ROSSIGNOL (Jean-Antoine, 1759–1802) - Lot 273

Lot 273
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ROSSIGNOL (Jean-Antoine, 1759–1802) - Lot 273
ROSSIGNOL (Jean-Antoine, 1759–1802) Signed autograph letter to the citizens of the Quinze-Vingts Section requesting their intervention with the Committee of General Security. Paris, Thermidor Year II [August 1794]. Important signed autograph letter, 3 folio pages, addressed to the citizens gathered in a general assembly of the Quinze-Vingts Section. In this lengthy letter, General Jean-Antoine Rossignol, former commander-in-chief of the Army of the Brest Coast and a popular figure of the Revolution, thanks the citizens for their support and asks them to intercede with the Committee of General Security to secure his release. He recalls with emotion his revolutionary commitment from the very beginning: “I fought beneath the walls of the Bastille,” and describes his dismissal, his exile from Orléans, and then his arrest after Thermidor despite the Convention’s decrees intended to protect suspended officials. He denounces the illegality of his detention, asserts that no warrant had been issued against him, and demands strict application of the laws passed by the Convention. This letter constitutes an exceptional account of the political upheavals following 9 Thermidor, when many former representatives and revolutionary officers were in turn targeted by the new authorities. Three folio pages. Handwritten address on the reverse to the Section des Quinze-Vingts. Very fine autograph signature “Rossignol.” Original creases, a few small foxing spots, and minor signs of wear. Autograph Jean-Antoine Rossignol (1759–1802), general of the French Revolution. A former laborer who became one of the popular leaders of the Parisian uprising of July 1789, he took part in the storming of the Bastille before rising to the highest military commands during the Wars of the Vendée. Dismissed in 1794, he was arrested after Thermidor before finally being released under the Convention. Historical Significance This letter sheds particularly vivid light on the immediate consequences of the Thermidorian Reaction. It reveals the steps Rossignol took to mobilize the Parisian sections in his favor and illustrates the essential political role played by the Section des Quinze-Vingts, one of the most active in the capital. Autograph letters from Rossignol relating to his arrest remain rare on the market and are of major interest for the history of the French Revolution, the storming of the Bastille, and the Wars of the Vendée.
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