Yeah, I need an intro because… oh, things change. This is — slightly — still a Sandman blog-ish, but I also got claimed by the French Revolution, so... there's that.
Sandman art, fic
French Revolution art, gifs, fic, stuff
+ I have a weird obsession with the confluence — aka the Sandman: Thermidor issue/Episode2.6 "Family Blood" & I'm obsessed with:
Sandman: Thermidor fix-it fic
Lady Johanna Constantine/Saint-Just (Which is comics cannon— I'm just elaborating!)
Hob Gadling/Camille Desmoulins (not cannon, just the product of my warped mind lol)
+More (/less appropriate) stuff on Ao3
+I like to read.
I talk about books I'm reading. Books I've read/referenced/reviewed:
The Twelve Who Ruled 🙂
Camille Desmoulins and His Wife ❤️
Giant of the French Revolutio: Danton, a Life (Complicated, but informative)
A Life of Solitude (Have also read her play The Danton Case. Currently reading Thermidor. General Stanisława posts) ❤️ (I love Stanisława)
Robespierre: A Revolutionary Life by Peter McPhee ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️<- Read this one 1st if you want a new POV on Max!
The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy (good for a Monarchist POV)
Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary France
The Demon of Writing (Not frev-specific, but this is the book that shoved me down the rabbit hole)
Saint-Just by Norman Hampson (Possibly informative, very often cited but YIKES.)
Saint-Just by J. B. Morton (haven't gotten too far into this one but might be more amenable than Hampson?)
I'm also on a quest to find French Rev Historical Fiction. I know about:
A Place of Greater Safety (finished, didn't love 😔 Sorry! Other people like it, just not my thing)
The Gods are Thirsty (may still finish)
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (Fantasy/Historical Fiction; might finish, might not)
I'm a massive fan of Regency Romances — like K. J. Charles, Cat Sebastian, Tess Bowery, Johanna Chambers — & I really, really, really want to find something similar in the French Revolution era! But no luck so far. Please, please, please tell me who writes this!
Interesting Articles I've Read:
‘Come and Dine’: The Dangers of Conspicuous Consumption in French Revolutionary Politics, 1789–95 by Marissa Linton & Mette Harder (about the Revolutionaries constantly policing each others' dinner tables. It's complicated. Poor babes 😪)
The Duel that Never Was by Moshe Hazani, 1989 (Portrays Saint-Just as murderous, but interesting wrt the debate over the Dantonists)
Movies/Shows/Documentaries I've seen
One Nation, One King/Un Peuple et Son Roi ❤️❤️
La Terreur et la Vertue Part 1: Danton ❤️❤️❤️
La Terreur et la Vertue Part 2: Robespierre ❤️❤️❤️
La Révolution Française (1989)
Danton (1983)
Saint-Just et La Forces des Choses (1974) (my thoughts/cheesy appreciation of this movie 🙂[Not perfect but I enjoyed it])
French Revolution doc in the style of the Office ❤️❤️
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Marie Antoinette (2022)<- Ok/Complicated
That Terrible BBC documentary <- Noooo!!! So bad!! Only useful for Emo Saint-Just & the Cutie Fabre D'Églantine.
I'm perpetually open to book/movie/show recommendations!
Not gonna lie, I like the idea of Maximilien Robespierre and Eleonore Duplay together because this would mean Lafayette and Bailly accidentally got Robespierre a girlfriend
Marat defends Danton for talking without taking his hat off
The agitators, paid to raise a clamor against the patriots of the Cordeliers Club, were merely waiting for a pretext. Danton — the vigorous Danton — gave them one during the first intermission by keeping his hat on. Since no law forbade the wearing of hats, and no decree had enshrined the servile custom of remaining bareheaded when actors were not on stage, Danton saw no reason to obey the imperious commands of those automatons who sought to perpetuate this servile habit — a relic of the Ancien Régime. For a few days, I saw a multitude of deluded citizens siding against Danton; they loudly criticized him for wishing to exercise the rights of a free man, arguing that one must respect custom and avoid setting an example of insubordination. Good heavens! Had such a disastrous maxim always been followed, what people would ever have broken their chains, and how could we ourselves have cast off the yoke? Given the fatal inclination toward servitude found in almost all men, what would become of nations were there not, in their midst, a few bold spirits — men intrepid enough to trample upon the orders of despots, raise the standard of insurrection, assault the ramparts of tyranny, and be the first to storm the breach?
