en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobins
2 corrections found
1793 – Antoine Barnave, 3 June-23 July;
This date is impossible. Barnave left the Jacobins in July 1791 to help found the monarchist Feuillant Club, and he was arrested after August 1792, so he could not have presided over the Jacobin Club in June–July 1793.
Full reasoning
Barnave could not have been president of the Jacobin Club in June–July 1793.
- The French National Assembly’s historical page on Barnave says that in July 1791, during the split after the Varennes crisis and Champ-de-Mars, Barnave and the pro-monarchy members left the Jacobins for the Feuillants.
- Larousse likewise describes the Feuillants as a club founded in July 1791 by moderate Jacobins and as supporters of constitutional monarchy.
- World History Encyclopedia says Barnave co-founded the Feuillant Club to counter the radical Jacobins, and that after the storming of the Tuileries in August 1792 his correspondence with Marie Antoinette was discovered, leading to his arrest.
Because Barnave had broken with the Jacobins two years earlier and was already under arrest by 1792, the entry listing him as Jacobin Club president in June–July 1793 is not credible.
3 sources
- Barnave (15 juillet 1791) - Assemblée nationale
Le club des Jacobins se divise ... Barnave ... entraînent ceux de ses membres partisans du maintien de la monarchie ... au couvent des Feuillants ... il sera arrêté après la découverte, à la suite de la journée du 10 août 1792, d'un document compromettant.
- club des Feuillants - LAROUSSE
Club révolutionnaire fondé en juillet 1791 par les modérés du club des Jacobins ... Partisan de la monarchie constitutionnelle.
- Antoine Barnave - World History Encyclopedia
He is notable for being a champion of constitutional monarchy, and for co-founding the Feuillant Club to offset the influence of the radical Jacobins ... when discovered in 1792, led to his arrest and execution the following year.
Three other powerful Montagnards were not known as Jacobin: Barère, Hébert and Couthon.
Couthon does not belong on this list. He was publicly active in and on behalf of the Jacobin Club, so describing him as ‘not known as Jacobin’ is inaccurate.
Full reasoning
The sentence is overstated at minimum, and plainly wrong as to Couthon.
- The parliamentary archives contain a 16 May 1794 item titled “Motion de Couthon … [sur] la députation des Jacobins de Paris”, identifying Couthon as the rapporteur in Convention business involving the Jacobins of Paris.
- A scholarly OpenEdition volume on the Paris Jacobins quotes Couthon speaking of the Jacobin Club in 1792: “C’est ici que s’est préparée la Révolution ; c’est ici qu’elle s’est faite” (“It is here that the Revolution was prepared; it is here that it was made”).
- Another scholarly summary notes that the Jacobin Club was supported by Convention members including Couthon.
So while Barère or Hébert may be classified differently in some contexts, Couthon was clearly associated with the Jacobin Club and Jacobin politics, making it incorrect to present him as a Montagnard “not known as Jacobin.”
3 sources
- Motion de Couthon qui demande les honneurs à la députation des Jacobins de Paris, lors de la séance du 27 floréal an II (16 mai 1794) | ARCPA
“Motion de Couthon ... Jacobins de Paris” ... “Rapporteur : Couthon.”
- Paris et la Révolution - Sur certains aspects de l'activite sociale des Jacobins Parisiens 1792 - 1794 - Éditions de la Sorbonne
The study quotes Couthon at the Jacobin Club on 12 October 1792: “C’est ici que s’est préparée la Révolution ; c’est ici qu’elle s’est faite.”
- The Birth of the Mountain in the Public Arena - Annales historiques de la Révolution française
“While the Jacobin Club was supported by Convention members such as Chabot, Thuriot, Couthon, Desfieux and Duhem ...”