The Saint Lazare Affair, 13 July 1789

Abstract

Abstract This article breaks the Saint Lazare Affair into its components. Usually treated as a single act of pillage, the Affair splits into three parts: the search for arms whereby this and other religious institutions were searched for arms between 12 and 14 July 1789; the spectacular vandalism that followed; and the sale (not the pillage) of much of the Mission’s grain stocks. The significance of some of this remains a mystery. Not the search for arms; not the grain sales. But the pillage does. Without ideological slogans, the Affair illustrates the gulf between the rage of a silent crowd and the condemnations of the revolutionary leadership and the journalists.