saint_merry - Profile (original) (raw)

on 8 February 2004 (#2148452)

Eugéne Charles Jeanne lead the barricade at the Saint-Merry Church in June 1832. He was later arrested, tried and condemned to deportation. He was tried with 21 of his fellow fighters and defended by M Alexandre Marie, who later became prominent in the government of a later French Republic.

Jeanne was born and schooled in Caen, the present-day capital of Normandy. He entered the army at the age of fourteen and fought for nine years until his parents' circumstances forced him to quit to take care of them. He was a 'decorated hero of July' 1830 for being wounded and furthermore saving the lives of twenty-three men. Judging from his subsequent actions, he must have been disappointed by the half-revolution of 1830 which brought Louis Phillipe to the throne to replace the fleeing Bourbon king.

During his trial he spoke eloquently and vehemently for himself and his compatriots. Despite his own conviction, he succeeded somewhat in preventing the majority of his followers from being convicted at all or recieving the harshest sentences. The sentence of deportation was a softening of the usual execution exercised for treason. Louis Phillipe and his advisors wanted no martyrs. Excluding Leclerc and Jouanne, who were named as defendents but court-martialled separately because of their status as members of the National Guard, only seven of the twenty-two were convicted. Only Jeanne recieved the equivalent death sentence of deportation which sent him to Mont-Saint-Michel until very shortly before his premature death in 1837. His chief lieutenant, Louis Rossignol was sentenced to 8 years in solitary confinement. Goujon and Vigouroux to 6 years. Rojon to 10 years forced labor and Fourcade to 5 years in prison followed by 10 years of special police surveillance.

Jeanne's ill health in prison garnered him some leniency, including eventually a transfer to Doullens, where he was eventually released to die 'at home' with his mother. This special treatment prompted his fellow prisoners to accuse him of spying for the prison officials and of embezzling Republican donated funds for the aide of his aging parents. Jeanne's character made it unlikely for this to be true. This is, of course, my opinion.

1800's, 1832, 19th century, alexandre marie, armand marrast, barricades, caen, charles jeanne, dead french boys, doullens, france, freemasonary, freemasons, french history, general lamarque, gisquet, grand armeé, idealism, insurrection, insurrections, july monarchy, june 5th 1832, les misérables, louis blanc, louis phillipe, louis rossignol, mont-saint-michel, montagnards, nineteenth century, paris, prisons, republicanism, revolution, revolutions, saint-merry, saint-mery, saint-méry, thiers, victor hugo