Nicholas Bonneville
Encyclopedia
Nicolas de Bonneville, born 13 March 1760 at Evreux
in Upper Normandy, died on 9 November 1828 in Paris; he was a French bookseller, printer, journalist, and writer. He was also a political figure of some consequence at the time of the French revolution
and into the early years of the next century.
studies after he created a scandal by refusing to support his contention that Jean-Jacques Rousseau
was an atheist. Before taking up philosophy, he began, like his compatriot, Pierre-Louis Siret, as a student of languages with an interest in philology
. He was also a follower, though without sharing all of his ideas, of Jacques Le Brigant. As a young man, he produced German and English translations of the works of Jean le Rond d'Alembert
, which financially supported him until his death. In particular, he was known for reproducing the essay on the origins of freemasonry
by Thomas Paine
, who became his close friend.
illuminist and freemason, Johann Joachim Christoph Bode
, is said to have converted the German-speaking Bonneville to a faith that combined esoteric symbolism
with radical ideas of popular sovereignty
bordering on direct democracy
.
, he began a passionate career in politics by publishing a newspaper, The Tribune of the People. Its proposals included the creation of a militia
.
During the Revolution
, he was among the first to propose the storming of the Bastille
. Once the prison had fallen, the first mayor of Paris, Jean Sylvain Bailly, praised his "zealous and courageous" though "imprudent" initiatives, and he commissioned him as a lieutenant colonel
in the militia, with the task of overseeing the water supply of the City of Paris. Soon afterward, he became president of the District of the Carmes Déchaussés, much to the fury of Jean-Paul Marat
who had held that position.
, the Society of the Friends of Truth
(also known as the Amis de la Verité or the Social Club), whose purpose was to rally the human race to "the doctrine of love, which is the religion of happiness." The club became a forum for revolutionary and egalitarian ideas, attracting Sylvain Marechal
and Gracchus Babeuf into his circle. It was at the time unique for its focus on social, sexual and racial equality.
The reports of the Social Club were published in the newspaper, Mouth of Iron. He also published newspapers called 'The Tribune of the People', 'The Chronicle of the Month', and 'The Well Informed'. In addition to Fauchet, de Bonneville's collaborators included Louis-Sebastien Mercier
, Nicolas de Condorcet, Nicolas-Edme Rétif
, and Thomas Paine
.
, the abolition of Catholic worship, and the communal ownership
of land.
In 1791, he founded the "Republican Society", whose members included Nicolas de Condorcet and Manon Roland
. He was also friend and disciple to the occultist, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.
In his book "The Spirit of Religions", published in 1791, he sought to resolve the issue of social happiness by describing a universal religion which would have philosophers and scholars for priests. Following a disagreement with the Abbe Fauchet, he found himself alone at the Mouth of Iron. Nonetheless, the newspaper became one of the most sophisticated instruments of the Cordeliers Club, and it remained so until the cessation of its publication in the aftermath of the massacre on the Champ de Mars
, 17 July 1791.
Bonneville's attempts to be elected to the National Assembly
and the Convention failed. Hostile to the wantonly bloody violence of the Revolution, his denunciation of the massacres of September 1792 in "The Chronicle of the Month", earned him the wrath of Marat, who denounced him as an aristocrat. Soon afterward, he was arrested, but he was not executed; instead, he was released after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre
.
in 1800, Tom Paine, who had lived with him and his wife since 1797, helped with the burden of translating the "Covenant Sea". The advent of Napoleon plunged him into trouble again when he hid the royalist
, Antoine Joseph Barruel-Beauvert
, at his home, and employed him as a proofreader. Beauvert had been proscribed following the coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797). Bonneville's generous act, earning him a portrayal by Charles Nodier
as "a frequent host of all the unfortunate of all parties", aroused the suspicions of authorities.
He was later jailed for comparing Napoleon Bonaparte to Oliver Cromwell
, in The Well Informed of 19 Brumaire Year VIII (November 1800), and, although he was freed quickly enough, he found his presses had been confiscated. Ruined, he took refuge with his father in Evreux, and he remained under police surveillance.
