Description:
La correspondance qui lui est adressée, essentiellement de 1795 à 1800, permet de retracer les mésaventures d'un notable contre-révolutionnaire. En 1789, René Hardy fait partie des plus grosses fortunes de la ville de Laval, il est avocat et pourvu de l'office de receveur des tailles. Il cesse toute activité publique dès 1790, mais sa vie et celle de sa famille basculent avec l'émigration de son fils aîné, en 1 792 ; elle entraîne son emprisonnement, la mise sous scellés de ses meubles, le séquestre de ses biens fonciers. Sans beaucoup de commentaires sur la situation politique, ses correspondants, essentiellement d'anciens avocats, consacrent toute leur énergie à comprendre la législation concernant les parents d'émigrés et à choisir la stratégie la plus efficace pour obtenir satisfaction de l'administration.
Frédérique PITOU, The Reluctant Aristocrat, or the Mishaps of an Émigrés Father (1792- 1805). The correspondence which is addressed to him, from 1795 to 1800, makes possible to recount the mishaps of a leading-citizen during the Revolution. In 1789, Rene Hardy belongs to the largest fortunes of the town of Laval, he is a lawyer and owns one office of receiver of the taxes. He stops any public activity since 1790, but its life and that of its family change with the emigration of his elder son, in 1792 ; it involves its imprisonment, the setting under seals of its furniture, the sequestration of its land properties. Without a lot of comments about the political situation, its correspondents, former lawyers, devote all their energy to understand the legislation concerning the parents of emigrants and to choose the most effective strategy to obtain satisfaction of the administration.