Cécile Renault

The arrest of Cécilie Renaud [sic] on May 22, 1794 in front of Robespierre's apartment on rue (Saint) Honoré. The first two windows on the left above the porch belong to Robespierre's rooms, in which he lived from July 1791 until his death. On the right of the picture in the background you can see the joiner of the carpenter Maurice Duplay at work. Engraving by Matthias Gottfried Eichler from 1816 after a drawing by Jean Duplessis-Bertaux

Cécile Renault (* 1774 in Paris ; † June 17, 1794 in Paris) is a historical figure of the French Revolution . She was sentenced to death and guillotined for an alleged attempted assassination attempt on Maximilien Robespierre .

It is unclear whether Cécile Renault really planned this attack. What is certain is that on May 22, 1794 she asked to be admitted in front of Robespierre's apartment. When asked what she was looking for in Robespierre, she replied that she wanted to see "what a tyrant looks like". A small penknife was found in her utensils . This was enough for a death sentence at the time of the reign of terror in the French Revolution .

She was driven to the scaffold on June 17, 1794 in a red shirt. These clothes are considered to be the symbol of parricide. The instruction on this measure, which should bring Robespierre into disrepute among the people, came directly from the security committee , in which the opponents of Robespierre, who was a member of the welfare committee , had a majority.

According to Augsburg Post newspaper next to her 82-year-old father was Mitschuldigem also the whole family of this young girl, two aunts, the nuns used to have all their relatives eighteen as a whole on the number [...] executed with her. Among them were eight women, mothers and daughters, all hugging each other and encouraging one another. Only her two brothers got away with their lives; they were with the army, where their superiors gave them an opportunity to escape from custody.

Individual evidence

↑ Augsburger Postzeitung , Nro. 114, Tuesday, April 24, 1838, supplement, p. 5, (as of December 25, 2015).

personal data
SURNAME	Renault, Cécile
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Renault, Aimée-Cécile
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French historical figure of the French Revolution
DATE OF BIRTH	1774
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paris
DATE OF DEATH	June 17, 1794
Place of death	Paris

[1] Augsburger Postzeitung , Nro. 114, Tuesday, April 24, 1838, supplement, p. 5, (as of December 25, 2015).