Madame Roland
As she was led to the scaffold, Madame Roland shouted:
“O liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name!”
Jeanne-Marie Phlipon Roland (1754-1793)
A supporter of the French Revolution, Madame Roland's Parisian salon quickly became a meeting place for a group of bourgeois republicans. Later called the Girondins, this group was led by Jacques Brissot.
Madame Roland's influence extended beyond her social circle to her writing. She wrote personal letters to leaders of the Revolution and even had a hand in authoring political works attributed to her husband. Yet, Madame Roland did not publish writings under her name during her lifetime.
After she and other Girondins fell out of favor with the Revolution during the Reign of Terror, she was arrested. While she waited to be guillotined at the Prison of Sainte Pélagie in 1793, she wrote her memoirs. Sections were smuggled from the prison by her frequent guests. Reflecting upon her studies, passions, and political events, selections from Madame Roland's memoirs are featured below.
