Help needed please : about Robespierre and Saint-Just

[hansah.livejournal.com]

Hello all!
I'm searching historical details I can't find (it's mostly dates). Can you help me please ? Here are my questions :
1 - Saint-Just wrote to Robespierre, far before meeting him. It was a letter full of admiration for Maximilien : anyone wan tell me when ? (month and year, please)
2 - When Robespierre and Saint-Just met for the first time ? any details about this encounter ?
3 - Robespierre was quite often ill. If memory serves, he was badly ill, for a very long time in may/june 1793 (for about a month), and then in february/march 1794 (for about a month again). Is that correct ? And is there others periods and dates where Robespierre was ill ?
4 - and last question : Saint-Just was a kind of warrior and he was sent more than a few times at the frontiers to make the war. Can someone tell me, please, where he was sent and when ? (the dates, please)
Thanks a lot !

Comments

[maelipstick.livejournal.com]

Do we get a prize or at least a biscuit?

1) The letter is dated 19th August 1790. From here (http://membres.multimania.fr/discours/), beware the horrible ads. Royet (http://www.royet.org/) also seems to get recommended here a fair bit.
2) Nope. As far as I'm aware their first meeting has never been recorded, although they probably met in the National Convention which opened on 21st Sept 1792.
3)Again scroll about here (http://membres.multimania.fr/discours/1794.htm) for the record of Robespierre being ill. He was also ill sometime between 6th November - 29th November 1792, and 19th April -6th May 1794. There's some debate about whether his absence from the CSP and convention from 4th July 1794 to 26th July 1794 were due to illness or political disillusionment (or both).
4) If you are interested in Saint-Just I really, really recommend you do some research into his time with the armies as it was a big part of his overall role in the revolution. I'd love to be able to help more with links but sadly I'm an anglophone only and almost all the english language works on him are total rubbish. Saint Just was a representative on mission to the army in Alsace from the end of October 1794 to early Jan 1794, and with the Army of the North from 28th April to the end of May and from 6-7 June to 29th June including the major victory of Fleurus. (The dates are from R.R. Palmer (http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Who-Ruled-R-Palmer/dp/0691007616), who I'd recommend except recommending an English language textbook to a French speaker rather seems like recommending a skip on wheels to the owner of a porsche.

[hansah.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much !! You deserves a golden medal, and you win my eternal gratitude!
And thanks for the links too. You' re an angel.

inquiries

[(Anonymous)]

ah sweet find some jacobins on line!! What a splendid event!
Ok I`ll go through my books try to give u a date about the letter that St.Just wrote to Robespierre, I know I have it somewhere in my library. I don`t believe there`s a marked date about their encounter, pretty sure at the convention certainly not at the club!
Robespierre was often ill, true, the time that you have is accurate but again nothing too specific as far as I know: a people were watching the lodging in rue St.Honore` and speculating about his nervous breakdown or something of that nature.
St Just was sent to Alsace in 1794 when he was part of the Committee of Public Safety, was sent once or twice but just in Alsace and he accomplished quite a bit considering he had no military experience, anyhow we know he`s phenomenal so that doesn`t come as a surprise. I`ll try to b more specific. Nice website.
Their spirit is still alive and making a difference as usual
salut citoyen
sandra di nola u can catch me on face book

letter

[(Anonymous)]

here we go the letter that Saint Just wrote to Robespierre is from august 1789 he was on obscure devotee to Maxim:
"You who sustain the vacillating country against the torrent of despotism and intrigue, you whom I know as I know God by your miracles, I address myself to you, monsieur, to beg you to join with me in saving my poor region. I don`t know you but you are a great man. You are not merely the deputy of a province , you are the representative of humanity and the republic.
St Just, 22 year old kid. Unreal
cheers
sandra

Re: letter

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

1. It's "MaximE" not Maxim. Maxim is a creepy man's magazine not really the writing of the first name in French. (I guess it could be nowadays, with the sort of new-wave French first names, but not then, and not until relatively close to our times.)

2. Saint-Just wasn't a "devotee", and that kind of word gives me the creeps in every context. "Kid" is pretty dismissive, too. Would you say that to people who are 22 around here? There are people who are way under 22 years old who read this community. I get a bit tired of Saint-Just being called a "kid".

3. "Unreal"? In fact, once that letter is put back into the context of the dozens other letters we still have that were adressed to Robespierre, it's pretty modest and ordinary -- especially next to the one who compares him to the Messiah -- for the period's type of exaggerated prose.

4. That letter is incomplete, as usual. There's a big chunk left out between "...my poor region" and "I don`t know you but...". Of course, and as usual, nobody cares about what isn't Saint-Just fawning over Robespierre.