French politician (1734?1793)
Jean-Marie Roland de la Platiere
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Engraving by Nicolas Colibert, 1792-1793.
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Born
| (
1734-02-18
)
18 February 1734
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Died
| 10 November 1793
(1793-11-10)
(aged 59)
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Cause of death
| suicide
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Nationality
| French
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Occupation
| economist
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Employer
| King Louis XVI
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Known for
| leader of
Girondist
faction
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Title
| Minister of the Interior, Minister of Justice
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Political party
| Gironde
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Opponent
| Robespierre
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Spouse
| Jeanne Manon Roland de la Platiere
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Jean-Marie Roland de la Platiere
(
French pronunciation:
[???
ma?i
??l??
d?
la
platj??]
; 18 February 1734 ? 10 November 1793) was a French inspector of manufactures in Lyon and became a leader of the
Girondist
faction in the
French Revolution
, largely influenced in this direction by his wife,
Marie-Jeanne "Manon" Roland de la Platiere
. He served as a
minister of the interior
in
King
Louis XVI
's government in 1792.
Early life
[
edit
]
Roland de la Platiere was born and baptized on 18 February 1734 in
Thizy, Rhone
. He was a studious child, who received a thorough education. At the age of 18 years, Roland was offered the choice of becoming either a businessman or a priest. But he declined both offers and took up studying manufacturing, leading him to the city of
Lyons
. Two years later, a cousin and inspector of manufactures offered Roland a position in Rouen. He gladly accepted the job. Roland then was transferred to
Languedoc
, where he became an enthusiastic economist but soon became ill from overwork. He was then offered the less stressful job of lead inspector of
Picardy
which was the third most important manufacturing province in France in 1781.
Later that year he married Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, better known simply as
Madame Roland
, the daughter of a Parisian engraver. Madame Roland was just as involved in Jean-Marie's work as he was, editing much of his writing and supporting his political goals. For the first four years of their marriage, Roland continued to live in Picardy and work as a factory inspector. His knowledge of commercial affairs enabled him to contribute articles to the
Encyclopedie Methodique
, a three volume encyclopedia of manufacturing and industry, in which, as in all his literary work, he was assisted by his wife.
The Revolution
[
edit
]
During the first year of the Revolution, the Rolands moved to
Lyon
, where their influence grew and their political ambitions became clear. From the beginning of the Revolution, they affiliated with the
liberal
cause. The articles they contributed to the
Courrier de Lyon
came to the attention of the
Parisian
press; although Roland signed them, it was Madame Roland who wrote them. The city then sent Roland to Paris to inform the Constituent Assembly of the critical state of the silk industry and to ask for relief of Lyon's debt. As a result, a correspondence began between Roland,
Jacques Pierre Brissot
and other supporters of the Revolution, whom he had met in Paris. The Rolands arrived in Paris during February 1791, and remained there until September. They frequented the
Society of the Friends of the Constitution
, entertaining deputies who later became leading Girondists, and taking an active part in the political landscape. Meanwhile, Madame Roland opened her first salon, helping her husband's name become better known in the capital.
In September 1791, Roland's mission was complete and he returned to Lyon. By then, however, inspectorships of manufacture had been abolished, so the Roland family decided to move and make their new home in Paris. Roland became a member of the
Jacobin Club
, and their influence continued to grow. Madame Roland's
salon
becoming the rendezvous of Brissot,
Jerome Petion de Villeneuve
,
Maximilien Robespierre
, and other leaders of the popular movement ? especially
Francois Nicolas Leonard Buzot
.
When the
Girondins
assumed power, Roland found himself appointed minister of the interior on 23 March 1792, displaying both his administrative ability and what the
Encyclopædia Britannica
(Eleventh Edition, 1911) characterized as "a
bourgeois
brusqueness".
His wife's influence on his declarations of policy was particularly strong in this period: as Roland was
ex officio
excluded from the
Legislative Assembly
, these declarations were in writing, and so most prone to exhibit Madame Roland's personal beliefs.
King Louis XVI
used his
veto
power to prevent decrees against
emigres
and the
non-juring clergy
. Madame Roland therefore wrote a letter addressing the royal refusal to sanction the decrees and the role of the king in the state, which her husband addressed and sent to the king. When it remained unanswered, Roland read it aloud in full council and in the king's presence. Judged inconsistent with a minister's position and disrespectful in tone, the incident led to Roland's dismissal. However, he then read the letter to the Assembly, which ordered it printed and circulated. It became a manifesto of dissatisfaction, and the Assembly's subsequent demand that Roland and other dismissed ministers be reinstated eventually led to the king's dethronement.
After the
insurrection of 10 August
, Roland was reinstated as Interior Minister, but was dismayed by what he saw as the lack of progress made by the Revolution. As a provincial, he opposed the
Montagnards
who aimed at supremacy not only in Paris but in the government as well. His hostility to the
Paris Commune
prompted him to propose transferring the government to
Blois
; and his attacks on Robespierre and his associates made him very unpopular. After failing to seal the
armoire de fer
(iron chest) found in the
Tuileries Palace
, containing documents that indicated Louis XVI's relations with corrupt politicians, he was accused of destroying some of the evidence within. Finally, during the trial of the king, he and the Girondists demanded that the sentence should be decided by a poll of the French people rather than the
National Convention
. Two days after the king's execution, he resigned his office.
Death
[
edit
]
Not long after he resigned as minister, the Girondins came under attack and Roland was denounced as well. Roland fled Paris and went into hiding; in his absence, he was sentenced to death. Madame Roland remained in Paris, where she was arrested in June 1793 and executed on 8 November. When Roland learned belatedly of his wife's imminent death, he wandered away from his refuge in
Rouen
and wrote a few words expressing his horror at the
Reign of Terror
: "From the moment when I learned that they had murdered my wife, I would no longer remain in a world stained with enemies." He attached the paper to his chest, sat up against a tree, and ran a
cane-sword
through his heart on the evening of 10 November 1793.
[2]
[3]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Claude Perroud, "Note critique sur les dates de l'execution de Mme Roland et du suicide de Roland",
La Revolution francaise: revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine
, Paris: Societe de l'histoire de la Revolution francaise, t. 22, 1895, pp. 15?26.
- ^
Sian Reynolds,
Marriage and Revolution: Monsieur and Madame Roland
, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 287?288.
Sources
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Andress, David.
The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France
(2006)
- Blashfield, Evangeline Wilbour.
Manon Phlipon Roland: Early Years
(1922)
online
- Hanson, Paul R.
Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution
- Higonnet, Patrice. "The Social and Cultural Antecedents of Revolutionary Discontinuity: Montagnards and Girondins,"
English Historical Review
(1985): 100#396 pp. 513?544
in JSTOR
- Lamartine, Alphonse de.
History of the Girondists, Volume I Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution
(1847)
online free in Kindle edition
;
Volume 1
,
Volume 2
|
Volume 3
- May, Gita.
Madame Roland and the Age of Revolution
(1970)
- Schama, Simon.
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
(1989)
excerpt and text search
- Scott, Samuel F. and Barry Rothaus.
Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution 1789-1799
(1985) Vol. 2 pp 837?41
online
- Sutherland, D.M.G.
France 1789?1815. Revolution and Counter-Revolution
(2nd ed. 2003) ch 5,
- Tarbell, Ida.
Madame Roland, A Biographical Study
(1905).
External links
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