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At around 7:30 p.m., the three carts finally arrived at the Place de la Révolution, next to the guillotine. Couthon was the first to be put under the guillotine, followed by Robespierre's brother, Augustin. Amid the cheers of the crowd, one execution followed another. It is no longer possible to determine when Saint-Just's turn came. However, he was executed before Robespierre and Fleuriot-Lescot, who were the last to be led onto the fatal scaffold. This spared him, who refused to close his eyes until the very end, from seeing the executioner brutally tear off the temporary bandage holding Robespierre's shattered jaw before the execution, causing him to cry out horribly. The only mercy shown to all of them that day was that they were not kept waiting long: After half an hour, it was all over, and Saint-Just and his companions had passed into the unchanging world of all that had been.

The mortal remains of the executed were buried that same evening in a mass grave in the so-called "Cimetière des Errancis," a small (now built-over) enclosure in the eastern part of the parkland of the Domaine de Monceau. To prevent any form of later veneration of the remains, the bodies were sprinkled with quicklime. This was an effective measure, because when some Jacobin supporters excavated there several decades later, not a single remains were found. For only 200 livres (including a 7-livre tip for the gravediggers), the young republic thus disposed of forever and ever of the mortal remains of all these men who had sought to "found" it, but whose ideals had overwhelmed it. Yet perhaps Saint-Just would have gladly accepted this nameless mass grave on the edge of a parkland landscape. In the fragments on the "republican institutions" he says about the graves in the republic he anticipated in his mind:

«Les sépultures sont communes et sont Des paysages.»

—Monar “Saint-Just: Sohn, Denker und Protagonistder Revolution”. (1993, pág. 792)

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Joseph Fouché is a Saint Tropez party girl 💫💅

so this is a very silly edit I made inspired by the craziness of Carême!Fouché 😭 thank you to @aedislumen and @mathildeaquisexta for the Fouchéposting that made this possible

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I've always thought this ship was cool .

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L'Art et la mode, no. 3, vol. 33, 20 janvier 1912, Paris. Robe de Cour en satin blanc garnie d’un large entredeux d’argent brodé sur résille d’argent. Traîne de satin blanc broché d’argent. Broderies de Milton Abelson, Regent House, Regent Street, London W. Imp. L. Lafontaine, Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France

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triumvirate doodle from a watercolor doodle (under cut) bc i miss them and th*rmidor is coming up way too soon

as i was sketching i realized that i drew max in the napoleon pose which is 😭😭😭 omfg so embarrassing i've been reading too much andrew roberts he's taking over my ass

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≫◈≪Tahiti Tattoos by Gian Paolo Barbieri ≫◈≪

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Interesting episode, but can we pause to appreciate how good looking this angry sans culottes is?

“I am the queen.”  A depiction of assault on the Tuileries of June 20th, 1792; several people in the mob allegedly believed Madame Elisabeth to be Marie Antoinette and Elisabeth, to protect the queen, stepped forward and attempted to stop a man from revealing the truth.

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watching the nilaya revolution documentary going to make a lil thread of my thoughts here

impressions so far

the economic conditions/tax issues/inciting political events leading up to the estates general is sped thru pretty fast which i feel like ends up missing some important context but i get that it's a short doc

on the other hand, the actual focus and realistic depictions of the lives of the working poor is SO well done so far and refreshing considering how much other frev media ignores that to focus on the "great men" political intrigue

so many fucking things happen so fast in the revolution holy shit it's like you blink and *boom* paris commune established

camille! marat! maxime! danton ig...

i love their camille he's so excitable and passionate and i think they did a great job of incorporating a stammer in his speech that doesn't seem goofy HOWEVER why does he look more like saint just than historical depictions of camille i swear to god their mysterious beef had to have some element of awkwardness around the fact they look kinda alike except contemporaries called camille ugly and sj beautiful

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Georges Auguste Couthon: A neglected memory

After the death of Couthon, his portrait was burned in Orcet, and his name was struck from the records of the municipality. Associated with Robespierre and Saint-Just under the designation of « triumvirs » and accused like them of a counter-revolutionary intrigue, he was consequently partially rehabilitated at the same time as them, but never shared their notoriety. He has not, like them, passed directly from the common grave to the legend, black or gold. Less dazzling than them, less tragic, too, certainly more ordinary, he would undoubtedly have deserved it nevertheless. In love with the absolute but pragmatic, a tireless worker despite his illness, just in a time where injustice sometimes turned into madness, he had fought the same battle they and has been their friend « in life and death ». Without regretting that one has not placed by the side of the Incorruptible and of the Archangel, for example, the Irreducible or the Indomitable, nicknames which would have suited him, it is nevertheless fair to remember the place which he held.

