18 Prairial
An CCXXXIV
Madame de Staël
Madame de Staël, the daughter of the wealthy finance minister Necker, was born on the sunny side of life. She became the model liberal of her age, and her popular salon became a meeting place for moderate revolutionaries. Strong words against tyrants, champagne for the good mood. When the Revolution turned radical, the carriage was already waiting at the door. Destination: Coppet Castle on Lake Geneva. There she continued her struggle against the powerful, by the fireplace and surrounded by servants. Madame de Staël loved the Revolution – as long as the real revolutionaries did not come through the door. The mob had to stay outside.
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1766 - 1817
- April 22, 1766 · Born in Paris as Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker. Her father, Jacques Necker, later becomes France’s finance minister.
- January 14, 1786 · Marriage to Baron Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein, the Swedish ambassador, who is 17 years her senior.
- 1788 · Publication of a work on Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
- 1789 · Madame de Staël sympathizes with the Revolution. Her salon becomes a meeting place for moderate revolutionaries.
- 1792 · She tries to persuade the royal family to flee Paris, but without success. In September, she herself flees to Coppet in Switzerland.
- 1793 · Staël defends Marie Antoinette in the pamphlet Réflexions sur le procès de la Reine.
- 1794 · Beginning of her relationship with Benjamin Constant.
- May 1795 · After the fall of Robespierre, she returns to France together with Constant. Reopening of her salon in Paris.
- 1797 · Even after the coup of 18 Fructidor, she remains broadly supportive of the Directory, but becomes increasingly critical.
- 1799 · After initially supporting the Consulate, she becomes a perceptive critic of Napoleon’s claims to power.
- October 1803 · Napoleon, now First Consul for life, banishes Staël from Paris.
- 1804 · After Napoleon’s imperial coronation, Coppet Castle, Madame de Staël’s refuge on Lake Geneva, becomes the center of liberal opposition to the Empire.
- May 1814 · Return to Paris after Napoleon’s first abdication. During the Hundred Days, temporary withdrawal to Coppet.
- July 14, 1817 · Death in Paris.
Quotes
Since the revolution of the 9th Thermidor, there are only two influential parties in France: the friends of a just and free Republic, and the agitators promoting a bloodthirsty anarchy.
Madame de Staël, June 1795
In life, one must choose between boredom and torment.
Madame de Staël, 1800
Life often seems to be nothing but a long shipwreck.
Madame de Staël, Reflections on Suicide, 1813
Le Moniteur
Madame de Staël as Corinne, the heroine of her successful novel.
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