#louise sebastienne gély

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Having just plowed through a bunch of old Danton biographies to learn more about Louise-Sebastienne, I’d thought I’d host a little vote regarding which of these sentences make you the most uncomfortable so that you can share my pain. I myself give my vote to number 2. Fell free to give yours in the comments.

1. “Danton quickly fell in love with her; he was flammable; he wanted her; she subjugated him.” Danton (1914) by Louis Madelin, page 243

2. ”He (Danton) passionately desired this child.” Ibid, page 244

3. “Danton too took pleasure in watching the graceful child blossom. Now that he wanted to leave the double-bed empty no longer a thousand voices in him called out: ”This is she.” Danton (1935) by Hermann Wendel, page 273

4. ”And Louise was his! Sixteen! A child! Like a downy feather, like a nosegay of violets! Had Danton taken this wife as one takes a drug?” Ibid, page 274

5. ”Danton was, in a sense, fulfilling Gabrielle’s plans by falling in love with the 15-year-old girl.” Danton (1987) by Frank Dwyer, page 90

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Any info on Louise Sébastienne? I’d like to know more about her :3

You mean Danton’s second wife? In that case, good question, but unfortunately not one I think has very exciting answers… Louise left no written material behind, nor could I find any letters adressed to her. All that we really have are documents briefly mentioning her.

Louise was born in Paris on March 3 1776. Her parents were Marc-Antoine Gély (1751-18) and Marie-Jeanne Léger Revel (1759-1825). According to Claude-François-Étienne Dupin (1767-1828) De la Révolution à la restauration, au service des administrés (2015) by Gildas Dacre-Wright, Louise was the youngest of three daughters. At the time of her marriage with Danton, she lived with her parents on the second floor of 24 of Cour de Commerce, a floor above her future husband.

When going through Danton biographies in order to find any info on Louise, three claims regarding the nature of their union continuously showed up. The first was that Louise knew the Dantons before marrying Georges, some saying her father Marc-Antoine had gotten into contact with Danton’s father by frequenting the latter’s café (Danton (1914) by Louis Madelin, Danton (1935) by Hermann Wendel), others that she was Gabrielle’s friend (Danton (1978) by Normann Hampson, Danton (1987) by Frank Dwyer). The second claim was that it was Gabrielle who begged the two to marry as a last wish (Life of Danton (1906) by Augustus Henry Beesly, Danton (1978) by Normann Hampson,  Danton (1987) by Frank Dwyer and the third that Louise, being a religious person, was the one who asked for the ceremony to be officiated by a refractory priest (Danton (1914) by Louis Madelin, Danton (1978) by Normann Hampson, Life of Danton (1906) by Augustus Henry Beesly, Danton (1935) by Hermann Wendel). However, none of these could cite a primary source (or any source for that matter) for these claims, Augustus Henry Beesly going so far as to say ”There is a story that his first wife had recommended the marriage” and Norman Hampson that ”Gabrielle is said to have urged Louise Gély, a friend of the family and barely fifteen, to take care of her two boys. Louise is believed to have insisted, not merely on a religious marriage but on one celebrated by a priest who had refused to accept the revolutionary religious settlement.” So perhaps these are just apocryphal claims that hold themselves alive because no one bothers to check their origin properly.

Regardless, the marriage contract was passed on June 14 1793, in the presence of family members of the bride and groom. According to it, Louise received a dowry of 10 000 livres from her parents, along with 30 000 livres from Danton’s aunt Lenoir, to have if she was to survive her husband.

According to Danton, Mémoire sur sa vie privée (1865) Louise and Danton had a child together that died young, although I’ve not seen that claim repeated anywhere else… EDIT: it could be from Histoire de la Révolution française (1850) by Nicolas Villiaumé, who in his turn claimed to have gotten the story from Louise herself:

[After the arrest of Danton and Desmoulins] Lucile ran to Madame Danton to suggest that she come with her to go find Robespierre, ask him for an explanation, and recall the feelings of friendship which had attached him to their husbands. Madame Danton refused, saying that she wanted nothing from a man who had showed himself to be the enemy of her husband. (I obtained this particularity from Madame Danton herself, who was then pregnant. She gave birth fifteen days after Danton's death, but her child did not live.)

On July 10 1794 a register was signed, handing custody of Danton’s two surviving children over to their maternal grandfather. Louise did not sign this paper, but her father did (perhaps only men could do it?). It’s hard to tell if Louise had taken care of her step-sons up until that point (that’s the conclusion drawn in Life in Revolutionary France (2020) by Mette Harder) or if they were taken in by their grandparents immediately and this was just a formal thing. It would nevertheless appear like Louise kept up contacts with Danton’s family. The paper L’Éclair wrote in 1895 that ”a correspondence (which I’ve not found any trace of) attests that Danton’s second wife and her father were still in contact with Danton’s sons and sister-in-law during the second empire.” Louise’s second husband, Dupin, had known the family before they married, and the godfather of the couple’s first surviving child may have been Danton’s brother-in-law François Victor Charpentier. Similarily, in 1812, Charpentier’s wife Constance painted a portrait of Louise (”Baronne Dupin”). Danton’s sons, however, couldn’t even get Louise’s name right in a memoir written 1846:

In the course of this same year, 1793, we cannot indicate the precise time, he (Danton) married, as his second wife, mademoiselle Sophie (sic) Gély, who was still alive two years ago (we do not know if she has died since).

On July 13 1795, Louise was present for the removal of seals for Danton’s old house, playing the role of Danton’s attorney general. According to the protocol she had at this point moved to Arcis-sur-Aube, where Danton’s mother also lived.

Louise got remarried to Claude-François-Étienne Dupin, by then chief secretary of the department of Seine, in 1796. They had a religious wedding ceremony on May 9 and a civil one the day right after. According to Claude-François-Étienne Dupin… (2015) the ceremony was presided over by abbé de Keravenant, who had also been in charge of the one between Louise and Danton. Louise’s father, along with four others, were the only witnessses. Louis Madelin claimed in his Danton (1914) to have received letters from people who knew Louise as an old woman, telling him that she disliked talking about Danton after remarrying. 

The couple first settled down in Danton’s old apartment, but they would move around a lot in the years to come, starting two years later when they went to live at Rue du Théâtre français instead. Dupin, being appointed baron of the Empire in 1809, sometimes went on long missions, while Louise mostly stayed at home and gave birth to their children. In 1808 the family moved to Niort after Dupin was appointed there, whose Maternal Charity Society (whose goal it was ”to help poor women in childbirth, to provide for their needs and help with the breastfeeding of their children”) Louise became a member of in 1812. They moved back to Paris one year after that. Dupin died 1828 and Louise 28 years later, aged 80. Both were buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery.

Dupin and Louise had five children together, of which the two youngest lived to see adulthood, a girl, Camille Antoinette (born 1801) and a boy, Antoine Louis Gabriel (1804-1856). The latter married in 1832 and had a child fifteen years later, but after that his lineage seems to end. Camille on the other hand had a girl, Marie Bellot de Kergorre (1837-1884), who in her turn gave birth to the French author René de Laigue (1862-1942, who actually has his own wikipedia page). René had two daughters that died in 2002 and 2008 respectively. I can’t find any info on whether they had children or not, but if they did, it’s possible Louise still has descendants that are alive and kicking, and if not, she at least had not that long ago.

Since, as mentioned, Louise left no writings behind, I couldn’t find anything regarding the idea that she was a royalist, which is what’s claimed on wikipedia among other places.