Pride and Resentment: French Émigrés and Republicans in the Streets of Late Eighteenth-Century Copenhagen

During the 1790s Copenhagen operated as an arena of political strife for Frenchmen living in the city. When groups of émigrés started appearing in Copenhagen at the same time as commissionaires of the French Republic, a fierce battle broke out. Émigré honour was challenged by the republican pride of the commissionaires. Émigrés complained that French revolutionary songs were played in the public gardens of the city, while French republicans protested to the Danish government when spotting émigrés walking around town flashing royal decorations of l’ancien régime.

This article examines the conflicts between the factions of Frenchmen and their Danish supporters. Two themes will be addressed. To begin with, the spatial dimension of the conflicts was quite explicit. The conflicts derived from what could be seen and heard in specific zones of the urban space; i.e. in certain streets, in a particular garden and in known taverns of the city. Songs, toasts, exclamations, cockades and decorations were perceived as provocative statements igniting the sentiments of the opposing groups. Secondly, the question of honour and masculinity was significant to the incidences of conflict between the French; violent insults and challenges to duels was part of the game.