Memoirs of the Marchioness de La Rochejaquelein

A fascinating eyewitness account of the French Revolution and Vendéen revolt, published in 1815, and reissued in an 1827 translation.

Marie-Louise-Victoire Marquise de La Rochejaquelein (Author), Walter Scott (Edited by)

9781108025805, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 February 2011

386 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.49 kg

Marie-Louise Victoire de Donnissan, Marquise de la Rochejaquelein (1772–1857) was brought up at Versailles, a god-daughter to Louis XVI. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, she married her cousin, the Marquis de Lescure. After the execution of the king, she accompanied Lescure to La Vendée where a Royalist insurrection was waged from 1793 to 1796. Widowed in 1793, she later married Lescure's cousin, Louis, Marquis de La Rochejacquelein, brother of one of the Royalist leaders. Her memoir, first published in 1815 and translated and reprinted many times, remains one of the most authentic records of this period. Although understandably partisan, she reports atrocities carried out by both sides with great immediacy. This reissue is taken from the 1827 Edinburgh edition, with a preface by Sir Walter Scott. Scott draws parallels between the Vendéen insurrection and the civil war in Scotland waged by the Covenanters.

Preface
Dedication
1. My birth
2. The 10th of August
3. Description of the Bocage
4. Commencement of the war
5. Retreat of the army of Anjou
6. The Vendeens ocupy Bressuire
7. Thouars, Parthenay, and Chataigneraie taken
8. Formation of the Superior Council
9. Taking of Angers
10. Retaking of Chatillon
11. Arrival of M. de Tinteniac
12. Battles of La Roche Erigne, martigne, Doue, Thouars, Coron, Beaulieu, Torfou, Montaigu, St. Fulgent
13. Battle of Moulin aux Chevres
14. Passage of the Loire
15. Battles between Laval and Chateau-Gonthier
16. Arrival of two emigrants sent from England
17. Battle of Dol
18. Return to La Fleche
19. Attempt to repass the Loire
20. Hospitality of the Bretons
21. Abode at the Chateau of Dreneuf
22. The amnesty
23. An account of the fate of the different Vendeen officers who continued the war
Supplement.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]