Vendemiaire
VENDEMIAIRE (from Lat. vindemia, vintage), the name given during the French Revolution to the first month of the year in the Republican Calendar. Vendemiaire began on the 22nd, 23rd or 24th of September, and ended on the 22nd, 23rd or 24th of October according to the year, and was the season of the vintage in the wine districts of northern France. In accordance with the suggestion of Fabre d'Eglantine, each of the days of the republican year was consecrated to some useful object. For instance, I Vendemiaire was the festival of the grape, 10 Vendemiaire of the vat, 13 Vendemiaire of the pumpkin, 15 Vendemiaire of the ass, 20 Vendemiaire of the wine-press, and 30 Vend6miaire of the cask. The most important event in this month was the quelling of the royalist rising on 13 Vendemiaire year IV. (4th of October 1795), in which General Bonaparte (afterwards the emperor Napoleon) distinguished himself by his energy and skill in using artillery.
See Baron R. de Larcy, Le 13 Vendemiaire (Paris, 1872).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
