Louis Reymond
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Louis Reymond , actually Jean-Antoine-Louis Reymond (born November 1, 1772 in Lausanne ; † November 7, 1821 there , entitled to live in Les Bayards ) was a Swiss politician and publicist during the Helvetic Revolution in 1798.
From 1799 he held the position of a cantonal recruiting officer. In May 1802 he led the uprising of the Bourla-Papey ("paper burners"), who campaigned militantly for the abolition of feudal rights. His public work ceased with the end of the Helvetic Republic. After a mental breakdown, he spent the last five years of his life in an institution for the mentally ill.
Reymond left hardly any autobiographical messages. Historians have made different judgments about the extent of its influence on political events in Vaud. The assessment of his person fluctuates between a disinterested patriot and a confused fanatic.
Life
Revolutionary, recruiting officer
Louis Reymond was the youngest child of the mason Alexandre Reymond and Françoise Groux, who married in 1762. The family lived in difficult circumstances. Five of his six siblings died in childhood, and he lost his father when he was fourteen years old. Autodidactically educated and conspicuously well read, he probably completed an apprenticeship as a printer from 1786 to 1789. Reymond reported that he had always felt a love of freedom and abhorred any relationship of dependence. On November 15, 1794, he applied for and received a pass to travel to Paris, which with Terreur and Thermidor had just been through the high phase of the revolutionary upheavals. Until February 9, 1798, when he reappeared in Lausanne, nothing further is known about him. He described himself as a partisan enthousiaste ("enthusiastic supporter") of the revolution in France, which fed his hopes for freedom.
"... I decided to do all I could to bring my countrymen out of the shameful indifference into which they were immersed."
Reymond became public when the Swiss Revolution was in full swing and the former Bernese subject area had declared itself independent as the Lemanic Republic . In the Société populaire ("People's Society"), which he co-founded, he belonged to the radicals who represented an anti-clerical and egalitarian tendency and were considering a union with the French Republic. In addition, he actively campaigned for the establishment of voluntary associations to support General Brunes in the campaign against Bern. He quickly made a name for himself. In March 1798 he was appointed elector to elect the future magistrates of the Helvetic Republic, and in July he became district judge of Lausanne. He used his journalistic talent first as editor-in-chief of the Ami de la Liberté (“Freedom Friend ”) and then as the self- authored Régénérateur (“Renewer”). In these newspapers he sharply criticized any reluctance on the part of officials to implement the revolution.
«Unfortunately, some innovators were motivated only by self-interest; they were subordinate groups who wanted the revolution to stop where it began. I saw through their egoistic standpoints and from then on saw nothing in them other than subjects that were just as dangerous as the previous power clique itself. "
Reymond's journalistic attacks brought him into conflict with the authorities. The Régénérateur , which last appeared on August 31, 1798, was banned and arrested on September 5. The Helvetian High Court sentenced him to three years' imprisonment and the loss of his political rights for six years for rioting on November 13th. It also forbade him from publishing. Due to his good connections, however, he enjoyed some freedom. He was arrested in Lucerne , where the Swiss government had its seat and where he worked as a printer for the same. Finally, by means of a decree, he was released from his sentence, with reference to his youth and the strength with which he had "rebelled against the abuses of the Ancien Régime". Reymond, whose arrest had rioted, received an enthusiastic welcome on his return to Lausanne on February 26, 1799. He could now take on new tasks. At the end of October 1798, France had already requested auxiliary troops from the Helvetic Republic, while the Helvetic authorities were simultaneously trying to set up their own army. Reymond's talent for agitation had shown itself in the spring of 1798, and with the rank of captain he became a recruiting officer of the second Helvetian half-brigade . In the following three years he raised the men of the canton of Léman who were fit for military service .
Leader of the Bourla Papey
The Helvetic Constitution provided for the abolition of feudal taxes ( tithes and basic interest) that came from the time of the Old Confederation . However, the reform failed and brought the Helvetic Republic into disrepute with one of its main pillars, the former rural subjects. Their disappointment was particularly great in the canton of Léman , where since the spring of 1798 they saw themselves as the spearhead of the revolution. Reymond, who in his function came into close contact with large parts of the Vaudois population, certainly sympathized with their concerns. Within his family it is said that an ancestor killed a robber baron in the 11th century and that the family, originally from the Val de Travers , was therefore freed from all feudal burdens.
