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The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792, from Sunday, 2 September until Thursday, 6 September, 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 ...
. Between 1,176 and 1,614 peopleL. Madelin, Chapter XXI, p. 256
/ref> were killed by ''
fédéré The term ''"fédérés"'' (sometimes translated to English as "federates") most commonly refers to the troops who volunteered for the French National Guard in the summer of 1792 during the French Revolution. The ''fédérés'' of 1792 effected ...
s'',
guardsmen Guardsman is a rank used instead of private in some military units that serve as the official bodyguard of a sovereign or head of state. It is also used as a generic term for any member of a guards unit of any rank. Canada In the Canadian Forc ...
, and ''
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 . T ...
'', with the support of
gendarmes Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (literally, " ...
responsible for guarding the tribunals and prisons, the Cordeliers, the Committee of Surveillance of the
Commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
, and the
revolutionary sections of Paris The revolutionary sections of Paris were subdivisions of Paris during the French Revolution. They first arose in 1790 and were suppressed in 1795. History At the time of the Revolution, Paris measured 3440 hectares, compared to the 7800 hectar ...
. With widespread fear that foreign and royalist armies would attack Paris, and that the imprisoned Swiss mercenaries would be freed to join them, on 1 September the Legislative Assembly called for volunteers to gather the next day on the
Champs de Mars The Champ de Mars (; en, Field of Mars) is a large public Urban open space, greenspace in Paris, France, located in the 7ème arrondissement, Paris, seventh ''arrondissement'', between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire ...
. On 2 September, around 1:00 pm, Georges Danton delivered a speech in the assembly, stating: "We ask that anyone refusing to give personal service or to furnish arms shall be punished with death. The bell we are about to ring... sounds the charge on the enemies of our country." The massacres began around 2:30 pm in the middle of
Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the no ...
, and within the first 20 hours more than 1,000 prisoners were killed. The next morning, the surveillance committees of the commune published a circular that called on provincial patriots to defend Paris by eliminating counter-revolutionaries, and the secretary,
Jean-Lambert Tallien Jean-Lambert Tallien (, 23 January 1767 – 16 November 1820) was a French politician of the revolutionary period. Though initially an active agent of the Reign of Terror, he eventually clashed with its leader, Maximilien Robespierre, and is best ...
, called on other cities to follow suit. The massacres were repeated in a few other French cities; in total 65–75 incidents were reported.P. McPhee (2016) Liberty or Death, p. 162 The exact number of victims is not known, as over 440 people had uncertain fates, including 200 Swiss soldiers, (or 22?). The identity of the perpetrators, called "''septembriseurs''", is poorly documented, but a large number were Parisian national guards and provincial federates who had remained in the city since their arrival in July. 72% of those killed were non-political prisoners including forgers of
assignats An assignat () was a monetary instrument, an order to pay, used during the time of the French Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars. France Assignats were paper money (fiat currency) issued by the Constituent Assembly in France from 1 ...
(galley convicts), common criminals, women, and children. 17% were Catholic priests.Frédéric Bluche (1986) Septembre 1792 : logiques d'un massacre, p. 235 The minister of the interior, Roland, accused the commune of the atrocities.
Charlotte Corday Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont (27 July 1768 – 17 July 1793), known as Charlotte Corday (), was a figure of the French Revolution. In 1793, she was executed by guillotine for the assassination of Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat, who w ...
held
Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (; born Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes'', a radical ...
responsible, while
Madame Roland Marie-Jeanne 'Manon' Roland de la Platière (Paris, March 17, 1754 – Paris, November 8, 1793), born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, and best known under the name Madame Roland, was a French revolutionary, salonnière and writer. Initially she led a ...
blamed Georges Danton. Danton was also accused by later
French historians This is a list of French historians limited to those with a biographical entry in either English or French Wikipedia. Major chroniclers, annalists, philosophers, or other writers are included, if they have important historical output. Names are lis ...
Adolphe Thiers,
Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
, Jules Michelet,
Louis Blanc Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (; ; 29 October 1811 – 6 December 1882) was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor. Alt ...
and
Edgar Quinet Edgar Quinet (; 17 February 180327 March 1875) was a French historian and intellectual. Biography Early years Quinet was born at Bourg-en-Bresse, in the ''département'' of Ain. His father, Jérôme Quinet, had been a commissary in the army, ...
of doing nothing to stop them. According to modern historian
Georges Lefebvre Georges Lefebvre (; 6 August 1874 – 28 August 1959) was a French historian, best known for his work on the French Revolution and peasant life. He is considered one of the pioneers of " history from below". He coined the phrase the ...
, the "collective mentality is a sufficient explanation for the killing".Georges Lefebvre, ''The French Revolution: From its Origins to 1793'' (2001) p. 236 Historian
Timothy Tackett Timothy Tackett (born 1945) is an American historian specializing in the French Revolution and professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine. His 1996 book about the members of the National Constituent Assembly of 1789 won the Leo ...
deflected specific blame from individuals, stating: "The obsession with a prison conspiracy, the desire for revenge, the fear of the advancing Prussians, the ambiguity over who was in control of a state that had always relied in the past on a centralized monarchy: all had come together in a volatile mixture of anger, fear, and uncertainty."