Weiterlesen

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Fantastic clarification, I always wondered about this.

Did st-just actually say that "I'll make [camille desmoulins] carry his [head] like st-denis" thing

Thank you for your question, Anon. I assume you’re asking in relation to the supposed exchange between Saint-Just and Camille Desmoulins.

In short: Desmoulins, with his usual bite, is reported to have quipped that Saint-Just carried his head "like a Holy Sacrament." Saint-Just, in turn, is said to have replied: "I’ll make him carry his like Saint Denis" (Et moi, je lui ferai porter la sienne comme un Saint-Denis) (1).

But did it happen? Let's break it down.

Camille Desmoulins’ Jibe: "Il porte sa tête comme un Saint-Sacrement."

Yes. No debate there. Camille wrote it himself, in his Lettre au général Dillon (2). In that pamphlet, true to form, he takes the piss out of several figures in the Convention, including Saint-Just.

Here’s the bit:

"After Legendre (3), the member of the Convention who has the highest opinion of himself is Saint-Just. One sees in his gait and bearing that he regards his head as the cornerstone of the Republic, and that he carries it with reverence, like a Holy Sacrament." (4)

No ambiguity there. It’s in print. Camille’s tone is mocking, as usual. Saint-Just was not known for his sense of humour, so the odds of him enjoying this were low. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he replied. In fact, you’d expect it. But did he?

Saint-Just’s Alleged Reply: "Et moi, je lui ferai porter la sienne comme un Saint-Denis."

I’ll spare you the suspense: no, he probably didn’t.

Unlike Camille, Saint-Just never wrote this down. It’s nowhere in his Œuvres complètes, and the quote doesn’t appear in any Convention minutes or known correspondence.

So where did this supposed retort come from?

Early Attributions and Édouard Fleury

The earliest source I can find is Biographie moderne (1816) by Étienne Psaume. In a very unfriendly write-up on Saint-Just, Psaume claims:

"It is said that, beyond party hatred, Saint-Just also bore a personal grudge against Camille Desmoulins, who had written in Le Vieux Cordelier that Saint-Just carried his head like a Blessed Sacrament; to which the proud decemvir replied: 'I’ll make him carry his like Saint Denis.'" (5)

Note the classic dodge: “it is said.” Also, Psaume claims the line appeared in Le Vieux Cordelier, which it didn’t. It was in the Lettre à Dillon. So much for rigorous sourcing.

Still, the line got picked up. Most notably by Édouard Fleury, in his 1852 two-volume Saint-Just et la Terreur. Like Psaume, he provides no source. Which is on-brand for Fleury, who, in true 19th-century historian (and I use the term loosely) fashion, was allergic to citations.Nor was he particularly restrained when it came to building a dramatic narrative.

Seven years later, Ernest Hamel, in Histoire de Saint-Just, called nonsense on the whole thing and rightly pointed out that no primary sources back it. Even the sources Fleury does quote, such as Joachim Vilate’s (6) ridiculous Thermidor-era libel screeds , don’t mention the exchange. Didn’t matter. The quote was catchy, dramatic, and vaguely plausible, so it spread.

By the early 20th century, it had hardened into “fact.” Both the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica and Samuel Arthur Bent’s Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men repeat it without a second thought. In fact, Bent’s version goes further, by having Camille directly attribute his death to this jest: 

“Camille Desmoulins gained the implacable hatred of the stern and haughty St. Just by saying jocosely of him, “He carries his head like the Host” (comme un saint sacrement), to which St. Just retorted, “I will make him carry his like a St. Denis.” Desmoulins soon afterwards accompanied Danton to the guillotine, saying, “My pleasantry has killed me” (C’est ma plaisanterie qui m’a tué).”

Modern biographies are more careful. Bernard Vinot’s 1985 Saint-Just confirms Camille’s “Saint-Sacrement” remark and details how much Saint-Just came to despise him."Penetrated his soul," "never wanted to see him again," and so on, make that what you will. But no Saint-Denis line.

Albert Ollivier’s Saint-Just et la force des choses notes the jibe too, but again no trace of the comeback. Antoine Boulant’s L’Archange de la Révolution doesn’t mention it at all.

