French officials are fighting for possession of a 1793 manifesto by a woman justifying her decision to stab a revolutionary leader to death, with local authorities saying they will take the case to court, reports The Guardian.
Charlotte Corday was a 24-year-old member of a moderate faction during the French Revolution, who became alarmed at the way it was being taken over by violent extremists.
Her response was to murder Jean-Paul Marat, a leading figure in the most radical faction, whom she held responsible for a spate of killings in Paris the previous year known as the September Massacres.
She entered his Paris home and stabbed him while he was taking a bath. She was immediately arrested and executed by guillotine four days later on 17 July 1793.
Corday justified her action in a three-page letter, “Address to French Friends of Law and Peace”, which was recently put up for auction and bought by local authorities in Normandy – her birthplace – for 270,900 euros.
But the culture ministry in Paris has blocked the sale, arguing that the document, which was seized by police at the time of Corday’s arrest, is part of the national archive.