Tricoteuses de robespierre biography

French term for a knitting woman

Tricoteuse (French pronunciation:[tʁikɔtøz]) is French for a knitting woman.

Tricoteuses de robespierre biography

The term is most often used in its historical sense as a nickname for the women in the French Revolution who sat in the gallery supporting the left-wing politicians in the National Convention, attended the meetings in the Jacobin club, the hearings of the Revolutionary Tribunal and sat beside the guillotine during public executions, supposedly continuing to knit.

The performances of the Tricoteuses were particularly intense during the Reign of Terror.

Origins

One of the earliest outbreaks of insurrection in the revolutionary era was the Women's March on Versailles on 5 October 1789.

Irate over high food prices and chronic shortages, working-class women from the markets of Paris marched to the royal residence at the Palace of Versailles to protest. Numbering in the thousands, the crowd of women commanded a unique respect: their demands for brea