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83-712: Antoine Quentin Fouquier de Tinville ( French pronunciation: [ɑ̃twan kɑ̃tɛ̃ fukje tɛ̃vil] , 10 June 1746 – 7 May 1795), also called Fouquier-Tinville and nicknamed posthumously the Provider of the Guillotine was a French lawyer and accusateur public of the Revolutionary Tribunal during the French Revolution and Reign of Terror . From March 1793 he served as

166-571: A farmer and lord of Hérouel, gave him the name of the land of Tinville, while the name Hérouel went to his older brother, Pierre-Éloy. The two younger brothers received the names Foreste and Vauvillé. His mother, Marie-Louise Martine, came from a prosperous family. For six years he studied law in Noyon and in 1774 purchased a position as prosecutor or procureur attached to the Châtelet in Paris, which

249-485: A great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the Ancien Régime . The word sans-culotte , which is opposed to " aristocrat ", seems to have been used for the first time on 28 February 1791 by Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan in a derogatory sense, speaking about a " sans-culottes army". The word came into vogue during

332-499: A letter to his wife and children dated 12 November 1794, in which he enclosed a lock of hair, he maintained his innocence, claimed to be the victim of slander, and stated that he was "sacrificed to public opinion." His trial ensued, lasting forty-one days, the longest of the French Revolution. From the 9th Germinal, Year III (29 March 1795), to the 12th Floréal (1 May), a total of 419 witnesses were called, including 223 for

415-464: A militia of volunteers, the reinstatement of Brissotin ministers and suppression of non-juring priests , the monarchy faced an abortive Demonstration of 20 June 1792 . Sergent-Marceau and Panis  [ fr ] , the administrators of police, urged the sans-culottes to lay down their weapons, telling them it was illegal to present a petition in arms, although their march to the Tuileries

498-575: A more democratic constitution, price controls, harsh laws against political enemies, and economic legislation to assist the needy. They expressed their demands through petitions of the sections presented to the assemblies (the Legislative, and Convention) by the delegates. The sans-culottes had a third way of applying pressure to achieve their demands: the police and the courts received thousands of denunciations of traitors and supposed conspirators. The height of their influence spanned roughly from

581-501: A people always eager to find others responsible. Tallien , one of the leaders of the Thermidorians and a central deputy in the fall of Robespierre, opposed subjecting him to thorough questioning. This is generally interpreted as a maneuver aimed at preventing Fouquier-Tinville from providing lists of deputies who may have been complicit in his judicial work, including Tallien himself. Fouquier defended his innocence vehemently. In

664-615: A problem as 13 of them were members of the insurrectionary Commune . Around 2 a.m. Robespierre and 21 "Robespierrists" were accused of counter-revolution and condemned to death by the rules of the law of 22 Prairial . Although he was briefly kept as the new government's prosecutor, as confirmed on 28 July 1794 by Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac and the convention, Fouquier-Tinville was arrested after Louis-Marie Stanislas Fréron denounced him as an accomplice of Robespierre. Informed of his impending arrest, Fouquier-Tinville voluntarily surrendered himself. Imprisoned on 1 August, Fouquier-Tinville

747-711: A refuge for refractory priests and counter-revolutionary fanatics, with whom they plotted against the Revolution and against the eternal principles of liberty and equality which are its basis. Apparently, the nuns, whom he called criminal assassins, were corrupted by the ex-Jesuit Rousseau de Roseicquet, who led them in a conspiracy to poison minds and subvert the Republic. When the judge read this piece of Fouquier-Tinville's prose, he condemned them to be deported, as well as all those who had given them refuge. On 26/27 June, Robespierre demanded that Fouquier-Tinville, involved in

830-476: A revolutionary army in Paris, consisting of 20,000 men, with the goal to defend "liberty" (the revolution), maintain order in the sections, and educate the members in democratic principles; an idea he borrowed from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Machiavelli . According to Jean Jaures , he considered this even more important than the right to strike . Following the king's veto of the Assembly's efforts to raise

913-439: A sort of proto-proletariat that played a central role in the French Revolution. That view has been sharply attacked by scholars who say the sans-culottes were not a class at all. Indeed, as one historian points out, Soboul's concept has not been used by scholars in any other period of French history. The term "culottes" in more recent French describes women's underpants, an article of clothing that has little or no relation to