Background


The Duke of Brunswick's manifesto

In April 1792 France declared war on the
Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
, prompting the
War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that suc ...
. In July, an army under the
Duke of Brunswick Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
, and composed mostly of Prussians, joined the Austrian side and invaded France. As the army advanced, Paris went into a state of hysteria, especially after the Duke issued the "
Brunswick Manifesto The Brunswick Manifesto was a proclamation issued by Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, commander of the Allied Army (principally Austrian and Prussian), on 25 July 1792 to the population of Paris, France during the War of the First ...
" on 25 July. His avowed aim was
to put an end to the anarchy in the interior of France, to check the attacks upon the throne and the altar, to reestablish the legal power, to restore to the king the security and the liberty of which he is now deprived and to place him in a position to exercise once more the legitimate authority which belongs to him.
The manifesto threatened the French population with instant punishment should it resist the imperial and Prussian armies or the reinstatement of the monarchy. The manifesto was frequently described as unlawful and offensive to national sovereignty. Its authorship was frequently in doubt. Revolutionaries like Marat and Hébert preferred to concentrate on the internal enemy. On 3 August Pétion and 47 sections demanded the deposition of the king.


The insurrection of the Paris Commune

On the evening of 9 August 1792, a Jacobin insurrection overthrew the leadership of the Paris municipality, proclaiming a new revolutionary commune headed by transitional authorities. The next day the insurrectionists stormed the Tuileries Palace. 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 ...
was imprisoned with the royal family, and his authority as king was suspended by the Legislative Assembly. The following day the royalist press was silenced. A provisional executive (''conseil exécutif'') was named and busied itself with reorganizing or solving questions concerning the police, justice, the army, navy, and paper money, but actual power now rested with the new revolutionary commune, whose strength resided in the mobilized and armed ''
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 . T ...
'', the lower classes of Paris, and '' fédérés'', armed volunteers from the provinces that had arrived at the end of July. The 48 sections of Paris were equipped with munitions from the plundered arsenals in the days before the assault, substituting for the 60 national guard battalions. Supported by a new armed force, the commune dominated the Legislative Assembly and its decisions. The commune pushed through several measures: universal suffrage was adopted, the civilian population was armed, all remnants of noble privileges were abolished and the
properties Property is the ownership of land, resources, improvements or other tangible objects, or intellectual property. Property may also refer to: Mathematics * Property (mathematics) Philosophy and science * Property (philosophy), in philosophy an ...
of the '' émigrés'' were sold. These events meant a change of direction from the political and constitutional perspective of the
Girondists 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 (France), Legislative Assembly and the National Convention ...
to a more social approach given by the commune as expressed by
Pierre-Joseph Cambon Pierre-Joseph Cambon (, 10 June 1756 – 15 February 1820) was a French statesman. He is perhaps best known for speaking up against Maximilien Robespierre at the National Convention, sparking the end of Robespierre's reign. Born in Montpellier, ...
: "To reject with more efficacy the defenders of despotism, we have to address the fortunes of the poor, we have to associate the Revolution with this multitude that possesses nothing, we have to convert the people to the cause." Besides these measures, the commune engaged in a policy of political repression of all suspected counter-revolutionary activities. Beginning on 11 August, every Paris section named surveillance committees (committees of vigilance) for conducting searches and making arrests. It was mostly these decentralized committees, rather than the commune as a whole, which engaged in the repression of August and September 1792. Within a few days each section elected three commissioners to take seats in the insurrectionary commune, one of them was
Maximilien 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 ...
. To ensure that there was some appropriate legal process for dealing with suspects accused of political crimes and treason, rather than arbitrary killing by local committees, a
revolutionary tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (french: Tribunal révolutionnaire; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. It eventually became one of the ...
, with extraordinary powers to impose the death sentence without any appeal, was installed on 17 August. Robespierre, who had proposed this measure, refused to preside over the tribunal, arguing that the same man ought not to be a denouncer, an accuser, and a judge. Already, on 15 August, four sections called for all priests and imprisoned suspects to be put to death before the volunteers departed. Robespierre proposed to erect a pyramid on
Place Vendôme The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is ...
to remember the victims of 10 August. On 19 August the nonjuring priests were ordered to leave the country within two weeks, which meant before 2 September 1792. In Paris, all monasteries were closed and would soon be in use as hospitals, etc. The remaining religious orders were banned by the law of 15 August. Marat left nothing in doubt when he urged "good citizens to go to the Abbaye, to seize priests, and especially the officers of the Swiss guards and their accomplices and run a sword through them". From 15 to 25 August, around 500 detentions were registered; some were sent to Orléans. Half the detentions were of nonjuring priests, but even priests who had sworn the required oath were caught in the wave.


