16 Vendémiaire
An CCXXXV
Louise de Kéralio
Republic instead of monarchy, abolition of slavery, citizen instead of Madame! Louise de Kéralio was a revolutionary. The first woman to publish a journal. An activist committed to equality and justice. Yet she held a conservative view of women’s role. While others such as Claire Lacombe, Pauline Léon and Olympe de Gouges demanded far-reaching political rights, she wanted to keep women out of politics. She herself did not follow this principle. Her life was as ambivalent as the French Revolution: full of contradictions. But Kéralio was confident enough to embrace them. In the end, only the freedom of choice mattered to her. An existentialist avant la lettre.
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1756 - 1821
- August 27, 1756 · Born in Paris as the illegitimate daughter of Louis-Félix Guynement de Kéralio and Françoise Abeille.
- January 19, 1757 · Baptised after her parents’ marriage.
- 1772 · Beginning of her literary activity. First translations.
- 1785 · Publication of her first work on the history of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
- 1786 · Publication of the Collection des meilleurs ouvrages françois, composés par des femmes.
- April 1, 1786 · Founding of a publishing company in Paris.
- February 3, 1787 · Appointed honorary member of the Academy of Arras (under the presidency of Maximilien Robespierre).
- August 13, 1789 · Founding of the Journal d'État et du citoyen.
- May 14, 1790 · Marriage to Pierre-François-Joseph Robert, who would later become a deputy of the National Convention.
- July 1791 · Withdrawal from journalism after internal conflicts.
- July 17, 1791 · Participation in the events surrounding the Champ de Mars massacre.
- September 21, 1791 · Birth of her daughter Adélaïde.
- August 6, 1792 · Attacked in public for wearing the cockade, she defends herself
with a small knife and quick-witted replies
. - 1793 · With the onset of the Reign of Terror, she withdraws from politics.
- 1799 · Acquisition of a castle in Matagne-la-Petite (Belgium).
- 1810 · Sale of the castle following financial difficulties.
- 1815 · Her husband must leave France as a regicide after the Bourbon Restoration. Louise follows him to Brussels.
- December 31, 1821 · Death in Brussels.
Quotes
The greatest good the constitution can achieve is to exclude women from government forever.
Louise de Kéralio, April 1790.
On the influence of words and the power of language
Title of an article by Kéralio (December 1790), proposing the general use of tu and the forms of address citizen instead of monsieur/madame.
A witty woman, an author and a republican – that is quite intriguing!
Manon Roland on Louise de Kéralio, 1791.
Le Moniteur
Kéralio was the first woman to publish a journal.
External links
