA what I was TRYING to say when this so rudely Posted :

IMO in context it’s indeed talking about “normal” as “normal as seen by the monarchical system” because it’s talking about the revolutionary government and the monarchies missing each other in communication because the monarchies don’t really understand the POV of the revolutionaries and vice versa, so there’s a certain Tone On The Internet issue 

also it’s being somewhat glib!  but the main thing is ^^

[silver-whistle]

The catalogue of this sale is well worth a look! It is taking me down a new avenue of investigation re: the striped Robespierre portrait!

@montagnarde1793 @patientsisavertu @suburbanbeatnik @yourhelenwolf

[flo-nelja]

Joyeux anniversaire, Citoyenne ! :D

Merci encore !

[frevandrest]

Ooh, welcome! And don't worry, anon: it is normal to not know where to start and to be overwhelmed because there are so many things written about frev, and the revolution itself is full of so many different events and happenings that it's difficult to grasp it all, especially for a begginer (and not just beginner; even experts specialize in one period/aspect of the revolution because there's just so many things).

But no worries about being a beginner/not knowing stuff! While there are some professional historians around here, most people (me included) are here to learn and discuss, so it's not like we are fully educated on the subject either. And being a beginner is never an obstacle to participate!

Anyway, where to start. Being French is a huge advantage because most of the good stuff is written in French, AND you can also read primary sources written by these 18c dudes (which is a goldmine in itself). This doesn't mean it's necessary to do it to participate, but knowing the language gives you an advantage (for example, there is almost nothing written in English about Saint-Just, and that's just one example).

I generally recommend @sieclesetcieux and @montagnarde1793 for info and resources.

Hi - so I really want to get into frev (I'm also French, so that helps) but it just seems like everyone is fully educated on the subject and I just Don't Know Where To Start

Oh hi hi welcome. Being french surely helps, you have easier access to better sources and in your native language! I mostly can think of sources in English (which is what I have easier access to) like Liberty or Death by Peter McPhee, but can anyone recommend any good general history in French? I think Leuwers published one but I haven't read it. There's also a couple podcasts that I haven't finished but are good starting points and are extremely detailed, Mike Duncan's Revolutions and Grey History.

Also don't worry, we aren't all fully educated trust me :') We just learn a lot about specific people or aspects of the frev and then share it with everyone else.

[galatur]

montagnarde1793 replied to your post: (avenger as in marvel's avengers.) readsettlers?...

There are far too few of us with a visceral loathing for superheroes.

omg yes. it’s so good to find anyone else who has not fallen for this drek.

[sieclesetcieux]

My Writings and Contributions

Translations of Frev Sources

Media and books influenced by Thermidorian propaganda

Here are some facts we take for granted that revolutionaries didn't know that will blow your mind

Learning to Be a Lawyer in 18thc France

Brief historiography on women, the law, marriage and divorce (scroll down)

Brief overview of the Thermidorian Reaction

On Saint-Just's Personality: An Introduction

Saint-Just in Five (Long) Sentences

Random Sources and References on Saint-Just's Youth (In French)

Louise Michel's Poem on Saint-Just

On Charles Le Bas, Philippe's brother and Élisabeth Duplay's second husband

References on Couthon

Book and article recommendations:

The "short" version

Part 1 - A Note On Objectivity and Two Approaches (introduction) + Culture: Enlightenment and Antiquity

Part 2 - Ideological Stakes

Part 3 - Old Classics and Syntheses

Part 4 - Specific Topics and Areas of Research

Part 5 - Side-related but still important

Part 6 - Highlights and Short Reviews

My Posts In Progress and Eventual Research:

My thoughts and analysis of Saint-Just's unsent letter to Villain d’Aubigny

A (brief?) introduction to Saint-Just’s many faces and myths

Could Saint-Just have been neurodivergent?

Why Enjolras was inspired by Saint-Just: comparing the text of the brick to Saint-Just’s Romantic Myth

An Episode of the Thermidorian Reaction: the Attack on the Club des Jacobins and the Misogynist Targetting of Women

How the pamphlet about the Club infernal locates them in the circle of Wrath and not Treason - the latter would out them as counterrevolutionaries

Can we call the French Revolution a "fandom"? The invention of celebrity culture, etc.

The differences between Thermidorian propaganda and Anglo-American propaganda (and where they overlap)

Other Important Posts

Some primary and secondary sources available online for free (by anotherhumaninthisworld; some additions by myself)

Frev Resources (by iadorepigeons)

Myths and misconceptions about the French Revolution

Anglo American historiography (by saintjustitude and dykespierre)

On the Terror's Death Toll and Donald Greer (by montagnarde1793) More about this topic here and here (by lanterne, anotherhumaninthisworld, frevandrest and radiospierre)

On Robespierre's Black Legend (by rbzpr)

On Thermidorian propaganda (by lanterne)

On Couthon (by iadorepigeons)

Marat Ressource Masterpost (by orpheusmori)

Collaborative Masterpost on Saint-Just (many authors)

Saint-Just Masterpost (by obscurehistoricalinterests)

One myth on Saint-Just (by saintjustitude and frandrest)

Saint-Just as political philosopher and theorist (by saintjustitude)

Élisabeth Lebas corrects Alphonse de Lamartine’s Histoire des Girondins (1847) (by anotherhumaninthisworld)

On Charlotte Robespierre's memoirs (by montagnarde1793 and saintjustitude)

On Simonne Évrard (French and English biography copy-pasted by saintjustitude from the ARBR website)

Regulations for the internal exercises of the College of Louis-le-Grand (by anotherhumaninthisworld)

Were Robespierre and Desmoulins together at Louis-le-Grand? (by robespapier and anotherhumaninthisworld)

Robespierre was not Horace Desmoulins' godfather (by robespapier and anotherhumaninthisworld)

The relationship of Camille Desmoulins and Robespierre in literary works of Przybyszewska (by edgysaintjust)

Last edited: 16/05/2023

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