Marat in number 504 of l’Ami du Peuple (June 28 1791)
AKA the difference between Marat and Robespierre in a nutshell:
At the Convention, [Léonard Bourdon] was one of the first who introduced the custom to debase it by indecent forms, like speaking there with the hat on the head and sitting there with a ridiculous outfit.
Robespierre in a private note on Léonard Bourdon, written June/July 1794
Ok Max is 100% a catty bitch here! But do you think (in general) it might've also been jarring/suspicious to see representatives making obvious changes in their look/affectations as a deliberate appeal to the common people, almost like putting on a costume? I'm thinking about how we'll instantly criticize a politician for putting on an accent or trying to appear "down-to-earth" and it just makes us feel like they're being manipulative. I feel like I've heard other stories of representatives putting on a bonnet rouge (I know this is just a hat in this instance, but I mean in general) or putting on the "costume"/manner of the sans culottes when it's like... dude, you're a bourgeois lawyer with like 100 acres 🤔 I mean, maybe many people were just excited to throw off the old etiquette and oppressive fashions, and who can blame them. But I can also see how, being there and watching your colleagues shift like that could be a cause for mistrust.
Revolutionaries’ activities on the day of the Champ-de-Mars massacre
Pauline Léon took part in the demonstration. On her way home from there, she used her fists to defend a friend against the family of a national guard. This is the first conserved trace of any militant activities from her side. (Pauline Léon, une républicaine révolutionnaire (2006) by Claude Guillon).
Manon Roland wrote in her memoirs that she on the day in question had been at the jacobins ”where I had witnessed the agitations caused by the sad events on Champ-de-Mars.” Manon remembers walking home eleven o’clock in the evening and bumping into François and Louise Robert. Louise (who it might be worth mentioning would have been seven months pregnant at this point) explains that ”my husband was writing the petition on the altar of the homeland, I was at his side. We escaped the slaughter without daring to retire neither to our house nor that of one of friends.” She therefore asks if they can take shelter at Manon’s place. Manon happily agrees, and brings them over to hôtel Britannique, rue Guénégaud. The next morning, the Roberts start talking through the window with an acquaintance by the name of Vachard, whom they invite up. Vachard speaks loudly about yesterday’s events, boasting about having run his sabre through a National Guardsman. Manon finds this conduct to be careless, and asks the Roberts to tell their friend to leave, which they do. The Roberts themselves leave around noon.
Forty years after the fact, Sergent-Marceau claimed that he on the morning of the day in question had been at Danton’s place together with Desmoulins, Fréron, Fabre, Santerre, Brune, Duplain and Momoro, discussing the lynching of two men at the Champ-de-Mars. At nine o’clock, Legendre arrives and tells the group that two men had come home to him and said: We are charged with warning you to get out of Paris, bring Danton, Camille and Fréron, let them not be seen in the city all day, it is Alexandre Lameth who engages this. Camille, Danton and Fréron follow this advice and leave, and were therefore most likely not present for the demonstration and shootings (Revue rétrospective, ou Bibliothèque historique: contenant des mémoires et documens authentiques, inédits et originaux, pour servir à l'histoire proprement dite, à la biographie, à l'histoire de la littérature et des arts (1834),p. 284-285). Desmoulins is nevertheless confirmed to have shown up at the jacobins’ evening session the very same day to talk about the split with the Feuillants and bring to attention the fact that his journal since six weeks back has been unable to reach Marseille. Sergent-Marceau too was there.
