Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (; 25 August 176710 Thermidor, Year II 8 July 1794, sometimes nicknamed the Archangel of Terror, was a French revolutionary, political philosopher, member and president of the

French 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 ...

, a

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

club leader, and a major figure of the French Revolution. The youngest person elected to the National Convention, he was a member of the Mountain faction and a steadfast supporter and close friend of

Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fer ...

. He was swept away in Robespierre's downfall on 9 Thermidor, Year II. Renowned for his eloquence, he stood out for his uncompromising nature and inflexibility of his principles advocating equality and virtue, as well as for the effectiveness of his missions during which he rectified the situation of the

Army of the Rhine An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and contributed to the victory of the republican armies at Fleurus. Politically combating the

Girondins The Girondins (, ), also called Girondists, were a political group during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnards, they initiall ...

, the Hebertists, and then the

Indulgents The Indulgents, or Dantonists (French: ''Dantonistes'' dɑ̃n.tɔ̃.ists">Help:IPA/French">dɑ̃n.tɔ̃.ists was a political faction formed around 1793 and centered around Georges Danton. During the French Revolution, what was previously refe ...

, he pushed for the confiscation of the property of the enemies of the Republic for the benefit of poor patriots. He was the designated speaker for the Robespierrists in their conflicts with other political parties in the National Convention, launching accusations and requisitions against figures like

Danton Georges Jacques Danton (; ; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a leading figure of the French Revolution. A modest and unknown lawyer on the eve of the Revolution, Danton became a famous orator of the Cordeliers Club and was raised to gover ...

or Hébert. To prevent the massacres for which the ''

sans-culottes The (; ) were the working class, common people of the social class in France, lower classes in late 18th-century history of France, France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their ...

'' were responsible in the departments, particularly in

Vendée Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris. He was also a political theorist, and notably inspired the Constitution of Year I, and the attached

Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1793 The Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1793 (French: ''Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen de 1793'') is a French political document that preceded that country's first republican constitution. The Declaration ...

. He also authored works on the principles of the French Revolution. On the 9th Thermidor, he defended Robespierre against accusations made by Barère and Tallien. Arrested alongside him, he remained silent until his death the following day, when he was guillotined on the

Place de la Révolution The Place de la Concorde (; ) is a public square in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées. It was the s ...

with the 104 Robespierrists executed, at the age of 26. His body and head were thrown into a mass grave. Saint-Just, and Robespierrists in general, were long perceived by historians as cruel, bloodthirsty, and having a wild and violent sexuality. This began to change in the second half of the 20th century.

Early life

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just was born in

Decize Decize is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. Geography The town is situated on a former island in the Loire ("''en Loire assise''") at the confluence of the Aron river. The right channel of the Loire was dammed up to recla ...

in the former

Nivernais Nivernais (, ) was a province of France, around the city of Nevers, which forms the modern department of Nièvre. It roughly coincides with the former Duchy of Nevers.Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fi ...

), and Marie-Anne Robinot (1736–1811), the daughter of a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

. He had two younger sisters, born in 1768 and 1769. The family later moved north and in 1776 settled in the village of

Blérancourt Blérancourt () is a commune in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population Sights The Château de Blérancourt, an influential design by Salomon de Brosse houses the National Museum of French-American Friends ...

in the former

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

province, establishing themselves as a countryside noble family living off the rents from their land. A year after the move, Louis Antoine's father died, leaving his mother with their three children. She saved diligently for her only son's education, and in 1779 he was sent to the Oratorian school at

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...

. After a promising start, his teachers soon viewed Saint-Just as a troublemaker, a reputation later compounded by infamous stories (almost certainly apocryphal) of how he led a students' rebellion and tried to burn down the school. Nonetheless, he graduated in 1786. His restive nature, however, did not diminish. As a young man, Saint-Just was "wild, handsome ndtransgressive".Scurr, p. 132. He reportedly showed a special affection towards a young woman of Blérancourt, Thérèse Gellé. She was the daughter of a wealthy notary, a powerful and autocratic figure in the town; he was still an undistinguished adolescent. He is said to have proposed marriage to her, which she is said to have desired. Though no evidence of their relationship exists, official records show that on 25 July 1786, Thérèse was married to Emmanuel Thorin, the scion of a prominent local family. Saint-Just was out of town and unaware of the event, and tradition portrays him as brokenhearted. Whatever his true state, it is known that a few weeks after the marriage he abruptly left home for Paris unannounced, having gathered up a pair of pistols and a good quantity of his mother's silver. His venture ended when his mother had him seized by police and sent to a reformatory (''maison de correction'') where he stayed from September 1786 to March 1787. Upon returning, Saint-Just attempted to begin anew: he enrolled as a student at Reims University's School of Law. After a year, however, he drifted away from law school and returned to his mother's home in Blérancourt penniless, without any occupational prospects.

