French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Verjus, Le Bon Mari: A Political History of Men and Women in Revolutionary Times
History, Politics and Society
Le Bon Mari
A Political History of Men and Women in Revolutionary Times
Anne Verjus
Published : 20/01/2010
Publisher : Fayard
ISBN : 978-2-213-63768-6
EAN : 9782213637686
Page count : 392 pages
Publisher's price : 25.00€
Le Bon Mari takes its title from a tale by Marmontel, an Enlightenment writer, whose virtuous hero converts his young, high-society wife to the benefits of a conjugal life rooted in the common good.
This "good husband" prefigures the revolutionary citizen: simultaneously a son of the family whom the Revolution emancipates from paternal authority, and a paterfamilias empowered to speak and vote on behalf of the "weaker" members of society—women, children, and servants. Family authority, which under the Ancien Régime was strictly reserved for the eldest male in the direct vertical line, shifted with the Revolution to the individual citizen. He now stood as the head of a household recentered around the conjugal home, where the wife was expected to embrace the opinions, interests, and values of her husband.
Through this political bond between spouses, republican theory preserved the unity and representation of the nation. The consequences of this evolution—less dramatic than other revolutionary achievements—profoundly shaped the rights of men and women, as our modern conceptions of citizenship still derive from it. Anne Verjus traces, in both theory and practice, the history of this decisive emancipation that placed the marital union at the foundation of modern political society.
Contents:
THE TRIUMPH OF THE SON OF THE FAMILY (1789-1793)
Social existence as a political criterion
The son of the family in written-law regions
Parliamentary debates regarding the legal capacity of the son of the family
The son of the family before the Committee (1790-1791)
THE GOVERNMENT OF WOMEN
Discourse on the representation of women; the influence of women
Roederer: A particular perspective
I AM A FATHER: The authority of the father of the family in the Republic
Kinship society
About the Author:
Anne Verjus is a researcher in political history at the CNRS (Triangle laboratory at the University of Lyon).
Her research focuses on women's suffrage and the political thought of gender. In 2002, she published Le Cens de la famille. Les femmes et le vote, 1789-1848 (Belin).
* * *
An article on this book can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:
The transition from the Ancien Régime to the revolutionary era involved a fundamental restructuring of domestic and political authority. During this period, the patriarchal structures that had previously concentrated power within the hands of the eldest male ancestor underwent significant legal and social reinterpretation. Political theorists and legislators of the era frequently debated the boundaries of civic participation, familial duties, and individual rights. Within the intellectual landscape of the Enlightenment, domestic relations and civic virtue were often discussed as interconnected elements of a stable social order, influencing how subsequent generations conceptualized the relationship between the private household and the public sphere.
Anne Verjus traces the history of this emancipation that placed the marital union at the foundation of modern political society, exploring both theory and practice. The study addresses the social existence of the son of the family, parliamentary debates regarding legal capacity, and discourses concerning the representation and government of women in republican thought. Readers interested in the history of political ideas, gender roles, and the French Revolution may find this work relevant to understanding the origins of modern citizenship and the evolving legal status of men and women.