It was the end of the 18th century, and for France, they would be going out with no shortage
of blood.
The French Revolution of 1789 brought a new government to the country, led by a National
Assembly that overhauled their laws and stripped the King and the Catholic Church of power.
But more radical elements in the revolution were growing stronger, and they didn’t just
want the old powers removed - they wanted them dead.
The execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793 was the beginning.
But it would be far from the last execution - and that led one woman to decide it had
to be stopped.
The National Assembly was initially led by the Girondins, a loosely affiliated group
of activists who supported the end of the Monarchy.
They were considered moderates and were affiliated with American revolutionaries like Thomas
Paine.
But another group was growing tired of the moderate pace, and wanted more aggressive
action against the old powers.
They were called the Jacobins, and on May 31st, 1793, they got their opportunity.
It would be three days of bloody conflict - and a new power would emerge.
They were the Montagnards, and their rise launched what would become known as the Reign
of Terror.
And with this shift in power, the French Revolution changed from an instrument of reform to one
of revenge.
The Committee of Public Safety, led by Georges Danton and later by Maximilien Robespierre,
aimed to hunt down enemies of the Revolution both foreign and domestic - and it didn’t
take much to make that list.
But many thought the most powerful figure in the revolution wasn’t those in the government.
It was the man who spread their word.
His name was Jean-Paul Marat, and few names struck more fear into the French’s hearts.
A journalist and political theorist, Marat was one of the most radical supporters of
the revolution, and he was known for his relentless defense of the sans-culottes.
This radical worker-led group made up the bulk of the revolutionary army - and had no
problem getting their hands dirty and handling executions personally.
His newspaper, L’Ami du Peuple, frequently advocated violence against enemies of the
revolution and led many to accuse Marat of being a dangerous man - a claim he likely
wouldn’t dispute.
Marat had been deeply sick in 1788 - but hearing that Louis XVI’s reign was in trouble, he
claimed to be given a new burst of life.
But few factions would be radical enough for Marat.
Originally aligned with the Girondins, Marat quickly left and aligned with Danton.
His newspaper led attacks against members of Louis XVI’s court, forcing them to flee
the country.
His paper also published alarmist articles about the threat of counter-revolutionaries,
and he had only one solution to this problem - executions, and plenty of them.
For the first few years of the revolution, he was repeatedly forced into hiding as an
outlaw.
But soon enough, his brand of politics would get their day in the sun.
Marat was heavily involved in the Insurrection of August 10th, 1792, which led to the abolition
of the Monarchy.
And with that, Marat gained more influence - including becoming the head of a Committee
on Surveillance that targeted those they felt weren’t loyal enough to the revolution.
Over four thousand were soon arrested - but Marat wasn’t satisfied with this, and advocated
that the prisoners all be burned alive.
This was voted down due to the threat of spreading fire.
But he would get his wish for blood soon enough.
On September 2nd, 1792, thousands of prisoners were brought out of the prison and impromptu
trials were held in a courtyard.
Those found guilty would be butchered, speared, or decapitated by ruthless bands of mercenaries
brought in to oversee the punishment.
When the initial massacres were done, they went into the prison and killed people in
their cells.
No one was safe - with Priests and young people accused of being counter-revolutionaries falling
victim.
This would be known as the September Massacre, and many in Paris were horrified at what was
being done in the name of the Revolution.
But no one was more horrified than Charlotte Corday.
A minor aristocrat, Corday lost her mother and sister at a young age.
Her father sent her away to live in a convent, but that gave her a unique benefit - access
to a library.
As a girl, she read the works of philosophers like Plutarch, Voltaire, and Rousseau.
A small woman, she became the sole heir to a moderate estate - and had reason to fear
that the Revolution’s excesses would eventually reach her.
As it started, she sided with the Girondins - and watched in horror as they were eventually
purged by the Montagnards and their allies.
The September Massacres were the last straw.
Something needed to be done.
Corday viewed Marat not as a revolutionary leader, but as an enemy of France.
She was shocked by the execution of the King, and thought that Marat was likely to incite
a full-on civil war in France that could leave countless dead - and as the Reign of Terror
ramped up, she feared she was being proven right.
On July 9th, 1793, she left her cousin’s home and headed for Paris - carrying a long
knife.
Marat was a powerful man - but he had one weakness.
He had suffered from a painful skin condition for years, and treating it had been difficult.
This had forced him to retire from active politics, and many members of the leadership
were distancing themselves from him.
There was only one thing that alleviated the symptoms - long soaks in a bath treated with
minerals and medicine.
By the time Corday came looking for him, he spent most of his time in the bath.
And there he soaked on July 13th - when a young woman appeared at his apartment.
She claimed to have information on fugitives - enemies of the revolution!
Marat’s wife Simone had suspicions, but Marat was obsessed with finding any enemies
of France.
He invited Corday in and gave her an audience at his bathside.
She claimed to know about escaped Girondins who had escaped to Normandy, and they talked
for about fifteen minutes.
She gave him names, and Marat boasted to her that within a fortnight, they would all be
arrested, tried, and guillotined.
