Sans-culottes
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Image:Sans-culotte.jpg Image:Sansculottes.jpg
Sans-culottes (French for without knee-breeches) was a term first used to describe the poorer members of the Third Estate.
Later, observers used it during the early years of the French Revolution, to refer to the ill-clad and ill-equipped volunteers of the Revolutionary army, and later generally to the extremists of the Revolution. Their support came from domestic crises, such as shortages of bread, or political injustice.
The sans-culottes were for the most part members of the poorer classes, or leaders of the populace, but during the Reign of Terror, public functionaries and persons of good education styled themselves citoyens sans-culottes.
They were led by extreme revolutionaries such as Jacques Hebert, who was eventually executed. The Sans-culottes also gave their support to Maximilien Robespierre, another extreme radical that was the most promienent political figure during the radical phase of the French Revolution.
The distinctive costume of typical sans-culottes featured:
- the pantalon (long trousers) - in place of the culottes (knee-breeches) worn by the upper classes
- the carmagnole (short-skirted coat)
- the red cap of liberty
- sabots (wooden shoes).
The influence of the sans-culottes ceased with the reaction that followed the fall of Robespierre (July 1794), and the name itself became proscribed.
The Republican Calendar at first termed the complementary days at the end of the year Sans-culottides; however, the National Convention suppressed the name when adopting the constitution of the year III (1795) and substituted the name jours complémentaires.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.de:Sansculottes fr:Sans-culotte it:Sanculotti nl:Sansculotten ja:サン・キュロット pl:Sankiuloci pt:Sans-cullote