Prussian advance and Paris reaction

Around 26 August, news reached Paris that the Prussian army had crossed the French border and occupied
Longwy Longwy (; older german: Langich, ; lb, label= Luxemburgish, Lonkech) is a commune in the French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. The inhabitants are known as ''Longoviciens'' ...
without a battle. Roland proposed that the government should leave Paris, whereas Robespierre suggested in a letter to the sections of the commune that they should defend liberty and equality and maintain their posts, and die if necessary. The assembly decreed that all the non-juring priests had to leave Paris within eight days and the country within two weeks. In the evening, in the presence of 350,000 people, a funeral ceremony was held in the gardens of the Tuileries for those killed while storming the Tuileries. On 28 August, the assembly ordered a curfew for around two days. The city gates were closed; all communication with the country was stopped. At the behest of Justice Minister Danton, thirty commissioners from the sections were ordered to search in every (suspect) house for weapons, munition, swords, carriages and horses. "They searched every drawer and every cupboard, sounded every panel, lifted every hearthstone, inquired into every correspondence in the capital. As a result of this inquisition, more than 1,000 "suspects" were added to the immense body of political prisoners already confined in the jails and convents of the city." On 29 August, the Prussians attacked
Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
. When this news arrived it escalated panic in the capital; the situation was highly critical.L. Madelin, Chapter XXI, p. 252
/ref> Throughout August, the Legislative Assembly, which had been greatly diminished as more than half of the deputies had fled since the storming of the Tuileries, had acquiesced to the activities of the commune and its sections. On 30 August, the Girondins Roland and
Marguerite-Élie Guadet Marguerite-Élie Guadet (, 20 July 1758 – 19 June 1794) was a French political figure of the Revolutionary period. Rise to prominence Born in Saint-Émilion, Gironde, Aquitaine, he had already gained a reputation as a lawyer in Bordeaux b ...
tried to suppress the influence of the commune, which they accused of exercising unlawful power. The assembly, tired of the pressures, declared the commune illegal and suggested the organization of communal elections and a doubling of the number of seats.J. Israel (2014), ''Revolutionary Ideas'', pp. 267–268.J. Massin (1959), ''Robespierre'', p. 132. However, the assembly canceled the decree the next day at the request of Jacques-Alexis Thuriot. The balance of power was disrupted and the conflict between the Girondins and the Montagnards would influence the progress of the French Revolution. On 1 September the prisons were full. The citizens of Paris were told to prepare themselves for the defense of the country and gather immediately upon the sound of the tocsin. Their imminent departure from the capital provoked further concern about the crowded prisons, now full of counter-revolutionary suspects who might threaten a city deprived of so many of its defenders. Marat called for a "new blood-letting", larger than the one on 10 August. Marat and his Committee of Surveillance of the Commune organized the massacres, first voting to round up 4,000 mostly ordinary people, "suspects" of the committee, agreed to kill them in "whole groups," voting down a Marat proposal to murder them by setting them on fire, then finally agreeing to a proposal by Billaud-Varennes to "butcher them". The bulk of the butchers were made up of "Marseilles," "hired assassins" from the prisons of Genoa and Sicily, paid twenty-four dollars, whose names were listed by "M. Granier de Cassagnac." The rest were murderers and others previously imprisoned for violent crimes released ahead of time from the prisons they would soon be returning to for the massacres. The British ambassador reported:
A party at the instigation of someone or other declared they would not quit Paris, as long as the prisons were filled with Traitors (for they called those so, that were confined in the different Prisons and Churches), who might in the absence of such a number of Citizens rise and not only effect the release of His Majesty but make an entire counterrevolution.
On 1 September, the gates of the city closed the days before, were opened on the orders of Pétion, providing an opportunity for suspects to flee the capital. According to
Louis-Marie Prudhomme Louis-Marie Prudhomme, (1752, Lyon, France - April 20, 1830, Paris, France) was a French journalism, journalist and historian. A bookseller in Lyon, then in Paris, Prudhomme settled in Meaux as a bookbinder. He returned to Paris, and was arrested ...
people still profited from the opportunity on Sunday morning 2 September. (Verdun capitulated on 2 September gaining a clear westward path to Paris.) The Assembly decreed arming the volunteers; a third would stay in Paris and defend the city with pikes, the others were meant for the frontier and the trenches. It further decreed that traitors who refused to participate in the defense or hand over their arms deserved death. The sections, gathered in the town hall, decided to remain in Paris; Marat proposed to have Roland and his fellow
Girondist 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 ...
Brissot arrested. The commune ordered the gates closed and an alarm gun fired. After the tocsin was rung around 14:00, 50 or 60,000 men enrolled for the defense of the country on the Champs de Mars. On 2 September, around 13:00, Georges Danton, a member of the provisional government, delivered a speech in the assembly: "We ask that anyone refusing to give personal service or to furnish arms shall be punished with death." "The bell we are about to ring is not an alarm signal; it sounds the charge on the enemies of our country." After the applause, he continued, "To conquer them we must dare, dare again, always dare, and France is saved.” His speech acted as a call for direct action among the citizens, as well as a strike against the external enemy.
Madame Roland Marie-Jeanne 'Manon' Roland de la Platière (Paris, March 17, 1754 – Paris, November 8, 1793), born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, and best known under the name Madame Roland, was a French revolutionary, salonnière and writer. Initially she led a ...
and Hillary Mantel weren't the only ones who thought his speech was responsible for inciting the September Massacres, also Louis Mortimer−Ternaux.


