Born: 28 July 1768, France
Died: 17 July 1793
Country most active: France
Also known as: Marie-Anne-Charlotte Corday d’Armont
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Charlotte Corday, born Marie-Anne-Charlotte Corday d’Armont was born in Normandy on July 27, 1768 and was executed on July 17, 1793 in Paris. Corday is buried at Chapelle Expiatoire in the 8th arrondissement in Paris. Interestingly, this cemetery is dedicated to Marie Antoinette and her husband King Louis XVI, although they are buried elsewhere. She is largely remembered as the assassin of French Revolutionary leader, Jean-Paul Marat while he rested in his bath at home. She was born into a poor but noble family in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alps region in the south east of France, but she was being educated in Caens which is in Normandy in the North. She began going to political meetings there and became inspired by the ideas of the Revolution, and in particular the Girondin faction. The Girondins were a more moderate faction that was in favor of a Constitutional government. They represented the educated provincial middle class of France (lawyers, merchants etc.) and they stood against the “Paris mob” who tended to be in line with the opposing political party, the Jacobins. Corday felt that the Jacobins were too radical and she wanted to save the Revolution by eliminating their most popular leader, Jean-Paul Marat. With this in mind, she traveled to Paris and insisted on seeing Marat, promising either to divulge the names of traitors of the Revolution or to plead for the lives of her Girondin acquaintances (historical records disagree on her ostensible reason for meeting with Marat). Regardless of how she managed to gain access to Marat, she was allowed in while he was bathing (he suffered from a skin condition) and she plunged a knife directly into his heart causing his instant death. She was arrested immediately and soon found guilty and guillotined. All accounts attest to a brave and dignified death. The assassination of Marat was memorialized in the famous painting, Death of Marat, by Jacques-Louis David which hangs in the Louvre. Initially her violent act scandalized Paris and some felt it reflected poorly on women revolutionaries. Many women distanced themselves from her for this reason. Her intention to weaken the power of the Jacobins was a failure. Marat gained martyr status overnight and the Girondins as a faction were demonized and eliminated during the subsequent Jacobin-led Terror. However, she lives on in France’s popular memory through numerous works of art, poetry, plays and literature. She was given the moniker the “angel of assassination” by French writer Alphonse de Lamartine who dedicated part of his series, Histoire des Girondins (1847) to her. Regardless of her political views, Charlotte Corday changed the way women were viewed during the Revolution in terms of personal agency and having the courage of one’s convictions.
The following s excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Charlotte Corday, a French heroine. Intellectual, vehement and enthusiastic, she was a republican in feeling, and entertained the most exalted ideas of the duties of patriotism. The assignation of her lover by a mob, the tragic fate of the Girondists, and other victims of the Revolution, filled Charlotte with horror, and on the morning of July 9, 1793, she suddenly left her house of her aunt in Caen, on pretext of a journey to England. On the 11th she was in Paris, where she took a room, not far from the dwelling of Marat, who was then the most popular and most blood-thirsty of the leaders in the Reign of Terror.
For a time her mind was undecided as to whether Marat or Robespierre should fall, when Marat’s journal, L’Ami du Peuple, in which he said that 200,000 more heads must be lopped off in order to secure the success of the Revolution, fixed her determination.
She addressed a letter to Marat, soliciting and audience, in order to acquant him with the plots of the Girondists at Caen. After some difficulty she gained admittance to him, and as he listened to her report of the proceedings of the Girondists, he took down their names, and remarked with a smile, “Within a week they will all go to the guillotine.”
Drawing a knife which she had concealed in her bosom, she plunged it to the hilt in Marat’s heart. She was immediately arrested and transferred to the Abbaye prison. Her trial took place on the morning of July 17, she was sentenced to death, and guillotined the evening of the same day.
Her courage did not forsake her for a moment, and she declared she killed one man in order to save a hundred thousand. Her remarkable beauty and her lofty bearing on her way to the scaffold sent a thrill even through the hearts of her executioners.
