Katie Jarvis, “Tribunals of Men and God: Reconceptualizing Forgiveness in the French Revolution”
Abstract:
In the context of the French Revolution, this paper explores how, when the power to pardon was wrest from the crown on one hand and from Rome on the other, the revolutionaries reinvented decisional forgiveness via institutional venues. Judicial and religious reforms in particular became unexpected parallel arenas in which the revolutionaries remade notions of jurisdiction, legitimacy, and conflict resolution among nominally equal citizens. At the new justice of the peace, individuals repaired broken bonds by arbitrating local disputes, forgiving personal loans, and settling retail debt. And under the new constitutional church, individuals wrestled with the mechanisms of reconciliation through elected priests and sacramental confession. In short, revolutionary men and women of all classes reimagined forgiveness at the level of individual relationships, economic transactions, judicial and clerical elections, reparative penance, and personal salvation. This paper argues that revolutionary forgiveness consequently became both a brake on discrete conflict and a motor for societal change. Born of both political debate and social practice, this newly democratized forgiveness set the tenor for the culture of local conflict resolution in modern France.
In the context of the French Revolution, this paper explores how, when the power to pardon was wrest from the crown on one hand and from Rome on the other, the revolutionaries reinvented decisional forgiveness via institutional venues. Judicial and religious reforms in particular became unexpected parallel arenas in which the revolutionaries remade notions of jurisdiction, legitimacy, and conflict resolution among nominally equal citizens. At the new justice of the peace, individuals repaired broken bonds by arbitrating local disputes, forgiving personal loans, and settling retail debt. And under the new constitutional church, individuals wrestled with the mechanisms of reconciliation through elected priests and sacramental confession. In short, revolutionary men and women of all classes reimagined forgiveness at the level of individual relationships, economic transactions, judicial and clerical elections, reparative penance, and personal salvation. This paper argues that revolutionary forgiveness consequently became both a brake on discrete conflict and a motor for societal change. Born of both political debate and social practice, this newly democratized forgiveness set the tenor for the culture of local conflict resolution in modern France.
Patrick Travens, “Port-au-Prince and the Colonial Vendée: Race and Revolutionary Justice between the French and Haitian Revolutions”
Abstract:
On February 7, 1794, the Revolutionary Tribunal of Rochefort executed vice-admiral Nicolas de Grimouard. As former commander of French naval forces in Port-au-Prince, Grimouard stood accused of abetting counter-revolutionary brigands throughout Saint-Domingue’s Western Province. These “brigands,” in fact, comprised free people of color who waged an armed campaign against the white supremacist municipality of Port-au-Prince. Crucially, the Tribunal itself comprised white colonist deportees who remained aligned with the Port-au-Prince municipality. Excising mentions of race from their prosecution of Grimouard, these deportees sought to frame Port-au-Prince as a republican stronghold besieged by royalist brigands, much like Nantes during the War in the Vendée. Using Grimouard’s trial as a case study, this paper seeks to deepen our understanding of how colonialism and racial politics, including the deliberate negation of race, suffused the political radicalization of the Year II and embedded the politics of terror within an imperial framework.
On February 7, 1794, the Revolutionary Tribunal of Rochefort executed vice-admiral Nicolas de Grimouard. As former commander of French naval forces in Port-au-Prince, Grimouard stood accused of abetting counter-revolutionary brigands throughout Saint-Domingue’s Western Province. These “brigands,” in fact, comprised free people of color who waged an armed campaign against the white supremacist municipality of Port-au-Prince. Crucially, the Tribunal itself comprised white colonist deportees who remained aligned with the Port-au-Prince municipality. Excising mentions of race from their prosecution of Grimouard, these deportees sought to frame Port-au-Prince as a republican stronghold besieged by royalist brigands, much like Nantes during the War in the Vendée. Using Grimouard’s trial as a case study, this paper seeks to deepen our understanding of how colonialism and racial politics, including the deliberate negation of race, suffused the political radicalization of the Year II and embedded the politics of terror within an imperial framework.
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
14:00-5:30 CST
Curti Lounge
George L. Mosse Humanities Building
5233 Mosse Humanities
455 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706
Sponsored by:
UW-Madison Department of History
