Joseph Cange (born in Saarbourg, Germany; 19 September 1753Le Commissionnaire de Saint-Lazare
/ref> – ?) was a minor figure of the French Revolution. Cange was born to the family of a peasant. He went on to serve as a clerk at

Prison Saint-Lazare Saint-Lazare Prison was a prison in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France. It existed from 1793 until 1935 and was housed in a former motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians. History in the 12th century a Leper colony, ...

during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...

. One day, he was sent to the wife and children of a prisoner, Monsieur George; moved by their miserable condition, he shared his money with them, claiming that the funds were sent by the prisoner. George was freed at the

Thermidorian Reaction In the historiography of the French Revolution, the Thermidorian Reaction ( or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespierre on 9 Thermidor II, or 27 J ...

and investigated to find the benefactor, eventually identifying Cange. The story came public, written into a play by Michel-Jean Sedaine, and reported before the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

, where the President declared "We applaud to Cange's generosity. We like the virtue that characterises him"."''Nous applaudissons la générosité de Cange. Nous aimons en lui la vertu qui le caractérise''" Cange became a popular figure, having his portrait made by Pierre-Nicolas Legrand de Lérant and four theatre plays written after the story.

Sources and references

FDHUM 101 The Heroic Journey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cange, Joseph People of the French Revolution 1753 births Year of death unknown