Renee Bordereau: The Woman Whose Head Napoleon Wanted

The bloody French Revolution saw the fall of aristocracy in France when people from the lower classes grew tired of the rich’s excesses while peasants like them lived in squalor and poverty. The masses demanded for equality and liberty from their oppressors, leading to a bloody purge of the royalty but his poor against rich scenario was not as clear as black and white, with other peasant families being killed by their fellow class, as in the case of the Bordereau family.

A Vendetta

Renee Bordereau witnessed the killing of her father and close to 40 of her relatives by revolutionaries, stoking a rage within her that burned hot as coal. Revenge was always at the core of her heart and when the Royalists revolted against the Revolutionaries in 1793, Renee quickly took arms and dove into the chance to avenge her family. To hide her identity, she assumed the name Hyacinth, the name of her brother whom she lost and charged headlong into war.