Would it have been a good line? Yes. A clean mic drop, particularly considering what happened to Camille later. And yes, 19th-century historians did love their dramatic one-liners, whether or not they ever happened.

Is it plausible he said it? (Speculative zone ahead)

There’s no document, no record, no contemporary witness. But sure, it’s plausible. I mean, Saint-Just was human. Maybe Saint-Just grumbled to Le Bas about Desmoulins over a drink.  He probably said a lot of random, petty things about a lot of people to his friends. We all do. 

Still, I don’t think it happened. And here’s why.

Because if it had, Camille would have written about it. Not Saint-Just, Camille. The man had a well-read journal and a persecution complex. A public death threat from a man in the Committee of Public Safety helping draft your indictment? Desmoulins would not have let that pass. He’d have used it. Repeatedly.

And yet, silence.

He never mentions it. Not in his trial. Not in Le Vieux Cordelier. Not even in passing. And there’s no way Camille Desmoulins would have kept his mouth shut about something like that.

Which tells you everything you need to know.

Notes

(1) Saint Denis is a 3rd-century Christian martyr and the patron saint of Paris, often depicted carrying his decapitated head after being executed.

(2) General Arthur Dillon was a monarchist general arrested for suspected counter-revolutionary ties in 1973. 

(3) Legendre was a butcher turned Montagnard deputy in the National Convention, known for his bluster.

(4) Original Quote in French: Après Legendre, le membre de la Convention qui a la plus grande idée de lui -même, c'est Saint  Just. On voit dans sa démarche et dans son maintien qu′il regarde sa tête comme la pierre angulaire de la République, et qu'il la porte sur ses épaules avec respect et comme un Saint−Sacrement."

(5) Original text in French: On prétend qu’outre la haine de parti, Saint-Just nourrissait encore un ressentiment particulier contre Camille Desmoulins,  qui avait dit, dans un des numéros du Vieux Cordelier,  que Saint-Just portait sa tête comme un saint sacrement ;  à quoi l’orgueilleux décemvir avait répondu : « Je lui ferai porter la sienne comme saint Denis. »

(6) Joachim Vilate was a former juror of the Revolutionary Tribunal and author of a number of scandalous Thermidorian pamphlets accusing leading Jacobins of corruption and tyranny. 

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Saintspierre ig ??

I rlly love that ship, truth be told- but at first thought of it as nothing more than fanon content .

I've defenetely changed my stance since then.

When SJ first wrote to Robespiere, he instantly compared him to God, and Max kept the letter, even though what Antoine was asking for in it was a bit silly and selfish. So he must've been intrigued by the person who wrote the letter. Then, they got to know eachother in real life. Isn't it funny ? Both of them had something that the other lacked. Saint Just, for example, was full of vigor- while Maxime is described to have been lacking it. But, he had more rationality than his counterpart, and prevented him from making his speeches too extreme.

Well, until 1793-1794. Robespierre was growing more and more paranoid (but still trusted Antoine, mind you) and hysterical. He lashed out at SJ too. The latter, ofcource, stood his ground in the arguments- but NEVER turned away from the man.

And it's apparent that Maximilien was using him, too. Be it because he was too sick to deliver a speech, or to not have the blood o his hand, he did. Antoine realized that, and voiced the fact that he was highly against it. They fall out with eachother horribly.

Then Thermidor happens.

Now, SJ would still be arrested, even if he'd try to distance himself from Robespierre, and technically didn't volunteer to get arrested alongside Maxime...Or did he ?

We all know that he did have a chance. He was still young, and all it would take was to submit his speech to the Committee, yet he didn't.Also, according to an overwhelming amount of accounts, he was deadly calm in the face of his arrest, and even before the guillotine.

He knew what was to come.

So, there is my main point- even through all their arguments in their last months, there was a subtle connection between them. An invisible string tying their fates together.Even the closest of friends don't have that.It sounds beautiful, but if you think deeper about it, it's terrifying-

Saint Just knew what will come, as I mentioned.

There was a better option for him.

And yet he chose the worst one, because Robespierre was to follow it.

Antoine did so willingly.

He simply gave in

He chose to go down.

Just if it meant to be with Maximilen.

Oh yeah, i might get some stuff wrong, so please do share any corrections/extra info u might have on the topic ! :3

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suspiciously looks like SJ🤭

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French Revolutionaries.

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I can't stop drawing them help