#not just in louis' case

[frevandrest]

not to be a d*ck, but is it true the king's trial was kind of illegal?

Yes - because the existing laws at the time gave the king more rights and protection than any other person. It was basically impossible to put him on trial for a crime legally.

If anyone else were accused of that crime (high treason), it would've been an easy trial with a clear sentence (not just during frev; we know how treason was addressed in Ancient Régime).

But Louis had special protections in the law. So that was a pickle. And that's why the Convention took so long to figure out what to do (if he could be tried legally at all). It was an example of "it can't really be done legally, but it's because the law is bad". Yet they (majority at least) didn't want to go "fuck the laws, it's unfair for him to have privileges over other people, especially for that type of crime". So they struggled to find a loophole that would make it non-illegal and in the process some important things were said about the nature of rulership, the divine right of kings, equality, democracy etc. But yeah, there was no way to do it legally because the law was bad. (Edit: And I think rulers generally still enjoy these protections around the world, so it wasn't unusual. Still bad.)

[crazykuroneko]

Just arrived at home and is welcomed by this best news. WE WON

[holocrone]

Well, it's quite nice, I suppose. Herringbone wool, notched collar. You might not know this, but I had the tailer inscribe your initials on the back side of the ticket pocket. Right here. So your name would always cradle...

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 2.04 › I Want You More Than Anything in the World 1.03 › Is My Very Nature That of a Devil

[clensters]

i actually did this last week but hated it. still hate it but sometimes that's how it is

[ivyithink]

with how unreliable all those narrators are, the whole season might actually be a bored dreamstat’s amusing little daydream

[robynator]

something something louis used to be a pimp something something armand was sold to a brothel

i don't know where i'm going with this but this realisation came to me suddenly and i refuse to be normal about it

(that and daniel calling armand a rent boy in season 1 like WOW man come on now)

[faithinlouisfuture]

AWAY FROM H👁️ME FESTIVAL 2024

[koldusek]

He's too old to caroling.

[casualavocados]

Chen Yi, are you out of your mind? You said it. Just for fun. Why are you being shy now? I'm not in the mood. But I am. How are you supposed to face your favorite boss if you act like this? He's always our boss. The man who brought us up.

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 10

[enlitment]

Camille Desmoulins and Maximilien Robespierre – doomed by the Revolution?

a second part of the answer to the ask kindly sent by @iron--and--blood - first part can be found here

Okay, so I tried to follow the sources and I ended up missing what is arguably the key question. I think that there is enough evidence that warrants seeing Camille and Maximilien’s relationship as a ‘friendship torn apart but the revolution’, but could it in fact be something more that the chain of events of the mid-1790s ended up destroying?

(aka the good old “were they gay?” question)

It’s probably not surprising to anyone that there is no conclusive evidence that would suggest that either of them was definitely queer or that they were involved in some kind of a relationship. For context, the French Constitutional Assembly did decriminalise homosexuality, since there was simply no mention of private same-sex relationships it in the penal code of 1791.

Of course, there would still be a stigma surrounding queerness, seeing how France was a Catholic country – well, up to that point. On the other hand, it is also important to remember that anyone who received a higher education at that time would be well versed in classical authors (Greek and Roman that is), so they would have a framework for a positively viewed queer attraction/relationship (I'm mostly thinking of a kind of Alcibiades/Socrates vibes here. I think it sort of fits? Well it does in my headcanon anyway...). Camille especially seemed to be really into classics, making references to classical authors, history or mythology in approximately every other sentence.

CAMILLE – VICES HONTEUX AND A POSSIBILE BICON

If we consider Camille, I think it is clear that he was attracted to women. I think that the historical sources show that he genuinely did love his wife - Lucile - although it may also be true he was bit of a cad. There is a whole deal with him and Lucile’s mother with whom he apparently exchanged some flirty letters? I honestly need to look into it more at some point.

That said, attraction to women of course doesn’t exclude attraction to men. The one thing that would suggest Camille might have pursued a same-sex relationships is the reference to “vices honteux“ (shameful vices), which Saint-Just claims were attributed to Camille by Danton. We also learn from Robespierre’s note that this refered to something that was ‘totally unrelated to the revolution’.

So we know it’s something that would be seen as ‘shameful’ behaviour, but nonetheless a private matter. Could it be interest in same-sex relationships? It’s of course hard to say, but the theory is not completely implausible. For a discussion about this, I recommend this article.

MAXIMILIEN – A CONFIRMED BACHELOR?

With Maximilien Robespierre, it gets a little more complicated. He was essentially a confirmed bachelor, living with a family that adored him but that was not his own (and also a dog. He had a dog.) Talk about a found family trope!

Some sources claim that he was engaged to Éléonore Duplay, but Robespierre’s sister for one vehemently denies this. It’s true that he could probably easily have married her – I can’t imagine her family being opposed to it, far from it probably – but the fact is that for one reason or another, he did not.

He also didn’t really seem to capitalise on his massive popularity among the Parisian women. (Though, to be fair, neither did Rousseau and he was… well I guess he was his own version of heterosexual.)

Sure, one can interpret that as Robespierre being a workaholic or putting the revolution above everything else, but I personally think it is very possible that he would be considered to be on the asexual spectrum by today’s standards.

That said, although France was moving away from institutionalised religion at that point, Catholic guilt could certainly play a role, especially in someone who prided himself in his moral conduct and was told to be rigid about the rules. So the possibility of him being closeted as an explanation for his lack of interest in women would also not be completely off the table.

As to Camille and Maximilien being together in some way? I think there is certainly a precedence for this type of relationship in adolescence. Seeing that they have studied together (and shared enthusiasm for classics probably), it is not impossible, though of course, it is highly speculative.

