Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 20th & 47th President of the National Convention | |
| In office 19 July 1794 – 3 August 1794 | |
| Preceded by | Jean-Antoine Louis |
| Succeeded by | Philippe-Antoine Merlin |
| In office 13 June 1793 – 27 June 1793 | |
| Preceded by | François René Mallarmé |
| Succeeded by | Jacques-Alexis Thuriot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1749-06-19)19 June 1749 |
| Died | 8 June 1796(1796-06-08) (aged 46) |
| Cause of death | Yellow fever |
| Citizenship | French |
| Political party | the Mountain |
| Occupation |
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| Known for | member of theCommittee of Public Safety, execution of more than 2,000 people inLyon |
| Signature |  |
Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃maʁikɔlodɛʁbwa]; 19 June 1749 – 8 June 1796) was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, andrevolutionary. He was a member of theCommittee of Public Safety during theReign of Terror and, while he savedMadame Tussaud from theGuillotine,[1] he administered the execution of more than 2,000 people in the city ofLyon.
Born inParis, Collot left his home in the rue St. Jacques in his teens to join the travelling theatres of provincial France. His moderately successful career as an actor, supplemented by a vigorous outpouring of works for the stage, took him fromBordeaux in the south ofFrance toNantes in the west andLille in the north and even into theDutch Republic, where he met his wife.
In 1784 he became director of the theatre inGeneva,Switzerland, and then at the prestigious playhouse atLyon 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-scalefêtes (civic feasts) were to make him famous.
Collot contributed to revolutionary agitation from the very beginning, but it was not until 1791 that he became a figure of importance. With the publication ofL'Almanach du Père Gérard [fr], an almanac advocating aconstitutional monarchy in popular terms, he suddenly acquired great popularity.[2]
His fame was soon increased by his involvement on behalf of the Swiss of theChâteau-Vieux Regiment, condemned to thegalleys for mutiny atNancy. Collot d'Herbois' efforts resulted in their freedom, he went toBrest in search of them, and a civic feast was held on his behalf and theirs, which occasioned a poem byAndré de Chénier.[2]
His opinions became more and moreradical as the revolution progressed. Collot d'Herbois was a member of theParis Commune during theinsurrection of 10 August 1792 and was subsequently elected deputy for Paris to theNational Convention. On the first day of the Convention, 21 September 1792, he was the first to demand theabolition of theFrench monarchy. Collot d'Herbois later voted for the death ofLouis XVI"sans sursis" ("without delay").[2]
After the insurrection of August 10 and the establishment of the National Convention, Collot d'Herbois became engaged in the struggle between the two main political parties,the Mountain and theGirondists. AfterFrançois Hanriot'scoup d'état of31 May 1793 and the ousting of the Girondins, he was conspicuous in his attack on the defeated party. Along with his close friendJacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, he sat at theextreme left of the Convention, attackingspeculators and proposingegalitarian programmes. In June, he was madePresident of the Convention, and in September he was appointed with Billaud-Varenne to theCommittee of Public Safety, where he was active as a sort ofgeneral secretary.
After having entrusted him with severalmissions toNice,Nevers, andCompiègne, the Convention sent him, along withJoseph Fouché, on 30 October 1793, to punish therevolt of Lyon. There, he introduced theReign of Terror in its most violent form, withmass executions, including more than a hundredpriests andnuns, and began the dismantling of the city itself.[3] His excessive behavior led theCommittee of Public Safety to have Collot return to Paris as asuspect.
The month of May 1794 sawassassination attempts on Collot on the 23rd and fellow Committee memberMaximilien Robespierre on the 25th. As Collot was accused of excessive slaughter and destruction, and suspected his own arrest and execution, he opposed Robespierre during theThermidorian Reaction in July 1794 while presiding over the Convention during the initial session. Despite this change of heart, Collot d'Herbois was accused ofcomplicity with Robespierre, the two having previously been colleagues on the Committee of Public Safety, but wasacquitted. Denounced a second time, he defended himself bypleading that he had acted for the Revolution, but, in March 1795, he was condemned withBertrand Barère andBillaud-Varenne totransportation toCayenne,French Guiana,[2] where he exerted a brief revolutionary influence before dying ofyellow fever in 1796.[4]
Beginning his literary career in 1772 with the critically acclaimedLucie, ou les Parents imprudents and finishing in 1792 withL'Aîné et le cadet, Collot 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, includingLucie, an adaptation ofWilliam Shakespeare'sThe Merry Wives of Windsor (titled,M. Rodomont, ou l'Amant loup-garou), and an adaptation ofPedro Calderón de la Barca'sEl Alcalde de Zalamea (titled,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 ofle drame bourgeois (lit. 'the bourgeois drama') with political themes and messages in such plays asL'Inconnu, ou le Préjugé vaincu (lit. 'The Unknown, or Prejudice Conquered') andSocrate (onSocrates).
In 1791, he wrote the prize-winningL'Almanach du père Gérard (lit. 'The Almanac of Father Gérard'), a fictional account of revolutionarymorality which went on to become the best-seller of the period, establishing his political credentials in the process.
He was also one of the authors of thefirst French republican Constitution, which was written in 1793 but never applied.[5]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Collot d'Herbois, Jean Marie".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 694. The 1911Encyclopædia Britannica, in turn, cites as a reference:
