Bossuet

Bossuet is one of Marius's friends and fellow insurgents in the fighting at the barricades. His brief appearances place him among the men facing an overwhelming government force and show him responding to both the capture of Javert and Jean Valjean's self-sacrificing intervention.

Among the Insurgents

On June 5, 1832, as a popular uprising gathers force in Paris, Bossuet is named among Marius's comrades who will fight the government troops: Courfeyrac, Bossuet, Combeferre, and their leader, Enjolras. The group is part of a small band at the barricades, with Little Gavroche also among the insurgents. During the night, the disparity in numbers becomes stark: fifty men wait while the government gathers its forces, said to number sixty thousand.

At Javert's Capture

When Enjolras's men discover that the newcomer is Javert, a police inspector, they seize, search, and bind him before he can turn around. Courfeyrac, Bossuet, Joly, Combeferre, and others from the barricades hurry to the cabaret when they realize what has happened. Bossuet is therefore present among the insurgents who gather around Javert, bound to a post but holding his head with fearless composure. His part in the episode is not to direct the capture but to join the collective response to the exposed spy.

Witness to Jean Valjean's Choice

Later, as the defenders' position worsens, stolen National Guard uniforms offer a chance for married men and fathers to cross enemy lines and escape. There are only four uniforms for five men. Jean Valjean enters the redoubt unnoticed, sees and hears the dilemma, then silently removes his own coat and adds it to the pile. Bossuet asks who the stranger is; Combeferre answers that he is a man who saves others. Bossuet's question gives the sacrifice a human witness: the action is initially anonymous, and its meaning is recognized through what Jean Valjean does rather than through his name or history.