Everything about The Cordelier totally explained
The
Cordeliers, also known as the
Club of the Cordeliers and formally as the
Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen comprised a
populist society during the
French Revolution. It was formed by the members of the district of the Cordeliers, when the
National Constituent Assembly suppressed the 60 districts of
Paris to replace them with 48 sections (
May 21,
1790).
The
club held its meetings at first in the church of the monastery of the
Cordeliers, - the name given in
France to the
Franciscan Observantists, - now the Dupuytren museum of anatomy in connection with the school of medicine. From 1791, however, the Cordeliers met in a hall in the
rue Dauphine, as well as in the
Café Procope.
The aim of the society was to keep an eye on the government; the emblem on its papers was simply an open eye. It sought as well to encourage
revolutionary measures against the
monarchy and the
old régime, and it was especially responsible for popularising the motto
Liberté, égalité, fraternité ("Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"), in May 1791, following a speech on the Army by the
marquis de Guichardin . It took an active part in the movement against the monarchy of
June 20 and
August 10,
1792; but after that date the more moderate leaders of the club,
Georges Danton,
Fabre d'Églantine and
Camille Desmoulins, seem to have ceased attending, and the
exagérés or
Hébertists obtained control, such as
J. R. Hébert,
F. N. Vincent,
C. P. H. Ronsin and
A. F. Momoro. Its influence was especially seen in the creation of the revolutionary army destined to assure provisions for Paris, and in the establishment of the worship of
Reason.
The Cordeliers were combated by those revolutionists who wished to end the
Terror, especially by Danton, and by Camille Desmoulins in his journal
Le Vieux Cordelier. The club disowned Danton and Desmoulins and attacked
Robespierre for his "moderation", but the new insurrection which it attempted failed, and its leaders were
guillotined on
March 24,
1794, from which date nothing is known of the club. Little is known of its composition.
The papers emanating from the Cordeliers are enumerated in
Jean Maurice Tourneux,
Bibliographie de l'histoire de Paris pendant la Révolution (1894), i. (on the trial of the Hébertists) Nos. 4204-4210, ii. Nos. 9795-9834 and 11,813. See also
A. Bougeart Les Cordeliers, documents pour servir a l'histoire de la Révolution (Caen, 1891);
G. Lenotre,
Paris révolutionnaire (Paris, 1895);
G. Tridon,
Les Hébertists, plainte contre une calomnie de l'histoire (Paris, 1864). The last-named author was condemned to four months' prison; his work was reprinted in 1871. The inventory of the pictures found in 1790 in the monastery of the Cordeliers was published by
J. Guiffrey in
Nouvelles archives de l’art francais, viii., 2nd series, iii. (1880).
Notable Members
-
Georges Jacques Danton
-
Camille Desmoulins
-
Jacques René Hébert
-
Jacques Pierre Brissot
-
Jean-Paul MaratFurther Information
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