Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (IPA: [mak.si.mi.ljɛ̃ fʁɑ̃.swa ma.ʁi i.zi.dɔʁ də ʁɔ.bɛs.pjɛʁ]; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and politician, and one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution, the defense of the Republic, and the Reign of Terror.
As a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, Robespierre was an outspoken advocate of the poor and of democratic institutions. Early during the revolution Robespierre was against war with Austria, and warned of the possibility of a military coup by the Marquis de Lafayette. Though he was an ardent opponent of the death penalty, Robespierre played an important role in arguing for the execution of King Louis XVI, and the creation of a French Republic. He would campaign for equality of rights and universal male suffrage in France, for price controls on basic food commodities, and successfully advocated for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies.
While France was beset by crises including external and civil war, Robespierre became an important figure during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. He was named as a member of the powerful Committee of Public Safety launched by his political ally Georges Danton, and exerted his influence to suppress the radical left wing Hébertists. Robespierre later moved against the more moderate Danton, who was accused of corruption. The terror ended a few months after Robespierre's arrest and execution in July 1794, and was followed by a white terror. The political figures of the Thermidorian Reaction who rose to power after Robespierre's downfall accused him of being the "soul" of the Terror. Robespierre's personal responsibility for the excesses of the Terror remains the subject of intense debate among historians of the French Revolution.
Terracotta bust of Robespierre by Deseine, 1792 (Château de Vizille)
Back in 2013, forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier and facial reconstruction specialist Philippe Froesch created what they termed as a realistic 3D facial reconstruction of Maximilien de Robespierre, the infamous ‘poster boy’ of the French Revolution. But as one can comprehend from the actual outcome of their reconstruction, contemporary portraits of Robespierre were possibly flattering to the leader.
Left side – the 3D reconstruction; right side – a portrait of the revolutionary, circa 1790.
Now beyond the visual scope of this 3D reconstruction, the researchers also pointed out a slew of medical conditions that the political leader probably suffered from. According to the scholars, these clinical signs were actually described by contemporary witnesses-
Vision problems, nose bleeds (“he covered his pillow of fresh blood each night”), jaundice (“yellow colored skin and eyes”), asthenia (“continuous tiredness”), recurrent leg ulcers, and frequent facial skin disease associated with scars of a previous smallpox infection. He also had permanent eye and mouth twitching. The symptoms worsened between 1790 and 1794. The day before his beheading, Robespierre suffered a firearm wound to the jaw in dubious circumstances.
Finally Dr Charlier’s retrospective diagnosis for Robespierre’s symptoms relate to sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disorder involving the abnormal collection of chronic inflammatory cells that form as nodules in multiple organs. And while the disorder (with symptoms similar to cancer) can be treated with steroids in our modern times, unsurprisingly, during Robespierre’s lifetime, the disease was probably not recognized. The forensic scientists wrote –
We do not know which treatment was given by his personal physician Joseph Souberbielle, but fruits might have been included (in view of his very high consumption of oranges) along with baths and bloodletting. His disease did not play any part in his death, as judicial execution put the patient to death in a context of political crisis.
Pertaining to the last sentence, according to contemporary sources, before Robespierre’s execution, the political leader was already injured with his shattered lower jaw – possibly due to a self-inflicted gunshot or being shot by a French soldier named Charles-André Merda. But the literal ‘coup de grace‘ was obviously offered by the guillotine blade, and thus the major figure of the Reign of Terror met his gruesome fate along with his close associates.
Photo/VisualForensic, Philippe Froesch, Batabat
Source
Pierre Serna, La République des girouettes: 1789–1815... et au-delà : une anomalie politique, la France de l'extrême centre, Éditions Champ Vallon, 2005, 570 p. (ISBN 9782876734135), p. 369.
Albert Mathiez, « Robespierre terroriste », dans Études sur Robespierre, 1988, p. 63 et 70, et Jean-Clément Martin, Violence et Révolution. Essai sur la naissance d'un mythe national, 2006, p. 224.
Thompson, J. M. "Robespierre," vol. I, p. 174, Basil Blackwell, Oxford: 1935.
