Thérésia Cabarrus

François Gérard 's Portrait de Madame Tallien , 1804

Jeanne Marie Ignace Thérésia Cabarrus (born July 31, 1773 in Carabanchel (near Madrid); † January 15, 1835 at Chimay Castle in Belgium) became known as "Madame Tallien" or after the overthrow of the 9th Thermidor (July 27, 1794) "Notre-Dame de Thermidor" and was an influential and well-known courtesan of late revolutionary France.

Life

origin

Thérésia Cabarrus was born as the daughter of the Bayonne- born Spanish state banker François Cabarrus (1752-1810) and his wife Maria Antonia Galabert Casanova. Thérésia married Jean-Jacques Devin (1762-1817), Marquis de Fontenay, in 1788, and then went to Paris with her husband. She enjoyed herself at the court of Louis XVI . and followed the debates of the Constituent Assembly (later the legislature) in the stands of the meeting room in the Tuileries Palace with keen interest . The Marquis de Fontenay left France in 1791 and joined the royalist emigrants. In April 1793, Thérésia's marriage was divorced.

Tallien

In April 1793, Thérésia went to Bordeaux and earned her living there in revealing theater performances. A little later she was imprisoned as a former marquise and born foreigner. She owed her release to the "representative in mission" Jean Lambert Tallien , who was enchanted by the beautiful woman. Thérésia became Tallien's companion and influenced him to moderate politics. In May 1794 she followed Tallien from Bordeaux to Paris when he was removed from office and had to justify himself to the welfare committee . Thérésia was arrested on arrival in Paris and taken to the Petite-Force women's prison. There she met Joséphine de Beauharnais and was able to smuggle the following message to Tallien in July 1794:

“ I had a dream. I dreamed that I would be executed the next day. This could be changed if there weren't faint-hearted weaklings but real men. "

Tallien wanted to save his beloved's life at all costs. That's why he joined Robespierre's opponents around Fouché , Barras , Carrier , Fréron , Billaud-Varenne and Collot d'Herbois . After the overthrow of the 9th Thermidor (July 27, 1794), Thérésia was released from prison and her admirers celebrated her as "Notre-Dame de Thermidor" . On December 26, 1794, Thérésia married her savior Tallien, but the marriage was only brief. In March 1795 Tallien was ordered to the Western Army.

Notre-Dame de Thermidor

After the petty-bourgeois prudish rigorism of the Jacobins, the life of the Thermidorians and the board of directors was addicted to pleasure and indulgence . The warning call of the tribune Babeuf went unheard into the void.

“ You do not see that these shameless women, these noble race adventurers, who are doing you the honor of prostituting themselves in your bourgeois arms, will kill you as soon as they have succeeded in turning things into the old waters . "

Madame Tallien, Thérésia was now known as such, gained considerable influence due to her beauty and her erotic charisma and, together with her friend Joséphine de Beauharnais, determined fashion in the neo-Greek style. Thérésia and Joséphine wore their hair short and curly and dressed in transparent fabrics, cut according to ancient models. Both women wanted to be influential, shared their preferences for jewelry, silk and lace, and were known for their helpfulness and friendliness. Thérésia's house in the Champs-Elysées was one of the most important meeting places in late-revolutionary France. Newly rich speculators, bankers, army suppliers, military officials, members of parliament, nobles of the “ancien régime” and artists met there. But because of her extravagance and her frivolity, Thérésia was despised by the people as "Queen of the Directory ".

After a few brief affairs, including with Lazare Hoche and Napoleon Bonaparte , Thérésia became Paul Barras' lover . In the autumn of 1798, Barras Thérésia ceded to the nouveau riche army supplier Gabriel-Julien Ouvrard (1770-1846), who stayed in luxury at Raincy Castle .

Thérésia lost its influence under the consulate . The Marquis de Sade published a pornographic work in 1800: "Zoloé and her two comrades or A few weeks from the lives of three beautiful women", which was dedicated to the First Consul of France, but was understood by him as a slander of Joséphine's relationship with Thérésia. Bonaparte had de Sade taken to the Sainte-Pélagie state prison for this reason. He also restricted Joséphine's dealings with Thérésia.

Chimay

In April 1802, Thérésia's marriage to Tallien was divorced and in August 1805 she married François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet; Count of Caraman and 16th Prince of Chimay. Thérésia was expelled from the imperial court because of this. Napoleon also forbade his wife to have any contact with Thérésia.

“ I forbid you to see Madame Tallien, on whatever pretext. I will no longer accept apologies. If you care about my appreciation and want to please me, you will never ignore this command. She comes into your rooms, even spends the night there. Forbid your doorkeepers to let them in in the future. She married a pathetic fellow with eight bastards. I just despise her even more now. She was a lovely young girl, but she has turned into a dishonorable and dissolute woman. "

Joséphine never received Thérésia again. Thérésia withdrew from the Parisian public and took care of the upbringing of her eleven children: From 1815 until her death in 1835, Thérésia lived with her family at Chimay Castle in what is now Belgium: There she ran a small but very cultivated farm and supported musicians such as Daniel Auber , Charles de Bériot , Luigi Cherubini , Rodolphe Kreutzer and Maria Malibran .

progeny

Thérésia Cabarrus gave birth to a total of 11 children.

She gave birth to four children to her lover Gabriel-Julien Ouvrard:

1. Clémence Isaure Thérésia Cabarrus (1800–1884)
2. Jules Adolphe Edouard Cabarrus (1801-1870)
3. Clarisse Gabriella Thérésia Cabarrus (1802–1877)
4. Augusta Stéphanie Coralie Thérésia Cabarrus (1803–1888)

Her three youngest children come from her marriage to François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet, 16th Prince of Chimay (1770–1843):

1. Joseph Philippe (1808–1886), 17th Prince of Chimay
2. Michel Gabriel Alphonse Ferdinand (1810–1865)
3. Maria Auguste Louise Thérèse Valentine (1815–1876)

literature

• Bernd Jeschonnek: Revolution in France 1789–1799. A lexicon. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000801-6 .
• Walter Markov ; Napoleon and His Time - History and Culture of the Grand Empire ; Edition Leipzig; 2nd revised edition 1996; ISBN 3-361-00450-0
• Bernard Chevallier / Christophe Pincemaille; Joséphine - Napoleon's great love ; Wilhelm Heyne Publishing House; Munich 1991; ISBN 3-453-05042-8
• Zeit Bild - The historical news magazine "Napoleon" ; Special edition for Gondrom-Verlag; Bindlach 1988; ISBN 3-8112-0599-4
• Christina Schröer; Heirs of the turning point ; GEO EPOCHE - The Magazine for History, Issue No. 22, Verlag Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. KG, 2006
• Joseph Turquan: The citizens of Tallien - A woman from the time of the French Revolution. According to statements by contemporaries and as yet unpublished documents. Berlin 1900

Web links

Commons : Thérésia Cabarrus  - collection of images, videos and audio files