Speeches of Maximilien Robespierre/Explanatory Notes
EXPLANATORY NOTES
August 10 (1793): Anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and the provisional dethronement of Louis XVI.
Capet: The name of an ancient dynasty of kings in France (the "Capetian Line"), of which Louis XVI was a descendent.
Catherine II (1729–1796): Empress of Russia (1762–1796).
Coblenz: A city on the west bank of the Rhine, at the confluence with the Moselle, in which many emigré noblemen gathered and intrigued after the Revolution.
Danton, Georges Jacques (1759–1794): A French revolutionary leader, member of the Convention; he was tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and guillotined May 4, 1794; a volume of this series is devoted to his speeches.
Desmoulins, Benoit Camille (1760–1794): French revolutionist and writer; author of the Histoire des Brissotins; guillotined May 4, 1794, together with Danton.
Don Inigo Lopez de Recalde; Ignatius Loyola: Founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order).
Feuillants: A political club established at Paris during the Revolution. It was first called the Club of 1789, receiving its later name from the convent of the Feuillants, where it held its meetings.
Girond: The moderate Republican Party during the First French Revolution (1792); so called from the department whence its earliest members were sent up as representatives.
Jacobins: A French revolutionary club, so called from the meeting in a hall of the former Jacobin convent in the Rue St. Honoré, Paris. It called itself "The Society of Friends of the Constitution." Its twelve hundred branch societies, led by Robespierre, Danton and Marat, had an enormous influence. It controlled the Legislative Assembly after 1791, and organized the Reign of Terror and the agitation against the king. It was overthrown in November, 1794, but not dissolved until 1799.
Lafayette, Marquis de (1757–1834): Lafayette is particularly known for his participation in the American War of Independence. During the French Revolution he played a reactionary role. In May, 1790, he founded the "Society of 1789," which afterwards became the Feuillant Club. He retired to private life in 1791.
Louis XVI (1754–1793): King of France (1774–1792), guillotined January 21, 1793.
Louvet de Couvray Jean Baptiste (1760–1797): A deputy to the Convention in 1792; author of the lubricious novel, Les amours du chevalier de Faublas (1787–1789).
Lucretius Carus: Roman philosophical poet (96 B.C.–55 B.C.); his didactic poem, De rerum natura, treats physics, psychology and ethics from the Epicurean point of view. Committed suicide, perhaps in a moment of insanity.
Marat, Jean Paul (1743–1793): Physician and revolutionary leader; stabbed to death by Charlotte Corday; a volume of this series is devoted to his writings.
Marie Antoinette (1755–1793): Queen of France, wife of Louis XVI, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria and Maria Theresa; guillotined October 16, 1793, nine months after Louis XVI.
Mirabeau, Comte de (1749–1791): A French statesman and writer; called the French Demosthenes; a member of the Constituent Assembly.
Mountain: The most revolutionary section of the Convention (The Jacobins) was called the "Mountain," because its occupied the highest benches, farthest removed from the speakers' rostrum.
Racine, Louis (1692–1763): French poet, son of the more famous poetic dramatist, Jean Baptiste Racine (1639–1699).
Saint Just, Louis Antoine Jean de (1767–1794): One of the triumvirate of the Reign of Terror; a volume of this series is devoted to him.
Saint Thomas; Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274): The father of Catholic philosophy (scholasticism).
Tacitus, Cornelius (ca 55 A.D.–117 A.D.): Roman Historian.
Vendée (La): A department in central western France; scene of the revolt of local peasants and Royalists against the French Republic in 1793–1795.
Vergniaud, Pierre Victurnien (1753–1793): Orator, revolutionist, president of the National Convention which sentenced Louis XVI to death, guillotined November 31, 1793.