Lot 1493

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Description:

FRENCH REVOLUTION: PRIESTS STAGE REBELLION IN THE MOUNTAINS OF DOUBS
Interesting and vitriolic A.L.S. of JEAN-JOSEPH-VICTOR GENISSIEU (1749-1804), French politician and the Minister of Justice in 1796 signed ‘Genissieu' 2pp. 4to., ‘5 Ventose l'an 4' [Feb. 24, 1796], on official Justice letterhead to the criminal tribunal in Doubs. Following reports of unrest by clergy in the area, Genissieu writes, in part: ‘…I am informed…that disruptive priests are waving torches of fanaticism and civil war in the mountains in the department of Doubs; that several of them have been reported to you by name; that the ex-curate of Desservilles named Bourges had been arrested, and that he was deposed at the Chateau de Joux…The disruptive priests, whom the laws of 1792 and 1793 have imposed with the penalty of deportation or imprisonment, are to the Republic what gangrene is to a robust man; it is necessary to hasten to cut it off, lest the corruption spread…As for the official [Bourges] who was convicted of negligence, he must be sentenced to two years' imprisonment. You will report to me in 10 days…I wish to be able give you praise for your activity, rather than to execute the law which would punish and uncivil and culpable inertia…'. In March 1793, the Revolutionary Tribunal was created to identify and punish persons considered to be dangerous to the new Republic and, naturally, religious figures were part of the persecution. Over the course of the following years, mounting numbers of priests and nuns were arrested and tried for ‘fanaticism' in the effort to drive religious practice underground. Despite having been the official religion of France for hundreds of years, Catholicism itself became increasingly suspect and, in November 1793, public worship was forbidden, churches were closed, and articles used in worship such as church bells, statues, relics, works of art and so forth were seized. Anti-Catholic hysteria subsided somewhat after the fall of Robespierre in July 1794, and the Convention, anxious to create stability, created a formal separation of church and state in February 1795. Still, religion and its practice was considered a threat to the Republic, and subsequent decrees sought to monitor and quash clerical activities, as evinced in this letter. Catholicism would be returned as the ‘official' French religion following Napoleon's signing of the Concordat in Rome in July, 1801. Fine condition.

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June 15, 2023 10:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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