A young enthusiast, Adam Lux, at the execution cried out, “She is greater than Brutus.” He wrote a pamphlet suggesting that a statue with such an inscription should be erected to her memory, for which he as arrested and guillotined. André Chénier, who paid a glowing poetical homage to her heroism, share the same fate.
The following is excerpted from Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.
French heroine and martyr
Mariane Charlotte Corday D’Armans, a French heroine, was born at St. Saturnin des Lignerets, in the department of Orne, July 28, 1768, and guillotined at Paris, July 17, 1793. Her father was a poor Norman nobleman of literary tastes, and author of works of a republican tendency. Charlotte’s mother died during her early youth; her two brothers entered the army; one of her sisters died young, and she and her remaining sister were placed by their father in a convent at Caen. There she became a favorite with the abbess and her assistant, who occasionally gave parties to their intimate friends, to which Charlotte was admitted. Among the visitors was M. de Belzunce, a young cavalry officer, between whom and Charlotte a tender feeling sprang up.
Charlotte was intellectual, vehement, and enthusiastic; she devoured Rousseau’s Heloise, sympathized with the heroes of antiquity, and entertained the most exalted ideas of the duties of patriotism. An event which made a deep impression on her mind was the assassination of the young officer she loved by a mob at Caen, and she vowed revenge against those whom she conceived to have instigated the murder.
After the revolution had closed the doors of the convent, Charlotte removed to the house of her aunt, an old royalist lady. Many Girondists had fled to Caen, among others Barbaroux, and Charlotte found a pretext for calling upon him. The conversation chiefly turned upon the tragic fate of the Girondists, upon Madame Roland, and upon Marat, for whom she had long felt a horror. One morning her aunt found a Bible lying open upon her bed, and the following lines, “The Lord hath gifted Judith with a special beauty and fairness,’’ were underlined. On another occasion she found her weeping bitterly, and, on questioning her about her tears, Charlotte replied : “They flow for the misfortunes of my country.”
On the morning of July 9, 1793, she suddenly left the house of her aunt, on a pretext of a journey to England. On the eleventh she was in Paris. She took a room in the Hotel de la Providence, not far from Marat’s dwelling. For two days her mind was undecided as to whether Marat or Robespierre should fall, when Marat’s journal, L’ami dupcuple, in which he said that two hundred thousand more heads must be lopped off
in order to secure the success of the revolution, fixed her determination.
She addressed a letter to Marat soliciting an audience, in order to acquaint him with the plots of the Girondists at Caen. No answer came, and on the morning of July 13, after having purchased a knife at the Palais Royal, Charlotte called upon Marat. She was refused admittance. She wrote a second note, and called again at half-past seven the same evening. The porter seeing her pass by his lodge without making any inquiry, called her back. But Charlotte passed on and ascended the staircase. Marat’s mistress, Albertine, opened the door, and on beholding again the same young woman who had called during the morning, rudely refused to admit her; Charlotte insisted; the sound of their voices reached Marat, who consented to see her. Charlotte was ushered through two other rooms to a narrow closet, where Marat was just taking a bath. He listened to her report of the proceedings of the Girondists, and, taking down their names, remarked with a smile that “within a week they will all go to the guillotine.”
“These words sealed his fate,” said Charlotte afterward. Drawing from beneath the handkerchief which covered her bosom the knife she had concealed there, she plunged it to the hilt in Marat’s heart. He gave a loud cry and sank back dead.
The news of the murder soon spread. The room became crowded with people, and as they gazed upon the beautiful girl, who looked serenely and calmly upon the general confusion, they could hardly believe that she was the assassin. She was transferred to the nearest prison, the Abbaye.
Her trial took place on the morning of July 17; she was sentenced to death, and guillotined the evening of the same day. During her trial and during the execution her courage did not forsake her for a moment. She declared that her project had been formed when the Robespierre party had pronounced the doom of the Girondists, and that she had killed one man in order to save a hundred thousand.
When Vergniaud was informed of Charlotte’s death, he exclaimed: “She has killed us, but she teaches us how to die.”