Madame de Stael

Around 4 in the afternoon
Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...
, as ambassadress of Sweden, who lived in
Rue du Bac Rue du Bac is a street in Paris situated in the 7th arrondissement. The street, which is 1150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Voltaire and Anatole-France and ends at the rue de Sèvres. Rue du Bac is also the name of a station on ...
near Champ de Mars, tried to flee through crowded streets but her carriage was stopped and the crowd forced her to go to the Paris town hall, where Robespierre presided. (However, according to Maximilien's sister
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, he never presided over the insurrectionary commune. According to Louvet de Couvrai he "governed" the Paris ''Conseil Général'' of the
département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...
.) Late in the evening, she was conveyed home, escorted by the
procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...
Louis Pierre Manuel Louis Pierre Manuel (July 1751 – 14 November 1793) was a republican French writer, municipal administrator of the police, and public prosecutor during the French Revolution who was arrested, trialled and guillotined. Life Revolutionary ...
. The next day the secretary-general to the
Commune of Paris The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
, Tallien, arrived with a passport and accompanied her to the
barrier A barrier or barricade is a physical structure which blocks or impedes something. Barrier may also refer to: Places * Barrier, Kentucky, a community in the United States * Barrier, Voerendaal, a place in the municipality of Voerendaal, Netherl ...
.


Massacres

The first massacre began in the
quartier Latin The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros ...
around 14:30 on Sunday afternoon when 24 non-juring priests were being transported to the
prison de l'Abbaye The Prison de l’Abbaye was a Paris prison in use from 1522 to 1854. The final building was built by Christophe Gamard in 1631 and made up of three floors, flanked by two turrets (or more exactly, '' échauguettes''). It was the scene of a porti ...
near the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, after being interrogated by
Billaud-Varenne Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (; 23 April 1756 – 3 June 1819), also known as Jean Nicolas or by his nickname, the Righteous Patriot, was a French personality of the Revolutionary period. Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne was an instrumental fi ...
in the town hall. One of the carriages, escorted by Fédérés, was attacked after an incident. The ''fédérés'' killed three men in the middle of the street, before the procession arrived at the prison. Eighteen of the arrested were taken inside. They then mutilated the bodies, "with circumstances of barbarity too shocking to describe" according to the British diplomatic dispatch. One of their victims was the former minister of foreign affairs
Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin Armand Marc, Count of Montmorin de Saint Herem (13 October 17452 September 1792) was a French statesman. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Navy under Louis XVI. Biography He belonged to a junior branch of a noble family of Auvergne. He ...
.
Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard (; 20 September 1742 – 10 May 1822) was a French abbé and instructor of the deaf. Born at Le Fousseret, in the ancient Province of Languedoc (now the Department of Haute-Garonne), and educated as a priest, Sicard w ...
was recognized as a beneficent priest and released.


Carmes prison

In the late afternoon 115 priests in the former convent of Carmelites, detained with the message they would be deported to
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
, were massacred in the courtyard with axes, spikes, swords and pistols by people with a strong
patois ''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon o ...
accent. They forced the priests one by one to take the oath on the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and "swear to be faithful to the nation and to maintain liberty and equality or die defending it". Some priests hid in the choir and behind the altar. Several tried to get away by climbing in the trees and over the walls and making their escape through the Rue Cassette. Around five a group of 200 "Septembriseurs" came to the house of Roland on
Place Dauphine The Place Dauphine is a public square located near the western end of the Île de la Cité in the first arrondissement of Paris. It was initiated by Henry IV in 1607, the second of his projects for public squares in Paris, the first being the P ...
to arrest him, but, as he was at the ministry, they went there.


Prison de l'Abbaye

Between 19:00 and 20:00, the group of ''fédérés'', etc. was back at the Abbaye prison. The Abbaye prison was located in what is now the Boulevard Saint-Germain just west of the current Passage de la Petite Boucherie. The door was closed, but the killing was resumed after an intense discussion with Manuel, the procurator, on people's justice and failing judges. Manuel and
Jean Dussaulx Jean-Joseph Dusaulx, (28 December 1728, in Chartres – 16 March 1799, in Paris) was a French politician during the French Revolution. He was friendly with Jean Sylvain Bailly, the mayor. In February 1792 he was elected as a member of the "Conse ...
belonged to a deputation sent by the "''Conseil Général''" of the commune to ask for compassion. They were insulted and escaped with their lives. A tribunal composed of twelve people presided over by Stanislas-Marie Maillard, started the interrogation by asking the prisoner why he or she was arrested. A lie was fatal, and the prisoners were summarily judged and either freed or executed.Hardy, B. C. (Blanche Christabel),
The Princesse de Lamballe; a biography
', p. 261, 284-285 (1908),
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
Each prisoner was asked a handful of questions, after which the prisoner was either freed with the words "''Vive la nation''" and permitted to leave, or sentenced to death with the words "Conduct him to the Abbaye" or "Let him go", after which the condemned was taken to a yard and was immediately killed by a waiting mob consisting of men, women, and children. The massacres were opposed by the staff of the prison, who allowed many prisoners to escape, one example being Pauline de Tourzel. The Prison de l'Abbaye contained a number of prisoners formerly belonging to the royal household, as well as survivors of the Swiss Guards from the royal palace. Among them were the royal governesses
Marie Angélique de Mackau Marie Angélique de Mackau née ''de Fitte de Soucy'' (1723-1801), was a French court office holder. She was royal governess to Élisabeth of France (1764–1794) and later to the children of Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette from 1771 and ...
and
Louise-Élisabeth de Croÿ de Tourzel Louise-Élisabeth de Croÿ de Tourzel (Louise Élisabeth Félicité Françoise Armande Anne Marie Jeanne Joséphine de Croÿ de Tourzel; 11 June 1749 – 15 May 1832) was a French noblewoman and courtier, as the Marquise of Tourzel. She wa ...
; the ladies-in-waiting the Princess de Tarente and the Princess de Lamballe; the queen's ladies-maids Marie-Élisabeth Thibault and Mme Bazile; the dauphin's nurse St Brice; the Princesse de Lamballe's lady's maid Navarre; and the valets of the king, Chamilly and Hue. All ten former members of the royal household were placed before the tribunals and freed from charges, with the exception of the Princess de Lamballe, whose death would become one of the most publicized of the September Massacres.
Louise-Élisabeth de Croÿ de Tourzel Louise-Élisabeth de Croÿ de Tourzel (Louise Élisabeth Félicité Françoise Armande Anne Marie Jeanne Joséphine de Croÿ de Tourzel; 11 June 1749 – 15 May 1832) was a French noblewoman and courtier, as the Marquise of Tourzel. She wa ...
was released on order of Manuel by the Commune. Of the Swiss Guard prisoners 135 were killed, 27 were transferred, 86 were set free, and 22 had uncertain fates. According to George Long 122 died and 43 people were released. The victims had to leave behind money, jewelry, silver, gold, assignats, but also an
Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
which widely regarded as Virgil's masterpiece. Most of the victims' clothes were pierced with spade marks and had bloodstains. According to Louvet four armed men came to the house of Roland to get paid. On Monday morning nine o'clock,
Billaud-Varenne Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (; 23 April 1756 – 3 June 1819), also known as Jean Nicolas or by his nickname, the Righteous Patriot, was a French personality of the Revolutionary period. Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne was an instrumental fi ...
came to the Abbaye prison and declared that the tribunal should stop stealing and would get paid by the Commune. At ten Maillard and his twelve judges resumed their work. In three days 216 men, and only three women were massacred in the Abbey. De Virot, responsible for the safeguarding of large stocks of weapons stored in the
Hotel des Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...
, and his daughter survived.