“Yes, I'm not afraid to say it: tithe, mortgage , bond , the waistline of people, or whatever kind of land they are, all came about through robbery and violence. Refusing to pay them means defending one's property and not attacking someone else's. "
From February 19, 1802 on, riots broke out in Vaud, during which farmers burned the archives of numerous parishes and former feudal lords in order to make it impossible to collect feudal taxes. This shredded files gave them the popular name Bourla-Papey ("paper burner"). It is possible that Reymond already entered into an exchange with the Bourla-Papey in this first phase, but he was still holding back. Although the authorities feared that he might be dangerous to public order, they saw no reason to take action against him. He probably didn't join the uprising until late April. On May 8th, he marched into Lausanne as a commandant at the head of 1,500 Bourla-Papey. However, the authorities had mobilized troops in their turn, and Reymond withdrew in view of their superiority. On the same day he read out a manifesto in nearby Montbenon , in which he called for the lifting of feudal burdens and an amnesty for all rebels, but otherwise proclaimed their loyalty to the government.
«… Far from being rebels, [the Bourla-Papey] are merely fate-beaten, who only know despair and whom one tries to brand; nevertheless, however unhappy they are, they assure the present government of their unwavering attachment ... »
In a meeting with Commissioner Kuhn , the representative of the Helvetian government, Reymond and other leaders of the uprising on May 11th were verbally promised that their demands would be taken seriously. Kuhn saw in Reymond an element of order and appeasement. The following day Reymond also dismissed the insurgent militia; but he continued his agitation and the auto-da-fs continued. On May 20, Reymond received the news that he should leave the country as he was threatened with arrest, whereupon he soon went to Thonon, France . The uprising was finally suppressed with French military power and special legal proceedings. Louis Reymond was sentenced to death in early August. An extradition request was not issued. As early as August 19, a partial amnesty converted the death sentence into exile.
War invalids, prison inmates
At the end of July 1802, the French troops left Switzerland and the state's order collapsed as a result of their withdrawal. The following stecklikrieg the restorative minded forces gained the upper hand, and the sphere of Swiss government shrank to the cantons Geneva and Friborg. Reymond, who saw the achievements of the revolution in jeopardy, joined the Swiss troops in late September despite his conviction. He suffered a severe knee wound in a battle near Orbe . On October 15, the government granted him a full amnesty.
1803/04 saw Reymond achieve his most important goals. Bonaparte's mediation had ensured the existence of his home canton, and its constitution lifted the feudal burdens. But he himself suffered from a permanent handicap from the war, for which the state paid him a small disability pension. He also performed some unknown tasks in the administration. The attempt to become journalistic again in 1806 through a cantonal advertising paper failed, as did the takeover of the Lausanne Feuille d'Avis in 1807. Only his pension was increased slightly. In 1812 he was supposed to convert his cantonal citizenship into a regular municipal citizenship, but he does not seem to have complied with the official request. In January 1816 there had been unknown judicial investigations against him when he broke into the government meeting room on July 23 and threatened those present with the "verdicts of the immortal". He was taken away and taken to the Champs-de-l'Air asylum for the mentally ill by the justice of the peace . He was never released and appears to have lived in good physical condition for a long time until he died in 1821. According to the death certificate, he last called himself Louis-Théophil Reymond .
Historical classification
Even Reymond's contemporaries came to contrary judgments about him. On the one hand, his sense of justice, altruism and patriotism were praised. On the other hand, he was criticized as naive, exalted, confused, fanatical. He was even accused of working in the service of France. In 1860 the historian Louis Vulliemin saw in him the kind of revolutionary who wanted to destroy everything in order to start again. In contrast, the novelist Alfred de Bougy drew a fundamentally positive picture in his Les Bourla-Papey ou Brûleurs de Papiers nine years later.
To this day, the majority of historical scholars assess Reymond as a marginal figure of the Helvetic Revolution in Vaud from 1797/98 and only as one of several leaders of the Bourla-Papey between February and May 1802. More recent publications in the context of the commemoration celebrations for the Helvetic in 1998 have tried to counter this To focus more on Reymond as an actor in Vaudois history from 1798 to 1802.
The «delusion of Captain Louis Reymond»
Part of the attention Reymond's person receives comes from his mental illness. She already fascinated the contemporary historian Charles Monnard , who visited Reymond in the institution and met an intelligent-looking, talkative man. A medical examination from 1982 dealt with the " delusion of Captain Louis Reymond". Reymond questioned reality and said that many people do not really appear, but only appear as their own appearances; He referred to such doubles as séptenaires (" sevens "). He developed an esoteric theory of numbers in which the seven played a central role. He also believed in transmigration of souls and saw in himself a rebirth of Jupiter-Ammon and Alexander the Great . In a preserved document he announced the near end of the world and urged people to turn away from their wrongdoings.