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996-578: A trial was not necessary, and won with a slim majority. Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793. The demands of the sans-culottes did not stop with the execution of the King, and the Montagnards worked hard to fulfil their mounting orders. This increased pressure from the radical masses exacerbated the ideological split between the Montagnards and the Girondins, and tensions began to grow within

1079-474: A very hardworking and conscientious man. The documents were sent by the Committee of General Security to the public accuser, who examined them, summarized the facts, grouped the grievances, quoted the incriminating words or writings, and mentioned the denials of the accused. In a word, he drew up his indictment . Fouquier was known for his radicalism. His zeal in prosecution earned him the nickname Purveyor to

1162-630: A very strong Girondin majority, was set up to investigate the anarchy in the communes and the activities of the sans-culottes . On 28 May, the Paris Commune accepted the creation of a sans-culottes army to enforce revolutionary laws. Petitioners from the sections and the Commune appeared at the bar of the Convention at about five o'clock in the afternoon on 31 May. They demanded that a domestic revolutionary army should be raised and that

1245-545: Is known of the part he played at the outbreak of the Revolution. According to himself, he was part of the National Guard at its formation. He was active in the political committee of his section in 1789. In September 1791 former "advocates" lost their title, their distinctive form of dress, their status, and their profession orders and adapted their practices to the new political and legal situation. Also Fouquier called himself "homme de loi" . In Summer 1792, he supported

1328-643: The sans-culottes a necessary group in implementing the Terror. The popular image of the sans-culotte has gained currency as an enduring symbol for the passion, idealism and patriotism of the common man of the French Revolution . The term sans-culottism , sans-culottisme in French, refers to this idealized image and the themes associated with it. Many public figures and revolutionaries who were not strictly working class styled themselves citoyens sans-culottes in solidarity and recognition. However, in

1411-479: The sans-culottes again invaded the convention. They demanded tougher measures against rising prices and the setting up of a system of terror to root out the counter-revolution. The sans-culottes took an especially active interest in the revolutionary army. A " sans-culotte army" (in a sense, Robespierre's brain-child ) was formed in Paris. Barère voiced the Committee of Public Safety's support for

1494-492: The sans-culottes were a "shapeless, mostly urban movement of the labouring poor, small craftsmen, shopkeepers, artisans, tiny entrepreneurs and the like". He further notes they were organised notably in the local political clubs of Paris and "provided the main striking-force of the revolution". Hobsbawm writes that these were the actual demonstrators, rioters and constructors of the street barricades . However, Hobsbawm maintains, sans-culottism provided no real alternative to

1577-688: The Cordeliers club. The Hébertists hoped that the National Convention would expel Robespierre and his Montagnard supporters. The sans-culottes did not respond, and Hanriot refused to cooperate. On 13 March Hébert, the voice of the sans-culottes , had been using the latest issue of Le Père Duchesne to criticise Robespierre. On 18 March Bourdon attacked the Commune and the sans-culottes army. Jacques Hébert , Ronsin , Vincent , Momoro , Clootz , De Kock were arrested on charges of complicity with foreign powers ( William Pitt

1660-557: The Faubourg Saint-Antoine , was appointed provisional president of the Insurrectionary Commune. In Spring 1793, after the defection of Dumouriez , Robespierre urged the creation of a " sans-culotte army" to sweep away any conspirator. On 1 May, the crowds threatened armed insurrection if the emergency measures demanded (price control) were not adopted. On 8 and 12 May Robespierre repeated in

1743-730: The French Directory , they were definitively silenced as a political force. After the defeat of the 1795 popular revolt in Paris , the sans-culottes ceased to play any effective political role in France until the July Revolution of 1830 . The distinctive costume of typical sans-culottes featured: On 27 April 1791, Robespierre opposed plans to reorganize the National Guard and restrict its membership to active citizens , largely property owners. He demanded

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1826-529: The Montagnards expressed concern for the working classes of France. When the National Convention met to discuss the fate of the former king Louis XVI in 1792, the sans-culottes vehemently opposed a proper trial , instead opting for an immediate execution . The moderate Girondin faction voted for a trial, but the radical Montagnards sided with the sans-culottes , deeming that

1909-450: The Montagnards , such as Maximilien Robespierre, as reported by Antoine Boulant. On 21 May 1794 the government decided that the Terror would be centralised, with almost all the tribunals in the provinces closed and all the trials held in Paris. On 10 June, Georges Couthon introduced the Law of 22 Prairial . Legal defense was sacrificed by banning any assistance for defendants brought before

