Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne | |
|---|---|
| 26th President of the National Convention | |
| In office 5 September 1793 – 19 September 1793 | |
| Preceded by | Maximilien Robespierre |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Joseph Cambon |
| Member of the National Convention | |
| In office 7 September 1792 – 26 October 1795 | |
| Constituency | Seine |
| Member of the Committee of Public Safety | |
| In office 6 September 1793 – 1 September 1794 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jacques Nicolas Billaud 23 April 1756 |
| Died | 3 June 1819 (aged 63) |
| Party | The Mountain |
| Spouse(s) | Anne-Angélique Doye Brigitte Billaud-Varenne |
| Alma mater | University of Poitiers |
| Occupation | Lawyer, politician |
| Signature | |
| 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 or the Tiger, 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. After Thermidor, Billaud-Varenne was part of the Crêtois, the last group of deputies from The Mountain.
Billaud-Varenne was later arrested during the Thermidorian Reaction. 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.
Billaud-Varenne was one of the central figures of the first part of the French Revolution, but he remains little studied or little understood.