Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne

Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
Billaud-Varenne portrayed by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, c. 1790 (Dallas Museum of Art)
26th President of the National Convention
In office
5 September 1793 – 19 September 1793
Preceded byMaximilien Robespierre
Succeeded byPierre Joseph Cambon
Member of the National Convention
In office
7 September 1792 – 26 October 1795
ConstituencySeine
Member of the Committee of Public Safety
In office
6 September 1793 – 1 September 1794
Personal details
Born
Jacques Nicolas Billaud

(1756-04-23)23 April 1756
La Rochelle, Kingdom of France
Died3 June 1819(1819-06-03) (aged 63)
Port-au-Prince, Republic of Haiti
Political partyThe Mountain
Spouse(s)Anne-Angélique Doye
Brigitte Billaud-Varenne
Alma materUniversity of Poitiers
OccupationLawyer, politician
Nickname"The Tiger"

Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (French pronunciation: [ʒak nikɔla bijo vaʁɛn]; 23 April 1756 – 3 June 1819), also known as Jean Nicolas or by his nicknames, the Righteous Patriot[1][2] or the Tiger,[2] was a French lawyer and a major figure in the French Revolution. A close associate of Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre, he was one of the most militant members of the Committee of Public Safety, and is often considered a key architect of the Reign of Terror.

Billaud-Varenne subsequently broke with Robespierre, partly due to their ideological conflicts relating to the centralization of power. Ultimately he played a major role in Robespierre's downfall on 9 Thermidor, an act for which he later expressed remorse.[3][4] After Thermidor, Billaud-Varenne was part of the Crêtois, the last group of deputies from The Mountain. He presided over the persecution of Louis-Marie Turreau and Jean-Baptiste Carrier for their massacres during the War in the Vendée, which ended by their execution.[5][6][7]

Billaud-Varenne was later arrested during the Thermidorian Reaction.[8] Deported to Cayenne without trial, he married a black ex-slave named Brigitte, refused Napoleon's pardon there and finally died in Port-au-Prince in 1819.[9]

Billaud-Varenne was one of the central figures of the first part of the French Revolution, but he remains little studied or little understood.[10]

  1. ^ LENOIR, PHILIPPE (2021). PATRIOTE RECTILIGNE : billaud-varenne. BOOKS ON DEMAND. ISBN 978-2-322-40504-6. OCLC 1289918904. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b Guilaine, Jacques (1 January 1969). Billaud-Varenne: L'ascète de la Révolution, 1756-1819 (in French). (Fayard) réédition numérique FeniXX. ISBN 978-2-7062-1345-8. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  3. ^ Brunel, Françoise (1989). 1794, thermidor : la chute de Robespierre. Complexe. p. 86. ISBN 2-87027-275-8. OCLC 397368958. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  4. ^ Billaud-Varenne (1893). Mémoires inédits et correspondance: accompagnés de notices biographiques sur Billaud Varenne et Collot-D'Herbois (in French). Libr. de la Nouvelle Revue. pp. 232–235. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  5. ^ Clauzel, Jean-Baptiste; Billaud-Varenne, Jacques Nicolas; Delaunay, Pierre Marie; Lequinio de Kerblay, Joseph Marie; Duquesnoy, Ernest Dominique François Joseph; Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite; Laignelot, Joseph François; Maignen, François; Duroy, Jean-Michel; Merlin de Thionville, Antoine Christophe; Le Cointre, Laurent; Carrier, Jean-Baptiste; Lofficial, Louis-Prosper; Goupilleau de Fontenay, Jean-François; Goupilleau de Montaigu, Philippe Charles Aimé (1994). "Discussion sur la guerre de Vendée, notamment sur les atrocités commises par Carrier et le général Turreau, lors de la séance du 8 vendémiaire an III (29 septembre 1794)". Archives Parlementaires de la Révolution Française. 98 (1): 154–161. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  6. ^ Delaunay, Pierre Marie; Bernard de Saintes, André Antoine; Dugenne, François Elie; Pénières-Delzors, Jean Augustin; Bourdon de la Cronière, Louis Jean Joseph Léonard; Guérin, Pierre; Lombard-Lachaux, Pierre; Le Clerc, Claude Nicolas; Dartigoeyte, Pierre Arnaud; Veau de Launay, Pierre Louis Athanase; Bodin, Pierre Joseph François; Duval, Charles François Marie; Sevestre, Joseph Marie François; Cambon, Pierre-Joseph; Bousquet, François (2012). "Appel nominal sur la question : "y a-t-il lieu à accusation contre le représentant du peuple Carrier ?", lors de la séance du 3 frimaire an III (23 novembre 1794)". Archives Parlementaires de la Révolution Française. 102 (1): 99–117. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  7. ^ Legendre, Louis; Camboulas, Simon; Clauzel, Jean-Baptiste; Le Tourneur, Etienne Francois Louis Honoré; Thierriet, Claude; Duhem, Pierre Joseph; Lesage-Senault, Gaspard Jean Joseph; Prieur de la Marne, Pierre Louis; Billaud-Varenne, Jacques Nicolas; Pérès de Lagesse, Emmanuel; Baudin, Pierre Charles Louis; Duroy, Jean-Michel; Goupilleau de Fontenay, Jean-François (2005). "Reprise de la discussion sur les évènements de la veille aux Jacobins, lors de la séance du 20 brumaire an III (10 novembre 1794)". Archives Parlementaires de la Révolution Française. 101 (1): 80–83. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  8. ^ Albert Mathiez, La Réaction thermidorienne, Paris, Armand Colin, 1929, p. 72.
  9. ^ d'Allonnes, Myriam Revault (1989). "Billaud-Varenne, Ou les Malheurs de la Vertu en Politique". Le Cahier (Collège international de philosophie) (7): 83–92. ISSN 0980-1626. JSTOR 40972538. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Dernières justifications politiques publiques puis " remords " de (...) - L'ARBR- Les Amis de Robespierre". www.amis-robespierre.org. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.