1992-463: The Reign of Terror when it was dangerous to be associated with anything counter-revolutionary, even public functionaries and officials actually from middle or upper-class backgrounds adopted the clothing and label of the sans-culottes as a demonstration of solidarity with the working class and patriotism for the new French Republic . But by early 1794, as the bourgeois and middle-class elements of

2075-433: The Revolutionary Tribunal and appointed a public accuser Louis-Joseph Faure and two deputies to the court Jean-Baptiste Fleuriot-Lescot and Fouquier-Tinville . Within three days Faure preferred to give up the post and was replaced by the latter, an office that he filled from the end of the month until 1 August 1794. His office as public accuser arguably reflected a need to display the appearance of legality during what

2158-403: The demonstration of 20 June 1792 . The name sans-culottes refers to their clothing, and through that to their lower-class status: culottes were the fashionable silk knee-breeches of the 18th-century nobility and bourgeoisie , and the working class sans-culottes wore pantaloons , or long trousers, instead. The sans-culottes , most of them urban labourers, served as

2241-497: The provinces . The Montagnards were left in control of the Convention, which itself was clearly at the mercy of whoever could command the armed sans-culottes battalions." Now, whoever was in control of France's destiny had to answer to the sans-culottes , who "effectively exercised legislative power" in situations of unrest. Otherwise, they would risk a similar uprising and their own exile, or possibly even execution. This political shift towards radicalism would soon turn into

2324-461: The sans-culottes , the Parisian enragés especially, accused even the most radical Jacobins of being too tolerant of greed and insufficiently universalist. From this far-left point of view, all Jacobins were at fault because all of them tolerated existing civil life and social structures. The sans-culottes also populated the ranks of paramilitary forces charged with physically enforcing

2407-549: The sans-culottes movement. On 25 August, backed by his cousin Camille Desmoulins , and after Robespierre refused the position, Fouquier de Tinville became for three months the foreman of a jury established to pass verdicts on the crimes of enemies of the people arrested after the Insurrection of 10 August 1792 . After Robespierre refused, Fouquier-Tinville was appointed as president. The Paris commune made

2490-498: The "public prosecutor" in Paris, demanding the execution of numerous accused individuals, including famous ones, like Marie-Antoinette , Danton or Robespierre and overseeing the sentencing of over two thousand of them to the guillotine . In April 1794, it was decreed to centralise the investigation of court records and to bring all the political suspects in France to the Revolutionary Tribunal to Paris. Following

2573-422: The Guillotine. On 29 July he accused Jacques-Bernard-Marie Montané , president of the tribunal, of being insufficiently radical. On 17 September the Law of Suspects was introduced. On 26 September 1793 Martial Herman was appointed as president and René-François Dumas as vice president; Coffinhal and Joachim Vilate were each appointed as one of the judges and jurors , Adrien Nicolas Gobeau as substitute of

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2656-488: The Jacobin club the necessity of founding a revolutionary army consisting of sans-culottes , paid by a tax on the rich, to beat the aristocrats inside France and the convention. Every public square should be used to produce arms and pikes. On 18 May, Marguerite-Élie Guadet proposed to examine the "exactions" and to replace municipal authorities. As rioting persisted, a commission of inquiry of twelve members , with

2739-472: The Reign of Terror. The mass violence of the sans-culottes created a lasting impact during the Reign of Terror . These revolutionaries allied themselves most readily with those in power who promised radical change. The sans-culottes believed in a complete upheaval of the government, pushing for the execution of any that were considered corrupt by the leaders, even going as far as wanting "the enemies of

2822-431: The Revolutionary Tribunal during the Reign of Terror . Accusateur public Elected, as with the other judges of the criminal court, the accuser was responsible for prosecuting offences admitted to the indictment by the grand jury . He was to receive complaints and ensure that court decisions were carried out. Public accusers also took over the administrative role of supervising judicial police officers, justice of

2905-479: The Year III (1795) and substituted the name jours complémentaires ("additional days"). According to Sally Waller, part of the sans-culottes mantra was "permanent anticipation of betrayal and treachery". The members of the sans-culottes were constantly on edge and fearing betrayal, which can be attributed to their violent and radical rebellion tactics. Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm observes that