''Organt''

Saint-Just had shown a precocious fascination with literature, and he wrote works of his own including a one-act play ''Arlequin Diogène''. During his stay at the reformatory, he began writing a lengthy poem that he published anonymously more than two years later in May 1789 at the very outbreak of the Revolution. The 21-year-old Saint-Just thereby added his own touch to the social tumult of the times with ''Organt, poem in twenty cantos''. The poem, a medieval epic fantasy relaying the quest of young Antoine Organt, extols the virtues of primitive man, praising his

libertinism A libertine is a person questioning and challenging most moral principles, such as responsibility or sexual restraints, and will often declare these traits as unnecessary, undesirable or evil. A libertine is especially someone who ignores or ev ...

and independence whilst blaming all present-day troubles on modern inequalities of wealth and power. Written in a style mimicking

Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (, ; ; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic '' Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describ ...

,Ten Brink, p. 105. the work foreshadowed its author's future political extremism. Spiked with brutal satire and scandalous pornographic episodes, it also unmistakably attacked the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

, the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

, and the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

.Palmer, p. 10. Contemporaries regarded ''Organt'' as a salacious novelty and it was quickly banned. Nevertheless, censors who tried to confiscate copies discovered that few were available anywhere. It did not sell well and resulted in a financial loss for its author. The public's taste for literature had shifted in the prelude to the Revolution, and Saint-Just's taste shifted along with it: he devoted his future writing almost entirely to unadorned essays of sociopolitical theory, aside from a few pages of an unfinished novel found amidst his papers at the end of his life. With his previous ambitions of literary and lawyerly fame unfulfilled, Saint-Just directed his focus on the single goal of revolutionary command.

Early revolutionary career

The rapid development of the Revolution in 1789 upended Blérancourt's traditional power structure. The notary Gellé, previously an undisputed town leader, was challenged by a group of reformists who were led by several of Saint-Just's friends, including the husband of his sister Louise. Their attempts were unsuccessful until 1790 when Blérancourt held its first open municipal elections. Mandated by the National Constituent Assembly, the new electoral structure allowed Saint-Just's friends to assume authority in the village as mayor, secretary, and, in the case of his brother-in-law, head of the local

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

. Despite not meeting the legal age and tax qualifications, the jobless Saint-Just was allowed to join the Guard. He immediately exhibited the ruthless discipline for which he would be famous. Within a few months he was the commanding officer, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At local meetings he moved attendees with his patriotic zeal and flair: in one much-repeated story, Saint-Just brought the town council to tears by thrusting his hand into the flame of a burning anti-revolutionary pamphlet, swearing his devotion to the Republic. He had powerful allies when he sought to become a member of his district’s electoral assembly. He initiated correspondence with well-known leaders of the Revolution like

Camille Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist, politician and a prominent figure of the French Revolution. He is best known for playing an instrumental role in the events that led to the Stormin ...

. Mid August 1790, he wrote to Robespierre for the first time, expressing his admiration and asking him to consider a local petition. The letter was filled with the highest of praise, beginning: "You, who uphold our tottering country against the torrent of despotism and intrigue; you whom I know, as I know God, only through his miracles...."

''L'Esprit de la Revolution''

While Saint-Just waited for the next election, he composed an extensive work, ''L'Esprit de la Revolution et de la constitution de France'', published in the spring of 1791.Hampson, pp. 30–31. His writing style had shed all satire and now reflected the stern and moralizing tone of classical

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

so adored by French revolutionaries. It presented a set of principles deeply influenced by

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

, and remained fully confined to a paradigm of

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

. He expressed abhorrence at the violence in the Revolution thus far, and he disdained the character of those who partook in it as little more than "riotous slaves." Instead, he heaped his praise upon the people's representatives in the Legislative Assembly, whose sober

virtue A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...

would guide the Revolution best. Spread out over five books, ''L'Esprit de la Revolution'' is inconsistent in many of its assertions but still shows clearly that Saint-Just no longer saw government as oppressive to man's nature but necessary to its success: its ultimate object was to "edge society in the direction of the distant ideal." The new work, like its predecessor, attracted minimal readership. On 21 June 1791, just days after it was published, all attention became focused on

King Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir-apparent of King Louis XV), and Mari ...

's ill-fated

flight to Varennes The Flight to Varennes (French: fuite de Varennes) during the night of 20–21 June 1791 was a significant event in the French Revolution in which the French royal family—comprising Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, the Dauphin Louis Charles, ...

. Saint-Just's theories about constitutional monarchy were suddenly outdated. The episode fostered public anger toward the King which simmered all year until a Parisian mob finally attacked the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was b ...

10 August Events Pre-1600 * 654 – Pope Eugene I elected to succeed Martinus I. * 955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West. * 991 – Battle of Maldon: The ...

