The Knight of Maison-Rouge_ A Novel of Marie Antoinette - Alexandre Dumas [199]
3. Eloi: Saint Eloi, Bishop of Noyon (died 660), served as treasurer and adviser to Dagobert.
4. sous: a coin worth twenty centimes; five sous equaled one franc.
55. WHY LORIN LEFT
1. Monsieur Guillotine: Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), physician and deputy to the Estates-General, promoted the use of the machine that bears his name—but which, contrary to popular belief, he did not invent—as a humanitarian measure. Prior to 1789, decapitation was reserved for aristocrats, commoners were hanged.
GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL PERSONS AND TERMS
AUGUST 10, 1792: The ultimate collapse of the Bourbon monarchy, when the mobs stormed the Tuileries Palace, forcing the Royal family to seek asylum from the Legislative Assembly and the subsequent abdication of Louis XVI.
BAILLY, JEAN SYLVAIN (1736–93): Mayor of Paris from 1789 to 1791, Bailly supported a constitutional monarchy. He was forced to resign after ordering the NATIONAL GUARD to fire on a group of sans culottes. He was arrested and guillotined in 1793.
BARBAROUX, CHARLES-JEAN-MARIE (1767–94): leading GIRONDIN guillotined in ROBESPIERRE’S purge.
BARNAVE, ANTOINE (1761–93): a gifted young orator who quickly became one of the leaders of the National Assembly in 1789. An advocate of constitutional monarchy, Barnave was one of the first victims of the TERROR.
BRISSOT (DE WARVILLE), JACQUES-PIERRE (1753–94): journalist and politician, became one of the leaders of the moderate GIRONDIN party in the CONVENTION. His followers were known as Brissotins.
CAPET: From Hugues Capet, the traditional founder of the French Royal family, the imprisoned Bourbons were called Capet by the anti-Royalist press and then by the governments of the Revolution.
CARMAGNOLE: the short, close-fitting jacket favored by revolutionaries.
CHAUVEAU-LAGARDE, CLAUDE (1756–1841): lawyer who defended Marie Antoinette and MADAME ELISABETH before the Revolutionary Tribunal. His other clients included BRISSOT and Charlotte Corday.
CHÉNIER, MARIE-JOSEPH (1764–1811): a poet and playwright as well as a politician, Chénier survived the TERROR and continued to wield influence under the Directory.
CI-DEVANT: this adjective, literally meaning “former,” became charged with political significance during the Revolution when it came to be used—often as a noun—to refer to members of the legally abolished nobility.
CLAVIÈRES, ETIENNE (1735–93): Genevan banker inspired to democratic idealism by the writings of Rousseau; served briefly as Minister of Finance.
COLLOT D’HERBOIS, JEAN-MARIE (1750–96): member of the COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY, one of the chief architects of the TERROR. He turned on ROBESPIERRE in 1794 and was exiled in 1795.
COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY: a committee of twelve members of the CONVENTION formed in April 1793 to deal with foreign and domestic threats to the new Republic; the Committee soon became the real political power in France. Its influential members included DANTON, SAINT-JUST, and the increasingly powerful ROBESPIERRE. It was the Committee, and especially Robespierre, who enacted and executed most of the brutal measures associated with the TERROR.
CONCIERGERIE: massive medieval edifice on the île de la Cité, a royal palace until the fourteenth century, when the kings moved to the Louvre and the Conciergerie became a prison; as a Revolutionary prison, the Conciergerie loomed large as the last stop for those condemned to the guillotine.
CONVENTION: or Convention nationale, the unicameral legislature that governed France after the official abdication of Louis XVI and the declaration of a Republic in September 1792. At first dominated by the (relatively) moderate republican GIRONDINS, the more radical MONTAGNARDS became increasingly powerful, ultimately taking power in a bloody coup that sent most of the Girondin leaders to the guillotine. The Convention government is now chiefly associated with the TERROR. The armies of the Convention were successful