Madame Roland
Encyclopedia
Marie-Jeanne Roland, better known simply as Madame Roland and born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon (17 March 1754 – 8 November 1793), was, together with her husband Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière
Jean-Marie Roland, vicomte de la Platière
Jean-Marie Roland, de la Platière was a French manufacturer in Lyon and became the leader of the Girondist faction in the French Revolution, largely influenced in this direction by his wife, Marie-Jeanne "Manon" Roland de la Platiere...

, a supporter of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 and influential member of the Girondist
Girondist
The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...

 faction. She fell out of favour during the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...

 and died on the guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...

.

Early years

Madame Roland was born as Marie-Jean Phlipon in 1754 and was the only child of seven to survive the first year in the home of Pierre Gacien and Marguerite Binot Phlipon. From her early years she was a successful, enthusiastic, talented student. From the beginning she was strong willed and resisted doing anything that did not agree with her sensibilities. She frequently challenged her father and instructors as she progressed through an advanced, well-rounded education. Trained to the standards of the advanced French middledom as well as being an accomplished musician and dancer. An avid, self-motivated reader, she read Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

's "Parallel Lives
Parallel Lives
Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, written in the late 1st century...

 by age 9. Plutarch formed the most important foundation of her philosophical ideals and beliefs and led her to embrace the fundamental ideals that the state existed for the well being of its citizens, not the benefit of a monarch, and every citizen shares in the responsibility for the success of the state. Thereafter she was also strongly influenced by Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist....

, Massillon
Jean Baptiste Massillon
Jean Baptiste Massillon was a French Catholic bishop and famous preacher, Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death.-Early years:Massillon was born at Hyères in Provence where his father was a royal notary...

, and similar authors, and most importantly by Montesquieu
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu , generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment...

, Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

 and Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...

. As her studies developed under the influence of these authors, she abandoned the idea of entering a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

, and developed a strong preference for the republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

 as the ideal form of government.

Manon Phlipon (as her close friends and relatives called her) also, as she traveled, developed an increasing awareness of the outside world. In 1774, on a trip to Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...

, some of her most famous letters were sent to her friend Sophie, wherein she first begins to display an interest in politics, describing the perfect government as one which contained "enlightened and well-meaning ministers, a young prince docile to their council who wants to do good, a lovable and well doing queen, an easy court, pleasant and decent, an honorable legislative body, a charming people who wants nothing but the power to love its master...". Already, Manon was disregarding the idea of an absolute monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 by placing the authority and importance of government ministers before the crown.

Marriage and political activity

She married Jean-Marie Roland in 1781, every bit his equal in intellect and character, even though he was more than 20 years older than she. With him and through him, she exercised a singularly powerful influence over the destiny of France.

In 1784, she obtained a promotion for her husband which transferred him to Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, where she began building her network of friends and associates. In Lyon, the Rolands began to express their political support for the revolution through letters to the journal Patriote Français. Their voice was noticed and in November 1790, Jean-Marie was elected to represent Lyon in Paris, negotiating a loan to reduce the debt of Lyon. When the couple moved from Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 to Paris in 1791, she began to take an even more active role. Her salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...

 at the Hotel Britannique in Paris became the rendezvous of Brissot
Jacques Pierre Brissot
Jacques Pierre Brissot , who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot.-Biography:...

, Pétion
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was a French writer and politician.Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was the son of a at Chartres. Though it is known that he was trained as a lawyer, very few specifics are known about Petion’s early life, as he was virtually unknown prior to the French Revolution...

, Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...

 and other leaders of the popular movement. An especially esteemed guest was Buzot
François Buzot
François Nicolas Léonard Buzot was a French politician and leader of the French Revolution.-Early life:Born at Évreux, Eure, he studied Law, and, at the outbreak of the Revolution was a lawyer in his home town. In 1789 he was elected deputy to the Estates-General and there became known for his...

, whom she loved with platonic
Platonic love
Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...

 enthusiasm. These leaders of the Girondist faction of the Jacobin Club
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...

 met to discuss the rights of citizens and strategies to transform the French from subjects of the Monarchy into citizens of a constitutional republic.

In person, Madame Roland is said to have been attractive but not beautiful; her ideas were clear and far-reaching, her manner calm, and her power of observation extremely acute. Madame Roland’s ability to weave social networks fed the Rolands' growing popularity; an invitation from Madame Roland would signify acknowledged importance to the developing French government. It was through Manon that one gained access to the inner circle of the growing Gironde. Inevitably, her activity placed her in the centre of political aspirations where she swayed a company of the most talented men of progress.

