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The Cult of the Martyrs of Liberty THE CULT OF THE MARTYRS OF LIBERTY: RADICAL RELIGIOSITY IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by ASHLEY SHIFFLETT In partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts July 2008 © Ashley Shifflett, 2008. Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-42839-9 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-42839-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada ABSTRACT THE CULT OF THE MARTYRS OF LIBERTY: Radical Religiosity in the French Revolution Ashley Shifflett Advisor: University of Guelph, 2008 Dr. William S. Cormack The Cult of the Martyrs of Liberty emerged as a popular and spontaneous manifestation of sans-culotte affections for Jean-Paul Marat. In death, Marat became a focus for this group's religious sensibilities, and he was transformed into the object of a religious cult which mocked Catholic orthodoxy and venerated revolutionary radicalism. This thesis seeks to qualify Albert Soboul's conclusions on the Cult of Martyrs by examining it as a cultural expression of the sans-culottes' anti-clericalism as well as of their political and social ideals, in light of recent interpretations on Revolutionary religiosity. The celebration of martyrdom was a point of conflict between the revolutionary bourgeoisie and the sans-culottes. This conflict can be seen in efforts by the National Convention and the Paris Commune to control the Cult of Marat by incorporating it into the Cult of the Martyrs of Liberty, which conformed to classical republican ideals. Efforts to supplant the Cult of the Martyrs came with the imposition of Robespierre's Cult of the Supreme Being, and he attempted to channel popular religious energy in new directions until his overthrow. During the Thermidorian Reaction, the jeunesse doree attacked the Cult of the Martyrs of Liberty. The Cult of the Martyrs of Liberty continued as a rallying point for former Jacobins who attempted to appeal to the sans-culottes. Along with other aspects of the French Revolution which shaped the modern revolutionary tradition, the cults of Year II of the Republic point to the importance of secular commemoration and hero-worship during times of revolution. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Bill Cormack. I am deeply indebted to him for his patience, for his meticulous editing, and for his guidance throughout my years at the University of Guelph. His enthusiasm for French Revolutionary history is truly infectious. I would also like to thank Professor Sofie Lachapelle who co-advised this project until its final stages and whose enthusiasm and encouragement was a great asset. I would also like to extend thanks to Professors Peter Goddard and Susannah Humble-Ferreira, who served on my committee. I wish to express special appreciation to my family and friends. Particular thanks go out to my parents, Mike and Sue Shifflett, for their love and support; to Jean-Luc and Patricia Rimonteil, whose door is always open pour les vacances en France; to my brother, Geoffrey Shifflett for his help at the Paris archives and for keeping my spirits up when the going was tough; to my colleagues and friends Brodie Richards and Natalie Dube who read various draft chapters of this thesis while it was still very much a work in progress; and to Donny McBrayne, for always understanding and being my rock. Last but not least, to my grandmother, Mae Rose Shifflett, who taught me to read French and who provided invaluable assistance - this thesis is dedicated to her. Ashley Shifflett July, 2008 1 Contents -Acknowledgements i -Contents ii -Abbreviations iii Chapter 1: THE HISTORIANS AND THE CULT OF THE MARTYRS OF 1 LIBERTY Chapter 2: SANS-CULOTTES SENSIBILITIES AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 19 CULT OF MARAT Chapter 3: THE NATIONAL CONVENTION AND THE CULT OF THE 48 MARTYRS OF LIBERTY Chapter 4: THE DECLINE OF THE CULT OF THE MARTYRS OF LIBERTY: 80 L'ETRE SUPREME, YOUTH HEROES AND THE JEUNESSE DOREE Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 104 -Bibliography 108 ii Note on Abbreviations AN = Archives Nationales, Paris BHVP = Bibliotheque de la Ville de Paris Chapter I: The Historians and the Cult of the Martyrs of Liberty The Cult of the Martyrs of Liberty was an important element of French Revolutionary culture, which emerged during the first year of the Republic. The Cult worshipped three martyrs of the Revolution: Michel Lepelletier, a member of the Convention who was assassinated by a fellow noble for voting in favour of the execution of the King; Jean-Paul Marat, a Jacobin deputy and radical journalist who was assassinated by Charlotte Corday in response to the purge of the Girondins from the Convention; and Joseph Chalier, a Jacobin activist in Lyon who was guillotined by Federalist rebels. These martyrs formed a new trinity, which, in revolutionary culture, replaced the Holy Trinity of Roman Catholicism. As well as linking the Cult to dechristianization, this new trinity represented three key crises of the Republic and served the important purpose of justifying radical measures: the execution of the king, the purge of the Convention and the repression of Federalism. The Cult of Martyrs was an important ideological tool through which the Jacobins and the sans-culottes articulated the values of the Republic and justified their actions. Yet the celebration of martyrdom became a source of conflict between the groups, and it reflected their different cultural, social and political objectives. While historical study of the revolutionary cults has focused on the more prominent Cult of the Supreme Being, as well as on the Festival of Reason, the study of the Cult of Martyrs provides important insight into the popular movement, its relationship to the Jacobin government, and the contribution of the sans­ culottes to French Revolutionary culture. Historians have debated the nature of the Cult and have studied it in terms of its religious and political implications. In the early nineteenth century, contemporaries of 1 the Revolution, such as Abbe Gregoire, tended to view the revolutionary cults as solely political creations with specific political purposes, thereby refusing the Cult of Martyrs any truly religious nature.1 This trend continued with historian Alphonse Aulard, who also saw the revolutionary cults as political. Aulard characterized the Cult of Marat as an "expedient of popular patriotic defence" and the martyrs as "a trinity of the victims of patriotism."2 In the twentieth century, Richard Cobb viewed the Cult of Marat in a similar manner, as part of the process to replace Christianity with a religion of the nation: "A kind of'patriotic religion', hazy in outline, confused in doctrine." The first historian to specifically examine the cults and their religious content was Albert Mathiez, who saw the cults in terms of a religious struggle against the Catholic Church, but also as a true revolutionary religion. Mathiez considered the revolutionary festivals to be the result of a desire to replace Catholic worship with a new cult capable of offering its participants a similar spiritual satisfaction.4 This approach explained the conscious transposition of Catholic ceremony onto new forms of worship. Later in the twentieth century, historian Albert Soboul saw this study as superficial because Mathiez had "poorly characterized the religious reality, by identifying the religious with the collective."5 According to Soboul, "with the development of rationalism during the previous century, religion became specialized and then occupied merely one part of the 1 Albert Soboul, "Religious Sentiment and Popular Cults during the Revolution," in New Perspectives on the French Revolution: Readings in Historical Sociology, edited by Jeffry Kaplow, (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965)339. 2 F.A. Aulard, Le Culte de la Raison et le Culte de L'Etre Supreme (1793-1794): Essai Historique. (Paris: G. Bailliere, 1892)203,202. 3 Richard Cobb, The People's Armies: The Armies Revolutionaires: instruments of the Terror in the Departments. April 1793 to Floreal Year II. translated by Marianne Elliot, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987)455. 4 Albert Mathiez, Les Origines des Cultes Revolutionnaires (1789-1792).
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