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1916 Pretty evening frock by French designer Paquin. From Jane Burden Morris, Pinterest.

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The fact that there's a French Revolution fandom on tumblr that is so enthusiastic and so scholarly makes me inordinately happy.

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Carême - S1.E2 - Chantage (Blackmail)

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"no man has the right to build up mountains of wheat beside his fellow man dying of hunger. What is the first object of society? It is to maintain the inalienable rights of man. What is the first of those rights? That of existence.

The first law of society therefore is that which guarantees all members of society the means of existence; all the rest are subordinate to that one..."

—Maximilien Robespierre, December 2, 1792, Robespierre: a Revolutionary Life by Peter McPhee

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The yearly seasian monsoon didn't help ease my mood so I decided to mess with some brushes

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OMGGG I’m back from the grave and I drew Robespierre! Yasss! It was Thermidor or something and I wanted to post something but I’m too lazy to finish anything I started so I’m just gonna post it nowww. Here’s my first post

If anyone (maybe not…)recognises my art style — yesss, it’s me. I’m very busyyy

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Oh, please, no.

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That bitch Salicetti being FED UP with Bonbonaparte and overjoyed 9 Thermidor ended it

Source : "Chap. 5 : Le capitaine canon", Bonaparte, André Castelot

Salicetti, on whom the Army of Italy now also relies, took umbrage at the protection the Robespierre brothers granted Buonaparte. Perhaps the young general was somewhat clumsy in his dealings with his compatriot? Is it true that, as the Representative told the new Comité de Salut Public, he “barely looked at him from the height of his stature”? In any case, on August 6, Salicetti wrote to his colleague Berthier: “I learned of the death of the new tyrant and his accomplices, and I assure you that my heart expanded with pleasure. You know how despotically Ricord and Augustin Robespierre dominated the Army of Italy. How abuses reigned in finances...”

Buonaparte, “Robespierre's favourite”, was inevitably compromised. “I am convinced,” Salicetti added, “that when I arrive in Nice, I will find Ricord gone and perhaps Buonaparte too. If they are still in Nice, we have decided to have them arrested and sent to Paris immediately. There are strong grounds for suspicion, treason and squandering.” On the same August 6, representatives Albitte and Laporte, whom Salicetti had tracked down in Barcelonnette, called the young Robespierre's campaign plan - suggested by Buonaparte - “liberticide”.

“Buonaparte was their man,” they specify in their letter to the Committee, “their plan-maker whom we had to obey. A letter, anonymous but dated from Genoa, warned us that there was one million on the road to corrupt a general. Stay on your guard, we were told. Salicetti is on his way. He tells us that Buonaparte has gone to Genoa, authorized by Ricord. What was this general planning to do in a foreign country? All our suspicions are fixed on his head...” It is certain - Napoleon would later admit that his favor with the representatives on mission in place before Thermidor was high - that Augustin Robespierre hardly made any decisions concerning the Army of Italy before consulting the young general.

Without waiting for the Committee's orders, the three commissioners, “considering that General Buonaparte has totally lost their trust through the most suspicious conduct, and especially through the trip he recently made to Genoa”, decided as follows: “Brigadier General Buonaparte, commander-in-chief of the artillery of the Army of Italy, is temporarily suspended from duty. He will be arrested by and under the responsibility of the General-in-Chief of the aforementioned army, and taken to the Comité de Salut Public, in Paris, under safe escort. All papers and effects will be sealed...”.

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« Mme Murat avait désiré long-temps, avoir deux Anglaises auprès de ses enfans. »

Madame Murat had long wished to have two Englishwomen at her children’s side. The eldest, Achille, was about four years old; the second, Lætitia, was two; and the third was only nine months old. Later, a daughter was born, who was named Louise. Mme Pulsdorf, my fellow countrywoman, and I were received with great kindness. The eldest of the little boys was entrusted to my care. We spent all our time in the apartments assigned to us; we rarely interacted with other staff in the household. The Italian and French servants showed us little sympathy and continually ganged up on us. Even those whose position ought to have placed them above such pettiness did not hesitate to organize little intrigues to discredit us in the eyes of our excellent mistress, because, being English, we belonged to the enemy’s side. But although their conduct caused us great distress, we nonetheless showed zeal in carrying out our duties, and we had the satisfaction of hearing Madame Murat express her desire to have more English people in her service. I rarely had the opportunity to see Bonaparte. The visits he paid to his sister were so secret that few in the household knew when he was there. However, he did learn that his sister had two Englishwomen in her service; and when he had resolved to attempt a landing in England, he wanted us to be sent away, saying that women could, like men, maintain correspondences. But the children were so attached to us that their mother tried to evade this order. For three months, we were not allowed to go to the palace or to appear in public.

Note: The source is a French translation of an English text which I then proceeded to translate back into English! How great! In any case, I will continue to analyze this source and make more posts about it, stay tuned ^_^

My Thoughts ↴

Caroline is described as having received the English governesses "with great kindness" and expressed a desire for more English staff despite England being at war with France at the time. This suggests she was more focused on practical and emotional needs (e.g. care for her children) than on ideological loyalty to the nation.

When Napoleon ordered the dismissal of the Englishwomen due to fears of espionage, Caroline tried to defy or at least delay the order, because her children were attached to their governesses. This shows that she was independent-minded and willing to (quietly) resist her brother's orders and that she most likely prioritized the well-being and stability of her children over that obedience.

Though the fact that the Englishwomen were mistreated by other servants but remained in Caroline's good graces suggests she may have been unaware or unable (or perhaps unwilling) to fully intervene in the pettiness within her staff.

