Thermidor
THERMIDOR (from Gr. OkpM, heat, and dupov, gift), the name given during the French Revolution to the eleventh month of the year in the Republican Calendar. The month fell in the hottest season of the year, beginning on the igth or 20th of July and ending on the 18th or igth of August, according to the year. As in all the other months of the Republican Calendar, each of the days of Thermidor was, in accordance with the suggestion of Fabre d'Eglantine, consecrated to some useful object. Thus i Thermidor was consecrated to spelt, 10 Thermidor to the watering-pot, 15 Thermidor to sheep, and 27 Thermidor to lentils. The most important event that took place in this month was the revolution of 9 Thermidor year II. (27th of July 1794), which resulted in the fall of Robespierre and the collapse of the Terror. The name Therm idorian (Thermidorien) was given to the authors of this revolution and to the supporters of the reactionary movement of which it was the signal.
See C. d'Hericault, La Revolution de Thermidor (2nd ed., Paris, 1878); E. B. Courtois, Rapport fait au nom de la commission chargee de I'examen des papiers trouves chez Robespierre el ses complices (1795); D. A. Martin, Papiers inedits . . . supprimes ou amis par Courtois (3 vols., 1828); also bibliography in M. Tourneux, Bibliog. de la villede Paris . , . (1890), vol. i., nos. 4265-4309.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
