Pauline Léon (28 September 1768 – 5 October 1838) was an influential woman during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
. She played an important role in the Revolution, driven by her strong
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and anti-royalist beliefs. Along with her friend
Claire Lacombe
Claire Lacombe (4 August 1765-2 May 1826) was a French actress and revolutionary. She is best known for her contributions during the French Revolution. Though it was only for a few years, Lacombe was a revolutionary and a founding member of the S ...
, founded the
Society of Revolutionary Republican Women
The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women (''Société des Citoyennes Républicaines Révolutionnaires'', ''Société des républicaines révolutionnaires'') was a female-led revolutionary organization during the French Revolution. The Soc ...
(''Société des Républicaines-Révolutionnaires''), and she also served as a prominent leader of the ''Femmes
Sans-Culottes
The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . The ...
.
Biography
![CordeliersClub](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/CordeliersClub.jpg)
Léon was born to chocolate makers Pierre-Paul Léon and Mathrine Telohan in Paris on 28 September 1768. She was one of six children. When her father died in 1784, Léon began helping her mother with the chocolate business in exchange for room and board. She was also responsible for helping to raise and support her siblings until the time of her marriage.
Throughout Léon's life, she became entrenched in the politics of the Revolution. She affiliated herself with radical anti-royalist groups such as the
Cordeliers club
The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French ...
and the ''
Enragés
The ''Enragés'' (French for "enraged ones") commonly known as the Ultra-radicals (french: Ultra-radicaux) were a small number of firebrands known for defending the lower class and expressing the demands of the extreme radical sans-culottes durin ...
''.
It was through these affiliations that she met
Théophile Leclerc, a leader of the ''Enragés'', who fought violently for the creation of a French direct democracy. The two were married in 1793 when Pauline was 29 years old.
In April of the next year, because of their radical revolutionary acts, the
Committee of General Security
The Committee of General Security () was a parliamentary committee of the French National Convention which acted as police agency during the French Revolution. Along with the Committee of Public Safety it oversaw the Reign of Terror. The Committe ...
issued a warrant for their arrest. They were arrested together but held separately in a prison in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, where Leclerc had been serving as a soldier. Because they had committed no major crimes, they were released three months later after
Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
died.
After her release from prison, Léon began to pull herself out of the political scene, focusing her efforts on her household and her occupation as a schoolteacher.
Léon died at age 70 at home in Bourbon-Vendée on 5 October 1838.
Role
![StormingBastille](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/StormingBastille.jpg)
The
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
generated political excitement and sometimes violent unrest. Witnessing this unrest stirred Léon to action, and she became a radical for the revolutionary cause. In 1789 at the beginning of the Revolution, she joined in the famous
Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille (french: Prise de la Bastille ) occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents stormed and seized control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. At t ...
, even carrying her own pike. A couple years later, in 1791, she again joined a passionate political crowd and risked her life by signing the Cordeliers' republican petition at the
Champ de Mars
The Champ de Mars (; en, Field of Mars) is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh ''arrondissement'', between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after the ...
.
Her political leanings were no secret. For years, Léon openly protested against all of the following:
Lafayette
Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to:
People
* Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette
* House of La Fayette, a French noble family
** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757â ...
and his royalist wartime opinions,
King Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...
and the system of
French monarchy
France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.
Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the firs ...
, and anyone who was openly a counter-revolutionary.
As was mentioned above, Léon's official political loyalties were with the Cordeliers Club and the ''Enragés.'' Being a part of those groups fueled her revolutionary spirit, and she stood with them even when it landed her in prison for several months.
Léon's political involvement in the Revolution is especially noteworthy because she came from the Parisian artisan class, while most other politically involved women of her day were aristocratic.
Feminism
The Revolution was a time of great debate concerning the status and right of women from all social classes. The entire governmental structure was in question, and men all over France were exploring the ideas of
natural rights. In these unique circumstances, many French women seized the opportunity to call into question the rights of women as well, and what constituted their proper place in society. While people like
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
worked to create a limited domestic image of womanhood, others like
Olympe de Gouges
Olympe de Gouges (; born Marie Gouze; 7 May 17483 November 1793) was a French playwright and political activist whose writings on women's rights and abolitionism reached a large audience in various countries. She began her career as a playwright ...
fought to pioneer women's rights. Léon observed this and became passionately involved in this emerging feminist cause.
![Allée Pauline Léon Paris](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/All%C3%A9e_Pauline_L%C3%A9on_Paris.jpg)
On 6 March 1791 she addressed the Legislative Assembly on behalf of Parisian women, calling for the creation of an all-female militia so that women could protect their own homes from counter-revolutionary assaults. More than 300 Parisian women had signed the petition she was presenting. Her idea of the female militia was strikingly radical because it would include the women having the right to bear arms. This right that was closely associated with full citizenship, and had hardly ever been considered appropriate or necessary for women. Although the militia Léon wanted was never formed, many French women still fought how they could in the conflicts associated with the French Revolution.
Léon, along with her friend
Claire Lacombe
Claire Lacombe (4 August 1765-2 May 1826) was a French actress and revolutionary. She is best known for her contributions during the French Revolution. Though it was only for a few years, Lacombe was a revolutionary and a founding member of the S ...
, founded the
Society of Revolutionary Republican Women
The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women (''Société des Citoyennes Républicaines Révolutionnaires'', ''Société des républicaines révolutionnaires'') was a female-led revolutionary organization during the French Revolution. The Soc ...
(''Société des Républicaines-Révolutionnaires'') and became its president on 9 July 1793. In that same year, she also served as a prominent leader of the ''Femmes
Sans-Culottes
The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . The ...
.'' Her position as president of the ''Société'' was brief, however, because it lasted only eight months. It was shut down by authorities because it was judged by both
Girondins
The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...
and
Jacobins
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
as a dangerous organization that opposed proper womanhood. At its height, however, the Society's meetings were attended by up to 200 people.
Writings
Although Léon was very active in the public sphere, either she did not write much, or not many of her writings have been preserved. The following are a couple of exceptions:
One of her surviving writings is her "Petition to the National Assembly on Women's Rights to Bear Arms," which she presented on 6 March 1791. The petition asserted that the new French Constitution was for women as well as men, meaning that they required the arms necessary to defend it. She promised that French women still held dear their roles as wives and mothers, and that their possession of the right to bear arms would not detract from this. The petition concluded with a declaration of female French patriotism.
A statement Léon wrote while imprisoned in Luxembourg on 4 July 1794 has also survived. In it, she highlighted her personal involvement in the Revolution and her recruitment of many others to the revolutionary cause. She made pointed mention of her hatred toward Lafayette and confirmed the rumor that she once broke into a man's home to throw a bust of Lafayette out the window. She wrote highly of the ''sans-culottes'' and the Cordeliers club. Her statement concluded with an assertion that she and her husband were innocent and did nothing to merit an arrest.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Pauline
1768 births
1838 deaths
People of the French Revolution
French feminists
18th-century women politicians
18th-century French politicians
Enragés