Robespierre did, according to the memoirs of his sister Charlotte, see the shootings with his own eyes. He is confirmed to have been at the jacobins’ evening session and there have intervened twice, first asking that commissioners be appointed to find out and report back what exactly is going on in Paris, and then lamenting the sad state of affairs. Both Charlotte, Fréron and Philippe Lebas Jr. write it was on this day Robespierre moved in with the Duplay family on rue Saint-Honoré 398 Charlotte claims that this happened when he was walking away from the massacre following said street. A considerable crowd then showed up, recognized him and started shouting vive Robespierre!, which caused Maurice Duplay to come out and offer Robespierre to rest up in his house. Fréron on the other hand writes that when leaving the jacobins in the evening and crossing its courtyard, which was filled with Lafayette’s soldiers who ”vomit[ed] imprecations and threats against the Jacobins” Robespierre got so scared that he had to grab onto Lecointre and La Poype in order to support himself. Not daring to go home he asked Lecointre if he knew any patriot in the vicinity of the Tuileries who could give him shelter for the night, whereupon the latter brought him to the Duplays. Philippe jr simply writes that on the day in question, a rumor had spread that ”the most influential members of the democratic party, and in particular Robespierre” were going to get arrested, causing his grandfather to offer him asylum. Charlotte claims her brother wanted to leave after an hour or two, but was made to stay for dinner and kept in the house for days.
Pétion too was at the jacobins’ evening session, where he held speech about the founding of the Feuillant club the day before, calling for calm in these ”stormy times” and for a circular to be sent to all the sister clubs.
Brissot admitted in a interrogation held October 15 1793 that his ”great occupations” had hindered him from attending the demonstration. He is confirmed to have been at the jacobin club in the evening and there have read aloud the circular to the sister societies regarding the split with the Feuillants Pétion proposed writing. At the very end the circular says the following, apropos of the day’s event on Champ-de-Mars: ”Something has just happened at Champ-de-Mars: the blood of the people has flowed. Brothers and friends, beware of false stories and slander that may be directed at you. We owe you the truth, you know that.” The circular was approved.
Duforney, Régnier and Royer are also confirmed to have been at the Jacobins’ evening session.
The references to it in Choosing Terror by Marisa Linton sounded really interesting:
I can't find it either in the York thesis archive or in any database my library has access to. I even emailed her, at the address here, but haven't heard back. Don't know if it's my search skills that are at issue or if it has disappeared.
And finally, what if Marat were to return today? What could he think of the state of our planet in the second decade of the twenty-first century? He could read in the history books that the Great French Revolution—his Revolution—is recognized as the watershed event in the making of the modern world. “But what did it accomplish?” he might ask. “It rid France of a parasitic class whose right to rule was based upon aristocratic birthright and traditional privilege.” “Is that all?” “It established legal and political equality, which then spread throughout much of Europe and the world.” “Legal and political equality? What about economic and social equality?” “No, the situation in that regard is even worse than you remember it. Today, despite two centuries of mind-boggling technological progress, a handful of billionaires control most of the Earth’s resources while billions of people remain mired in hunger, disease, oppression, and grinding poverty.” Marat would surely be shocked and dismayed to learn that after more than 200 years his struggle for social revolution had lost none of its relevance and urgency. Where is the People’s Friend now, when we need him?
Jean-Paul Marat - Tribune of the French Revolution by Clifford D. Conner
On this day, 233 years ago, Marat was assassinated in his home.
Early on the morning of the 14th, the Bourgeois troops—better armed and better organised than the previous day, numbering some 30 to 40 thousand—were reinforced by 500 to 600 French Guards, who came to join a similar number we already had; roughly the same number of Dragoons and Swiss soldiers swelled their ranks. We dared to advance, without cannons, towards the Invalides, whose garrison opened fire. They were soon forced to open the gates to us: the Governor was the first to hoist our cockade, and all the gates were opened to us. We found very little gunpowder, but at least 30 to 40 thousand muskets, pistols, sabres, and so on, along with 8 or 10 large cannons, not counting the smaller ones. The camp at the Champ de Mars did not put up a fight. We hauled the artillery into the city, and all those accustomed to pushing and shoving violently were given weapons; for the crush caused some to be trampled to death. No sooner had the bourgeois troops swelled in number thanks to the new armaments than they sought to attack the Bastille.
