Cordeliers
Encyclopedia
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
club during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
History
The club had its origins in the Cordeliers district, a famously radical area of ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
called, by Camille Desmoulins
Camille Desmoulins
Lucie Simplice Camille Benoît Desmoulins was a journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. He was a childhood friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton, who were influential figures in the French Revolution.-Early...
, "the only sanctuary where liberty has not been violated." This district, under the leadership of Georges Danton
Georges Danton
Georges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the...
, had played a significant role in the Storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
, and was home to several notable figures of the Revolution, including Danton himself, Desmoulins, and Jean-Paul Marat - on whose behalf the district placed itself in a state of civil rebellion when, in January 1790, it refused to allow the execution of a warrant for his arrest that had been issued by the Châtelet
Grand Châtelet
The Grand Châtelet was a stronghold in Ancien Régime Paris, on the right bank of the Seine, on the site of what is now the Place du Châtelet; it contained a court and police headquarters and a number of prisons....
.
Having issued, in November 1789, a declaration affirming its intent to "oppose, as much as we are able, all that the representatives of the Commune
Paris Commune (French Revolution)
The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French...
may undertake that is harmful to the general rights of our constituents," the Cordeliers district remained in conflict with the Parisian government throughout the winter and spring of 1790. In May and June 1790, the previous division of Paris into sixty districts was, by decree of the National Assembly
National Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
, replaced by the creation of forty-eight sections
Revolutionary sections of Paris
The revolutionary sections of Paris were subdivisions of Paris during the French Revolution. They first arose in 1790 and were suppressed in 1795.-History:At the time of the Revolution, Paris measured 3440 hectares, compared to the 7800 hectares of today...
. This restructuring abolished the Cordeliers district.
Anticipating this dissolution, the leaders of the Cordeliers district founded, in April 1790, the Société des Amis des droits de l’homme et du citoyen, a popular society which would serve as an alternative means of pursuing the goals and interests of the district. This society held its meetings in the Cordeliers Convent
Cordeliers Convent
The Cordeliers Convent was a convent in Paris, France.It gave its name to the Club of the Cordeliers, which held its first meetings there during the French Revolution....
, and quickly became known as the Club des Cordeliers. It took as its motto the phrase, Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for "Liberty, equality, fraternity ", is the national motto of France, and is a typical example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it was then only one motto among others and was not institutionalized until the Third...
.
The membership fees of this society were fixed low, and thus affordable to a more diverse range of citizens than those of many other political clubs at the time, including the Jacobin Club
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
. There were no other restrictions on membership. The Cordeliers presented themselves as exceptionally populist; they prided themselves on counting working men and women among their members. A contemporary account describes one meeting:
"About three hundred persons of both sexes filled the place; their dress was so unkempt and so filthy that one would have taken them for a gathering of beggars. The Declaration of the Rights of ManDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the CitizenThe Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a fundamental document of the French Revolution, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid...
was stuck on the wall, crowned by crossed daggers. Plaster busts of BrutusBrutusBrutus is the cognomen of the Roman gens Junia, a prominent family of the Roman Republic. The plural of Brutus is Bruti, and the vocative form is Brute, as immortalized in the quotation "Et tu, Brute?", from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar....
and William TellWilliam TellWilliam Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th century Swiss chronicle....
were placed on each side, as if expressly to guard the Declaration. Facing, behind the tribune, as supporters, there appeared busts of Mirabeau and Helvétius, with Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the middle."
However, the preponderance of Cordeliers were members of the bourgeoisie, and its leadership was largely drawn from the educated middle classes.
On June 21, 1791, following an attempt by the royal family to flee Paris
Flight to Varennes
The Flight to Varennes was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution...
, the Cordeliers moved to draft a petition which offered the National Assembly a choice between the immediate deposition of Louis XVI or a national referendum on the future of the monarchy. Large demonstrations in support of this and similar petitions led to civil unrest, and culminated in the Champs de Mars Massacre on July 17th. Subsequent action taken against the Cordeliers included the closing of the Cordeliers Convent to them and the issuing of arrest warrants for Danton and Desmoulins. Despite these measures, the society remained a highly influential force in Parisian politics.
