The Knight of Maison-Rouge_ A Novel of Marie Antoinette - Alexandre Dumas [200]
CORDELIERS: Radical Revolutionary club—officially “The Society of Friends of the Rights of Man and the Citizen”—that met in a former monastery. Founded by DANTON in 1791, its most famous members included MARAT and HÉBERT.
DANTON, GEORGES-JACQUES (1759–94): Powerful orator and republican politician, Danton became Minister of Justice for the Republic in 1792, and helped form the Revolutionary Tribunal and the COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY. His rhetoric inspired both the SEPTEMBER MASSACRES and the AUGUST 10 storming of the Tuileries. DANTON split with the increasingly powerful ROBESPIERRE over the policies of the TERROR, and was arrested and convicted on charges of corruption, which later proved to be true. He was guillotined with a number of his followers in April 1794.
DAUPHIN: The formal title given to the eldest son and heir of the King of France. The Dauphin in this novel—Louis-Charles de Bourbon (1785–95), known as “Charles Capet” to the Revolutionaries—is traditionally known as Louis XVII. The boy died while still imprisoned in the Temple.
DUMOURIEZ, CHARLES (1739–1823): born Charles-François du Périer du Mouriez, became a successful Revolutionary general after having served as a diplomat under Louis XV and as the last Minister of War under Louis XVI (1791–92). Dumouriez won such significant victories as Valmy over the Prussians and Jemappes against the Austrians, and successfully conquered and occupied modern Belgium for the Republic. When Dumouriez was relieved of command and summoned back to Paris after losing the battle of Neerwinden in March 1793, he understood the order to be a death sentence and defected to the Austrians. Dumouriez’s treason precipitated the MONTAGNARD reaction and the arrest and execution of many GIRONDIN leaders.
FABRE, PHILIPPE (1750–94): known as Fabre d’Eglantine, he was DANTON’S secretary and ally.
FOUQUIER-TINVILLE, ANTOINE (1746–95): the relentless chief prosecutor of aristocrats during the TERROR. He was executed after the fall of ROBESPIERRE and the CONVENTION.
GIRONDINS: Moderate republicans, enemies of the more radical JACOBINS and MONTAGNARDS, led by ROLAND and BRISSOT. The Girondins steadily lost power to the Montagnards; many eventually were condemned to death by the COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
HANRIOT, FRANÇOIS (1759–94): General of the Parisian National Guard, successor to SANTERRE, Hanriot took part in the SEPTEMBER MASSACRES. A close ally of ROBESPIERRE, Hanriot attempted to defend him during the coup of 9 Thermidor, but ultimately was arrested and executed.
HÉBERT, JACQUES-RENÉ (1757–94): Journalist and politician, his newspaper, Le Père Duchesne—named for a popular figure in French theater—was the organ for the most radical elements in Revolutionary politics. Hébert was arrested after accusing ROBESPIERRE of excessive moderation, and sentenced to death.
JACOBINS: Taking their name from the former monastery that was their headquarters, the Jacobins were, with the CORDELIERS, the most radical of the political clubs that proliferated in Revolutionary Paris. The most famous Jacobins were ROBESPIERRE and SAINT-JUST. The word jacobin, in French and English, became a political epithet for radicals throughout the early nineteenth century.
LAMBALLE, PRINCESSE DE: Marie Thérèse de Savoie-Carignan (1749–92), by birth a member of the Royal House of Savoy and by marriage a Princess of the Blood Royal of France, the Princesse de Lamballe was one of Marie Antoinette’s closest friends. Having fled to Italy at the outbreak of the Revolution, she returned to Paris out of loyalty and friendship to her Queen. Brutally murdered in the La Force prison during the SEPTEMBER MASSACRES, her head was stuck on a pike and carried to the Temple prison to be shown to Marie Antoinette through the windows.
LANJUINAIS, JEAN-DENIS (1755–1827): a founding member of the JACOBIN Club, with whom he split as they became more radical. His moderate positions earned him a death sentence, but he went into