Roland de la Platière, << `raw` LAHN duh lah `plah` TYAIR, >> Marie Jeanne (1754-1793), known as Madame Roland, was a political adviser and hostess to the Girondist group during the French Revolution (1789-1799). She was intelligent, ambitious, and attractive. She dominated her husband, Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, a minor government official. Madame Roland took an active interest in the revolutionary movement. Her husband became minister of the interior under the Girondists in 1792, and Madame Roland helped him administer this office. She also served as hostess to many of the leaders of the Girondists.
Madame Roland felt a strong dislike for Maximilien Robespierre and, particularly, Georges-Jacques Danton, who were leaders of another political group known as the Jacobins. Her feelings contributed to a struggle for power between the Girondists and the Jacobins. When the Girondist leaders were arrested in June 1793, Madame Roland also went to prison. After a political trial, she was executed by the guillotine on Nov. 8, 1793. Her husband, who had escaped arrest, took his own life when he learned of her death. The Memoirs she wrote in prison explained her beliefs and became very popular. Madame Roland was born on March 17, 1754, in Paris.
