Charlotte Corday (1768-1793) was the assassin of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat.
Charlotte Corday (1768-1793) was the assassin of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat.
In honor of the spookiest month, we’re revisiting our favorite Womanica episodes featuring villains, troublemakers, magic, and mystery all October. Join host Jenny Kaplan — with a few special introductions — as she takes you back in time, highlighting women like Sadie the Goat, Marie Laveau, Patricia Krenwinkel and more who were ruthless, vengeful, and mystical. The riveting stories of these women are sure to keep you up at night.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
Today’s episode originally came from our “Villainesses” month, in August 2019.
Let’s go back to the era of the French Revolution – to talk about the woman who assassinated the Jacobin leader, Jean-Paul Marat.
Meet Charlotte Corday.
Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d’Armont was born in Normandy in 1768, to a minor aristocratic family. Charlotte was the middle of three sisters. When she was still quite young, Charlotte’s mother and elder sister both died.
Charlotte’s father sent Charlotte and her younger sister to an Abbey in Caen because he couldn’t handle his grief and the two girls. There Charlotte first came into contact with the teachings of humanist thinkers such as Plutarch, Rousseau and Voltaire. Those thinkers heavily influenced the way Charlotte saw the world around her
As an adult, Charlotte’s physical appearance was described on her passport as, "five feet and one inch... hair and eyebrows auburn,eyes gray, forehead high, mouth medium size, chin dimpled, and an oval face."
As France erupted in war, Charlotte aligned herself with the Girondins. For those of us who could use a refresher on the factions of the French Revolution, the Girondins were revolutionaries, but they were the more moderate faction among the different revolutionary groups fighting for supremacy.
The Girodins generally opposed the more extremists who believed everyone who opposed the revolution should be terrorized and struck down. The Girodins were particularly at odds with the Jacobins, the more hard core group.
Charlotte believed that the Jacobins’ antics and outright violence threatened the moral fabric of the French nation. She felt so strongly about it that she set out to murder one of the Jacobin leaders, Jean-Paul Marat.
Marat was a prominent member of the radical group that led the Reign of Terror. He was a journalist who used his newspaper to sway public opinion. Charlotte held Marat responsible for many deaths and believed his continued ascension would mean the end of the Republic.
On July 9th, 1793, Charlotte left her cousin’s house where she was living at the time and traveled to Paris. She bought a kitchen knife with a six-inch blade and wrote what she called an Address to the French People to explain her motives.
Charlotte initially planned to kill Marat in a very public setting, in front of the National Convention, to make an example of him. But turns out Marat had a serious skin condition that had worsened to the point that he spent most of his time- and took most of his meetings- in his home bathtub.
So instead, Charlotte went directly to Marat’s home, pretending she had insider information about a planned Girodin uprising. After being turned away once, Charlotte made it inside. Marat was, as usual, holding meetings from his bath. Charlotte gave him a list of names and then stabbed him a single time in the chest. The scene has been memorialized in the famous and haunting painting by Jacques-Louis David.
Charlotte was immediately seized and imprisoned. During her trial she said, “I knew that he Marat was perverting France. I have killed one man to save a hundred thousand.”
In a farewell letter to her father, Charlotte wrote, “The people, when they become disillusioned some day, will rejoice to be rid of a tyrant.”
But the chain of events following Charlotte’s actions didn’t go as she’d hoped. She had actually turned Marat into a martyr and the terror intensified.
Charlotte was sentenced to death despite her continued insistence that she was a republican and had been one even before the revolution. Her final request before death was to have a painting made from her likeness so she would be remembered in history. National guard officer Jean-Jacques Hauer did the deed. Apparently she viewed the painting just before heading to her death and suggested a few changes.
On July 17th, 1793, Charlotte Corday was executed by guillotine.
Charlotte’s crime changed the way women were seen in society at that time. She challenged the notion that women were lesser than or second class. For people who agreed with her political leanings, Charlotte was seen as a hero. Still, women distanced themselves from Charlotte after the murder because they feared Charlotte would incite action against the growing feminist movement. Some say Charlotte’s actions led to the banning of women’s political clubs and the executions of other female Revolutionaries.
With her or against her, Charlotte Corday played a significant role in the French Revolution, even if her actions didn’t quite land the way she thought they would.
All month, we’re bringing you the best of villainy, magic, and mystery. Tune in tomorrow for another of our favorite episodes.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!