2988-535: The Younger ) and guillotined on 24 March. On 27 March the infantry and cavalry of the revolutionary army, for eight months active in Paris and surroundings, were finally disbanded, except their artillery. (Hanriot was denounced by the Revolutionary Tribunal as an accomplice of Hébert, but seems to have been protected by Robespierre.) The working class was especially hurt by a hail storm which damaged grain crops in 1788, which caused bread prices to skyrocket. While

3071-424: The arrest of Robespierre, Couthon , Saint-Just , and other Robespierre supporters. He received news of Maximilien de Robespierre's escape to the town hall while he was with Gabriel-Toussaint Scellier, a judge from the Revolutionary Tribunal. The next morning, he went to the National Convention to assure them of the Revolutionary Tribunal's loyalty. Verifying the identity of the prisoners Fouquier-Tinville had to solve

3154-466: The bourgeois radicalism of the Jacobins ; from Hobsbawm's Marxist perspective, the ideal of the sans-culottes , which sought to express the interests of the "little men" who existed between the poles of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat , was contradictory and ultimately unrealizable. The Marxist historian Albert Soboul emphasized the importance of the sans-culottes as a social class,

3237-412: The contrary, I have been on the verge of being arrested four times. I die for my country and without reproach. I am satisfied: later, my innocence will be recognized. Long considered the primary instigator of the judicial Terror, his role is now nuanced, with the most recent research including him in a broader process of judicial Terror with other actors. Fouquier-Tinville appears to have generally followed

3320-455: The convention. Eventually, by May 1793, the Montagnards worked with the National Guard —which was, at this time, mostly sans-culottes —to depose many of the Girondin deputies. Jeremy Popkin writes, "[the Montagnards and the sans-culottes ] surrounded the Convention, and two days later the intimidated assembly suspended twenty-nine Girondin deputies. The defeated Girondin leaders fled to

3403-486: The convention. They decided to proceed with his arrest and trial, along with certain judges and jurors from the Revolutionary Tribunal. It is not I who ought to be facing the tribunal, but the chiefs whose orders I have executed. I had only acted in the spirit of the laws passed by a Convention invested with all powers. Through the absence of its members [on trial], I find myself the head of a [political] conspiracy I have never been aware of. Here I am facing slander, [facing]

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3486-552: The countryside to supervise the requisition of grain, to prevent the manoeuvres of rich égoistes and deliver them up to the vengeance of the laws)". ) For that reason, twelve travelling tribunals (with moveable guillotines) were set up. Three months later, on 4 December, the departmental revolutionary armies (except in Paris) were banned on proposal of Tallien. The sections lost all rights to control their delegates and officials. On 4 March 1794, there were rumours of uprising in

3569-407: The decision to permanently install the guillotine. When the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris was created by the National Convention on 10 March 1793, and Fauré refused, Fouquier was appointed on 15 March as public accuser , an office that he filled from the end of the month until 1 August 1794. According to all the testimonies, including those of his critics, Fouquier-Tinville is said to have been

3652-490: The defense and 196 for the prosecution. Among the witnesses for the prosecution was, for instance, the Paris clerk, who accused him of shedding the blood of innocents, especially Danton . Also among the prosecution witnesses was the bailiff Lucien Dupré, who spoke of his "relentlessness." Among the witnesses for the defense was the owner of the Palais de Justice tavern, who claimed that Fouquier-Tinville had complained to her about

3735-478: The driving popular force behind the revolution. They were judged by the other revolutionaries as "radicals" because they advocated a direct democracy , that is to say, without intermediaries such as members of parliament. Though ill-clad and ill-equipped, with little or no support from the middle and upper classes, they made up the bulk of the Revolutionary army and were responsible for many executions during

3818-605: The early years of the French Revolutionary Wars . The most fundamental political ideals of the sans-culottes were social equality , economic equality , and popular democracy . They supported the abolition of all the authority and privileges of the monarchy , nobility, and Roman Catholic clergy , the establishment of fixed wages, the implementation of price controls to ensure affordable food and other essentials, and vigilance against counter-revolutionaries . The sans-culottes ... campaigned for

3901-408: The events of the 10th Thermidor , he was arrested early August. He was tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal as one of the major figures responsible for the excesses and injustices that marked the period of the Reign of Terror. During his trial, he defended himself by stating, "It is not I who ought to be facing the tribunal, but the chiefs whose orders I have executed. I had only acted in the spirit of

