To cut a long story short, all those rumors exist or have existed except that of Éléonore taking Robespierre's name post Thermidor. I've seen a few secondary sources that say she was *called* the Widow Robespierre after his death, but no primary sources to back that up (and I've made quite a study of it, believe me). Also, it's not a biographer who suggested that they were secretly married, but a memoirist - though not necessarily a trustworthy one (as if such a thing existed). The French wikipedia article on Éléonore (as of today), which I've contributed too, gives a pretty good overview of what the primary sources (and some secondary) say.
My personal feeling is that there probably was *something* going on between Robespierre and Éléonore, though whether that was of a romantic, sexual, or simply platonic nature is difficult to gauge. (I tend to think they were indeed at least informally engaged, based on the testimony of Élisabeth Le Bas and Dr Souberbielle, Charlotte Robespierre's assertions to the contrary not withstanding - her memoirs testify to the fact that she was extremely jealous of Éléonore and the Duplays in general - but I'm more than willing to accept that there may be other, equally valid interpretations.)
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Robespierre and Eleonore
Date: 2010-06-27 03:08 am (UTC)My personal feeling is that there probably was *something* going on between Robespierre and Éléonore, though whether that was of a romantic, sexual, or simply platonic nature is difficult to gauge. (I tend to think they were indeed at least informally engaged, based on the testimony of Élisabeth Le Bas and Dr Souberbielle, Charlotte Robespierre's assertions to the contrary not withstanding - her memoirs testify to the fact that she was extremely jealous of Éléonore and the Duplays in general - but I'm more than willing to accept that there may be other, equally valid interpretations.)