A Historical Fiction Narrative:

Scene 1: “ Martyrs of Compiegne”

The historical fiction presentation of the French Revolution ‘Reign of Terror’, can give some perspective for our social & politically fractious present.

In this episode: The time travelers, prevent the horrors of the French Revolution, by addressing the first conditions that enabled Robespierre and the Jacobins to create the Revolutionary Tribunal, ultimately saving the 16 Carmelite nuns, and Marie Groshultz makes statues of celebrities.

Section 1:

Pronounciations:

Robiespierre: ro-bes-pierre

Carmelite:[ kahr-muh-lahyt ]

Picpus: Pick- poose

clericalism: cler·​i·​cal·​ism  ˈkler-i-kə-ˌli-zəm

prioress: pri·​or·​ess | \ ˈprī-ə-rəs

benedictine: Ben·​e·​dic·​tine | \ ˌbe-nə-ˈdik-tən

secular: sec·​u·​lar | \ ˈse-kyə-lər

Section 1: Chief Narrator:

“ Three days before the end of Robiespierre’s Reign of Terror, 16 Carmelite nuns were guillotined, and added to the Picpus Cemetery mass grave , where 1, 306 are buried. The Revolutionary Tribunal condemned them as traitors – during the anti-clericalism of the revolution; sentencing them to death.

They sang as they mounted the scaffold one by one to be executed. First the novice Sister Constance, then lay Sisters, externs, and finally prioress Mother Teresa of St. Augustine.

English Benedictine nuns who were imprisoned along with them, credit the Carmelite nuns, for their survival, and regard them as saints – keeping the secular clothes as holy relics.”

Count 106 wrds

Section 2:

Pronounciations:

Groshultz: [grohs-hohlts]

Phillippe : fee- leep

Curtius: Cur – tee – ous

Francois: fron-swa

Tussaud: too-soh

Section 2 Chief Narrator:

“ Recalling her imprisonment- 3 months awaiting execution; to finally be spared, by an influential friend, Marie Groshultz, learned wax modeling from Phillippe Curtius: her mother’s employer. When Curtius moved to Paris, Marie was 6.

In 1794 Curtius died of natural causes and Marie inherited his vast collection. She modeled many prominent victims of the French Revolution. Married Francois Tussaud in 1795. She toured Europe with a traveling show, exhibiting her models, for the next 33 years. “

Count: 77 wrds:

Tally 183 wrds

Section 3:

Pronounciations:

Salve Regina:Sahl-vee ri-jee-nuh

Laudate Dominum: Lau ( as in ‘ou’ch) Dah tay

Dohm ( oh as in go: dome as in coma) ee num

Section 3 Chief Narrator:

“ She tells groups of visitors about the singing nuns, who died with the words of the Salve Regina or Laudate Dominum. One of the visitors tells the same story to his children – eventually the story reaches one of the Time-Lost, who look up the records of the story of the 16 Carmelite nuns.“

Count: 54 wrds:

Tally 237 wrds

Section 4 Chief Narrator:

“ When Carmelite nuns, refused to obey the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of the Revolutionary Government: All sixteen women were guillotined on July 17, 1794. “

Count 25 wrds:

Tally 262 wrds

Section 5:

Pronounciation:

Madame: Ma- dum

Bazaar:buh·zaar

Sage: seij

Section 5 Chief Narrator:

“ The Time-lost consider visiting Madame Tussaud in her Baker Street Bazaar location in 1843 – to see the casts of the victims, so they can identify them. In her Chamber of Horrors, they take photos of each cast, and then finally see the casts of the nuns. The Time-Lost who was told stories of the Carmelite nuns, looks closely at each cast.

They travel to June 1794, and locate the nuns, and try to talk them into fleeing, but they refuse. They are still imprisoned along with the Benedictine nuns. The Time-Lost think of a plan. Using photos and videos taken of some of Tussaud’s casts from the future, with help from Marie, they make models, of future victims, who haven’t been executed yet, and place them where the soon to be victims can see. This is enough to convince the nuns to trust the Time-Lost, and escape.

When the Time-Lost travel to Tussauds 1845, they find the Carmelite nun’s casts gone, but in their place, the Benedictine nuns casts.

Unsure what to do, the Time-Lost consult a sage of the Witchfynder, from their time, to brainstorm, and discuss ways to prevent the most lives being taken during the French Revolution. They settle on the idea of kidnapping Robiespierre and dropping him off in another timeline.”