Conciergerie, Saint Firmin and Bernardins

Late in the afternoon, they went to Tour Saint-Bernard (belonging to a confiscated monastery
Collège des Bernardins The Collège of Bernardins, or Collège Saint-Bernard, located no 20, rue de Poissy in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, is a former Cistercian college of the historic University of Paris. Founded by Stephen of Lexington, abbot of Clairvaux, and bu ...
, located in the Sansculotte district) where forgers of
assignat An assignat () was a monetary instrument, an order to pay, used during the time of the French Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars. France Assignats were paper money (fiat currency) issued by the Constituent Assembly in France from 1 ...
s were jailed. (Almost all of them were locked up in the previous three months.) The pattern of semi-formal executions followed by the popular tribunals was for condemned prisoners to be ordered "transferred" and then taken into the prison courtyard where they would be cut down. One man was released after he was recognized as a thief. The participants in the killing received bread, wine and cheese, and some money. In the early evening, groups broke into another Paris prison, the
Conciergerie The Conciergerie () ( en, Lodge) is a former courthouse and prison in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, below the Palais de Justice. It was originally part of the former royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which als ...
, via an open door in a side stair. The massacre was more uncontrolled in the Conciergerie than in the Prison de l'Abbaye. In the Conciergerie, the staff did not cooperate by turning the prisoners to the mob; instead, the mob broke into the cells themselves. The massacre continued from late evening through the night until morning. Of 488 prisoners in the Conciergerie, 378 were killed during the massacre.
The Tribunal of the terror; a study of Paris in 1793–1795
', p. 37 (1909)
One woman in the Conciergerie, Marie Gredeler, a bookseller who was accused of murder, was tied to a pole, killed, and mutilated. According to
Prudhomme Prudhomme or Prud'homme, may refer to: * Prudhomme (surname), a surname of French origin. The surname derives from the Old French prud'homme, meaning a wise, honest or sensible man. * Prud'homme, Saskatchewan, a Canadian village * Prudhomme Lak ...
people sat on the stairs of the Palace of Justice watching the butchery in the courtyard. Not far away
Restif de la Bretonne Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne, born Nicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif (; 23 October 1734 – 3 February 1806), also known as Rétif, was a French novelist. The term '' retifism'' for shoe fetishism was named after him (an early nov ...
saw bodies piled high on
Pont au Change The Pont au Change is a bridge over the Seine River in Paris, France. The bridge is located at the border between the first and fourth arrondissements. It connects the Île de la Cité from the Palais de Justice and the Conciergerie, to the Ri ...
in front of the Châtelet, then thrown in the river. He recorded the atrocities he witnessed in ''Les Nuits de Paris'' (1794). Before midnight the
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
Saint Firmin was visited by just four men, who killed all the
seminarian A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
s. All of them were detained in August according to Cassignac; the average age of the prisoners was 47. At 2.30 in the morning, the Assembly was informed that most of the prisons were empty. The next morning the Assembly was still involved with the defense of the city; Hérault de Séchelles presided. It decided the other prisoners had to wait for their trial because of a temporary lack of judges.