In 1802, Tom Paine left for the United States with Bonneville's wife, Marguerite Brazier (1767–1846), who was a disciple of Bonneville's associate, the radical feminist, Etta Palm d'Aelders
, and Brazier's three sons, Benjamin
, Louis, and Thomas, of whom Paine was godfather. Brazier took care of Paine at the end of his life and buried him on 8 June 1809.
The fall of Napoleon in 1814 finally allowed Bonneville to rejoin his wife in the United States, where he remained for four years before returning to Paris. There, he earned a living by opening a bookshop in the Latin Quarter. During the latter years of his life, he fell into misery and madness, naturally taking a more pessimistic view on the possibilities for the happiness of mankind. His funeral expenses were paid for by Charles Nodier
, Victor Hugo
, and Alfred de Vigny
.
His son, Benjamin Bonneville
, undertook a career in the U.S. Army in which he retired as a Brigadier General
; his life was immortalized by Washington Irving
's "Adventures of Captain Bonneville".
Bonneville played a crucial role in the advent of Romanticism
. His own writings and inspirations make him an essential precursor of this literary movement. His translations from German of Goethe, Lessing
, and Schiller also laid the groundwork for later French poets would wished to become familiar with the German stage.
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
in Upper Normandy, died on 9 November 1828 in Paris; he was a French bookseller, printer, journalist, and writer. He was also a political figure of some consequence at the time of 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...
and into the early years of the next century.
Youth
A son of the prosecutor, Jean-Pierre Bonneville, Nicolas de Bonneville was expelled from university during the first year of his philosophyPhilosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
studies after he created a scandal by refusing to support his contention that Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
was an atheist. Before taking up philosophy, he began, like his compatriot, Pierre-Louis Siret, as a student of languages with an interest in philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
. He was also a follower, though without sharing all of his ideas, of Jacques Le Brigant. As a young man, he produced German and English translations of the works of Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. He was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie...
, which financially supported him until his death. In particular, he was known for reproducing the essay on the origins of freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
by Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
, who became his close friend.
Freemasonry
Initiated into freemasonry in 1786 during a stay in England, he wrote two books on the subject, the "Jesuits Expelled from Masonry", and "Dagger Shattered by the Masons", both in 1788, in which he accuses the Jesuits of having introduced into the symbolic degrees of freemasonry, the myths of the Templars and their doctrine of revenge, based on the "crime" of their destruction, and the four vows of the Templars included in their higher degrees. Earlier, in 1787, the leading BavarianBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
illuminist and freemason, Johann Joachim Christoph Bode
Johann Joachim Christoph Bode
Johann Joachim Christoph Bode was a well-known German translator of literary works.-Life:Bode was born in Braunschweig, the son of a poor day laborer from Schöppenstedt, and went as a shepherd boy to his grandfather in Barum. From 1745 he studied music in Braunschweig, and in 1750 became an oboist...
, is said to have converted the German-speaking Bonneville to a faith that combined esoteric symbolism
Symbolism
Symbolism is the applied use of symbols. It is a representation that carries a particular meaning. It is a device in literature where an object represents an idea.A symbol is an object, action, or idea that represents something other than itself....
with radical ideas of popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the political principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated with Republicanism and the social contract...
bordering on direct democracy
Direct democracy
Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
.
Politics
On the eve of the Convention of the Estates GeneralEstates-General of 1789
The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
, he began a passionate career in politics by publishing a newspaper, The Tribune of the People. Its proposals included the creation of a militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
.
During the 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...
, he was among the first to propose 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...
. Once the prison had fallen, the first mayor of Paris, Jean Sylvain Bailly, praised his "zealous and courageous" though "imprudent" initiatives, and he commissioned him as a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
in the militia, with the task of overseeing the water supply of the City of Paris. Soon afterward, he became president of the District of the Carmes Déchaussés, much to the fury of Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-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...
who had held that position.