Count 216 wrds:

Tally 478 wrds

Section 6:

Pronounciation:

Rousseau : Roo-SO

expropriate:eks-proh-pree-eyt

Notre Dame:No-tra Dahm

Maximillien :Mah-KSiy-Miy-LYAHN †

† English pronunciation guide:
M as in “me (M.IY)” ; AH as in “mud (M.AH.D)” ; K as in “key (K.IY)” ; S as in “see (S.IY)” ; IY as in “eat (IY.T)” ; M as in “me (M.IY)” ; IY as in “eat (IY.T)” ; L as in “lay (L.EY)” ; Y as in “you (Y.UW)” ; AH as in “mud (M.AH.D)” ; N as in “knee (N.IY)” ;

Jacobin: Jac·​o·​bin | \ ˈja-kə-bən

Dandyish:dan·​dy | \ ˈdan-dē

Muscadins:mus·​ca·​din | \ ˈməskədə̇n 

bi-cameral :bi·​cam·​er·​al | \ (ˌ)bī-ˈkam-rəl

legislature:leg·​is·​la·​ture | \ ˈle-jə-ˌslā-chər

Section 6 Chief Narrator:

“ It is the time of the French Revolution. Preceding the “Terror”, was the “enlightenment”, inspired by Rousseau’s Social Contract. In 1789, church land was expropriated and Priests were exiled or killed. The Notre Dame Cathedral, was renamed the “Temple of Reason”, and the Calendar was replaced with a ‘Revolutionary” calendar.

A new invention, the Guillotine, is used liberally, to punish law breakers, by a Revolutionary government led by Maximillien Robespierre. Who explained virtue and terror as such:

“ Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the homeland.”

Heads are chopped off regularly, between Sept 1793 and 1794. 40,000 are beheaded on the device, by order of the Committee of Public safety. Enemies of Robespierre, priests and aristocrats, are eliminated -a time known as the Reign of Terror. Robespierre said of the Terror:

“If the basis of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the basis of popular government during a revolution is both virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is baneful; terror, without which virtue is powerless. “

Marie Groshultz, one of the 16, 594 official death sentences, 2,639 in Paris, from the Revolutionary Tribunal, is spared the guillotine, by intervention.

Robespierre is condemned a tyrant, July 27, 1794. Declared an outlaw – permitting him to be executed without a trial, within 24 hours; seventy loyal troops of the Paris Commune, were guillotined, along with Robespierre; the largest mass execution in Paris.

After Robespierre’s death, former revolutionaries, many members of the Jacobin club, were massacred in prison, without due process; like they did to the counter revolutionaries. These massacres were the “White Terror”, carried out by Dandyish street fighters: the Muscadin.

In 1795, the Directory – 5 executives – held power. Year three of the French Revolution. A new constitution is drawn up August 1795: providing electoral college and bi-cameral legislature. “

Count 332 wrds:

Tally 810 wrds

Section 7:

Pronounciations:

Epochs:ɛpˌək/eh·puhks

Thermidor: thur·muh·dor

Witchfynder: Witch – ‘Fin’ (as in dorsal ‘fin’) – der.

Section 7 Chief Narrator:

“Using the continuum navigation device – The WitchFynder , several protagonists explore timelines, revisiting Epochs in history, of Thermidor, to intervene, if possible, to prevent atrocities. The team of explorers, known as the “Time-Lost”, come across records of history, and intervene,

In this episode of WitchFynder : the “Time-Lost” travel to Madame Tussaud’s, In the Baker Street Bazaar, 1843, to see casts of those guillotined in the French Revolution – they make reproductions of the casts, and bring them back to before the Reign of Terror, leaving the casts where the victims will find them – hoping they will take preventative action sooner.

The Time -Lost, soon learn that meddling in branches of time, will often alter only minor events, but that the 40,000 heads chopped off during the French Revolution aren’t prevented by merely informing victims, since others are beheaded in their place by Robespierre’s “Terror”.

Count 148 wrds:

Tally 958 wrds

Section 8:

Pronounciation:

Martyrs:mɑːrtər

Compiegne: kawn-pyen-yuh

Section 8 Chief Narrator:

“They try different intervention points , until, finally going back to the inventor of the guillotine. This episode, segment, focuses on the fictionalized visits of the Time-Lost to Madame Tussaud’s, during the “Reign of Terror”; Marie’s imprisonment, and the Martyrs of Compiegne. “

Count 42 wrds:

Tally 1000 wrds