Meeting Charlotte Corday

I've put this post off for awhile as I've worked on other things , but I thought today would be an appropriate time to start talking about my trip to Paris way back in March. Why, you ask? Because July 27th marks Charlotte Corday's birthday, and she was one of the biggest reasons I went to Paris in the first place.

A large part of my WIP, Through Charlotte's Eyes, surprise surprise, is about the famous assassin Charlotte Corday. No one could make much sense of why Corday thought killing journalist and politician Jean-Paul Marat would end the French Revolution - until her distant relative, Anne-Marie Gessner, tumbles into her life, becoming Charlotte and seeing life through the French revolutionary's eyes.

Well, that's the premise of my novel at least. I'd read a lot about Charlotte while at The University of Chicago. I saw pictures of her online and in books, but I'd never walked the streets where she walked, until I went to France. And lo and behold, I found her throughout the country!

First up, the Conciergerie, where 'convicts' were taken shortly before they met the guillotine. The building is now a museum all about the French Revolution. One room, in fact, listed all of the people whose last days were spent in the Conciergerie jail cells.

In the above picture, Charlotte's crime is listed as being a 'noble,' which she was and which was considered a crime, but that's not why she landed below the blade of the guillotine. The only thing I can think of is that this list of guillotine victims was updated in the early 1800s, a time in which the French still considered Charlotte's crime reprehensible because the people still idolized Marat. It wasn't until the latter-half of the 19th century that opinions about Charlotte's murder plot changed, with history books portraying it as a heroic and courageous act. Charlotte's claim in her final days - that she killed one man to save 100,000 - grew in acceptance over the years, and Charlotte, amazingly enough, did turn into a hero of sorts nearly a century later.

In fact, Charlotte Corday was among the most famous people to stay at the Conciergerie during the French Revolution, which is why it came as no surprise that her picture was prominently displayed in the museum. Many history books, in fact, claim she stayed in the same cell as Marie Antoinette, but one walk through the museum shows that was clearly not the case.

Rather, Charlotte would have stayed in a cell much like this one. (Granted, no weird looking mannequin would have been standing in the corner. But, you get the idea). She would have one small pallet to sleep on and a place to relieve herself, and that was it! On the other hand, Marie Antoinette's quarters were on display in the Conciergerie as well, and they were incredibly spacious, especially considering they were attached to a chapel, and they contained an actual bed. Charlotte had no such amenities. Then again, she wasn't a dethroned Queen.

The Conciergerie was just one place I found Charlotte. I'll continue to post about where I found her in the coming weeks. Hint on the next place: it involves chocolate!

In the meantime, happy birthday Charlotte!

Paris trip approaching!

Our trip to Paris is officially within the 10-day forecast! Not that the forecast is necessarily anywhere close to being right, but here's hoping it is (as it currently stands, it's supposed to be a sunny day here in Chicago). We're leaving early afternoon, with a short stopover in Washington DC, then jetting off to Paris. Hear that weather?? NO SNOWSTORMS that might delay either flight! I'd appreciate your cooperation.

(Photo from my youngest sister's trip to Paris last summer)

My boyfriend and I have so much planned, and it'll be amazing if we get to see everything we want to. First, we've got two day trips. One to Caen/Normandy. The city still has a lot of the same buildings that were there during the French Revolution. Even street names haven't changed, meaning? I know exactly where Charlotte Corday spent a few years of her life, both while living at Le Gran Manoir and the Abbey Aux Dames! While there, we're also planning on going to the Normandy beaches to see where my grandpa landed during the D-Day invasions. Anything else we see in Caen will just be icing on the cake.

We've also got a day trip to Aachen, the furthest west you can get in Germany. The boyfriend is planning this one (as he's fluent in German), but even though it means time away from Paris I'm looking forward to it, if only because I've never been there (and I hear it's gorgeous).

And then there's Paris! The city of light! With the two day trips, we've got about 6 days in Paris. One of those afternoons (or days), we'll be going to Versailles, for sure. I want to see the palace, but even more so, I'm looking forward to checking out the Musee Lambinet, the only museum in France to have an entire exhibit devoted to paintings of Charlotte Corday and Marat.

The other days will be spent exploring everywhere possible. From Montmartre, to Marais, to the Latin Quarter. I must, must, must see the catacombs and the Conciergerie and Sacre Couer and the Chapelle Expiatoire and the Picasso Museum and the Tuileries and... well the list goes on.

I've asked a version of this before, but I'll ask again:

If there was only one thing you could see/do in Paris, what would it be?

Once I'm back, I absolutely promise to post about the trip, along with pictures, of course.