Albert Mathiez, "Robespierre: l'histoire et la légende," Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française (1977) 49#1 pp 3–31.
Joseph I. Shulim "Robespierre and the French Revolution," American Historical Review (1977) 82#1 pp. 20–38 in JSTOR
Ruth Scurr, Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution (2006)
There are two ways of totally misunderstanding Robespierre as historical figure: one is to detest the man, the other is to make too much of him. It is absurd, of course, to see the lawyer from Arras as a monstrous usurper, the recluse as a demagogue, the moderate as bloodthirsty tyrant, the democrat as a dictator. On the other hand, what is explained about his destiny once it is proved that he really was the Incorruptible? The misconception common to both schools arises from the fact that they attribute to the psychological traits of the man the historical role into which he was thrust by events and the language he borrowed from them. Robespierre is an immortal figure not because he reigned supreme over the Revolution for a few months, but because he was the mouthpiece of its purest and most tragic discourse.
Furet, François (1989). Interpreting the French Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0521280494. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
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Born Marie Marguerite Charlotte de Robespierre, at the time of her brother's glory she was betrothed to Joseph Fouché, who broke the engagement after the events of Thermidor. Charlotte became unmarriageable due to her name; she remained single until her death on 1 August 1834, aged 74.
Born Henriette Eulalie Françoise de Robespierre, she became a nun and entered in the couvent des Manarres on 4 June 1773. She died on 5 March 1780 aged 18.
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The first to have made motto "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" was Maximilien Robespierre in his speech "On the organization of the National Guard" (French: Discours sur l'organisation des gardes nationales) on 5 December 1790, article XVI, and disseminated widely throughout France by the popular Societies.
Discours sur l'organisation des gardes nationales
Article XVI.
On their souls engraved these words: FRENCH PEOPLE, & below: FREEDOM, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY. The same words are inscribed on flags which bear the three colors of the nation.
(French: XVI. Elles porteront sur leur poitrine ces mots gravés : LE PEUPLE FRANÇAIS, & au-dessous : LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ. Les mêmes mots seront inscrits sur leurs dra-peaux, qui porteront les trois couleurs de la na-tion.)
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From Robespierre's speech to the National Assembly on 18 December 1791. Cited in Forrest, A. "Robespierre, the war and its organization." In Haydon, D., and Doyle, W., Eds. Robespierre, p.130. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1999.
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Quoted in Kennedy, M. L., "The Jacobin Clubs in the French Revolution: the Middle Years," pp.254–255, Princeton University Press, Princeton: 1999.
Laurent, Gustave (1939). Oeuvres Completes de Robespierre (in French). IV. Nancy: Imprimerie de G. Thomas. pp. 165–166. OCLC 459859442.
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Original in French:
«Il faut une volonté une. Il faut qu'elle soit républicaine ou royaliste. Pour qu'elle soit républicaine, il faut des ministres républicains, des papiers républicains, des députés républicains, un gouvernement républicain. La guerre étrangère est une maladie mortelle (fléau mortel), tandis que le corps politique est malade de la révolution et de la division des volontés. Les dangers intérieurs viennent des bourgeois, pour vaincre les bourgeois il faut y rallier le peuple... insurrection actuelle continue, jusqu'à ce que les mesures nécessaires pour sauver la République aient été prises. Il faut que le peuple salue à la Convention et que la Convention se serve du peuple...»
Courtois, Edme-Bonaventure (1828). Papiers inédits trouvés chez Robespierre, Saint-Just etc. Paris: Bouduin Preres. p. 15.
Interesting to note the usage of the term «bourgeois» in the original and «the middle classes» in translation in view of ongoing debate on the issue over «bourgeois Revolution»
Susan Dunn (2000). Sister Revolutions: French Lightning, American Light. Macmillan. p. 118.
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Popkin, Jeremy (2010). You Are All Free. Cambridge University Press. pp. 350–70.
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Micheline Ishay (1995). Internationalism and Its Betrayal. U. of Minnesota Press. p. 65.
Peter McPhee (2012). Robespierre: A Revolutionary Life. Yale University Press. p. 268.
Jonathan Israel, Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre (2014), p. 521.
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