"But with what right, you will perhaps say in your stubbornness, does this man come and urge us to prostrate ourselves and to repent? [...] I will say it at once: In the name of the Almighty, who has been paying attention to me for a long time, even if my deeds are not perfect. "
Reymond's delusions led to speculation about their cause, especially since this had distinguished itself through deliberate action until 1802 and was not noticeable in the following fourteen years. Monnard said that Reymond was only thrown into confusion when he was given books with mystical content in the institution to lead him back to religion. Syphilis as a typical soldier's disease of that time is largely ruled out, Reymond showed no signs of dementia. The medical examination of his case suspects several psychologically effective factors, the core of which were family-related, lifelong fears of loss . Reymond may have developed delusional ideas during many years before 1816, the suppression of which suddenly became impossible; What is striking is the short period of five months between the death of his mother, who was the only permanent personal point of reference in his life, and the collapse in July 1816. His narcissism , which is expressed in the assumed first name Théophil ("God's friend"), is called Compensation for the increasing inadequacy in relation to a changing environment in which Reymond was without family support, an invalid and, since the beginning of the Restoration in 1814, a politically marginalized person.
See also
literature
- Jacques Besson: L'insurrection des Bourla-Papey (Brûleurs de Papiers) et l'abolition des droits féodaux dans le canton de Vaud. Editions Ouverture, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne 1998, ISBN 2-88413-060-8
- Jean-Claude Wagnières: Louis Reymond, l'Insurgé. Editions d'en bas, Lausanne 1998, ISBN 2-8290-0235-0
Web links
- Daniel Hugli: Essai sur la folie du capitaine Louis Reymond . Online version
- Boris Anelli: Reymond, Louis. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ « … je résolus de contribuer de toutes mes forces à sortir mes compatriotes de la honteuse léthargie dans laquelle ils étaient plongés. »French quote from: Jean-Claude Wagnières: Louis Reymond, l'Insurgé. Lausanne 1998, p. 58.
- ↑ « Malheureusement, dans le nombre de ceux qui travaillaient à la régénération, il en existait quelques-uns dont l'intérêt était le seul moteur: ceux-là, qui occupaient alors des emplois subalternes, voulaient que o la réuâtre s'arrêtà commençait leur autorité. Je pénétrai leurs vues égoïstes, & dès ce moment, je ne les envisageait plus comme des êtres aussi dangereux pour nous que les oligarques eux-mêmes. »French quote from: Jean-Claude Wagnières: Louis Reymond, l'Insurgé. Lausanne 1998, p. 58.
- ↑ « … Oui, je ne crains pas de le dire, dîmes, censes, banalité, taillabilité personelle ou rurale, de quelque espèce, de quelque nature qu'elles soient, n'ont existé que par le brigandage & la violence. Refuser de les payer, c'est défendre sa propriété, & non pas attaquer celle d'autrui. »French quote from: Jean-Claude Wagnières: Louis Reymond, l'Insurgé. Lausanne 1998, p. 29.
- ↑ « … loin d'être rebelles, ils ne sont que des infortunés réduits au désespoir et qu'on cherche à flétrir, mais tout malheureuse qu'ils sont, ils donnent au gouvernement actuel l'assurance positive de leur attachement inviolable… » Franz Quoted from: Jacques Besson: L'insurrection des Bourla-Papey. Le Mont-sur-Lausanne 1997, p. 78.
- ^ François Hugli: Essai sur la folie du capitaine Louis Reymond, de la Révolution au Champ-de-l'Air. Lausanne 1982
- ↑ " corn, direz-vous peut-être dans votre endurcissement, de quel droit cet homme vient-il nous entretenir d'humilité et de repentir? […] Je vais vous le dire: C'est au nom du Tout-Puissant, dont les regards se sont dès longtemps fixés sur moi, malgré l'imperfection de mes travaux. »French quote from: Jacques Besson: L'insurrection des Bourla-Papey. Le Mont-sur-Lausanne 1997, pp. 182-183.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reymond, Louis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Reymond, Jean-Antoine-Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Vaudois revolutionary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 1, 1772 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lausanne |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 7, 1821 |
| Place of death | Lausanne |