Daily Life During the French Revolution

DAILY LIFE
DURING

THE

FRENCH

REVOLUTION

 

JAMES M.
ANDERSON

 

 

For Viv

welcome
to the world

 

 

CONTENTS

Preface

Chronology

Maps

1. The
Setting

2. Economy

3. Travel

4. Life at Versailles

5. Clothes and Fashion

6. Arts and Entertainment

7. Family, Food, and Education

8. Health, Medicine, and
Charity

9. Religion

10. Women

11. Urban Life

12. Rural Life

13. Military Life

14. Law and Order

15. Aftermath

Appendix 1: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Appendix
2: The Republican Calendar

Glossary

 

 

PREFACE

 

For
everyone in France, from the king to the lowliest peasant, July 1789 was either
exhilarating or ominous. A rare person indeed would have been apathetic or
unruffled by the social turmoil enveloping the country, for the July events and
those that followed laid the foundations of a new society, a new state.

The decisive actions that led to the overthrow of the old
order were staged mostly in Paris, although the provinces, where most of the
population resided, played no small part in an escalating crisis.

The day-to-day life of the people of that time and place
forms the major component of this book. Each chapter adds to a portrait of
France before, during, and after the revolution.

The book begins with a geographical overview, followed by a
description of the country’s diverse political, social, and cultural influences
and of the major historical events that led to the revolution. Subsequent
chapters deal with the economy; courtly, aristocratic, urban, and rural life;
and details about people of all classes—their anxieties, pleasures, living
conditions, health care, ethics, charity, and personal experiences; what they
wore and ate; what they did to entertain themselves; and the influence of the
church, crime, and revolutionary propaganda.

The author owes a debt of gratitude to
Sherry Anderson, whose perseverance, encouragement and plain hard work made
this book possible. Others who contributed in no small measure were Dr. Siwan
Anderson, Dr.
Katherine Connors, Dr. Patrick Francois, Richard Dalon,
Georges Gottlieb of the Bibliothèque National de Paris, Howard Greaves, Dr.
Rodney Roche, Drs. Bernard and Herbie Rochet. Thanks also go to Michael Hermann
of Greenwood Press, who suggested the topic, and Sarah Colwell, assistant
editor, Greenwood Press.

 

Storming of the Bastille by citizens with guns and
pikes
. The heads of “traitors” were carried on pikes.

 

CHRONOLOGY

 

1770

Marriage of Dauphin to Marie-Antoinette.

1775

Coronation of Louis XVI.

1776

American Declaration of Independence.

1786

Anglo-French commercial treaty.

1788

Estates-General convoked for May 1789.

1789

 

February

Publication of Sieyès’
What Is the
Third Estate?

May 5

Estates-General convene.

June 13

First parish priests break ranks.

June 17

National Assembly proclaimed.

June 27

Orders unite.

July 14

Bastille falls.

Late July

The Great Fear.

August 4

Abolition of feudalism and privileges.

August 26

Declaration of Rights of Man and
Citizen.

October 5–6

King and National Assembly move to
Paris.

November 2

Church property nationalized.

December 11

Assignats introduced.

1790

February 13

Monastic vows forbidden.

May 21

Paris sections established.

June 19

Noble titles abolished.

July 12

Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

July 14

Feast of Federation.

August 16

Parlements abolished.

August 31

Mutiny at Nancy.

November 27

Oath of the clergy.

1791

January 2

Roll-call on clerical oath.

March 2

Guilds dissolved.

April 13

Pope condemns Civil Constitution.

June 10

Royal family’s flight to Varennes.

July 16

Reinstatement of Louis XVI.

September 14

Annexation of Avignon. Louis XVI accepts
Constitution.

September 30

National Assembly dissolved.

October 1

Legislative Assembly convenes.

October 20

Call for war.

November 9

Decree against
émigrés.

November 12

Louis XVI vetoes decree against
émigrés.

