The Knight of Maison-Rouge_ A Novel of Marie Antoinette - Alexandre Dumas [195]
8. Longwy and Verdun: these losses were military and political reverses for the previously successful Revolutionary armies.
9. departments: these administrative districts were created by the Revolutionary government to replace the traditional provincial divisions.
10. Marat: Jean-Paul Marat (1743–93); the brutal invectives of L’Ami du peuple, Marat’s newspaper, were too much even for the Revolutionary era, and he was arrested, but soon acquitted due to his enormous popularity. See also Glossary, p. 420.
11. Hanriot: François Hanriot (1759–94), a merchant who became a general in the National Guard, and took part in the September massacres. See also Glossary, p. 419.
13. THE THIRTY-FIRST OF MAY
1. tricolor scarf: the Revolution adopted the tricolor in opposition to the white flag of the Bourbons.
2. Curtius … Cassius: Curtius—Marcus Curtius, a young Roman patrician who threw himself into the crevice created by an earthquake in order to appease the gods; Fabricius—Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, the general and Consul of the Roman Republic, known for his simplicity and probity in power; Brutus—Lucius Junius Brutus, the Roman hero who drove the last Tarquin king out of Rome and established the Republic, his order to execute his sons when they were discovered taking part in a royalist plot was held up as an example of patriotism; Cassius—Gaius Cassius Parmensis, the Roman general who plotted Julius Caesar’s assassination when the latter became overly ambitious.
3. Brissotin: prominent Girondin leader Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville (1754–93). Followers of Brissot were referred to as “Brissotins.”
4. Rolandists: Followers of the Girondin leader Jean-Marie Roland de La Platière (1734–93). See also Glossary, p. 422.
15. THE GODDESS OF REASON
1. The Goddess of Reason: The Revolution briefly adopted the image of a Goddess of Reason as part of a campaign of de-Christianization.
2. abbé Maury’s cruets: Jean-Siffrein Maury (1746–1817), a priest who established a reputation for his eloquent sermons before taking his oratorial skills to the National Assembly, defending the monarchy and religion in vigorous debates with Mirabeau. His differences with a fellow priest, the radical populist abbé Fauchet, led them to fight a duel with pistols. The “cruets” refer ironically to the small vessels used to hold the wine and water during the Catholic Mass.
3. the Supreme Being: Robespierre instituted the cult of the Supreme Being as part of his campaign to restore moral order—without the superstition and institutional tyranny of the Catholic Church—to the new Republic.
4. Artemisia: Actresses and dancers—Lorin met his love at the Opera Ball—frequently took extravagant stage names; Théroigne de Méricourt was born Anne-Josephe Terwagne. Artemisia’s namesake was a queen in ancient Halicarnassus, wife of Mausolus, for whom she built a famous tomb, the Mausoleum.
5. Mausolus: a provincial ruler (satrap) of the ancient Persian empire.
6. Saint-Just: a gifted orator and radical revolutionary who became Robespierre’s closest ally. He was guillotined with Robespierre in July 1794.
16. THE PRODIGAL SON
1. Théroigne de Méricourt: (1762–1817) known as the Amazon of Liberty, this opera singer and courtesan placed herself at the head of the mob that marched to Versailles on October 5, brandishing a sword and riding a black horse. She later became an ardent advocate of women’s rights. A supporter of the Girondins, she was violently attacked by a group of market-women who supported the Montagnards. Apparently suffering permanent brain damage in the assault, she was committed to an insane asylum for the rest of her life.
2. Madame Roland: the wife of the Girondin leader, she hosted an important salon and was an influential