The Cordeliers participated significantly in the planning and execution of the August 10, 1792 insurrection. Danton, at this time perhaps the most powerful figure within the Cordeliers Club, acted, in Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
's words, as "the organizer and chief of the insurrection," and was appointed Minister of Justice in the government that resulted, with Desmoulins and Fabre d'Églantine
Fabre d'Églantine
Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine , commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine , was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution.-Early life:He was born in Carcassonne, Aude...
- both prominent members of the Cordeliers Club - as his secretaries.
Subsequent to this insurrection, and to the September Massacres
September Massacres
The September Massacres were a wave of mob violence which overtook Paris in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. By the time it had subsided, half the prison population of Paris had been executed: some 1,200 trapped prisoners, including many women and young boys...
that followed closely on its heels, the Cordeliers Club became increasingly the province of ultra-revolutionary factions, particularly the Hébertists
Hébertists
The Hébertists were an ultra-revolutionary political faction associated with the populist journalist Jacques Hébert. They came to power during the Reign of Terror and played a significant role in the French Revolution....
, who advocated extreme measures to intensify the Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
.
In December 1793, Desmoulins began publishing a journal entitled the Vieux Cordelier
Le Vieux Cordelier
Le Vieux Cordelier was a journal published in France between 5 December 1793 and 3 February 1794. Its radical criticism of ultra-revolutionary fervor and repression in France during the Reign of Terror contributed significantly to the downfall and execution of the Dantonists, among whom its author,...
or "Old Cordelier," which attempted to reclaim the title of the society from those who had associated it with extremism. In the seven numbers of the journal, Desmoulins attacked the Hébertists and called for an end to the Terror, comparing revolutionary Paris to Rome under the tyrants. The Hébertists, were arrested, and, on March 24, 1794, executed; however, Desmoulins, Danton, and the "Old Cordeliers" of the "indulgent" Dantonist faction quickly followed them to the guillotine, effectively ending the era of the Cordeliers Club.
Notable members
- Jean-Baptiste CarrierJean-Baptiste CarrierJean-Baptiste Carrier was a French Revolutionary, known for his cruelty to his enemies, especially to clergy.-Biography:...
- Pierre Gaspard ChaumettePierre Gaspard ChaumettePierre Gaspard Chaumette was a French politician of the Revolutionaryperiod.-Early activities:Born in Nevers France, 24 May 1763, his main interest was botany and science. Chaumette studied medicine at the University of Paris in 1790, but gave up his career in medicine at the start of the Revolution...
- Marie-Joseph Chénier
- Georges Jacques Danton
- Camille DesmoulinsCamille DesmoulinsLucie Simplice Camille Benoît Desmoulins was a journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. He was a childhood friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton, who were influential figures in the French Revolution.-Early...
- Fabre d'ÉglantineFabre d'ÉglantinePhilippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine , commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine , was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution.-Early life:He was born in Carcassonne, Aude...
- Jacques René Hébert
- Jean-Paul MaratJean-Paul MaratJean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
- Antoine-François MomoroAntoine-François MomoroAntoine-François Momoro was a French printer, bookseller and politician during the French Revolution. An important figure in the Cordeliers club and in Hébertisme, he is the originator of the phrase Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, the motto of the French Republic.-Life:-"First Printer of...
- Pierre-François-Joseph RobertPierre-François-Joseph RobertPierre-François-Joseph Robert was a French lawyer, politician and professor of public law at the société philosophique, journalist.-Life:...
- Charles-Philippe RonsinCharles-Philippe RonsinCharles-Philippe Ronsin was a French general of the Revolutionary Army of the First French Republic, commanding the large Parisian division of l'Armée Révolutionnaire...
- François-Nicolas VincentFrançois-Nicolas VincentFrançois-Nicolas Vincent was the Secretary General of the War Ministry in the First French Republic, and a significant figure in the French Revolution...