Boisrond-Tonnerre

Louis Boisrond Tonnerre on a Haitian postage stamp for the 150-year anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, (1804-1954).

Louis Félix Mathurin Boisrond-Tonnerre (born 6 June 1776; executed 24 October 1806), better known as simply Boisrond-Tonnerre, was a Haitian writer and historian who is best known for having served as Jean-Jacques Dessalines' secretary. Boisrond-Tonnerre was educated in Paris until 1798 when he returned to Haiti (Daut 56). He is the author of the 1804 , which formally declared Haiti's independence from the colonial rule of France. He is also known for his work chronicling the Haitian Revolution, Mémoires pour Servir à l'Histoire d'Haïti.

Boisrond-Tonnerre was born Louis Boisrond in Torbeck in southwest Haiti. He acquired the name "Tonnerre", French for "thunder", as an infant when his cradle was hit by lightning. His father, a carpenter named Mathurin Boisrond (see Daut below), amazed that his infant son was unharmed, gave him the name "Tonnerre". Boisrond-Tonnerre studied in France before returning to Haiti, where he took part in the Haitian Revolution.

Boisront-Tonnerre became a victim of post-revolutionary infighting and was executed in October 1806. According to the Haitian author Christophe Phillippe Charles, Boisrond-Tonnerre scribbled the following quatrain on the walls of his cell before his execution on either the night of 23 or 24 October 1806:

Humide et froid séjour fait par et pour le crime
Où le crime en riant immole sa victime
Que peuvent inspirer tes fers et tes barreaux
Quand un cœur pur y goûte un innocent repos? (Christophe 35).

Translation :

Cold and humid internment crime has both fashioned and formed
Where crime, laughing, immolates and consumes its servant
But what [fear] can your iron bars hope to inspire
When a pure heart wrests from them a peaceful rest? (Christophe 35)

Dessalines had been assassinated seven or eight days prior on 17 October in Port-au-Prince.

References[]

• Schutt-Ainé, Patricia (1994). Haiti: A Basic Reference Book. Miami, Florida: Librairie Au Service de la Culture. p. 90. ISBN 0-9638599-0-0.
• Daut, Marlene. "Un-Silencing the Past: Boisrond-Tonnerre, Vastey, and the Re-Writing of the Haitian Revolution." South Atlantic Review 74.1 (2009): 35-64.
• Charles, Christophe Phillippe. Panorama de la Littérature Haïtenne de 1804 à 2004, Tome 1. Port-au-Prince: Editions Choucoune, 2003.

External links[]

• The Louverture Project: Louis Boisrond Tonnerre

This article about a Haitian writer, poet or playwright is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t

This biographical article about a Haitian historian is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t