this is one of my favorite things to do w people’s historical faves: tell me five stories about Robespierre that you love (and I hope you get through this)

revolution-avec-revolution:

Thank you, I’m doing significantly better now! These stories won’t have sources provided, simply because that requires effort, and, well, this is intended to be a cutesy post where I rant about these Cool Stories that I have read about in Actual Published Works. So people will just have to trust me on this.

1. The tart story! We know this one to be true for sure, since Robespierre composed a letter and a poem about tarts, the latter of which is hilarious. So, basically, Robespierre stayed at someone’s house, and he was forced to sleep in the room where the pastries were kept (I think the hosts were bakers, or something of that nature). Robespierre described in a letter that he spent almost the whole night gorging himself on tarts, and how he had to eventually master his “passions amid such seductive items” (I’m almost positive that’s the exact wording of the quote).

2. I also like the story about Robespierre walking home with Charlotte, his sister. They were on their way, when suddenly, Maximilien got distracted, walking way ahead of Charlotte without noticing the fact that he had left her behind. Apparently, he got home, and was like “Oh no! Where’s Charlotte?”. She got home shortly after, Maximilien said something along the lines of “Where were you??”, shortly realizing what had occurred. They both laughed about it.

3. I think there was also a story about Robespierre coming home, taking some soup with a ladle, and, being so tired, dumping it out on the tablecloth instead of into the bowl from which he was supposed to eat. I can relate.

4. One time, when Robespierre was going through the countryside, he waved his hat out of the carriage at a local farmer, hoping that his gesture would be returned due to the apparent “hospitality” of those living in the country. The man simply gave him a glare, and Robespierre proceeded to write a (pretty sarcastic) letter to someone describing how upset he was by the encounter.

5. Oooh, there’s also the story about the pigeons that Robespierre kept as a child. Charlotte and Henriette lived separately from their siblings, Maximilien and Augustin. Maximilien kept pigeons in the garden, and when Charlotte and Henriette came over to visit, they begged him to let them take one home. He hesitantly agreed, and sure enough, the pigeon died shortly after due to the fact that the girls left it outside during a storm. Maximilien apparently cried upon hearing the news. It’s not a happy story, but I still like hearing about Robespierre caring about his pets so much.