3984-442: The following day. This did not convince his prosecutors and he was sentenced to death. He was guillotined on 7 May 1795, together with 15 former functionaries of the Revolutionary Tribunal, who were sentenced as his accomplices. Those were his final words, which he wrote before his execution: I have nothing to reproach myself with; I have always complied with the laws, I have never been a creature of Robespierre or Saint-Just ; on

4067-620: The former convent of Carmelites, living in Paris, plus an eighth nun, of the Convent of the Visitation, . . .who were charged with consorting together and scheming to trouble the State by provoking civil war with their fanaticism...Instead of living at peace within the bosom of the Republic, which had provided for their subsistence, and instead of obeying the laws, adopted the idea of residing together in this same house...and of making this house

4150-497: The guillotine; all the members of the Parlement of Toulouse were executed. More than 2,400 people were convicted by the "tribunal révolutionaire" accused of conspiring against liberty . The commune had to solve serious problems in the cemeteries because of the smell. Two new mass graves were dug in mid-July at Picpus Cemetery in the impermeable ground. One of the last groups he prosecuted included seven nuns, aged 32–66, of

4233-493: The instructions of Maximilien Robespierre but especially those of the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security during the period of the Terror . However, in some cases, he is said to have shown a desire for independence from political power, especially by granting significant rights to certain defendants. Alexandre Dumas and Anatole France wrote about him and included him in their historical novels. He

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4316-475: The jurors' moral conviction. The courtroom was renovated to allow more people to be sentenced simultaneously. It proposed to erect a guillotine inside the courtroom, but it was moved to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in order to stand out less. According to François Furet , the prisons were overpopulated; they housed over 8,000 "suspects" at the beginning of Thermidor year II. The number of death sentences doubled. Within three days, 156 people were sent in batches to

4399-427: The law. [...] Moreover, one wonders, why witnesses? The Convention, all of France, accuse those whose trial is being conducted; the evidence of their crimes is evident; everyone in their hearts is convinced that they are guilty; the tribunal can do nothing on its own, it is obliged to follow the law; it is up to the Convention to remove all the formalities that hinder its progress. Early April 1794 Fouquier-Tinville asked

4482-433: The laws passed by a Convention invested with all powers." Generally, his defense involved shifting the blame for the executions onto the Committee of Public Safety , especially on Maximilien de Robespierre . Despite this defense, he was sentenced to death, alongside the judges and some jurors of the Revolutionary Tribunal, among other charges, for abusing his authority and neglecting proper legal procedures during trials. He

4565-588: The mayor Fleuriot-Lescot , took off his official robe and walked out. On the 9th Thermidor , the day of the fall of Maximilien de Robespierre , Fouquier-Tinville continued his work without any hindrance. When the Robespierre-affiliated judge, Dumas , was arrested midday during a tumultuous session by a decree of the National Convention, Fouquier-Tinville decided to proceed with judicial proceedings and requested that "justice take its course." That evening, while dining at Coffinhal's , he learned of

4648-412: The measures desired by the assembly: he presented a decree that was passed immediately, establishing a paid armed force of 6,000 men and 1,000 gunners "designed to crush the counter-revolutionaries, to execute wherever the need arises the revolutionary laws and the measures of public safety that are decreed by the National Convention, and to protect provisions (A force of citizen-soldiers which could go into

4731-426: The most sinister figures of the Revolution. His office as public accuser arguably reflected a need to display the appearance of legality during what was essentially political command, more than a need to establish actual guilt. On 29 October 1793, Fouquier-Tinville sent a letter to the National Convention, which was later used during his trial. In the letter, he wrote: We are arrested by the formalities prescribed by

4814-415: The number of executions, and the lawyer Bernard Malarme, who asserted that he had released many patriots. Generally, he defended himself by assigning responsibility for the executions of the Revolutionary Tribunal to the Committee of Public Safety , especially Maximilien de Robespierre. According to his testimony, he claimed to have met with Robespierre privately every evening to decide on the executions for

4897-647: The original overthrow of the monarchy in 1792 to the Thermidorian Reaction in 1794. Throughout the revolution, the sans-culottes provided the principal support behind the more radical and anti-bourgeoisie factions of the Paris Commune , such as the Enragés and the Hébertists , and were led by populist revolutionaries such as Jacques Roux and Jacques Hébert . In the summer of 1793

