Conspiration des poignards
On the evening of the 10th of October 1800, Parisians filled the seats of the Salle Le Peletier for a performance of Les Horaces. The theater stood near the Rue Saint-Honoré, where Napoleon Bonaparte would exit after the show. Police chief Joseph Fouché had arranged for four armed men to wait outside the building's main doors. These men were Giuseppe Ceracchi and François Topino-Lebrun, along with two others. They carried daggers hidden beneath their coats. At eleven o'clock that night, the curtain fell on the opera. Napoleon walked toward his carriage. The police force stopped Diana, Ceracchi, and their accomplices before they could strike. No shots rang out. No blood stained the cobblestones. The attack never happened.
Joseph Fouché claimed in his memoirs that a plot emerged around mid-September 1800. He described how an agent named Harel worked with war commissioner Lefebvre. This pair brought information to Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, Napoleon's secretary. Harel allegedly drew up a trap for the plotters. Modern historians like Jean Tulard and Thierry Lentz argue this was manipulation by the police force. They suggest Harel acted as an agent provocateur who infiltrated the group. The narrative served to justify harsh measures against political opponents. Fouché presented the event as a genuine Jacobin threat requiring immediate action. The story allowed authorities to eliminate rivals under the guise of national security.
Adjudant Joseph Antoine Aréna stood accused alongside Dominique Demerville and Giuseppe Ceracchi. Aréna was the brother of Barthelemy Aréna, who had tried to stab Bonaparte during the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire. François Topino-Lebrun was a painter and former student of Jacques-Louis David. He had served on the revolutionary tribunal jury. Giuseppe Ceracchi was a Roman sculptor who helped found the Roman republic in 1798. Joseph Diana was twenty-eight years old and worked as a notary before discharge. Armand Daiteg was sixty-seven and also a sculptor. Denis Lavigne was sixty-six and traded goods professionally. Madeleine Fumey was thirty-eight and worked as a cook or mistress of Demerville. These eight individuals represented diverse backgrounds from artists to traders.
Four conspirators faced judgment at the criminal court of The Seine. They were condemned to death on 19 nivôse year IX, which equals the 9th of January 1801. The verdict came after three days of debates lasting until eleven o'clock that evening. Napoleon rejected their appeals shortly thereafter. The sentence was carried out on the 30th of January following official rejection. Dominique Demerville, Joseph Ceracchi, Joseph Aréna, and François-Jean-Baptiste Topino-Lebrun died by guillotine. Their names appeared in the judgment rendered by the tribunal criminel du département de Seine. The executions took place at the Palais de Justice in Paris. No other conspirators received capital punishment despite being named in the initial accusations.
Modern scholarship questions whether the daggers conspiracy was genuine or fabricated. Adolphe Thiers wrote about this event in his History of the Consulate and Empire published in 1847. He noted early doubts about the official version presented by authorities. Jean Tulard described it as part of Napoleon's myth-making process in his 1987 work. Thierry Lentz analyzed the large consulate period in 1999 and highlighted police manipulation. Pierre Marie Desmarest documented fifteen years of high policing under Napoleon in 1833. Henri Gaubert examined conspirators during Napoleon I's reign in 1962. Gustave Hue published a study titled A Police Plot Under the Consulate in 1909. These historians suggest state actors created the threat to eliminate political enemies.
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Common questions
What happened during the Conspiration des poignards on the 10th of October 1800?
Four armed men waited outside the Salle Le Peletier theater to assassinate Napoleon Bonaparte after a performance of Les Horaces. Police chief Joseph Fouché stopped Giuseppe Ceracchi, François Topino-Lebrun, and their accomplices before they could strike with daggers. No shots were fired and no blood stained the cobblestones because the attack never occurred.
Who organized the plot against Napoleon Bonaparte according to Joseph Fouché memoirs?
Joseph Fouché claimed an agent named Harel worked with war commissioner Lefebvre to create information for Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne. Modern historians like Jean Tulard and Thierry Lentz argue that Harel acted as an agent provocateur who infiltrated the group to manipulate events. The narrative served to justify harsh measures against political opponents under the guise of national security.
Which individuals faced execution in the Conspiration des poignards case?
Dominique Demerville, Joseph Ceracchi, Joseph Aréna, and François-Jean-Baptiste Topino-Lebrun died by guillotine on the 30th of January following official rejection. Four conspirators faced judgment at the criminal court of The Seine and were condemned to death on 19 nivôse year IX which equals the 9th of January 1801. Their executions took place at the Palais de Justice in Paris after three days of debates lasting until eleven o'clock that evening.
Why did modern scholars question the authenticity of the daggers conspiracy involving Napoleon Bonaparte?
Historians including Adolphe Thiers, Jean Tulard, and Thierry Lentz suggest state actors created the threat to eliminate political enemies. Pierre Marie Desmarest documented fifteen years of high policing under Napoleon while Henri Gaubert examined conspirators during Napoleon I's reign. Gustave Hue published a study titled A Police Plot Under the Consulate in 1909 to highlight police manipulation within the large consulate period.