A new open-access article by Damien Tricoire in the Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles, dated 26th March, takes an in-depth look at the role of the duc d'Orléans / Philippe Égalité in bringing about the events of the Revolution.
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| Isaac Cruikshank, The Martyr of equality: behold the progress of our system, 1793 |
As early as 1789, many politicians and publicists accused the duc d’Orléans of having fomented the French Revolution. Counter-revolutionary publications took up these accusations, mixing them with the myth of a Masonic conspiracy. According to these authors, the Revolution was the result of an Orléanist plot. Republican historiography rejected this interpretation, without however studying the case or explaining why the theory of an Orléanist conspiracy seemed so probable to many members of the political elite in 1789. Evidence of this historiographical blind spot is that to date there is only one article that examines the political actions of the entourage of the duc d’Orléans. The author identifies a so-called machine of the duc d’Orléans that developed powerful propaganda and contributed significantly to establishing revolutionary ideas. These elements show that the case urgently needs reopening. This article offers an interpretation that differs from both the counter-revolutionary thesis and the classic republican thesis. It emphasizes that, while there was certainly no ‘Orléanist’ conspiracy, different factions at the court of the duc d’Orléans did play a major role in the preparation of the French Revolution. These factions did not pursue uniform goals and were often in competition with each other. Moreover, they were only some of the factions involved in the revolutionary movement. Nevertheless, the outbreak of the French Revolution cannot be understood without taking their actions into account.
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