November 29

Decree against refractory priests.

December 19

Louis XVI vetoes decree against priests.

1792

April 20

War declared on Austria.

April 25

First use of guillotine.

May 27

New decree against refractory priests.

June 13

Prussia declares war.

June 20

Sans-culottes invade the Tuileries.

July 22

Legislative Assembly declares the
country in danger.

July 25

Brunswick Manifesto.

July 30

Marseilles
fédérés
enter Paris.

August 3

Paris sections demand dethronement of
king.

August 10

Storming of the Tuileries; monarchy
overthrown.

August 19

Prussians cross frontier. Defection of
Lafayette.

September 2

Fall of Verdun.

September 2–6

September massacres.

September 20

Battle of Valmy.

September 21

Convention meets.

September 22

Republic proclaimed.

December 3

Decision to try Louis XVI.

1793

January 21

Execution of Louis XVI.

February 1

War declared on England and Holland.

February 21

Line and volunteer regiments joined.

February 24

Decree conscription of 300,000 men.

February 25–27

Food riots in Paris.

March 7

War declared on Spain.

March 10

Revolutionary tribunal created.

March 11

Revolt in the Vendée.

April 5

Defection of Dumouriez.

April 6

Committee of Public Safety created.

April 11

Assignats made sole legal tender.

April 29

Federalist uprising in Marseilles.

May 4

First Maximum decreed.

May 31

First anti-Girondin uprising in Paris.

June 2

Purge of Girondins from Convention.

June 7

Federalist revolt spreads to Bordeaux
and Caen.

June 9

Vendeans capture Saumur.

June 24

Constitution of 1793 accepted.

July 13

Marat assassinated.

July 17

Final abolition of feudalism.

July 26

Death penalty for hoarding.

July 27

Robespierre joins Committee of Public
Safety.

August 23

Decree of
levée en masse.

August 25

Marseilles recaptured.

August 27

Toulon surrenders to the British.

September 5

Government by terror begins.

September 17

Law of Suspects.

September 29

General Maximum introduced.

October 3

Girondins sent for trial.

October 5

Revolutionary calendar introduced.

October 9

Fall of Lyon.

October 10

Revolutionary government declared.

October 16

Marie-Antoinette executed.

October 17

Vendeans defeated at Cholet.

October 31

Execution of Girondins.

November 10

Festival of Reason at Nôtre Dame.

November 22

Parisian churches closed.

December 4

Revolutionary government created.

December 12

Vendeans defeated at Le Mans.

December 19

Fall of Toulon to French.

1794

February 21

Price controls revised.

February 26

Confiscation of
émigré
land.

March 3

Distribution of
émigré
land among the poor.

March 13

Arrest and execution
of Hébertists.

March 27

Revolutionary armies
disbanded.

April 5

Danton and
Desmoulins executed.

June 8

Festival of the
Supreme Being.

July 5

Wage controls
introduced in Paris.

July 28

Robespierre sent to
guillotine.

September 18

State renounces all subsidies to
religion.

November 12

Jacobin club closed.

December 8

Surviving Girondins reinstated.

December 24

Maximum abolished; invasion of Holland.

1795

February 17

Pacification in the Vendée.

February 21

Freedom of worship restored.

April 1

Uprising of Germinal (12 Germinal).

May 20

Uprising of Prairial (1 Prairial).

May 31

Revolutionary tribunal abolished.

June 8

Death of Louis XVII.

June 27

Royalists land at Quibéron; defeated
three weeks later.

July 22

Peace concluded with Spain.

October 1

Annexation of Belgium.

October 5

Uprising of Vendémiaire.

October 26

End of Convention.

November 3

Directory constituted.

December 10

Forced loans from the wealthy.

1796

February 19

Withdrawal of assignats.

March 2

Napoleon appointed commander in Italy.

June 12

Papal territory invaded.

1797

July 25

Political clubs closed.

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