Madame Roland

Madame Roland was one of the most fascinating characters of the French Revolution. Born into relative poverty, Marie Roland was a brilliant intellectual who married into a noble family. Her husband was a minister of the Revolutionary government during the early years of the French Revolution, and she became secretary and behind-the-scenes mastermind of the Girondist party. Although the Girondists thoroughly supported the revolution, their criticism of the outrages of some of the lawless revolutionaries earned them the enmity of the increasingly radical Jacobin party, and Marie Roland died on the scaffold during the reign of terror.