I think it is also fair to say that Robespierre went above and beyond for Camille until the last few months. That is something he probably would have not done for many other people. He actually said as much himself:

“Learn, Camille, that if you were not Camille, one could not have so much indulgence for you.“

Was it because Camille was universally liked by the revolutionaries for all the good he has done? Possibly, but I think one can also read more into it. It certainly suggests that Camille was special in some way, and the fact that Robespierre uses ‚one‘ instead of ‚I‘ does not necessarily mean he is not speaking about himself here.

CAMILLE AND MAXIMILIEN IN THE MEDIA

When it comes to media portrayal, the relationship often comes across as queer-coded - to an extent.

In La Révolution française, this aspect is more prominent between Robespierre and Saint-Just, but with some well-timed smiles and glances, it almost reads as a tragic love triangle between the three. There are some unfortunate implications however, mainly that the hints of Robespierre's queerness in the movie are implicitly associated with his descent to tyrany. Ugh. (And let's face it, a kind of effeminacy linked to villainy as well. Honestly, who thought that kind of portrayal would be a good idea? Kudos for making a historical movie about the French Revolution come across as homophobic I guess.)

Hilary Mantel straight-up makes Camille Desmoulins bisexual (ish?) in A Place of Greater Safety, though there are <a lot of> issues with that portrayal, as discussed here (watch me linking another mutual's great post! Frevblr is truly the best). Not sure how the relationship with Robespierre is presented here since it’s one of the books I’ve been in the middle of for months.

And then there’s Stanisława Przybyszewska of course. She would honestly warrant a separate post, but long story short: in her works, there is no doubt about the fact that she portrays the relationship between them as queer. She invokes the Erastes/eromenos dynamic between them (quite explicitly, referring to Camille as an ephebe at one point) and makes the attraction between the two seem palpable. There is plenty of queer (under)tones to be found in The Danton Case, but in Last Nights of Ventôse , she straight up interprets the fall of the Dantonists as Camille running into Danton’s arms to spite Robespierre for snubbing him and rejecting his devotion (romantic advances?). And it gets quite physical – not in a way that would warrant an E rating, but it would certainly deserve one for the sheer emotional intensity.

[wriothesleypieces]

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

[cupids-fiction]

*don’t make everything about being gay don’t make everything about being gay don’t make—*

*shouting from the rooftops*

IN SOME WAYS JEKYLL AND HYDE CAN BE AN ALLEGORY FOR HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE DANGERS OF H(yde)ING IT

[anchorandrope]

happy pride to my hands your hands tied up like two ships i don't care what people say when we're together oh i will carry over fire and water for your love the script was written and i could not change a thing i said hey it's alright if it makes you feel alive and every jaw drops when she's in those jeans there will always be the kind that criticize but i know yes i know we'll be alright so i built you a house from a broken home i'm all yours i've got no control no control it's been so long it's been so long maybe we're fireproof used to sing about being free but now he's changed his mind if you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do then baby i'm perfect the priest thinks it's the devil my mum thinks it's the flu but girl it's only you for your eyes only i'll show you my heart the summertime and butterflies all belong to your creation so many nights i thought it over told myself i kinda like her but there was something missing in her eyes same lips red same eyes blue same white shirt couple more tattoos wherever i go you bring me home in a black dress she's such an actress yeah so you can cut me up and kiss me harder you can be the pill to ease the pain im just like you if you only knew now i'm asking my friends how to say i'm sorry they say lad give it time there's no need to worry i know that you're scared because i'm so open breathe me in breathe me out i don't know if i could ever go without i get so lost inside your eyes would you believe it? so bright sometimes shine i'm not ever going back don't blame me for falling i was just a little boy i couldn't want you anymore kiss in the kitchen like it's a dance floor staring at the ceiling two weeks and i'll be home we were only kids just tryna work it out wonder what they'd think if they could see us now i've been looking back a lot lately me and you is all i ever know and it's been ages different stages come so far from princess park waiting to wrap your legs around me and i know you hate to smoke without me cause you're the only one when it's said and done and i'm too tired to be tough just wanna be loved by you it's a church of brunt romances and i'm too far gone to pray in a strange way we're all in this together been this way forever you're not the only one but i'd follow you to any place if it's hollywood or bishopsgate i'm coming too if i was a bluebird i would fly to you stay green a little while you bring blue lights to dreams do you think i'm cool too? or am i too into you? maple syrup coffee pancakes for two you lay with him as you stay in the daydream you feel a fool you're back at it again i take you with me every time i go away in a hotel usin' someone else's name when we're finished saying nothing can we please get back to lovin'? i don't wanna face the music but i still wanna dance with you but the friends we make the love it takes is worth is worth is worth it all the time my heart might be broken but i won't be broken down you and me until the end wakin' up to start again fabricated fairytales bring a new world to life there were problems in this empty bottle at the bottom but we drained all that you should be startin' at the sky the birds just passin' by love spent my whole life thinking i had to change

[inspo]

[margueritestjusts]

what pisses me off the most about the jekyll and hyde musical is that robert louis stevenson explicitly said to NOT make the inner conflict about sex but meanwhile frank wildhorn was like "lol bozo" and made it about jekyll/hyde choosing between a virgin and a whore like HUH.

[thevampprincex]

"We met at a gay bar, didn't we Daniel?"

/runs off

[mistriafan]

i'm not sure if anyone would consider this a spoiler so i'll tag it as one anyway, but WHY DID LOUIS GET BANNED FROM THE CAPITAL?? POLITICAL INTRIGUE ENGAGED!! LOUIS,, ELSIE, SPILL!