4980-591: The peace and gendarmerie officers. On 29 September 1791, the French Constituent Assembly decided that "public accusers will have the same costume as judges, with the exception of the feathers, placed around their hats; they will wear medals with the words 'public safety'. In each criminal court, the public accuser was responsible for prosecuting the case on behalf of the king, defending his prerogatives. The other judges were elected on 15 February 1792. On 18 February 1792 Louis-Joseph Faure

5063-416: The peasants of rural France could sustain themselves with their farms, and the wealthy aristocracy could still afford bread, the urban workers of France, the group that comprised the sans-culottes , suffered. In the city, the division grew between the sans-culottes and these wealthy aristocrats; the former had a particular hostility "towards those with large private incomes." The faction known as

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5146-521: The period immediately following the Thermidorian Reaction , the sans-culottes and other far-left political factions were heavily persecuted and repressed by the likes of the Muscadins . The French Republican Calendar at first termed the complementary days at the end of the year Sansculottides ; however, the National Convention suppressed the name when adopting the Constitution of

5229-436: The policies and legislation of the revolutionary government, a task that commonly included violence and the carrying out of executions against perceived enemies of the revolution. During the peak of their influence, the sans-culottes were seen as the truest and most authentic sons of the French Revolution, held up as living representations of the revolutionary spirit. During the height of revolutionary fervor, such as during

5312-452: The price of bread should be fixed at three sous a pound, that nobles holding senior rank in the army should be dismissed, that armouries should be created for arming the sans-culottes , the departments of State purged, suspects arrested, the right to vote provisionally reserved to sans-culottes only, and a fund set apart for the relatives of those defending their country and for the relief of aged and infirm. According to Hampson,

5395-595: The public accuser Fouquier lived at Rue Saint-Honoré but moved to Place Dauphine and then to fr:Quai de l'Horloge both on Île de la Cité . An apartment between the towers of the Conciergerie was the home of Fouquier-Tinville. He lived there with his wife and twins while conducting the trials in the courtroom . His activity in the Conciergerie and the Palace of Justice earned him the reputation of one of

5478-407: The reconstitution of the army on a democratic basis to allow passive citizens . He felt that the army had to become the instrument of defence of the Revolution and no longer be a threat to it. On 28 April, despite Robespierre's intensive campaign, the principle of an armed bourgeois militia was definitively enacted in the Assembly. Along with other Jacobins, he urged in his magazine the creation of

5561-544: The republic [to] hang-main and the guillotine to stand like the first patriots, the finisher of the law." The support of the sans-culottes could be used as a political weapon to get rid of enemies of the Revolution. The key to Robespierre's Terror lay in their willingness and ability to mobilize. Thus, the Committee leaders used speeches to gain their support. In a speech On the Principles of Political Morality. Robespierre proclaimed: "It has been said that terror

5644-408: The rest of his life. They had three children together. In early 1791 freedom of defence became the standard; any citizen was allowed to defend another. From the beginning, the authorities were concerned about this experiment's future. Derasse suggests it was a "collective suicide" by the lawyers in the Assembly. In criminal cases, the expansion of the right gave priority to the spoken word. Little

5727-461: The revolution began to gain more political influence, the fervent working-class radicalism of the sans-culottes rapidly began falling out of favour within the National Convention. It was not long before Maximilien de Robespierre and the now dominant Jacobin Club turned against the radical factions of the National Convention, including the sans-culottes , despite their having previously been

5810-427: The revolutionary tribunal. "If this law passes," cried a deputy, "all we have to do is to blow our brains out." Fouquier, who feared to be incapable to deal with the number of trials, sent him a letter, but Robespierre did not reply. The tribunal became a simple court of condemnation that refused suspects the right of counsel and allowed only one of two verdicts – complete acquittal or death - based not on evidence, but on

5893-536: The strongest supporters of the revolution and its government. Several important leaders of the Enragés and Hébertists were imprisoned and executed by the very revolutionary tribunals they had supported. The execution of radical leader Jacques Hébert spelled the decline of the sans-culottes , and with the successive rise of even more conservative governments, the Thermidorian Convention and

5976-485: The subject is quite extraordinarily complicated and obscure. The next day all Paris was in arms. Hanriot was ordered to march his National Guard, by this time mostly consisting of sans-culottes , from the town hall to the Palais National . On 2 June 1793, a large force of supposedly 80,000 sans-culottes and National Guards led by Hanriot, surrounded the convention with 160–172 guns. On 4 September,