Society of the Friends of Truth
On 13 October 1790, he founded, with Claude FauchetClaude Fauchet (revolutionist)
Claude Fauchet was a French revolutionary bishop.He was born at Dornes, Nièvre. He was a curate of the church of St Roch, Paris, when he was engaged as tutor to the children of the marquis of Choiseul, brother of Louis XVs minister, an appointment which proved to be the first step to fortune...
, the Society of the Friends of Truth
Society of the Friends of Truth
The Society of the Friends of Truth , also known as the Social Club, was a French revolutionary organization founded in 1790. It was "a mixture of revolutionary political club, the Masonic Lodge, and a literary salon"...
(also known as the Amis de la Verité or the Social Club), whose purpose was to rally the human race to "the doctrine of love, which is the religion of happiness." The club became a forum for revolutionary and egalitarian ideas, attracting Sylvain Marechal
Sylvain Maréchal
Sylvain Maréchal was a French essayist, poet, philosopher, and, as a political theorist, precursor of utopian socialism and communism...
and Gracchus Babeuf into his circle. It was at the time unique for its focus on social, sexual and racial equality.
The reports of the Social Club were published in the newspaper, Mouth of Iron. He also published newspapers called 'The Tribune of the People', 'The Chronicle of the Month', and 'The Well Informed'. In addition to Fauchet, de Bonneville's collaborators included Louis-Sebastien Mercier
Louis-Sébastien Mercier
Louis-Sébastien Mercier was a French dramatist and writer.-Early life and education:He was born in Paris to a humble family: his father was a skilled artisan who polished swords and metal arms. Mercier nevertheless received a decent education.-Literary career:Mercier began his literary career by...
, Nicolas de Condorcet, Nicolas-Edme Rétif
Nicolas-Edme Rétif
Nicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif , also known as Rétif de la Bretonne, was a French novelist. The term retifisme for shoe fetishism was named after him.-Biography:...
, and Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
.
Political and philosophical beliefs
In a famous letter, Nicolas de Bonneville demanded freedom of the pressFreedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, the abolition of Catholic worship, and the communal ownership
Community ownership
Community owned assets or organisations are those that are owned and controlled through some representative mechanism that allows a community to influence their operation or use and to enjoy the benefits arising....
of land.
In 1791, he founded the "Republican Society", whose members included Nicolas de Condorcet and Manon Roland
Madame Roland
Marie-Jeanne Roland, better known simply as Madame Roland and born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon , was, together with her husband Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, a supporter of the French Revolution and influential member of the Girondist faction...
. He was also friend and disciple to the occultist, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.
In his book "The Spirit of Religions", published in 1791, he sought to resolve the issue of social happiness by describing a universal religion which would have philosophers and scholars for priests. Following a disagreement with the Abbe Fauchet, he found himself alone at the Mouth of Iron. Nonetheless, the newspaper became one of the most sophisticated instruments of the Cordeliers Club, and it remained so until the cessation of its publication in the aftermath of the massacre on the Champ de Mars
Champ de Mars Massacre
During the French Revolution, on 17 July 1791, the Champ de Mars in Paris was the site of a massacre, the . On that day, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree that the king, Louis XVI, would remain king under a constitutional monarchy...
, 17 July 1791.
Bonneville's attempts to be elected to the National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
and the Convention failed. Hostile to the wantonly bloody violence of the Revolution, his denunciation of the massacres of September 1792 in "The Chronicle of the Month", earned him the wrath of Marat, who denounced him as an aristocrat. Soon afterward, he was arrested, but he was not executed; instead, he was released after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
.
Retrenchment
Retiring for some time to EvreuxÉvreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
in 1800, Tom Paine, who had lived with him and his wife since 1797, helped with the burden of translating the "Covenant Sea". The advent of Napoleon plunged him into trouble again when he hid the royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
, Antoine Joseph Barruel-Beauvert
Antoine Joseph Barruel-Beauvert
Antoine Joseph Barruel-Beauvert was a French military officer and journalist. He was born Comte de Barruel-Beauvert, at the castle of Beauvert, in Languedoc, but was impoverished by the Revolution. He took part in some events of the French Revolution...
