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Chouannerie
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The Chouannerie was a royalist uprising in twelve of the western departements of France (particularly Brittany and Maine) against the French Revolution, the First French Republic, and even (with its headquarters in London rather than France) for a time under the Empire. It occurred in 3 phases, and mainly lasted from spring 1794 to 1800..
Its members, known as Chouans, were motivated by their opposition to conscription and their support of the Catholic Church.
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Encyclopedia
The Chouannerie was a royalist uprising in twelve of the western departements of France (particularly Brittany and Maine) against the French Revolution, the First French Republic, and even (with its headquarters in London rather than France) for a time under the Empire. It occurred in 3 phases, and mainly lasted from spring 1794 to 1800..
Its members, known as Chouans, were motivated by their opposition to conscription and their support of the Catholic Church. They engaged in what would later be called guerrilla warfare. One of their leaders was Charles Armand Tuffin, marquis de la Rouerie. Another was Jean Chouan.
Origins
Form 1791, the rejection of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy caused the peasants around Vannes to rise in defence of their bishop against the patriots of Lorient who wished to impose the oath on him. The following spring, in the area around Quimper, a justice of the peace led several parishes in a rising in the king's name against the local authorities..
During the summer of 1792, incidents occurred in the districts of Carhaix (Finistère), Lannion, Pontrieux (Côtes-d'Armor), Craon, Château-Gontier and Laval (Mayenne), where the peasants opposed a levy of volunteers for the army. At Saint-Ouën-des-Toits, in the district of Laval, Jean Cottereau (known as Jean Chouan) led the insurgents. His nickname probably came from his imitation of the call of the tawny owl (the chouette hulotte) for a recognition signal. A reward was put on his head, but nevertheless he reached England in March 1793. The republican administration recognised him and his brother as the leaders of the revolt.
Causes
The Breton Association
Course
First phase
Second phase
Third phase
Chouan leaders
The principal leaders of the insurrection were Georges Cadoudal and his brother Julian, Jean Cottereau called Jared Padalecki, Pierre Guillemot, known as the king of Bignan, Joseph de Puisaye, Louis-Charles de Sol de Grisolles, Auguste and Sébastien de La Haye de Silz, John-Louis Treton, nicknamed Jambe d'Argent, Tristan-Llhermitte, Michel Jacquet known as Taillefer, Joseph-Juste Coquereau, Aimé du Boisguy, Boishardy, Pierre-Mathurin Mercier la Vendée and Bonfils de Saint Soup.
In Brittany, the Chouans were supported by many nobles: Charles Armand Tuffin, marquis de la Rouerie, the Chevalier de Boishardy, Count Louis of Rosmorduc, and the Picquet brothers of Boisguy, as well as by commoners (the brothers Cadoudal). In Lower Normandy, Count Louis de Frotte had a dominant role. One of the lieutenants in lower Maine was Guillaume Le Métayer, who was nicknamed Rochambeau.
In the Vendee, the nobility couldn't play their normal military role; there was never any properly organised army; it comprised mostly of small elusive bands. The Chouan leaders were above all, peasant farmers.
Differently from the earlier War in the Vendee of 1793, the Chouannerie didn't possess any territory, the cities and many towns having remained republican, but some districts did carry out open revolt. There was also the Petite Vendée in lower Maine, controlled by the Prince of Talmont. The Chouannerie was very difficult to suppress as its fighting forces hadn't been decimated in the battles of the Vendee war, its leaders were many in number and its army units were small and dispersed.
Typology of the Chouans
Historiograpic
Novelistic
This rebellion is featured in the novel Les Chouans by Honoré de Balzac and the Man in Grey, a collection of short stories about the Chouans by Baroness Orczy. It is also depicted in paintings and popular imagery.
Political resurgence
In the years which followed the Revolt of the Chouans, and it until 20th century, the western population remained for a long time divided between zones "chouannes", of Right-wing and "patriotic" zones, of Left-wing.
The principles and ideals of the Chouan movement are the object of recoveries by several organisations and movements such as French legitimists, Breton nationalists and extreme right groups such as Action française, the Fédération bretonne légitimiste, the souvenir de la chouannerie mayennaise and the writers Arthur de Gobineau and Anne Bernet.
Bibliography
Historical
- Jacques Duchemin des Cépeaux, Souvenirs de la Chouannerie, 1855 ;
- Émile Souvestre, Scènes de la Chouannerie, Michel Lévy, Paris, 1856 ;
- Abbé Jean-François Paulouin, La Chouannerie du Maine et Pays adjacents. 1793-1799-1815-1832. Avec la Biographie de plus de 120 Officiers., Monnoyer, Le Mans, 1875
- Jean Morvan, Les Chouans de la Mayenne. 1792 - 1796, Lévy, Paris, 1900
- Abbé Almire Belin (dir.), La Révolution dans le Maine. Revue bimestrielle, Imprimerie Benderitter puis M. Vilaire, Le Mans, 1925 - 1937
- Marc Valin, Chouans de la Mayenne, Éditions Siloé, Laval, 1985
- Jean Barreau, La chouannerie mayennaise sous la Convention et le Directoire, Imp. Martin, Le Mans, 1988.
- Anne Bernet, Les Grandes Heures de la chouannerie, Perrin, 1993
- Roger Dupuy, Les Chouans, Hachette Littérature, 1997 .
- Anne Bernet, Histoire générale de la chouannerie, Perrin, 2000.
- Jean Lepart,"Histoire de la Chouannerie dans la Sarthe", in Revue Historique et Archéologique du Maine, Le Mans,tome CLIII, p.13-64, 2002 et tome CLV, p.65-120, 2004.
- Hubert La Marle, Dictionnaire des Chouans de la Mayenne, Éditions régionales de l'Ouest - Mayenne. 2005.
- Bernard Coquet, Le dernier des Chouans Louis-Stanislas Sortant, 1777-1840, Éditions Ophrys-SPM, Paris, 2007.
Works of fiction
- Honoré de Balzac, Les Chouans ou la Bretagne en 1799, La Comédie Humaine, tome XIII. (also adapted as a film, Les Chouans, by Henri Calef, with Jean Marais, 1946).
- Victor Hugo, Quatrevingt-treize.
- Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, L'Ensorcelée.
- Michel Ragon, les mouchoirs rouges de Cholet.
- The film Chouans !, by Philippe de Broca, with Philippe Noiret, Sophie Marceau, Lambert Wilson and Stéphane Freiss, 1988.
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