Paris

The capital of France and of the French Revolution. The duchess lived in the heart of the city, on the Place du Carrousel. See also the map of Paris in ‘Resources’.

Appears in these Letters:

1789

9 May: The Opening of the Estates General

The Estates General was the national representative body called by Louis XVI to solve the state’s financial problems. It was set up with ornate...

16 July: Aftermath of the Fall of the Bastille

The duchess provides an immediate response to the dramatic Revolutionary events of early July 1789. Momentum had shifted from Versailles and the new...

22 July: Revolutionary Paris in July 1789

The duchess reflects on events in the Revolution so far and the rising power of Paris's new municipal government. She castigates a...

8 August: The Duchess Rides Through the Great Fear

The duchess felt trapped in Paris following the Revolutionary events of July 1789. She decided to leave Paris for her provincial estates at Moreuil in...

14 October: A King Imprisoned? The October Days

On 5-6 October 1789, a Parisian crowd led by thousands of women marched out to demonstrate at Versailles and forced the royal family to relocate to...

1790

30 August: Confrontation at Moreuil

This entry details a lengthy confrontation between the duchess and local inhabitants at her Moreuil estate. The new political landscape taking shape...

1791

30 June: Capture at Varennes: The Humiliation of a King

Here the duchess sifts through the wreckage of the royal family's thwarted attempt to escape Paris in June 1791. Before leaving on what would become...

3 October: Life as an Émigré. Part 1

The duchess recounts her departure from France for Tournai in the Austrian Netherlands, which had become a rallying post for the expanding French...

7 November: Life as an Émigré. Part 2

The duchess gives a more positive report of life in Tournai than in her Letter of the previous month, comparing the fear she would have been enduring...

1792

25 May: Revolutionary France Faces Military Disaster

After much triumphalist rhetoric in Parisian political circles ahead of France's declaration of war against Austria on 20 April 1792, the harsh...

4 September: Revolutionary Massacre: Paris in September 1792

At the start of September 1792 Revolutionary tensions boiled over in the capital in the wake of the fall of the monarchy and news of...

1793

28 March - 29 March: Terror on the Horizon. Part 2

The duchess notes the new security measures being implemented by the authorities and their impact on Parisians. This entry comes from the section of...

29 May - 31 May: Purge of the Girondins. Part 1

Another entry which speaks to the possible political implications of the military pressure the Republic was under. The duchess believes this to be the...

1 June - 3 June: Purge of the Girondins. Part 2

Popular pressure finally secured the ‘Purge of the Girondins’ from the National Convention on 2 June 1793. A total of twenty-nine deputies were...

5 June: Reflections on Political Repression

The duchess explains how the balance of political power in the capital has recently shifted in a more radical direction, and considers the...

31 July: Revolutionary Justice in the summer of 1793

The duchess offers news and personal reflections on recent developments in the French Revolution (as seen from her home in the heart of the capital)...