Corday d'Armont, Charlotte de

(1768-1793) (Charlotte Corday)

   revolutionary figure

   Born in Saint-Saturnin-des-Ligneries, Orne, Charlotte de Corday d'Armont was educated in a convent and was an ardent reader of classical writers such as Plutarch and Tacitus and Enlightenment thinkers like jean-jacques rousseau. Adopting the ideas of her age, she became a supporter of the revolution of 1789. After the proscription of the girondins (June 2, 1793), she joined a number of leaders of the federalist insurrection in normandy in a plot to assassinate jean-paul marat, the member of the revolutionary government who, in her eyes, was responsible for the Reign of terror. Arriving in Paris in early July 1793, she gained admittance to Marat's house on the pretext of offering to disclose to him the names of several Girondins of Caen. Instead, taking a knife from the kitchen of his residence, she stabbed him in his bath, declaring "For Liberty." Captured by Marat's friends before she could escape, Charlotte Corday, as she is known, was tried by a revolutionary tribunal and executed on July 17. Despite the horror that her act evoked, she is regarded by many as a heroine of the Revolution. Her act is portrayed in a famous painting by jacques-louis david.