Children of Revolutionaries under Stress: The Case of the Bordeaux Girondins

Abstract

This article is part of a study of the families of French revolutionaries. Many leading politicians had young children and often suffered disproportionately from family disruption, internal exile, imprisonment or death in the years 1793–95. This sample focuses on families of ten Girondin deputés to the Convention, most of whom were executed during the Terror. Based in the commercial port of Bordeaux, several of these families were linked by marriage or friendship. It considers their survival strategies, networks of support, and the trajectories of certain children. The (controversial) reputation of the Girondins was later defended by some of their descendants resulting in Bordeaux's Monument to them, dating from 1901.