Brigitte Billaud-Varenne, also known as Virginie Billaud-Varenne, (?-after 1874) was a Black Guadeloupean slave freed by Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, who took her as his concubine. Brought to Billaud-Varenne by the Swiss slave trader Siéger or Siégert, who supplied him with slaves during his exile, she was only a child at the time. Billaud-Varenne, who called her Virginie, made her his concubine and kept her by his side to serve him. After the revolutionary's death in 1819, who left all his belongings to her, she lived at least until 1874.
Brigitte Billaud-Varenne | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Concubine  |
| Spouse(s) | Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne |
She was used as an example, particularly in art, to illustrate the hypocrisy of the revolutionary with whom she shared a part of her life, being both an abolitionist and a slaveholder.
Biography
editHer life is unknown before she was transported to Cayenne from Guadeloupe by the Swiss slave trader Siéger[1] or Siégert,[2] who sold her to his friend Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne.[1][2] While the French biographer of the politician, Arthur Conte, described her as having "quickly won over his lonely heart",[1] in reality, she was brought on a slave ship while she was still just a child.[1] She attempted to suicide during the travel by throwing herself in the water.[1] Billaud made her his concubine, despite being thirty years her senior.[1] Although he theorically freed her, he used her to perform all the household chores, including cooking, managing the livestock and garden,[1] and overseeing the other Black slaves he acquired from his friend.[2] She was named Brigitte, but he called her Virginie.[3] She accompanied Billaud-Varenne during his trip to the United States.[4]
This situation is surprising, given that Billaud-Varenne was one of the abolitionists during the French Revolution[2] and supported the 1794 abolition of slavery, one of the earliest in human history.[5] However, he never seemed to express any remorse or moral concerns regarding his involvement in slavery, whether with Brigitte or more generally with all his slaves.[2]
After his death in 1819, in his will, he bequeathed all his possessions to Brigitte, and expressed it as follows in his will: "I give this surplus, whatever its value may be, to this honest girl; as much to repay her for the immense services she has rendered me for over eighteen years as to acknowledge the new and most complete proof of her unwavering attachment, by consenting to follow me wherever I go."[6][7] She was unable to sign the will because she could not write and had to be replaced by a notary, who signed on her behalf.[7] It appears that with the few remaining assets of Billaud-Varenne, she managed to acquire a small house in Port-au-Prince.[7]
Much younger than him, she died after 1874,[3][6] the year she was noted as still living in Haiti.[7] She played a significant role in preserving the documents of her former master, which she sold to a private collector during the 19th century.[6]
Legacy
editArt
editShe is depicted in Alejo Carpentier's work, notably in Explosion in a Cathedral, where the author highlights Billaud-Varenne's hypocrisy[8] by portraying her nude, in an erotic pose, reading a revolutionary newspaper.[8][9]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Arthur (1989), "L'exil à Cayenne. La mort à Haïti", Billaud-Varenne, Hors collection (in French), Paris: Plon, pp. 463–508, ISBN 978-2-85565-506-2, retrieved 2024-08-09
- ^ a b c d e Vellay, Charles (1914). "Billaud-Varenne esclavagiste". Revue historique de la Révolution française. 6 (20): 276. ISSN 1150-045X. JSTOR 44863597. Archived from the original on 2019-05-12. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ^ a b "Billaud-Varenne, Jean-Nicolas (1756-1819 ; député à la Convention de Paris ; La Rochelle, Port-au-Prince)". FranceArchives. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ^ Vellay, Charles (1911). "BILLAUD-VARENNE
AU X ÉTATS-UNIS (5 mai-18 juillet 1816)". Revue historique de la Révolution française. 2 (6): 219–227. ISSN 1150-045X. JSTOR 44814800. Archived from the original on 2019-10-13. Retrieved 2024-08-09. - ^ Piquet, Jean-Daniel (2001-03-01). "Robespierre et la liberté des noirs en l'an II d'après les archives des comités et les papiers de la commission Courtois". Annales historiques de la Révolution française (323): 69–91. doi:10.4000/ahrf.1822. ISSN 0003-4436. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ a b c "Une lettre inédite de Billaud-Varenne, déporté en Guyane, à son père, en (...) - L'ARBR- Les Amis de Robespierre". www.amis-robespierre.org. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
- ^ a b c d Billaud-Varenne, Jacques Nicolas (1756-1819) Auteur du texte (1893). Billaud-Varenne, membre du Comité de salut public : mémoires inédits et correspondance / accompagnés de notices biographiques sur Billaud-Varenne et Collot-d'Herbois par Alfred Bégis,... pp. 254–255. Archived from the original on 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Chancé, Dominique; Chancé, Dominique (2001). Poétique baroque de la Caraïbe. Lettres du Sud. Paris: Karthala. ISBN 978-2-84586-176-3.
- ^ Echevarria, Roberto Gonzalez (1976). "On reasons of state". Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas. 10 (18): 25–29. doi:10.1080/08905767608593922. ISSN 0890-5762.