, at his home, and employed him as a proofreader. Beauvert had been proscribed following the coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797). Bonneville's generous act, earning him a portrayal by Charles Nodier
Charles Nodier
Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier , was a French author who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the conte fantastique, gothic literature, vampire tales, and the importance of dreams as part of literary creation, and whose career as a librarian is often underestimated by literary...
as "a frequent host of all the unfortunate of all parties", aroused the suspicions of authorities.
He was later jailed for comparing Napoleon Bonaparte to Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, in The Well Informed of 19 Brumaire Year VIII (November 1800), and, although he was freed quickly enough, he found his presses had been confiscated. Ruined, he took refuge with his father in Evreux, and he remained under police surveillance.
In 1802, Tom Paine left for the United States with Bonneville's wife, Marguerite Brazier (1767–1846), who was a disciple of Bonneville's associate, the radical feminist, Etta Palm d'Aelders
Etta Palm d'Aelders
Etta Lubina Johanna Palm d'Aelders was a Dutch feminist outspoken during the French Revolution. She gave the address Discourse on the Injustice of the Laws in Favour of Men, at the Expense of Women to the French National Convention on 30 December 1790.-Biography:Etta Aelders was the daughter of...
, and Brazier's three sons, Benjamin
Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West...
, Louis, and Thomas, of whom Paine was godfather. Brazier took care of Paine at the end of his life and buried him on 8 June 1809.
The fall of Napoleon in 1814 finally allowed Bonneville to rejoin his wife in the United States, where he remained for four years before returning to Paris. There, he earned a living by opening a bookshop in the Latin Quarter. During the latter years of his life, he fell into misery and madness, naturally taking a more pessimistic view on the possibilities for the happiness of mankind. His funeral expenses were paid for by Charles Nodier
Charles Nodier
Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier , was a French author who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the conte fantastique, gothic literature, vampire tales, and the importance of dreams as part of literary creation, and whose career as a librarian is often underestimated by literary...
, Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, and Alfred de Vigny
Alfred de Vigny
Alfred Victor de Vigny was a French poet, playwright, and novelist.-Life:Alfred de Vigny was born in Loches into an aristocratic family...
.
His son, Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West...
, undertook a career in the U.S. Army in which he retired as a Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
; his life was immortalized by Washington Irving
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
's "Adventures of Captain Bonneville".
Bonneville played a crucial role in the advent of Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. His own writings and inspirations make him an essential precursor of this literary movement. His translations from German of Goethe, Lessing
Lessing
Lessing - German family of writers and artists*Johann Gottfried Lessing pastor primarus in Kamenz, well respected, published theologian, translator and father of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Karl Gotthelf Lessing...
, and Schiller also laid the groundwork for later French poets would wished to become familiar with the German stage.
Works
- The Poetry of Nicolas Bonneville, Paris, Imprimerie du Cercle Social, 1976, 1793
- In the Spirit of Religion: book promised and necessary to the Federal Universal Friends of Truth, Paris, Impr. Social Circle, 1792
- History of Modern Europe: From the Invasion of Northern Peoples in the Roman Empire until the Peace of 1783, 3 vols. Paris, Geneva, [sn], 1789–1792
- Scottish Masonry, Nîmes: C. Lacour, 1788, 1998
- The Tribune of the People, or, Collection of letters from some voters in Paris before the Revolution of 1789 Paris, Impr. Social Circle, 1789
- The Old People's Tribune, Paris, Imprimerie du Cercle Social, 1793
- Jesuits Expelled from Masonry, and Dagger Shattered by the Masons, Paris, C. Volland, 1788
- Letter from Nicolas de Bonneville, a lawyer at the Parliament of Paris, M. le Marquis de Condorcet, London: J. Rovinson, 1976, 1787
- The Anthem of Fighting: a Tribute to the Armies of the Republic, Paris, Librairie-Imprimerie du Cercle Social, 1976, 1797
- Nicolas Bonneville, Elector of the Department of Paris to the Real Friends of Freedom, Paris, Impr. Social Circle, 1976, 1791