20 Vendémiaire
An CCXXXV
Thérèse Gellé
Thérèse was a bâtarde. An illegitimate child in the small village of Blérancourt, where everyone knew everyone. It wasn’t until she was twelve that her father married her mother. She was an outsider, and the village made sure she felt it. Antoine Saint-Just, the hot-headed young man, shared this role of outcast with her. They became lovers. But during a long absence of Antoine, her parents took the opportunity to marry her off to the son of a wealthy notary. When Antoine returned, he saw his dream of a future together shattered. This experience marked him for life. Later, he would champion free love, the equality of all children, and the sanctity of friendship. After seven years of unhappy marriage, Thérèse fled to Paris, where Saint-Just had become a revolutionary leader in the Committee of Public Safety. But their love had no time to blossom again. Antoine was executed. Thérèse returned to her village, where she died at the age of 39.
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1766 - 1806
- October 13, 1766 · Louise Thérèse Sigrade Sterlin is born in Blérancourt as the illegitimate daughter of Sophie Sterlin and the royal notary Louis-Antoine Gellé.
- October 1776 · Louis Jean and Marie-Anne de Saint-Just move from Decize to Blérancourt with their three children, including nine-year-old Louis Antoine.
- October 1778 · Sophie Sterlin marries Thérèse's biological father. As a result, Thérèse, now twelve years old, is legitimized.
- 1785 · Probable beginning of the romantic relationship between Thérèse Gellé and Louis Antoine Saint-Just in Blérancourt.
- December 9, 1785 · Thérèse (then nineteen years old) and Antoine (eighteen) sign a baptismal record as godmother and godfather.
- July 25, 1786 · Nineteen-year-old Thérèse marries Emmanuel Thorin, the son of one of her father's colleagues. Emmanuel takes over his father-in-law's legal practice. The marriage remains childless.
- 1790 · Thérèse and Antoine probably resume their relationship in this year.
- September 1792 · Saint-Just is elected to the National Convention as a deputy for the department of Aisne. He moves to Paris, while Thérèse remains in Blérancourt.
- July 18, 1793 · The Committee of Public Safety assigns Saint-Just a mission in the department of Aisne, where Blérancourt is located. Nothing further is known about this mission.
- July 25, 1793 · Thérèse flees the marital home for Paris, where she takes up residence in a hotel near Saint-Just.
- October 8, 1793 · Thérèse's divorce petition is heard at Blérancourt town hall. The marriage between Thérèse and Emmanuel Thorin is dissolved on the grounds of
incompatibility of character
. - July 9, 1794 · The divorce becomes final.
- July 27, 1794 · Saint-Just is prevented from speaking at the Convention and is arrested. That same day, agents of the Committee of General Security search Saint-Just's apartment on Rue Caumartin. Among Saint-Just's papers they find a note that most likely describes a meeting with Thérèse.
- July 28, 1794 · Saint-Just is executed in Paris. Thérèse returns to Blérancourt.
- 1800 · Pierre-Germain Gateau publishes Saint-Just's Republican Institutions, probably with financial support from Thérèse using funds from her inheritance. The book is banned shortly after publication.
- January 16, 1806 · Thérèse Gellé dies in Blérancourt, probably from malaria.
Quotes
I have messages from Madame Thorin — they still believe you are her abductor. She is staying at the Tuileries Hotel, across from the Jacobins, Rue Saint-Honoré.
Letter from Victor Thuillier to Saint-Just, September 2, 1793
She took the secret of her sadness with her.
From the notes found among Saint-Just’s papers, 1793 or 1794
A man and a woman who love each other are spouses.
Saint-Just, Les institutions républicaines, 1794
In their youth, Thérèse and Antoine probably met frequently at the castle of Coucy, located just a few kilometres from Blérancourt.
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