page_title: Madame Roland
section_title: Imprisonment
hierarchical_section_title: Madame Roland / Downfall / Imprisonment
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: M.J.Ph. Roland née à Paris en 1756, femme du ministre de l'Intérieur assassinée par le tribunal révolutionnaire, le 19 bru.re l'an 2 de la Rép., estampe.
context_page_description: Marie-Jeanne 'Manon' Roland de la Platière, born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, and best known under the name Madame Roland, was a French revolutionary, salonnière and writer.
  Initially she led a quiet and unremarkable life as a provincial intellectual with her husband, the economist Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière. She became interested in politics only when the French Revolution broke out in 1789. She spent the first years of the revolution in Lyon, where her husband was elected to the city council. During this period she developed a network of contacts with politicians and journalists; her reports on developments in Lyon were published in national revolutionary newspapers.
  In 1791 the couple settled in Paris, where Madame Roland soon established herself as a leading figure within the political group the Girondins, one of the more moderate revolutionary factions. She was known for her intelligence, astute political analyses and her tenacity, and was a good lobbyist and negotiator. The salon she hosted in her home several times a week was an important meeting place for politicians.
context_section_description: In prison, Madame Roland was allowed to receive visitors. Her assistant Sophie Grandchamp came every other day; Bosc d'Antic brought her flowers from the botanical garden on his regular visits. They smuggled out her letters to Buzot and presumably also to her husband (any letters to Roland have been lost). She studied English and even had a piano in her cell for a while.
  On 24 June she was released unexpectedly because the legal basis for her arrest had been flawed, but was rearrested on a new indictment the very moment she wanted to enter her home. She spent the rest of her imprisonment in the harsher prison of Sainte Pelagie. She was very concerned about the fate of Buzot, more than about Jean-Marie Roland. She was hurt and angry that in his memoires her husband planned to hold Buzot responsible for the crisis in their marriage. With some difficulty she managed to convince him to destroy the manuscript. She was convinced that she would eventually be put to death but refused to cooperate with an escape plan organized by Roland which involved exchanging clothes with a visitor; she thought this too risky for the visitor.
  Outside of Paris, in the summer of 1793 resistance grew against the events in the capital. A revolt broke out in Lyon, and there were centres of resistance in Brittany and Normandy. In the provinces some Girodins argued in favour of a federal republic or even secession from 'Paris'. Madame Roland implored her friends not to put themselves at risk but Buzot, who reportedly always carried a miniature of Madame Roland and a lock of her hair with him, was involved in attempts to organise a revolt in Caen. The fate of the imprisoned Girondins was sealed when Charlotte Corday, a Girondin sympathizer from Caen, assassinated the popular Marat in Paris.
  When Madame Roland heard in October that Buzot too was in danger of being arrested, she tried to end her life by refusing food. Bosc d'Antic and Sophie Grandchamp were able to convince her that it would be better to stand trial, because that way she would be able to answer her accusers and save her reputation.
caption: Madame Roland; drawing by François Bonneville
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)"}