Marat didn’t have the power to guillotine anyone anymore - but that didn’t matter.
Corday had heard enough.
She pulled the long knife out of her corset, stabbing Marat directly in the chest.
This caused massive bleeding and Marat died in only seconds after crying out to his wife
for help.
Simone rushed into the room, alongside one of Marat’s distributors, and Corday was
taken into custody quickly.
While two neighbors tried to revive Marat to no effect, an angry crowd gathered, ready
to murder Corday on the spot.
But the local officials wouldn’t have it.
They wanted her to stand trial - as an enemy of the revolution.
Corday had not expected to come back from her mission, and she sent a letter to her
father.
It was intercepted, and would be read at her trial.
She claimed that she had avenged many innocent victims and prevented far worse, and this
was used as evidence by the prosecutors that she was not a simple madwoman - but an assassin
who had planned her killing of a political figure.
When interrogated, she stated her support for the revolution and its republican ideals,
but not for the actions of radicals.
But many suspected a bigger conspiracy.
The prosecution and many high-ranking revolutionary figures thought Corday might have been a pawn
of the Girondists who had escaped and were plotting to overthrow the government.
They argued that Corday had killed Marat too effectively to not be trained.
But Corday maintained her story throughout the trial - she had worked alone, creating
the plan and executing it alone.
She claimed luck alone guided her knife.
She knew what awaited her - and she was unafraid.
Her initial choice of a lawyer wasn’t informed in time, and her court-appointed lawyer had
no luck.
Corday was quickly convicted and sentenced to death, and only four days after she stabbed
Marat, she would face the guillotine.
During her trial she made her motivations clear.
She believed Marat was a dangerous man, and her quote became famous - “I killed one
man to save 100,000”.
But to the supporters of Marat’s faction, she was the greatest monster in France - and
they would see vengeance.
With only a few days to live, Corday asked to have her portrait painted so she would
be recorded for history.
Her painter, Jean-Jacques Hauer, took pains to protect himself from reprisals by putting
in minor details in the art that would make Corday look like a vain aristocrat.
He had to be careful to ensure that no ally of Marat’s would take offense - because
anything could get him sent to the guillotines right after her.
Corday’s execution would be the biggest event in paris.
On July 17th, 1793, she faced the guillotine alone wearing the traditional clothing to
denote a condemned traitor.
Executions were so common during this period that their clothing was used to indicate what
they were being executed for in some cases.
The execution went smoothly, with her head falling off in a single stroke - but that
wasn’t the end of the affair.
A man named Legros approached the basket and picked her head up, slapping it in front of
the crowd.
While some claimed that Corday’s face reacted, there is no evidence that people survive even
seconds after being decapitated.
Who did react?
The crowd, outraged at this insult to a dead woman even if she was a murderer.
Legros wound up being sent to prison for three months.
Corday’s act would have wide-reaching impacts - but not the one she was hoping for.
The Jacobins and their allies in power used Marat’s death to increase their grip on
France.
Marat became a martyr, with a bust of him being placed in a prominent position and building
names being changed to honor him.
Female activists in France were quick to distance themselves from Corday, fearing that the murder
would lead the Jacobins to crack down on feminism in France.
Women’s political clubs were soon banned, and there seemed to be an increase in the
execution of female activists who were seen as Girondin supporters.
But not all of the French condemned Corday.
Andre Chenier, a French poet, wrote a controversial poem about Corday that talked about the supposed
masculinity she possessed, and mocked all the men who wouldn’t have the strength to
do what she did.
This was a risky move, and sure enough he soon aroused the ire of powerful people in
the Montagnards for insulting their fallen hero’s memory.
He wound up following her to the guillotine - being executed only days before the Reign
of Terror would come to an end.
But there would be one last twist to Madame Guillotine’s reign.
The Reign of Terror had long since grown out of control with even early leader Georges
Danton being sent to face the guillotine after being accused of being too lenient against
enemies of the revolution.
By now, Robespierre was the undisputed leader of the revolution - and arrests and executions
ramped up massively.
He even tried to found his own new state religion.
Eventually, his cruelty grew too much for the government to bear, and they secretly
voted him out of office - followed quickly by his arrest and execution.
And July 28th, 1794 marked the end of the Reign of Terror.
Charlotte Corday had not lived to see it - but her legacy would endure.
Marat’s death would be immortalized in a painting by Jacques-Louis David, with many
criticizing it for making Marat look like a martyr and glorifying him.
Other media would be more sympathetic to Corday - especially after the fall of Robespierre.
Poems, songs, plays, operas, and movies have been made about the case.
You can even solve Marat’s murder in a level of the Assassin’s Creed video game.
Charlotte Corday’s killing of Marat may not have stopped the Reign of Terror in its
tracks - but it may have pushed it towards its inevitable self-destruction as the leadership
became increasingly paranoid and brutal.
A full year and eleven days passed between her death and Robespierres, and today a lot
of people look at her and say she knew what was coming - and gave her life to try to stop
it.
For more on this chaotic period, check out “The French Revolution in a Nutshell”
or watch this video instead.