ROBESPIERRE, THE DUKE OF YORK, AND PISISTRATUS DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY TERROR

Colin Jones,Simon Macdonald

doi:10.1017/s0018246x17000267

Colin Jones, Simon Macdonald

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x17000267

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Abstract

AbstractMaximilien Robespierre was deposed on 27 July 1794/9 Thermidor Year II when the charge that he was a tyrant burst spectacularly into open political discussion in France. This article examines key aspects of how that charge had developed, and been discussed in veiled terms, over the preceding months. First, it analyses a war of words which unfolded between Robespierre and the duke of York, the commander of the British forces on the northern front. This involved allegations that Robespierre had used an assassination attempt against him in late May as a pretext for scapegoating the British – including the orchestration of a notorious government decree of 7 Prairial/26 May 1794 which banned the taking of British and Hanoverian prisoners of war. Second, the article explores how these developments fitted within a larger view of Robespierre as aiming for supreme power. In particular, they meshed closely with a reading of French politics which likened Robespierre to the ancient Athenian leader Pisistratus, a figure who had subverted the city's constitution – including posing as a victim of violent attacks – in order to establish his tyranny. Pisistratus's story, we argue, offered a powerful script for interpreting Robespierre's actions, and a cue for resistance.

Highlights

Maximilien Robespierre was deposed on July / Thermidor Year II when the charge that he was a tyrant burst spectacularly into open political discussion in France
The example of Pisistratus is already in everyone’s minds. These words appeared in a British intelligence briefing, based on a spy report from Paris, dated May. This was at the height of the Terror, some two months before the overthrow of Robespierre on July, following assassination attempts made on – May by two obscure figures, Henri Admiral and Cécile Renault, on the lives of Collot d’Herbois and Robespierre, both key members of the Committee of Public Safety (CPS) governing France
More than a year later, the erstwhile Jacobin radical Xavier Audouin would make the same association. Following his discussion of the Cécile Renault assassination attempt, ‘Modern Pisistratus!’, he exclaimed of Robespierre: ‘He made himself interesting by recounting the dangers that threatened him.’

Summary

Introduction

Maximilien Robespierre was deposed on July / Thermidor Year II when the charge that he was a tyrant burst spectacularly into open political discussion in France. It analyses a war of words which unfolded between Robespierre and the duke of York, the commander of the British forces on the northern front.

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