I thought the undertaking was impossible, especially with mere muskets and bladed weapons. The attack took place nonetheless, but it petered out. The Governor used cannons firing cannonballs and grapeshot; as many as 200 of our men may have been killed. Efforts were made to set fire to the gates; but it was all to no avail: these methods were abandoned, and we went to fetch the heaviest cannons, which we trained towards the side opposite the gate, and used them to good effect. The defenders inside then turned their attention to the breach, and the Governor, M. de Launay, resorted to a ruse; he lowered the flag just as the man defending it was seen to fall dead; he then had the drawbridge lowered, and our citizen troops, believing the fortress was theirs, entered triumphantly; but as soon as there were about two hundred of them inside, he ordered his Invalides to lay down their arms, and urged the Bourgeois to do the same. Immediately the drawbridge was raised, and fire was opened on our troops. The cannon then fired, making a good breach, and our Bourgeois, along with a few Gardes-Françaises, charged in furiously; a valiant Garde-Française seized Monsieur de Launay, who immediately drew his Cross of Saint Louis to give it to him; but the Garde-Française refused it, saying: ‘I do not want it; it is that of a traitor’; —they grappled fiercely, and we could not resist the urge to punish him as he deserved: he was stabbed in the face with a bayonet; and then everyone, vying with one another, roughed him up, and he was taken to the Greve, where he was killed; the same was done to the Deputy Governor, the Keeper of the Gunpowder, and the Jailer; and the Invalids, who had opened fire on our troops, were also taken to La Greve, where four were hanged; little gunpowder was found, but some ammunition, and artillery—some pieces of which were hauled into the town.
We searched inside the prisons, where we found few unfortunate souls, who had been set free; but above all, a fine old gentleman, a handsome man, at least five feet eight inches tall, who claimed to have been detained for thirty years; he must be some 65 to 70 years old. He is the Count d’Estrade, sentenced by the despotic authorities to life imprisonment on a charge of high treason brought by scheming women; he was led, supported by others, through the whole of Paris: it was a most bizarre sight, and one well worth pondering, to see, in the Palais-Royal, this good old man being paraded amidst his liberators on one side; and, on the other, at the tips of long pikes, the heads of the Governor, Deputy Governor and Jailer, who had tyrannised this unfortunate old man for thirty years. For the heads of these three men had been cut off and thus displayed for all the city—indeed, one might say the whole nation—to see, such was the crowd gathered at that moment. The alarm was raised by the new reinforcements sent to the Bastille; the militia left there to guard it were, for the most part, betrayed, and the attackers resumed firing on the militia. We rushed there and took ten men away, who were hanged on the spot at La Greve by M. de Flesselles, Provost of the Merchants, who, until that moment, having shown sufficient reserve and cunning in his conduct to give the impression that he was a true patriot, aroused suspicion of collusion with Versailles when he received a courier from the Queen at around five o’clock in the afternoon; this opened people’s eyes to his true nature. It was then observed that, from early that morning, on the pretext of supplying weapons only to well-known individuals, he had disarmed a considerable number of people; that, when people had come to ask him for gunpowder for the attack on the Bastille, he had skilfully evaded the request and had not provided any; added to this was the rumour being spread that a letter from M. de Broglio had advised him to be patient, assuring him that within two hours he would receive reinforcements from Versailles. All this having aroused public anger against him, he was arrested and executed, whilst still wearing his magistrate’s robes, on the Place de Grève, by a volley of pistol shots; thus, this man, who an hour earlier had been, as it were, a minister and all-powerful in Paris, and who enjoyed great influence at Court, was treated, the very next moment, like a beggar, and died on the Place de Grève the death of a traitor. What an example for the Bréteuils, Foulons, Videau de Latours, the Lambesqs, the Condés, the Contis, the Polignacs and so many others who will certainly not be spared if the Nation triumphs! Such is the general cry.