Bicêtre and Salpêtrière

Bicêtre, a hospital for men and boys that also served as a prison for beggars and the homeless, was visited twice that day after a rumor that there were thousands of rifles stored there. The commander brought seven cannons. According to Cassignac
François Hanriot François Hanriot (2 December 1759 – 28 July 1794) was a French Sans-culotte leader, street orator, and commander of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution. He played a vital role in the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 and sub ...
and his battalion were present; 56 prisoners were released. The average age of the 170 victims was 24–25 years, 41 were between 12 and 18 years old, and 58 were under 20. Mayor Pétion did not have much influence discussing humanity with them. At dawn Salpêtrière, a hospice for women and girls to which a prison was attached, was visited. The number of victims is exactly known: 35 women, including 23 underaged. The average age of the 35 victims was 45 - only one of them, Marie Bertrand, a
diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
from Dyon, was 17 years old - and 52 were released according to Cassignac.


The end

On Tuesday afternoon the killing in the Abbey finally stopped. Police commissioners Etienne-Jean Panis and Sergent-Marceau gave orders to wash away all the blood from the stairs and the courtyard, to spread straw, to count the corpses, and to dispose of them on carts to avoid infections. A contract was signed with the gravedigger of the nearby
Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris , image = Paris Saint-Sulpice Fassade 4-5 A.jpg , image_size = , pushpin map = Paris , pushpin label position = , coordinates = , location = Place Saint-Sulpice 6th arrond ...
, who also had to purchase
quicklime Calcium oxide (CaO), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term "''lime''" connotes calcium-containing inorganic ma ...
. On 5 September, the day of the election, it was perfectly quiet in Paris according to
Le Moniteur Universel was a French newspaper founded in Paris on November 24, 1789 under the title by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, and which ceased publication on December 31, 1868. It was the main French newspaper during the French Revolution and was for a long tim ...
. There were still 80 prisoners in "La Force". On 6 September the massacres finally ended.Le Moniteur universel, t. XIII, n° 251, du 7 septembre, p. 621 The next day the gates were opened, but it was impossible to travel to another départment without a passport.


Contemporary reports

In a letter from 25 January 1793
Helen Maria Williams Helen Maria Williams (17 June 1759 – 15 December 1827) was a British novelist, poet, and translator of French-language works. A religious dissenter, she was a supporter of abolitionism and of the ideals of the French Revolution; she was imp ...
accused Robespierre and Danton, saying that Marat was only their instrument. Francois Buzot, a Girondin, mentions
Camille Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. Desmoulins was tried and executed alongside Georges Danton when the Committee ...
and
Fabre d'Eglantine Fabre or Fabré is a surname of Occitan French origin, and a given name. Notable people with the name include: * André Fabre (born 1945), French thoroughbred horse racing trainer * Cándido Fabré, Cuban musician, songwriter and singer * Cath ...
. According to Galart de Montjoie, a lawyer and royalist, in those days everyone believed the Fédérés from Marseille, Avignon and Brest were involved in the killing. About 800–1000 were staying in barrack, but moved supposedly to where events would take place. It seems around 300 Fédérés from Brest and 500 from Marseille were then lodged in Cordeliers Convent. Servan planned to give them military training before using them to supplement the army at the front. According to
Robert Lindet Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet (2 May 1746 in Bernay, Eure – 17 February 1825) was a French politician of the Revolutionary period. His brother, Robert Thomas Lindet, became a constitutional bishop and member of the National Convention. Although ...
, Adolphe Thiers, George Long, and
Stanley Loomis Stanley Loomis (21 December 1922 – 19 December 1972) was the author of four books on French history: ''Du Barry'' (1959), ''Paris in the Terror'' (1964), ''A Crime of Passion'' (1967), and ''The Fatal Friendship'' (1972). His books have bee ...
not an outburst of passion, but coldly and carefully organized.


Numbers

According to Pierre Caron there were almost 2,800 prisoners in early September. Between 1,250 and 1,450 prisoners were condemned and executed. According to Caron and Bluche 70% of the victims were killed in a 20-hour interval. Among the victims were 223 nonjuring Catholic priests and (arch)bishops who refused to submit to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, 81 Swiss guards, and 40–80 political suspects, mostly royalists, aristocrats, and some former judges and ministers including the queen's best friend, the ''Princesse de Lamballe'', the only political victim in "La petite Force". The lives of about 1,250–1,600 prisoners brought before the people's courts were saved. In a few cases people were acclaimed as "patriots" by Robespierre, Tallien, Desmoulins, and Danton. Several prisoners for debts or alimony were released by
Louis Pierre Manuel Louis Pierre Manuel (July 1751 – 14 November 1793) was a republican French writer, municipal administrator of the police, and public prosecutor during the French Revolution who was arrested, trialled and guillotined. Life Revolutionary ...
or by the police before 2 September. A total of nine prisons were violently entered during the five days of the massacres before the killings concluded on the night of 6–7 September; four were not visited (
Sainte-Pélagie Prison Sainte-Pélagie was a prison in Paris, in active use from 1790 to 1899. It was founded earlier than that, however, in 1662, as place for "repentant girls" and later "debauched women and girls." The former Parisian prison was located between the ...
,
Prison Saint-Lazare Saint-Lazare Prison was a prison in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France. History Originally a leprosarium was founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis at the boundary of the marshy area of the former River Seine bank in the 12th c ...
, Tour du Temple and
palais Bourbon The Palais Bourbon () is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the '' Rive Gauche'' of the Seine, across from the Place de la Con ...
). About 700 surviving Swiss soldiers, locked up in Palais Bourbon, marched to the town hall to take the oath and joined the volunteers. After initially indiscriminate slayings, ad hoc popular tribunals were set up to distinguish between "enemies of the people" and those who were innocent, or at least were not perceived as counter-revolutionary threats. In spite of this attempted sifting, estimated three-quarters of the 1,250–1,450 killed were not counter-revolutionaries or "villains", but included all the galley convicts, forgers of
assignats An assignat () was a monetary instrument, an order to pay, used during the time of the French Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars. France Assignats were paper money (fiat currency) issued by the Constituent Assembly in France from 1 ...
, 37 women (including the Princess de Lamballe and Marie Gredeler) and 66 children. Some priests and women were of age, about prostitutes or insane not much is known.