6059-510: The trial of Catherine Théot , be replaced as too bound to the Committee of General Security . Fouquier-Tinville's career ended with the fall of Robespierre 9 Thermidor . When Robespierre and his supporters gathered that evening at the Hôtel de Ville, Fouquier-Tinville declined an invitation by answering he recognized the Convention alone. The next day, halfway through the proceedings, Fouquier-Tinville, who did not want to pass judgment on his friend

6142-576: The tribunal to order the Indulgents who "confused the hearing" and insulted "National Justice" to the guillotine. Claiming the Dantonists were not serving the people and were "false patriots", who had preferred personal and foreign interests to the welfare of the nation. He did not align with any specific political movement, keeping his distance from factions such as the Jacobins , and he did not maintain any particular relationships with leaders from

6225-562: The vicinity of Saint-Quentin , in the present-day department of Aisne . In the 18th century, Éloy Fouquier de Tinville, lord of Tinville, Hérouel, Auroir, and Foreste, was a farmer and a royal officer in Péronne . Antoine Fouquier de Tinville was born in Hérouel on 10 June 1746, and was baptized two days later (which often leads to confusion regarding his birthdate). He was the second of five siblings. His father, Éloy Fouquier de Tinville,

6308-475: Was an exceptional royal jurisdiction tasked with targeting, among other things, revolutionaries. He sold his office in 1781 to pay off his debts and became a clerk under the lieutenant-general of police. In 1775 Fouquier-Tinville married Geneviève-Dorothée Saugnier, his cousin, with whom he would have five children (two twins). He was widowed seven years later. Four months after his wife's death, he remarried Henriette Jeanne Gérard d'Arcourt, with whom he would spend

6391-401: Was brought to trial in front of the convention. His defense was that he had only obeyed the decrees of the Committee of Public Safety and the convention. He was granted the right to defend himself before the National Convention, where he appeared on the 21st Thermidor, Year II (8 August 1794). His defense, in which he placed the blame for the executions solely on Robespierre, failed to convince

6474-452: Was elected as assistant to Robespierre. On 24 February 1792 Louis Pierre Manuel as procureur of the commune, charged with both the investigation and prosecution of crime, gave a speech. (Manuel cooperated with Robespierre responsible for the coordination of the local and the federal police in the department and the sections.) On 10 April, Robespierre resigned the unenviable position of "public accuser". The decree of 10 March 1793 created

6557-493: Was essentially political command, more than a need to establish actual guilt. After the Thermidorian reaction , his powers were gradually framed and decreased to the benefit of the commissioner of the executive power. Sans-culottes The sans-culottes ( French: [sɑ̃kylɔt] ; lit.   ' without breeches ' ) were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France ,

6640-580: Was guillotined in Paris on 7 May 1795, and became the last individual to be executed by the Revolutionary Tribunal before its abolition. His precise role in the Reign of Terror is still a subject of debate; modern historians suggest that it is more valuable to view his role as part of a group of officials and various terrorist actors rather than solely as the sole instigator of the Judicial Terror. The Fouquier de Tinville family, now known as Fouquier d'Hérouel, descends from an old bourgeois family from

6723-402: Was not banned. They invited the officials to join the procession and march along with them. Early in the morning ( 10 August 1792 ) 30,000 Fédérés, and sans-culottes militants from the sections led a successful assault upon the Tuileries; according to Robespierre a triumph for the "passive" (non-voting) citizens. Sulpice Huguenin  [ fr ] , head of the sans-culottes in

6806-591: Was quoted in an article and in Illusions perdues of Honoré de Balzac . He is also to be found in Les Mémoires d'outre-tombe of Chateaubriand . Fouquier was played by Roger Planchon in Andrzej Wajda 's film Danton (1983). He appears as a character in the opera Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano . Tinville appears in the game We. The Revolution where he aids the player as a prosecutor for

6889-467: Was the mainspring of despotic government. Does your government, then, resemble a despotism? Yes, as the sword which glitters in the hands of liberty's heroes resembles the one with which tyranny's lackeys are armed." Robespierre expressed a desire for liberty that the sans-culottes admired. They pushed the committee for radical changes and often found a voice with Robespierre. Their desperate desire for immediate changes and their aptitude for violence made

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