Throughout all this, the People keep a watchful eye on things and endeavour to purge their ranks; for they show no more leniency towards wrongdoers of any other kind than they do towards traitors. All thieves are hanged or imprisoned; at least a hundred have been arrested or hanged over the past two days: there is no justice so rigorous; the streets are safer than at any other time; nowhere does a man on horseback, a porter’s bag or a carriage pass without being stopped, searched and taken to the Town Hall, even the postal couriers; the night before last, a cab filled with cartridges was found. Yesterday, two eight-horse carriages belonging to the Prince of Condé were seized, containing money and silverware, which were impounded at the Town Hall along with the horses, and countless other items; however, towards nightfall, a few detachments of our troops went to the Champ de Mars to link up with the Royalist troops, and brought back a further fifty dragoons, well mounted, who surrendered to us; immediately afterwards, one hundred and fifty soldiers arrived, both Swiss and French; we hope that the whole camp will gradually surrender; the only thing to fear is that there may be traitors amongst them. Even the Hussars, who had previously shown themselves in an unfavourable light, are now siding with us; we hope the same of all the French troops, and we have already received word that they are inclined to do so; provided the provinces support us, we shall prevail over this infernal cabal.
We have learnt nothing of much interest this morning, 15 July. Last night, the alarm bells rang out all over Tours, but this was merely to keep people on tenterhooks and prolong the sense of alarm. Last night at midnight, a danger was reported in Montmartre; but 3,000 men were dispatched there with cannons, as well as some 1,200 men to the Place de Louis XV, carrying ammunition. An hour or two later, two couriers were lost, but none of this amounts to anything.
I forgot to tell you that Versailles found itself starving and without flour; yesterday two carts, bearing the King’s livery, arrived to request flour from the market hall. Monsieur Leleu, who is in charge of the city’s supplies, acted as a true patriot and sent the drivers away, writing as follows: ‘I am expressly charged with supplying the good City of Paris, which is in the gravest danger of running out; I cannot, even for His Majesty’s sake, fail in my duties or betray them, as I owe my allegiance to the Fatherland before I can consider myself a subject of the King.’ We allowed the carriages and horses to leave; fortunately, everything that leaves Gonesse reaches us, including even the grain carriages that have come to us from Caen; but the number of mouths to feed is increasing by the minute, because people are constantly arriving here, and neither horses nor men are allowed to leave, except on foot or in stagecoaches; not even the Court’s own carriages are permitted to leave. Yesterday I saw a young, strapping man stopped whilst in a cabriolet; he managed to slip out of the crowd without being noticed, and abandoned his luggage; he was searched, and a good rifle with cartridges was found, which was seized; the horse was also seized; and, having hitched the cabriolet behind another carriage which was also being taken away, they drove it into town; it is said that even the post coaches are being stopped.
Tomorrow begins the summer challenge for all writers and artists who love the French Revolution and want to have a little fun.
This summer, like every year, we will have several events to remember. Some of them bring us joy and others sorrow.
So, let's be creative and share with others our deepest feelings about these events.
For those who don't yet know how it works, I'll summarize it.
The challenge runs from July 14th to August 10th, which are important milestones for anyone interested in the revolution.
We've compiled the prompts you've sent me into the list above - one for each day. Choose any one of them that inspires you and write fiction or poetry, or draw a picture and post it on your blog. You can choose one prompt each day or contribute just once.
Nothing is mandatory, we want you to have fun.
To help us all enjoy it, please tag your posts with:
#frevsummer2026
If you have any questions, please message me.
I also want to give a special thank you to those who participated in any way in the preparation. You are amazing. <3