Killings outside Paris

On 3 September the surveillance committees of the Commune, on which Marat now served, published a circular that called on provincial Patriots to defend Paris and asked that, before leaving their homes, they eliminate counter-revolutionaries. Marat advised the entire nation "to adopt this necessary measure". A circular letter was sent to regional authorities by Deforgues, an assistant of Danton, and Tallien, the secretary of the Paris Commune, advising that "ferocious conspirators detained in the prisons had been put to death by the people". The Girondins afterward made much of this circular, but there is no evidence that it had any influence. As before, murders in the provinces continued: the blood-letting did not cease until the countryside was
purged In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...
. Smaller-scale executions took place in Reims,
Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...
, and Lyon on 2, 4 and 9 September. Most notable was the killing of 44 political prisoners near
Château de Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed ...
transported from the High Court in Orléans back to Paris, the
9 September massacres The 9 September massacres were two series of massacres of prisoners at Versailles on 9 September 1792 during the French Revolution. They occurred in the context of the September Massacres. Claude Fournier was accused of complicity in them. Those k ...
. The next day Brissot wrote in "Le Patriote français", his newspaper: "No doubt you will be told that it is a vengeance of the people; it will be a slander. The people were not involved in this event."


Official role

According to
Timothy Tackett Timothy Tackett (born 1945) is an American historian specializing in the French Revolution and professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine. His 1996 book about the members of the National Constituent Assembly of 1789 won the Leo ...
: "For a period of some 48 hours between the 29th and 31 August, the whole of Paris was systematically searched by the national guard for lurking conspirators and hidden arms. By that time section assemblies were already passing motions demanding "the death of conspirators before the departure of citizens". On 31 August the Committee of Vigilance was created with Panis and Sergent-Marceau. According to
Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...
on 31 August "it was already known, that only those who were destined to be massacred were sent to that prison f the Abbey" On 1 September the Commune declared a state of emergency by decreeing that on the following day the tocsin should be rung, all able-bodied citizens convened in the Champ de Mars. On Sunday 2 September the 1792 French National Convention election started. Robespierre publicly accused
Brissot Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), who assumed the name of de Warville (an English version of "d'Ouarville", a hamlet in the village of Lèves where his father owned property), was a leading member of the Girondins du ...
and the Brissotins of plotting with the Duke of Brunswick. Marat was appointed as one of the six additional members of the Committee of Vigilance, but without the approval of the Executive Council. According to Adolphe Thiers on Sunday morning 2 September: "The keeper of the Abbaye sent away his children in the morning. Dinner was served to the prisoners two hours before the accustomed time, and the knives were taken from their plates." Such municipal and central government as existed in Paris in September 1792 was preoccupied with organizing volunteers, supplies, and equipment for the armies on the threatened frontiers. Accordingly, there was no attempt to assuage popular fears that the understaffed and easily accessed prisons were full of royalists who would break out and seize the city when the national guards and other citizen volunteers had left for the war. According to Madame Roland Danton responded to an appeal to protect the prisoners with the comment: "To hell with the prisoners! They must look after themselves." On 3 September Roland said: "Yesterday was a day that we should perhaps throw a veil on." The other members of the provisional government – Clavière, Lebrun-Tondu,
Monge Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse (9 May 1746 – 28 July 1818) was a French mathematician, commonly presented as the inventor of descriptive geometry, (the mathematical basis of) technical drawing, and the father of differential geometry. Duri ...
and Servan, involved in organizing the country did not do much to stop the killing, or could not foresee or prevent these excesses. Mayor Pétion de Villeneuve turned a blind eye when he visited Bicêtre.
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 ...
and Brissot's newspaper were the only ones condemning the September murders.


Debate in the Convention

The Brissotins in the Convention first attacked Danton; he was asked to resign as minister on the 25th but forced to step down on 9 October. He kept his seat in the Convention as deputy. Then the Brissotins decided to attack Robespierre and Marat. On 29 October 1792, the Convention reviewed these recent events.
Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray (12 June 1760 – 25 August 1797) was a French novelist, playwright and journalist. Life Early life and literary works Born in Paris as the son of a Stationery, stationer, Louvet became a bookseller's clerk, and ...
accused Robespierre of creating a personality cult, governing the Paris "Conseil General" and paying the "Septembriseurs". Marat was accused of being asocial and establishing a dictatorship. He was taken by surprise and had to be defended by Danton. Robespierre was given eight days to reply. On 5 November Robespierre stated that Marat had visited him only once since January. He insisted that most of the victims were aristocrats, which wasn't the case. He admitted the arrests at the end of August were illegal, as illegal as the revolution, the fall of the monarchy and the Bastille. He asked the convention: "Citizens, did you want a revolution without revolution?" Robespierre, Danton, and Marat insisted that the "new bloodletting" had been a spontaneous popular movement. Their opponents, the Girondins, spoke of a systematically planned conspiracy. Louvet de Couvrai who published his speech was no longer admitted to the Jacobin Club.


