CHARLOTTE CORDAY

By:

Joanna Williams

Billy Faulkner

WHO IS CHARLOTTE CORDAY?

Born in Saint-Saturnin-des-Lingneries July 27th 1768 She lived in Norway Her mother and her sister passed away when she was

young Her father was unable to deal with the loss, so he sent

her and her sister to Caen Abbaye-aux-Dames Then her cousin took her in She was a romanticist

WHO IS CHARLOTTE CORDAY? She was a member of an aristocratic family She was a Norman member of the nobility of the

sword Charlotte Corday followed Marie Antoinette While there Corday had access to the abby’s

library where she first encountered the writings of Plutarch, Rousseau, and Voltaire

WHAT DID CHARLOTTE CORDAY DO? On July 13th 1793 she came to Paris to find a

Jacobin leader named Marat. She purchased a kitchen knife.

Charlotte lodged at a hotel, and wrote aux Français amis des lois et de la paix ("Speech to the French who are Friends of Law and Peace") which explained the act she was about to commit.

WHAT DID CHARLOTTE CORDAY DO? CONTINUED.

Corday entered Marat’s house to inform him about a planned Girondist uprising in Caen. Marat turned her away, however she returned later that evening, as Marat had requested her presence. He copied down the named of the Girondists as Corday dictated to him. She then pulled a knife from her scarf, and plunged it into his chest, severing his lung, aorta, and left ventricle. He called out, Aidez, ma chère amie ! ("Help me, my dear friend!") and died. Corday was caught by Marat’s attendants, and arrested.

CORDAY, CAUGHT / THE TRIAL OF CHARLOTTE CORDAY

At trial, Corday testified that she had carried out the assassination alone, saying "I killed one man to save 100,000. I told my plans to no one. I was not killing a man, but a wild beast that was devouring the French people“.

Her efforts to save herself were in vain, and four days after the death of Marat, on July 17th 1793, Corday was found guilty, and sentenced to die on the guillotine.

A H

AIR

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TO

DIE

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This metal engraving shows Charlotte Corday’s hair getting chopped off. This was

THE EXECUTION OF CHARLOTTE CORDAY

In the wee hours of the morning, Corday’s long locks of hair were cut. She was led in a wagon to the guillotine. She was decapitated, and one of the executioner's assistants — a man hired for the day named Legros — lifted her head from the basket and slapped it on the cheek. This slap was considered an unacceptable breach of guillotine etiquette, and Legros was imprisoned for 3 months because of his outburst

RESOURCES USED

http://www.geosites.com/Athens/Forum/5154/corday.htm

http://www.1911encylopedia.org/MarieAnneCharlotteCordayd’Aromont

http://www.google.com http://www.wikipedia.org http://www.imageshack.us http://vimoutiers.net/imagesCC/CC-The-Last-

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