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| Frimaire | |
|---|---|
| Name | Frimaire |
| Calendar | French Republican Calendar |
| Position | Third month |
| Begins | November (approx.) |
| Ends | December (approx.) |
| Days | 30 |
| Season | Autumn/Winter |
Frimaire is the third month of the French Republican Calendar, instituted during the French Revolution and used by the French First Republic and French Directory. Named to evoke cold and mist, Frimaire sits between Brumaire and Nivôse and corresponds roughly to late November and early December. The month appears in documents of the National Convention, decrees of the Committee of Public Safety, and reforms associated with Maximilien Robespierre and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.
The term derives from the French root for hoarfrost and mist used in contemporary proposals to replace the Gregorian calendar. The Republican calendar was devised by the French Academy of Sciences under the direction of Antoine Lavoisier, Pierre-Simon Laplace, and Joseph-Louis Lagrange with input from reformers like Charles-Gilbert Romme and Fabre d'Églantine. The nomenclature, including Frimaire, was adopted by the National Convention following work by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord's allies and proponents such as Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle and François de Neufchâteau. Frimaire reflects Revolutionary efforts similar to changes advanced during the Enlightenment by figures like Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Denis Diderot.
Frimaire is the third of twelve months in the Republican cycle established in 1793 and reformed in 1795 under the Constitution of Year III. It follows Brumaire and precedes Nivôse and is part of the autumnal-late season defined by the reformers. The calendar reorganized weeks into décades and introduced complementary days, aligning with scientific calendars proposed by Claude-Louis Berthollet, Gaspard Monge, and municipal authorities in Paris. Frimaire’s days were named per the agricultural schema promoted by Fabre d'Églantine and codified in decrees debated in the National Assembly and the Constituent Assembly.
Frimaire features in legislation, proclamations, and polemics of the Reign of Terror, with orders timestamped during months including Thermidor, Prairial, and Frimaire. Revolutionary festivals such as those proposed by Jacques Hébert and celebrated in venues like the Champ de Mars often used Republican month names. The Republican calendar, including Frimaire, appears in correspondence among statesmen like Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis XVI (in documents preceding the Revolution), and diplomats including Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord and Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Frimaire is mentioned in the diaries of observers like Madame de Staël, Alexandre Dumas père, and administrators from the Directory and the Consulate.
Frimaire corresponds to the period of cooling after Brumaire with weather patterns noted in contemporary almanacs and meteorological notes by Antoine Lavoisier, Joseph Fourier, and later scientists like André-Michel Guerry. Agricultural tasks recorded in municipal reports and inventories from regions such as Brittany, Normandy, and Île-de-France include livestock sheltering, grain storage, and vine pruning as advised by agronomists like J.-B. de Lamarck and Jean-Baptiste Say. Hunting parties organized by nobles and later curtailed by Revolutionary reforms involved figures such as Louis-Philippe I pre- and post-Revolution; forestry management directives from agencies in Versailles and urban provisioning orders from Paris’s municipalities often used Frimaire dates.
Key events dated to Frimaire include military orders and proclamations from leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, and Lazare Carnot; fiscal and administrative measures issued by the Committee of Public Safety and the Council of Five Hundred; and cultural proclamations tied to festivals promoted by revolutionaries such as Antoine-François Momoro and Pierre-Gaspard Chaumette. Treaties and military engagements around this time involved actors like the First Coalition, including commanders Duke of Brunswick and Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Frimaire appears in arrest warrants and trial records from the Revolutionary Tribunal and in decrees during the tenure of Maximilien Robespierre and his contemporaries.
Although abolished under Napoleon and the Consulate in favor of the Gregorian system, Frimaire remains referenced in scholarly works by historians such as François Furet, Simon Schama, Albert Soboul, and Isabelle Romane. Museums like the Musée Carnavalet and archives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France preserve documents dated in Frimaire. Contemporary cultural projects, reenactments by groups in Versailles and Marseilles, and academic publications in journals such as those from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres analyze Frimaire and the Republican calendar alongside studies of the French Revolution of 1848, July Monarchy, and Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. Frimaire also appears in works of literature, theater programs, and films about the Revolutionary era, referenced by creators inspired by Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas père, and modern historians.