Madame Roland Facts
Madame Roland Facts (http://biography.yourdictionary.com/madame-roland)
Marie-Jeanne Roland (1754-1793) was a French writer and political figure, who presided over a salon and was influential in her husband's career during the early years of the French Revolution until she was arrested and executed for treason.
Marie-Jeanne "Manon" Philipon, better known as Madame Roland, was born in Paris sometime in 1754. The only surviving child of a master engraver, she was born into an age of reason and wit, the France of the philosophes. After spending the first two years of her life with a wet-nurse, Manon returned to her parents' middle-class household where she watched her father and his apprentices make decorated snuffboxes, jewel and watch cases, elaborate buttons, and picture frames. Taught to read at an early age, her intellectual curiosity was insatiable. She devoured books on virtually every subject including history, philosophy, poetry, mathematics, and religious works. From her mother, she learned the domestic duties of cooking and sewing. It was reading, however, that remained her greatest joy, and she spent the majority of her waking hours engaged in study. As she herself noted: "I need study as I need food." At the age of nine, Manon discovered Plutarch's Lives which made an indelible impression upon her. It was Plutarch, she later admitted, who made her a firm believer in the republican form of government.
Religion held a strong hold on the young girl who, at age 11, expressed an earnest desire to become a nun. Her parents agreed to a one-year trial and on May 7, 1765, she entered the Convent of the Ladies of the Congregation, in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel. Here, she met the Cannet sisters, Henriette and Sophie, who became her lifelong friends.
Convinced that the monastic life was not for her, Manon left the convent in the spring of 1776 to live for a year with her grandmother Philipon on the Ile Saint-Louis. It was during one of their infrequent social
Marie-Jeanne Roland (1754-1793) was a French writer and political figure, who presided over a salon and was influential in her husband's career during the early years of the French Revolution until she was arrested and executed for treason.
Marie-Jeanne "Manon" Philipon, better known as Madame Roland, was born in Paris sometime in 1754. The only surviving child of a master engraver, she was born into an age of reason and wit, the France of the philosophes. After spending the first two years of her life with a wet-nurse, Manon returned to her parents' middle-class household where she watched her father and his apprentices make decorated snuffboxes, jewel and watch cases, elaborate buttons, and picture frames. Taught to read at an early age, her intellectual curiosity was insatiable. She devoured books on virtually every subject including history, philosophy, poetry, mathematics, and religious works. From her mother, she learned the domestic duties of cooking and sewing. It was reading, however, that remained her greatest joy, and she spent the majority of her waking hours engaged in study. As she herself noted: "I need study as I need food." At the age of nine, Manon discovered Plutarch's Lives which made an indelible impression upon her. It was Plutarch, she later admitted, who made her a firm believer in the republican form of government.
Religion held a strong hold on the young girl who, at age 11, expressed an earnest desire to become a nun. Her parents agreed to a one-year trial and on May 7, 1765, she entered the Convent of the Ladies of the Congregation, in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel. Here, she met the Cannet sisters, Henriette and Sophie, who became her lifelong friends.
Convinced that the monastic life was not for her, Manon left the convent in the spring of 1776 to live for a year with her grandmother Philipon on the Ile Saint-Louis. It was during one of their infrequent social