The incredible story of Joseph Michaud

A few months ago, I was fortunate to work as a freelance researcher for a podcast. My main task was to look for interesting and exciting stories on French culture. When I arrived in France I became interested in the Academie Française, one of the most important cultural institutions in the country, so I decided to do some research because I was sure that if I went deep into it I would be able to find great stories.

My intuition was not wrong: I soon discovered the fascinating story of Joseph Michaud, a rebellious writer who was imprisoned many times, and even condemned to death, before becoming the ultimate expert on the Crusades. Michaud was elected to become a member of the Académie in 1813, and he occupied his fauteuil in the Collège des Quatre-Nations, the exact same place that had been his first prison.

What follows is a more detailed summary of his fascinating story:

Joseph Michaud was a man of fluctuating and strong political opinions. His successive turnarounds led him to being imprisoned many times -and even condemned to death. After the fall of Robespierre, the royalists tried to regain power and called for demonstrations. Michaud took up the cause for the royalist insurrection, but the revolt was crushed by Napoleon Bonaparte and the République was saved.

Michaud had to leave Paris urgently, and he was able to find refuge with some friends in Chartres, but he was spotted and brought back to the capital by the gendarmes. While waiting for his trial, he was locked up in the former Collège des Quatre-Nations which had just been transformed into a prison. Every day the prisoner was brought to the Tuileries, where he was being judged by a military tribunal.

While Michaud and his family feared the worst, one of his friends did not resign himself to seeing him condemned: Nicolas Giguet, who had also gone to Paris in the hope of making a name for himself in the fields of letters and arts. Giguet had seen Michaud and his escort on a daily basis. On the morning of October 26, it was rumored that the investigation was complete and that Michaud was going to be sentenced to death. Giguet decided to intervene.

That day, he managed to cross the little procession at the exit of the Pont Royal. Trying everything he could, he went to the front of the group and offered his friend and the two gendarmes to have lunch with him. After some hesitation, these were tempted by the prospect of a good -and free- meal. The four men sat at the table, ordered wine and some appetizers, and the atmosphere was great. Giguet began to praise the quality of the chicken of Bresse, where he was from: "I assure you, gentlemen, that the chickens of our region are the best of France!”

Giguet then addressed his friend: "Michaud, why don’t you go to the kitchen and make sure that we are not deceived about the origin of these chickens?" Michaud then got up and quietly descended to the kitchen. After not seeing him back for a while, the gendarmes started to get worried. Unfortunately for them, their prisoner had already escaped through a back door and managed to be out of reach.

The escape turned out to have a great timing: Michaud’s sentence to death was going to be published the next day. Giguet was detained and questioned, and even threatened to be sentenced to death. But he managed to convince his judges of his good faith and he was released after one month in prison.

Michaud took refuge for some time in Switzerland. His sentence was commuted, before being annulled by the new regime in place. Incorrigible, when Bonaparte seized power in 1799, Michaud published a pamphlet entitled "Farewell to Bonaparte". He was again apprehended and locked up in prison. This new incarceration allowed him to reflect on the meaning he wanted to give to his life. Once released, he decided to cease his life of activism and dedicate his passion for history by the ways of research, scholarship and writing.

After actively collaborating on the writing of a dictionary entitled "Old and Modern Universal Biography", he dedicated most of his time and energy to one subject: the Crusades, of which he became an expert. On August 5th, 1813 Joseph Michaud was elected to occupy the 29th chair of the Académie Française. His reception under La Coupole must have been particularly moving for him, since the building once housed the Collège des Quatre-Nations, the same place that had also been, eighteen years earlier, his first prison.