Zamor

For other people named Zamor, see Zamor (disambiguation).
Portrait of Zamor (1785) by Jacques-Antoine-Marie Lemoine

Zamor (christened Louis-Benoit) (b. 1762? - d. 7 February 1820) was a French revolutionary of Bengali origin, who, as a boy of eleven, was taken from Chittagong, Bengal Subah, Mughul Empire (today's Bangladesh) by slave traders. Later he was educated by Countess du Barry and became her servant, but he betrayed her to the Committee of Public Safety. He participated in the French Revolution and was imprisoned by the Girondins.

Early life and upbringing

Zamor was born in the town of Chittagong in the state of Bengal (now Bangladesh). In 1773, when he was eleven years old, he was captured by British slave traders, who trafficked him into France via Madagascar and sold him to Louis XV of France. The King gave the young boy to his mistress, Countess du Barry, and he was christened Louis-Benoit. The Countess developed a liking for the boy and educated him.[1] Zamor developed a taste for literature and was inspired by the works of Rousseau. Till her death, the Countess was under the wrong impression that Zamor was African.

Records of the period suggest that Zamor may have been extremely mischievous as a child.[2] She noted in her memoirs:

The second object of my regard was Zamor, a young African boy, full of intelligence and mischief; simple and independent in his nature, yet wild as his country. Zamor fancied himself the equal of all he met, scarcely deigning to acknowledge the king himself as his superior.

Role in the French Revolution

When the French Revolution broke out, Zamor took the side of the revolutionaries and joined the Jacobins. He began to detest Countess du Barry and deplored her lavish lifestyle. He also protested her repeated visits to England with the intention of retrieving her lost jewellery and warned her against protecting aristocrats. As an informant to the Committee of Public Safety, Zamor got the police to arrest the Countess in 1792, on her return from one of her many visits to England. The Countess, however, secured her release from jail and found out that the arrest was the handiwork of her page. She promptly dismissed Zamor from her service. Infuriated, Zamor became more vocal and open in his support to the Revolution. He brought further charges against the Countess, which eventually led to her arrest, trial and execution by guillotine. At the trial, Zamor gave Chittagong as his birthplace.

Imprisonment

Soon after the execution of the Countess, Zamor himself was arrested by the Girondins on suspicion of being an accomplice of the Countess and a Jacobin. He was tried and imprisoned, but was able to secure his release. He then fled from France, reappearing only in 1815 after the fall of Napoleon. Zamor bought a house in Rue Maître-Albert near the Latin Quarter of Paris and spent a few years as a schoolteacher.

Death

Zamor died in poverty on 7 February 1820[2] and was buried in Paris. His funeral reportedly had a very small attendance.

A two-page comic strip La Rue perdue (The Lost Street) was published in 1978, featuring Gil Jourdan, a detective created by Maurice Tillieux. Set in 1953, it has Jourdan trying to find out why a fake guillotine blade is hanging outside the door of a black African friend. The person responsible turns out to be a man obsessed with Madame du Barry and taking his anger at her death out on Jourdan's friend, who looks like Zamor. The action is set in Rue Maître Albert, where Zamor lived before his death.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Weber, Caroline (2006). Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. Macmillan. p. 60. ISBN 0805079491, ISBN 978-0-8050-7949-4.
  2. 1 2 Lenotre, G.; Frederic Lees (1908). Romances of the French Revolution: From the French of G. Lenotre [pseud.] Brentano's. p. 135.
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