Alain Corbin

In August 1870 in the French village of Hautefaye, a young nobleman, falsely accused of shouting republican slogans, was tortured for hours by a mob of peasants who later burned him alive. This book is a fascinating inquiry into the social and political ingredients of an alchemy that transformed ordinary people into brutal executioners.

Rage and Murder in France, 1870

The Village of Cannibals

Bryan Alexander

What drives a mob to murder?

Village of Cannibals* explores a single act of mob violence in rural France, in 1870. Peasants from several neighboring villages suddenly tortured a nobleman to death, then tormented his body. Alain Corbin's genius is to tease out the social and historical elements of this act, which in turn illuminate French history.

In a sense the killing of Alain de Moneys is unsurprising and almost timeless. His assailants were all men (women stayed away) and ill educated, even for the time (58). Local authorities gave way before the mob (68). We can transpose the event to many other places and times.

It is also a story of wartime. It took place as the Franco-Prussian War was in full swing and starting to go very badly for the French. The mob linked the victim to the advancing Prussian army. One of its members had just lost a son in battle days before the murder.

Yet this is a modern narrative. For one, it is a story of modern nationalism. As the war continued and worsened, nationalist feeling grew and deepened among the French. That love of the nation in danger authorized force against the nation's enemies.

For another, it is a story of peasants who adored their monarch in the time after 1789. The story forces us to consider ways of political thinking that aren't necessarily the most obvious or accessible. Students of the French Revolution recall the surprising Vendée rebellion against the revolution, when peasants demanded a return of their priests and king - an attitude that may shock the liberal-minded academic or progressive. Similarly the folk of Hautefaye saw as their enemies a mix of priests, nobles, republicans, and Prussians, with only Napoleon III as their protector. Indeed, Corbin's book reminds us that while the Second Empire often seems comically incompetent in retrospect, it had a well of support beyond the imperial court. I am reminded of Russian peasants who worshipped their tsar even as WWI tore the empire apart, believing the emperor to be good, just misled by evil councilors. 

In this very short book Alain Corbin draws out these connection with carefully chosen anecdotes and a firm grasp of French history. He also offers the occasional sardonic or chilling line:
[T]he Dordogne peasants' hostility towards the nobility... fed on rancor that festered behind a mask of sly deference, waiting for the day when open irony would become possible. (7)
On the afternoon of the fair the peasant lost track of time, and the slow pace of Alain de Moneys' torture reflected this carefree attitude. (54)
I recommend this to any student of history. I also commend it to those interested in crime and violence. Chapter 4 ("Monstrous Brutes") is a powerful meditation on violence in everyday life that is worth reading on its own. It reminds me of Georges Bataille.

My son read this for an undergrad history of France class, and I admire the choice. The book is very short, yet deeply scholarly. It gives students a taste of actual historical research, after which they have a much deeper understanding of French history in general.

*The book's title comes from a contested passage in the murder trial:Jean Maurel... the most zealous of the murderers allegedly told the mayor, at a point when the victim had "stopped in front of the inn," that "we want to kill him, burn him, and eat him." The mayor allegedly replied, "Eat him if you like." Word of this frightening injunction seems to have spread rapidly. (73-74)

The Village of Cannibals Rage and Murder in France, 1870

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