She began this movement toward political involvement slowly, starting out simply by working as a secretary for her husband. As time went on, however, she found that she could tweak his letters and still sign them in his name, as he appreciated her input and assistance. Following her husband’s rise within the Girondist group, Madame Roland attained more and more influence over it. She never spoke during formal meetings, though her ideals were well known and represented. Whenever M. Roland spoke, it was generally known that he was speaking also for her. The Gironde policies reflected her sentiments. Though the Girondist movement would eventually split into factions, for a time the whole group remained united in forcing the resignation of the ministers.

Madame Roland and her husband defected from the Jacobins in early 1792 and, with Jacques-Pierre Brissot, formed the moderate Girondin party. Monsieur Roland became minister of the interior, and Madame Roland continued as his confidante and advisor. She also authored much of his official correspondence, including the letter to the King of June 21, 1792, which urged the King to publicly pledge his loyalty and cooperation to the new republic, or suffer the consequences of escalating civil unrest. Madame Roland’s sharply worded passion cost her husband his ministry, but satisfied Madame Roland’s pride and passion. Her letter to the King could be considered the peak of her political influence. After Monsieur Roland made a stand against the worst excesses of the Revolution, however, the couple became unpopular. Once, Madame Roland appeared personally in the Assembly to repel the falsehoods of an accuser, and her ease and dignity evoked enthusiasm and compelled acquittal. Her drive, focus, and radiant intelligence made her the equal in accomplishments of any contemporary male politician.

Nevertheless, the accusations mounted. On the morning of 1 June 1793, she, along with other Girondins, was arrested for treason and, as a woman who had betrayed her sex, for her political activism. She was thrown into the prison of the Abbaye. Her husband escaped to Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

 with her help. Released for an hour from the Abbaye, she was again arrested and placed in Sainte-Pelagie
Sainte-Pélagie
Sainte-Pélagie was a prison in Paris from 1790 to 1895. It saw many famous prisoners during the French revolution, with Madame Roland and Grace Dalrymple Elliott being the only female prisoners. After the revolution, the Marquis de Sade was imprisoned here, as was the young mathematician Évariste...

, and finally transferred to the Conciergerie
Conciergerie
La Conciergerie is a former royal palace and prison in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, near the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. It is part of the larger complex known as the Palais de Justice, which is still used for judicial purposes...

. In prison, she was respected by the guards, and was allowed the privilege of writing materials and occasional visits from devoted friends. There, she wrote her Appel à l'impartiale postérité, memoirs which display a strange alternation between self-praise and love of country, the trivial and the sublime. She was tried on trumped-up charges of harbouring royalist sympathies, but it was plain that her death was part of Robespierre's purge of the Girondist opposition.

Imprisonment and death

Perhaps some of the most interesting days of Madame Roland’s life took place in prison as she struggled with her concept of a woman’s place in the nation of France after having been forced to lurk in the shadows to gain her own influence over the nation. Though she had earlier stated that she would "rather chew off (her own) fingers than become a writer," Madame Roland began writing her memoirs during her stay in prison. Madame Roland wrote her memoirs in five months, with sections smuggled from the prison by her frequent guests. In her memoirs, she reflected upon her studies, passions, and political events. Madame Roland climbed the political scale by editing and modifying her husband’s platform but she established her historical significance through her recorded memoirs. Manon proved that women could significantly affect national politics. She proved women to be valuable active partners to political success. After Madame Roland helped her husband escape Paris, she accepted her fate of death on the guillotine as the only way to clear her name and reputation. Refusing to compromise her principles and remaining true to the ideals of Rousseau, Voltaire, and Plutarch, she died as a citizen of the republic, not a subject of the monarchy. After the revolution, her memoirs were published in 1795, so that Madame Roland continued to influence the formation of the French republic.

On 8 November 1793, she was conveyed to the guillotine. Before placing her head on the block, she bowed before the clay statue of Liberty in the Place de la Révolution
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...

, uttering the famous remark for which she is remembered:
O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom! (Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!)


Her corpse was disposed of in the Madeleine Cemetery
Madeleine Cemetery
Cimetière de la Madeleine is also the name of a cemetery in AmiensMadeleine Cemetery in French known as Cimetière de la Madeleine is a former cemetery in Paris, part of the land on which the Chapelle expiatoire now stands.-History and location:...

. Two days after her execution, her husband, Jean-Marie Roland, committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

on a country lane outside Rouen.
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