If anyone's interested in a little historical context for the daily Les Mis read , The Siecle podcast is a great place to start! Aiming to ultimately cover the era from 1814 to 1915, it's currently just up to around 1827. It isn't about Les Miserables, of course, but it's loaded with info on the background history of the story! Every episode has complete transcripts, and often maps, graphs, and other useful images or sources. So far at least (as of the 1st of Jan 2023) it's spoiler-free for LM!
More historical context from David Montgomery (writer/historian/producer of The Siecle) , this time on typical French diets in the Napoleonic era! We're seeing the fading days of that time, but this all stayed relevant for several years to come.
(by request from @secretmellowblog , A brief summary of Which French Government (some) Characters Were Born Under. Character names in Bold are characters who would have been at least in their late teens under that government.
I’ve had to make some Decisions about when to count certain governments as starting or ending; I have Done My Best but I know that’s up for debate! Otherwise, all dates taken from @akallabeth-joie ‘s amazing timeline here ; all errors , especially in math, are mine, and I appreciate any friendly Math Corrections!
Jean Valjean (1769) and Jeanne Valjean (old enough to have raised her brother when their parents died; otherwise, exact age unknown)
Thenardier 1773-76, age is a range
Javert 1780
Tholomyes , 1787
Mme Thenardier 1788
FRENCH REVOLUTION , 1789-1804(yes I know this is Debated but I gotta pick SOMEthing); this is when the younger Ancien Regime kids are becoming adults
Fantine 1796
Bahorel 1799-1801 (exact age unspecified; going with a likely range)
First Empire, 1804-1814 (incl. the 100 Days)
(this is the earliest era when any FRev babies will be young adults)
Legle , 1803 (and likely the same for Grantaire)
Joly, 1805
Enjolras, 1806
Courfeyrac, 1807
(Combeferre, Feuilly and Prouvaire are almost certainly born in this era, too, but no exact age markers are given for them)
Marius, 1810
Restoration Monarchy, 1814-1830
(still young adulthood for FRev kids; teenhood and young adulthood for First Empire kids, (and Whoo Boy didn't they talk about that whiplash); anyone born in 1800 has now lived through at least four governments, considering the 100 days, and arguably* more, and they're barely 30 by the time the Restoration ends. It's been Hectic. )
Eponine 1815-1816 (guessing a range)
Cosette 1816
Azelma, 1817
Gavroche 1820
the momes (exact date unclear)
(that's it, no one named in the story is born in the July Monarchy since it's only lasted 2 years by the end:P)
It’s really striking looking at this to realize that no one in France (and thus in this story) born after the Frev will get to be even 18 without living through a complete change of government? Once again, France in the Early 19C is Everyone’s Traumatic Backstory...
After extensive Google-fu, I've compiled as much information as I can find on the French police bureaucracy during Les Miserablès and specifically, Javert's mysterious patron, M. Chabouillet. If anyone cares to add to this post, please do; I can't read a word of French, and aside from the almanacs, I haven't dug into any original documents from that time period. Most of my conclusions regarding the police hierarchy are from papers written in the mid-to-late 1800s, which saw great changes in the Paris bureaucracy.
An excellent file on the historical Chabouillet! (Or Chabouillé?)
Vous trouverez dans cette rubrique, classées dans l'ordre chronologique, toutes les fiches de la base de données "Paris révolutionnaire" relatives à la période considérée. Chacune concerne un évènement, un mouvement, un personnage... liés à l'Histoire de la capitale. Certaines signalent simplement une des nombreuses curiosités qui en font le charme. Si vous découvrez dans cette liste lacunes ou erreurs, nous vous serions évidemment gré de nous les signaler. Contact : [email protected]
@prudencepaccard introduced me to this awesome site, which, to translate the above:
You will find in this section, listed in chronological order, all the records of the "Revolutionary Paris" database relating to the period in question. Each one concerns an event, a movement, a character... linked to the history of the capital. Some simply point out one of the many curiosities that make it so charming. If you discover gaps or errors in this list, we would of course be grateful if you would let us know.
If you’re into 19C French Histfic, this thing is a goldmine; search for street names or the names of historical figures and even some stories (there are Les Miserables refs all over this ) and see what comes up!
L’exposition d’écrits dans l’espace public constitue un enjeu politique au XIXe siècle, où la « police de l’écriture » sévit et tente de contrôler les murs des villes. Dans la première moitié du si...
The French Revolution had already marked a turning point in the history of the poster, which became a political weapon. During the revolutionary days of July 1830, the various players compete through placards and posters. The exhibition of writings became a major political issue in the capital during and after the uprising, between July and December 1830. Various sources attest it. This article uses the legislation on posting in Paris to analyze three public notices from the main stakeholder groups of the Three Glorious Days. It then goes through the study of seditious placards exposed during the revolutionary days, ending with an analysis of exposed writings visible in the lithographs of the time. These writing practices can deepen our knowledge about the days of July, bringing new light on the insurgency,
The main article and of course the documents under discussion are all in French. And many of the posters are interesting visually on their own! (thanks Synteis for the find!)
