The "Machine Jacobine"? a Historiographical Phantasm Revisited on the Basis of a Local Example: Populaire Society of Honfleur (1791-1795)

Abstract

Apart from the old Cochin's diatribes against the Jacobin sociability, revised in the 1970s, the history of the popular societies and political clubs that appeared during the French Revolution have also had many simplifications created by historians eager of identifying political positions at a national level. Thus, in the critical years of 1792 and 1793, the popular societies have been identified as "Girondist societies", or as "societies of the Mountain", while several books and historical atlas propose a national vision of the partition. Unfortunately, both the derogatory speech about the "Jacobin machine", and the political classifications made at a national level are often based on a very general reasoning. The example of the Friends of the Constitution of Honfleur, presented here, is to emphasize the futility of the Cochin legacy, but also brings nuances to the traditional classifications made between societies. They had been assumed as "Gironde", when a detailed examination of its archives shows an infinitely more complex reality.