Murat himself is not mentioned directly in this passage by a woman who presumably spent a LOT of time around his children, which probably indicates the obvious; that Murat played little a role in household management or child-rearing and that he left the domestic sphere to Caroline, or even more likely, that he was occupied with his military/political duties. (Because as we know, Murat was very attached to his children, so I doubt he'd be at home and just not care about them and their upbringing.)

By embracing English staff, Caroline implicitly signals that ideology (in this case, loyalty to France in a war against England) was not her dominant guiding principle in domestic affairs. Instead, she prioritized practical considerations: childcare, household management, and her children's happiness. (.. Isn't that a repeat of what I just said ??? take a shot every time i repeat what I just said guys !!)

if we consider this on a macro-historical level, Caroline's choices most likely reflect broader social and cultural patterns among the European aristocracy during wartime:

Aristocratic families often employed foreign servants, tutors, and governesses regardless of national tensions because education, language skills, and cultural sophistication were highly valued. (??? is that true? I have no idea! I'm talking out of my ass here guys.)

On a broader historical level, Caroline's choices reflect what is most likely wider patterns among the European aristocracy during times of war. Aristocratic families often employed foreign servants, tutors, and governesses regardless of national tensions, because education, language skills, and cultural refinement were highly valued. While nationalism existed, the aristocracy was often insulated from its harsher effects. The presence of English staff in a French household highlights how practical concerns often took precedence over political alignment.

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How to request a document reproduction on the French National Archives website (without paying anything)?

Setting the scene: I'd like to obtain a digital version of this file, because online, only a brief unhelpful description is shown and the visual is not available.

If you don't know how to navigate through the website to get to the archive you want, I've explained in this post how to search for a specific item in the French National Archives' virtual reading room. You really should read it before this post, because there are many details I won't go into again.

You're ready? Okay, let's get into it.

Once again, you don't go to the official website, but to the virtual reading room. This is systematically the place to go to search for documents and leaf through inventories. You can access it here.

In real life, if you go to the Paris or Saint-Denis sites and ask to consult the archives, you'll be required to register by filling in a form with your information (not much personal details, they often just want to know if you're here for personal stuff like genealogy, or if you're studying documents for university-related works), and you'll be given a card.

Here, online, it's basically the same thing. You'll need to create an account. Don't worry, it's completely free. Be careful to go to the Espace personnel" (personal account) and not the "Accès sécurisé" (secured access).

Once you have clicked, the website will inform you that creating an account will give you access to the following options:

Order or reserve a document

Request document reproductions

Request search assistance

Save your search results

So really, I insist, this is a step you shouldn't neglect. And of course, this also works if you live in a different country!

Okay now, let's get back to our document.

I'm not going to explain a second time what a class mark is and how to find it, once again I refer you to my other post which explains everything in detail. Just know that the item that interests me has F/7/6712 as its class mark.

There's a lot of information. Just know that the first thing to do is to set aside your document in what we call the “panier” (the cart). Yep, the shopping cart, just as if you were buying clothes on a website. There is also an option to “reserve” the document, but this implies that the archivists will put aside the physical version of the document and wait for you to come and consult it directly in Paris or Saint-Denis. Yeah, no. Let's save ourselves a shit ton of money, all of us are way too poor for this.

This is what the cart looks like (image below ↓). This is where you will store all the class marks that interest you, but which you can't or don't want to have reproduced immediately, so you can easily find them later. As you can see, I've already put aside a few. You need to look at the access conditions right away to check whether you can make your request or not. If you look carefully, you'll see that some of the Carnot family archives I wanted to obtain are blocked because they're in such poor condition that the archivists don't want to risk damaging them further by scanning or even opening them.

However, for the document I want to get today (the last one on the list), there's nothing written in this section, which means that everything is fine and I can proceed.

So we click on "Demander une reproduction" (ask for a reproduction) :

In this space, you need to be as specific as possible about what you want. For example, if the class mark is linked to a file with... let's say 600 items (and this often happens), you specify that you only need the documents associated with the numbers 4, 96 and 546, so that the archivist doesn't have to scan 600 documents one by one for nothing and cry all day.

Then here, you specify why you want this document and what you're going to use it for (for me, this will be personal and private use because this specific research of mine isn't related to work or university, but you can see the “professional use” option also exists).

And this is where you need to listen to me very carefully, because in the price list for document reproductions, there's only one free option, and that's the jpeg or pdf scan. Trust me, I systematically ask for this option, and the scans are always of excellent quality. Currently I got +1000 Fouché-related documents without paying anything and without needing to move from my couch.

Of course, the prices aren't exponential, in fact they're quite reasonable (for example, if you want a paper photocopy sent by regular mail, it'll cost you between 15 and 30 eurocents. That's fine for a single sheet, but if, like me, you need files with more than 300 pages, it quickly becomes a problem).

And finally, you submit your request and you wait for 3 to 6 months.

They will most likely send you an email with a password-protected link they'll give you, to a site where you can send very large files (they often use WeTransfer), and you'll have a limited time to open it so be careful to use an email adress you check regularly when you create your account.

And you have your document. Good job <3

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NAPOLEON ON HIS WAY TO CORSICA WITH HIS SISTER ELISA

BY ERIC PAPE

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French breeches, France, Third Republic (1870-1940)

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Stamps of Chenier, Danton, David, Hoche, Carnot, and Robespierre

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Engraving of the death of General Louis Lazare Hoche (24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797).

Now, I’m not saying they were going for overt symbolism or anything, but have a look at Hoche’s face. Look familiar? Think he’ll be rising from the tomb in three days?