Political repercussions

The massacres first damaged the political position of the
Girondin 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 ...
s, who seemed too moderate, and later the Jacobins, who seemed too bloodthirsty. A new mayor Nicolas Chambon was installed on 1 December 1792. On 4 February 1793 Robespierre defended the
September massacres The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792, from Sunday, 2 September until Thursday, 6 September, during the French Revolution. Between 1,176 and 1,614 people were killed by '' fédérés'', gu ...
as necessary. On 13 February Pierre Gaspard Chaumette received a list of victims in the
La Force Prison La Force Prison was a French prison located in the Rue du Roi de Sicile, in what is now the 4th arrondissement of Paris. Originally known as the Hôtel de la Force, the buildings formed the private residence of Henri-Jacques Nompar de Caumont, duc ...
. It was Servan's proposal to bring armed volunteers from the provinces. He was arrested during the Terror, but released in February 1795. In 1796 24 or 39 craftsmen and small businessmen were accused; though only three were condemned. The vinegar maker Damiens was sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment.


Martyrs

One hundred and fifteen churchmen killed in the Carmes Prison were
beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
by
Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...
on 17 October 1926. Among the
martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
were Pierre-Louis de la Rochefoucauld,
bishop of Saintes The former French diocese of Saintes existed from the 6th century to the French Revolution. Its bishops had their see in the cathedral of Saintes in western France, in the modern department of Charente-Maritime. After the Concordat of 1801, the ...
; Jean-Marie du Lau d’Alleman,
archbishop of Arles The former French Catholic Archbishopric of Arles had its episcopal see in the city of Arles, in southern France.bishop of Beauvais The Diocese of Beauvais, Noyon, and Senlis ( la, Dioecesis Bellovacensis, Noviomensis et Silvanectensis; french: Diocèse de Beauvais, Noyon et Senlis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The di ...
; and
Ambroise Chevreux Ambroise Chevreux (13 February 1728, in Orléans – 2 September 1792, in Paris) was a French Benedictine. He was the last superior general of the Congregation of Saint Maur The Congregation of St. Maur, often known as the Maurists, were a congr ...
, the last superior-general of the monastic
Congregation of Saint Maur The Congregation of St. Maur, often known as the Maurists, were a congregation of French Benedictines, established in 1621, and known for their high level of scholarship. The congregation and its members were named after Saint Maurus (died 565), a ...
.


See also

*
The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchy The French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church in France perforce underwent radical restructuring. This article cove ...
*
List of events named massacres The following is a list of events for which one of the commonly accepted names includes the word "massacre". Definition ''Massacre'' is defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people ...


Notes and citations


Bibliography


Blanc, L. (1855) Histoire de la Révolution Française, vol. VII. FUREURS DE LA GIRONDE
* Bluche, F. (1986) Septembre 1792 : logiques d'un massacre. * Caron, P. (1935) ''Les Massacres de Septembre''
Israel, J. (2014) Revolutionary Ideas, p. 267-277
* Loomis, S. (1964) Paris in the Terror. New York: Dorset Press.
online
* Scott, S.F. & B. Rothaus, eds. (1985) ''Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution 1789–1799''. Vol. 2 pp. 891–97. * Tulard, J. & J-F. Fayard and A. Fierro (1998) ''Histoire et Dictionnaire de la Révolution Française''.


Further reading


F. Furet (1989) Terror. In: A critical dictionary of the French Revolution
* Hibbert, Christopher (1980) ''The Days of the French Revolution''. William Morrow, New York. *
Schama, Simon Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He f ...
(1992) '' Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution'' pp. 629–39.
Tackett, Timothy (2011) "Rumor and Revolution: The Case of the September Massacres", ''French History and Civilization'' Vol. 4, pp. 54–64.


Eyewitnesses


Madame de Staël (1818) Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution, Band 2, p. 68

La Vérité toute entière sur les vrais acteurs de 2. Septembre 1792 par Jean Claude Hippolyte Méhée de la Touche

Histoire de la conjugation de Maximilien Robespierre

Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne (1793) Les nuits de Paris, ou Le spectateur nocturne, p. 371-394

The September Massacres witnessed by Earl Gower, a British diplomat


Fictional accounts

* Dickens, Charles, ''
A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in ...
'' (1859). * Henty, George Alfred, ''In the Reign of Terror''. * Neville, Katherine, ''The Eight'' (1988).


External links


"The September Massacres : 2–7 Sept. 1792"
(archived link)


Massacre de 2, 3, 4, 5 et 6 septembre (print)

Les massacres de Septembre (1910) by Lenotre, G
{{Coord missing, France 1792 events of the French Revolution Massacres in 1792 Anti-Catholicism in France 18th century in Paris Massacres in France Prison massacres Terrorist incidents in France People killed in the French Revolution Massacres committed by France 1792 murders in Europe