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 Jean-Paul
MARAT's destiny
Charlotte Corday
(July 27th,1768/July
17th,1793), aristocrat with no
wealth, French patriot, was born in Les Champeaux, a
hamlet about five kilometers from Vimoutiers.
Descended from the dramatist Pierre Corneille, on her mother line, adept of the
philosophs Plutarch,
Tacitus and
Rousseau, sympathizer of the moderates, or
Girondists, during the
French Revolution, she determined to kill
Jean-Paul Marat,
Montagnard and radical
Jacobins, whom she held responsible for the
Reign of Terror. Charlotte went to Paris, she gained
admittance to Marat's house on the pretext of disclosing to him the
names of Girondins in the city of Caen. Marat suffering of skin
problems, used to work in a bath. Charlotte is admitted in the room,
and here stabbed him to death while he was in his bath. Charlotte was
captured by Marat's friends before she could escape, and condemned by
the revolutionary tribunal.
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The childhood
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The exaltation
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The murder
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In jail, the trial
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The guillotine
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Videos/CLIP/film
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Historical background
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Hotel de la Providence, Paris
July 11, 1793, Charlotte arrives in Paris and settles in the Hotel de la Providence 19, rue des Vieux Augustins aroud midday.
(ie,
14 rue Herold, but nowadays, the hotel does not exist any longer).
On July 12, she is informed that Marat, suffering, no longer attends meetings at the Convention but works in his home.
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Rue des Cordeliers, Paris
On july 13 in the morning, she goes to the Palais Royal and buys a large knife at Badin cutler's shop -
177 of the present Galerie de Valois - and at 11 o'clock, she appears at the door of Marat 30,
rue des Cordeliers, - previously Hôtel de Cahors - claiming to have knowledge of a planned Girondist uprising in Caen
... She is turned away ... She tries a second time vainly ...
Gavure H. Gourdon de Genouillac
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Assassination of Marat
Around 7 pm, Charlotte tries again and while he is working in his bathtub, Marat can hear her ... Marat admits her ...
They exchange a few words about Girondists in Caen and Marat says they will be killed ... Then, Charlotte pulls out the knife and stabs Marat in his bathtub.
Painting
Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry
-
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
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Death of Marat
"A moi, ma chère amie (help me, my dear friend) ..." are the lasts words cried out by Marat to her companion Simone Evrard.
"At the time, Marat suffered from a skin disease that required him to take curative sulfur baths,
and to wrap his head with a handkerchief soaked in vinegar to relieve his migraines."
July 13, 1793, 30 rue des Cordeliers Paris, Marat stabbed to death
The death of Marat
by
Jacques-Louis David
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Arrest
Immediately arrested, Charlotte does not resist ...
on Her, a letter "Address to the French people, friends of Law and Peace ... I showed you the path ..." that she has written to explain her motives for assassinating Marat :
Adresse au Français, amis des lois et de la Paix ... je vous ai montré le chemin ..."
The "flagrante delicto" report will indicate that convinced that Marat was the principal author of disasters committed in France, she had preferred to sacrifice her life for her country".
The manuscript -
Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits - Paris.
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Prison de l'Abbaye
Charlotte is taken a short distance to the
prison de l'Abbaye where she is kept in custody day and night. (previously prison abbatiale du monastère de Saint-Germain des Prés and desmolished in 1854).
... >>> Charlotte Corday next :
1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Charlotte's
Baptism record :
"Ce
vingt-huit de juillet mil sept cent soixante-huit, par nous
soussigné curé, a été
baptisée Marie-Anne-Charlotte née d'hier du
légitime mariage de messire Jacques-François de
Corday, écuyer, seigneur d'Armont et de noble dame
Marie-Jacqueline de Gautier, son épouse, de cette paroisse;
le parrain, messire Jean-Baptiste-Alexis de Gautier, écuyer,
seigneur de Mesnival; la marraine, noble dame
Françoise-Marie-Anne Levailant de Corday; le père
présent.
Ont signé : Levaillant de Corday, de Gautier de Mesnival,
Corday d'Armont, J.L. Pollard, curé des Ligneries"
The above transcription is the one which was given
to Charlotte for her admittance in the Ladies's Abbey in Caen in 1782.
Her
parents were Jacques-François de Corday and Marie-Jacqueline
de Gautier,
Her
godfather was Baptiste-Alexis de Gautier, her godmother was
Françoise-Marie-Anne Levailant de Corday.
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