Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois

Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois (1749 - 1796) was an actor and French revolutionist. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror. File links The following pages link to this file: Jean Marie Collot dHerbois Categories: Author died more than 100 years ago public domain images ... File links The following pages link to this file: Jean Marie Collot dHerbois Categories: Author died more than 100 years ago public domain images ... Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ... 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ... The period of the French Revolution in the history of France covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ... The Committee of Public Safety (French: le Comité de Salut Public), set up by the National Convention on April 6, 1793, formed the de facto executive government of France during the Reign of Terror (1793 - 1794) of the French Revolution. ... The Reign of Terror (June 1793 - July 1794) was a period in the French Revolution characterized by brutal repression. ...

Life

Born in Paris on the 19th June 1749, Collot left his home in the rue St Jacques in his teens to join the travelling theatres of provincial France. His moderately successful career supplemented by a vigourous outpouring of works for the stage took him from Bordeaux in the south of France to Nantes in the west and Lille in the north and even into Holland, where he met his wife. In 1784 he became director of the theatre in Geneva, Switzerland, and then at the prestigious playhouse at Lyons in 1787. At the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789 he dropped everything and returned to Paris, where his lead actor's voice, his writing skills, and his ability to organise and direct large-scale "fetes" were to come to the fore. The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... City motto: Lilia sola regunt lunam undas castra leonem. ... For a place in Brazil, see Nantes, Brazil City motto: Favet Neptunus eunti. ... City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Nord-Pas de Calais Département Nord (59) Mayor Martine Aubry (PS) (since 2001) Area 39. ... The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ... Geneva: the Mont Blanc bridge over the Rhône River and St Peters Cathedral Geneva (French: Genève) is the second-most populous city in Switzerland located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman, but the Genevois are fond of calling it Lac de Genève) empties into the... Lyons), see Lyons (disambiguation). ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

He had from the first a share in the revolutionary tumult; but it was not until 1791 that he became a figure of importance. Then, however, by the publication of L'Almanach du Père Gérard, a little book setting forth, in homely style, the advantages of a constitutional monarchy, he suddenly acquired great popularity. 1791 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... A constitutional monarchy is a form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges a hereditary or elected monarch as head of state. ...

His renown was soon increased by his active involvement on behalf of the Swiss of the Château-Vieux Regiment, condemned to the galleys for mutiny at Nancy. His efforts resulted in their liberation; he went himself to Brest in search of them; and a civic feast was decreed on his behalf and theirs, which gave occasion for one of the few poems published during his life by André de Chénier. But his opinions became more and more radical. He was a member of the insurrectionary Commune of Paris during the insurrection of August 10, 1792, and was elected deputy for Paris to the Convention, where, on the first day of the Convention (September 21, 1792) he was the first to demand the abolition of royalty. He later voted the death of Louis XVI "sans sursis" ("without delay"). Location within France Nancy (formerly known as Nanzig in German) is a city and commune, préfecture (capital) of the Meurthe-et-Moselle département, in Lorraine in north-eastern France. ... Location within France Brest, at the tip of Brittany Brest (population of the city: 146,000 inhabitants as of 2004 estimates; population of the metropolitan area: 303,484 inhabitants as of 1999 census) is a city in the Bretagne région, north-west France, subprefecture of the Finistère d... André Chénier André Chénier (October 30, 1762 - July 25, 1794) was a French poet, associated with the events of the French Revolution. ... The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795, and especially from 1792 until 1795. ... On August 10, 1792, during the French Revolution, a mob – with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the insurrectionary Paris Commune – besieged the Tuileries palace. ... August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about a legislative body and constitutional convention during the French Revolution. ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 – January 21, 1793), was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French in 1791-1792. ...

