Boisrond-Tonnerre
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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
- 1776 births
- 1806 deaths
- Haitian historians
- Haitian male writers
- Haitian people of Mulatto descent
- Haitian writer stubs
- Historian stubs