Charlotte Corday

Charlotte Corday was a French royalist who assassinated revolutionary journalist and politician Jean-Paul Marat in Paris on 13 July 1793, during the French Revolution.

Jean-Paul Marat: Jean-Paul Marat was a French revolutionary journalist and politician who edited the newspaper L’Ami du peuple. Corday killed Marat in his bath, believing his influence was driving revolutionary bloodshed.
Girondins: The Girondins were a revolutionary faction associated with provincial influence and opposition to the Paris radical movement. Corday sympathized with their opposition to the Montagnards, though she was not a party leader.
Jacques-Louis David: Jacques-Louis David was a French Neoclassical painter and a prominent supporter of the Revolution. His painting of Marat’s death established the image Corday’s act sought to counter.
Political assassination: The deliberate killing of a person for political reasons or to influence political events. Corday’s killing of Marat is a prominent example of assassination intended to alter revolutionary politics.
Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat: The 1793 killing of revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday in Paris. This event is the central act for which Corday is remembered.
Montagnards: The Montagnards were radical deputies in the National Convention who aligned with the Parisian Jacobin movement. Corday saw their dominance, and Marat’s advocacy, as threats to France.
Adam Lux: Adam Lux was a German revolutionary who publicly praised Charlotte Corday after her assassination of Marat. Lux’s defense of Corday led to his own arrest and execution.
Reign of Terror: A period of state repression and executions in revolutionary France, generally dated from 1793 to 1794. Corday framed her act as an attempt to stop the violence that intensified during the Terror.
The Death of Marat: Jacques-Louis David’s 1793 painting depicts Marat dead in his bath, presenting him as a martyr. David’s image transformed Marat’s death into a revolutionary martyrdom, opposite Corday’s intended message.
Insurrection of 31 May–2 June 1793: A Paris uprising that forced the arrest of leading Girondin deputies in the National Convention. The suppression of Girondin leaders helped convince Corday that decisive action was necessary.

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