In the struggle between the Mountain and the Girondists he displayed great energy; and after the coup d'état of May 31, 1793 he made himself conspicuous by his pitiless pursuit of the defeated Girondist party. Along with his close friend Billaud-Varennes he sat at the extreme left of the Convention, attacking hoarders and speculators, and proposing proto-socialist programmes. In June he was made president of the Convention; and in September he was admitted to the Committee of Public Safety, on which he was very active as a sort of general secretary. After having entrusted him with several missions to Nice, Nevers and Compiegne, as part of their dechristianisation of France , the Convention sent him along with Fouché, on October 30, 1793, to Lyons to punish the revolt of that city. There he introduced the Terror in its most terrible form, with mass executions, including more than a hundred priests and nuns, and beginning the dismantling of the city itself. Although acting on instructions from the Convention dominated by Robespierre, it was this latter's change of heart which had Collot return to Paris under a cloud before the destruction became widespread. For the television series The Mountain, see The Mountain (television series). ... The Girondists (in French Girondins, and sometimes Brissotins), comprised a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution. ... A coup détat (pronounced kū dā ta), or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining, as the last day of May. ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Committee of Public Safety (French: le Comité de Salut Public), set up by the National Convention on April 6, 1793, formed the de facto executive government of France during the Reign of Terror (1793 - 1794) of the French Revolution. ... Dechristianisation during the French Revolution occurred during a twelve year period between 1789 and 1801. ... Joseph Fouché Joseph Fouché, duc dOtranto (May 21, 1763 - December 25, 1820) was a French statesman. ... October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Lyons), see Lyons (disambiguation). ... The Reign of Terror (June 1793 - July 1794) was a period in the French Revolution characterized by brutal repression. ...

In May 1794 an attempt was made to assassinate Collot; but it only increased his popularity, and increased the animosity of Robespierre, against whom he took sides during Robespierre's downfall on 9 Thermidor, when he presided over the Convention during a part of the session. During the Thermidorian reaction he was one of the first to be accused of complicity with the fallen leader, but was acquitted. Denounced a second time, he defended himself by pleading that he had acted for the cause of the Revolution, but in March 1795 he was condemned with Barère and Billaud-Varenne to transportation to Cayenne, French Guiana, where he exerted a brief revolutionary influence before dying of yellow fever early in 1796. 1794 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Portrait of Maximilien Robespierre by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, painted 1786. ... 9 Thermidor is a date under the French Revolutionary Calendar. ... Thermidor was the eleventh month in the French Revolutionary Calendar, which was used only in France and only for thirteen years. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac (September 10, 1755 - January 13, 1841) was one of the most notorious members of the French National Convention. ... Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (April 23, 1756 _ June 3, 1819) was a French revolutionary. ... Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, with a population of 60. ...

Works

Beginning his literary career in 1772 with the critically-acclaimed "Lucie, ou les Parents imprudents" and finishing in 1792 with ""L'aine et le cadet", Collot d'Herbois was an accomplished if minor dramatist in a turbulent period of the French stage. Before the Revolution he wrote at least fifteen plays, of which ten survive, including "Lucie", an adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" ("M. Rodomont ou l'Amant loup-garou"), and an adaptation of Calderon's "El Alcalde de Zalamea" ("Il y a bonne justice, ou le Paysan magistrat"), all three of which kept the stage throughout France for over a decade. During the first three years of the Revolution he wrote at least seven more plays, of which six survive, juggling the tearful love themes of the bourgeois drama with political themes and messages in such plays as "L'inconnu ou le prejuge vaincu" and "Le proces de Socrate ou le regime des anciens temps". In 1791 he wrote the prize-winning "Almanach du Père Gérard", a fictional account of revolutionary morality, which established his political credentials, and went on to become the best-seller of the period. He is also the author of the first French Constitution (1793).

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Please update as needed. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, in turn, cites as a reference:

• FA Aulard, Les Orateurs de la Legislative et de la Convention (Paris, 1885-1886), t. ii. pp. 501-512. The principal documents relative to the trial of Collot d'Herbois, Barère and Billaud-Varenne are indicated in Aulard, Recueil des actes du comité de salut public, t. i. pp. 5 and 6.

Much recent study has been done on Collot d'Herbois, in Australia (specialised articles by Paul Mansfield; Peter Bruce's "Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois dans son theatre pre-revolutionnaire") and in France (Michel Biard Collot d"Herbois. Legendes noires et revolution) François Victor Alphonse Aulard (July 19, 1849 - October 23, 1928), was a French historian. ...

A more available work, if outdated and somewhat hostile, is R. R. Palmer's Twelve Who Ruled, which contains a biographical account of the members of the Committee of Public Safety.

See also, A. Kuscinski Dictionnaire des conventionnels (1916)