Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution itself. There has been much scholarly debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated. The French Revolution initially began with attacks on church corruption and the wealth of the higher clergy, an action with which even many Christians could identify, since the Roman Catholic church held a dominant role in pre-revolutionary France. During a two-year period known as the Reign of Terror, the episodes of anti-clericalism grew more violent than any in modern European history. The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the church; abolished the Catholic monarchy; nationalized church property; exiled 30,000 priests and killed hundreds more. In October 1793 the
An Episode Under the Terror An Episode Under the Terror Un épisode sous la Terreur "(An Episode Under the Terror)" is a novel by French author Honoré de Balzac, published in 1842. Originally titled "Une messe en 1793" "(A Mass in 1793)", the text took its final title in the Chlendowski edition of 1845. The work appears in "Scènes de la vie politique" "(Scenes from Political Life)", which is a part of the series of works that make up "La Comédie humaine" "(The Human Comedy)", Balzac’s multi-volume collection of interlinked stories. The later edition is dedicated to Monsieur Guyonnet-Merville, under whom Balzac had done his