Manon Roland

Marie-Jeanne "Manon" Roland de la Platière (Paris, March 17, 1754 – Paris, November 8, 1793), born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, and best known under the name Madame Roland (French pronunciation: [madam ʁɔlɑ̃]) was a French revolutionary, salonnière and writer.

From a young age Roland was interested in philosophy and political theory and studied a broad range of writers and thinkers. She was however dissatisfied with the opportunities available to her as a woman. After marrying the economist Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, she developed with him a husband and wife team which made it possible for her to engage in writing and research.

She moved from Paris to Lyon, where she initially led a quiet and unremarkable life as a provincial intellectual with her husband. She became actively involved in politics when the French Revolution broke out in 1789. She spent the first years of the revolution in Lyon, where her husband was elected to the city council. During this period she developed a network of contacts with politicians and journalists. Her reports on developments in Lyon in letters to people in her network were published in national revolutionary newspapers.

In 1791 the couple settled in Paris, where Madame Roland soon established herself as a leading figure within the political group the Girondins, one of the more moderate revolutionary factions. She was known for her intelligence, astute political analyses and her tenacity, and was a good lobbyist and negotiator. The salon she hosted in her home several times a week was an important meeting place for politicians. However, she was also convinced of her own intellectual and moral superiority and alienated important political leaders like Robespierre and Danton.

Unlike the feminist revolutionaries Olympe de Gouges and Etta Palm, Madame Roland was not an advocate for political rights for women. She accepted that women should play a very modest role in public and political life. Even during her lifetime, many found this position difficult to reconcile with her own active involvement in politics and her important role within the Girondins.