1792. In response, the Assembly declared itself ready to step down ahead of schedule and called for a new election, this one under

universal male suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the sl ...

. The timing was excellent for Saint-Just, who turned the legal age of 25 before the end of the month. The fear inspired by the invasion of the Tuileries made most of his opponents retire from the scene. Guard commander Saint-Just was able to win election as one of the deputies for the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374. Geography The department borders No ...

. He left for Paris to join 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 ...

as the youngest of its 749 members.Linton, ''History Today''

Deputy to the Convention

Among the deputies, Saint-Just was watchful but interacted little at first. He joined the Parisian

Jacobin Club The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...

, but he remained aloof from

and

Montagnards Montagnard (''of the mountain'' or ''mountain dweller'') may refer to: *Montagnard (French Revolution), members of The Mountain (''La Montagne''), a political group during the French Revolution (1790s) **Montagnard (1848 revolution), members of the ...

alike. He waited until 13 November 1792 to give his first speech to the Convention, but when he did the effect was spectacular. What brought him to the lectern was the discussion over how to treat the deposed King. In dramatic contrast to the earlier speakers, Saint-Just delivered a blazing condemnation of him. He demanded "Louis Capet should be judged not as a king or even a citizen, but as a traitor, an enemy who deserves death.Walzer, pp. 121–130. "As for me," he declared, "I see no middle ground: this man must reign or die! He oppressed a free nation; he declared himself its enemy; he abused the laws: he must die to assure the repose of the people, since it was in his mind to crush the people to assure his own." Towards the end of his speech, he uttered an ominous observation: "No one can reign innocently."Scurr, p. 221. The young deputy's speech electrified the Convention. Saint-Just was interrupted frequently by bursts of applause. Robespierre was particularly impressed—he spoke from the lectern the next day in terms almost identical to those of Saint-Just, and their views became the official position of the Jacobins. By December, that position had become law: the King was taken to a trial before the Convention,

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

, and executed by

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

on 21 January 1793. On 29/30 May 1793 Saint-Just was added to the Committee of Public Safety; Couthon became secretary, which was one day before the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June.

Constitution of 1793

Because the first French Constitution had included a role for the king, it was long since invalid and needed to be updated for

the Republic A republic is a form of government. Republic(s) or The Republic may also refer to: Governments * List of republics * First Republic (disambiguation) * Second Republic (disambiguation) * Third Republic (disambiguation) * Fourth Republic (disa ...

. Many drafts had circulated within the Convention since Louis XVI's execution, and Saint-Just submitted his own lengthy proposal on 24 April 1793. His draft incorporated the most common assertions of the others: the right to vote, the right to

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

, and equal eligibility for employment were among the basic principles that made his draft tenable. He stood out from the pack, however, on the issue of elections: Saint-Just argued against all complex voting systems, and supported only the classical style of a simple majority of citizens in a nationwide vote. Amid a flurry of proposals by other deputies, Saint-Just held inflexibly to his "

one man one vote "One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like ...

" plan, and this conspicuous homage to Greco-Roman traditions (which were particularly prized and idealized in French culture during the Revolution) enhanced his political cachet. When no plan gained enough votes to pass, a compromise was made which tasked a small body of deputies as official constitutional draftsmen. Saint-Just was among the five elected members. In recognition of the importance of their mission, the draftsmen were all added to the powerful new

Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...

.Hampson, p. 111. The Convention had given the Committee extraordinary authority to provide for state security since the outbreak of the

French Revolutionary War The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries ...

in early 1793. Committee members were originally intended to serve for periods of only thirty days before replacements were elected, so they needed to work quickly. Saint-Just took charge of the issue and led the development of the

French Constitution of 1793 The Constitution of 1793 (), also known as the Constitution of the Year I or the Montagnard Constitution, was the second constitution ratified for use during the French Revolution under the First Republic. Designed by the Montagnards, princip ...

. Before the end of his first term the new document was completed, submitted to the Convention, and ratified as law on 24 June 1793. The new constitution was never implemented. Emergency measures for wartime were in effect, and those measures called for a moratorium on constitutional democracy. Wartime gave supreme power to the sitting Convention, with the Committee of Public Safety at the top of its subordinate administrative pyramid. Robespierre, with Saint-Just's assistance, fought vigorously to ensure that the government would remain under emergency measures—"revolutionary"—until victory.

Arrest of the Girondins

During the time that Saint-Just was working on the constitution, dramatic political warfare was taking place. The ''

''—deemed "the people" by many radicals, and represented by the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

—had grown antipathetic to the moderate Girondins. On 2 June 1793, in a mass action supported by National Guardsmen, they surrounded the Convention and arrested the Girondin deputies. The other deputies—even the Montagnards, who had long enjoyed an informal alliance with the ''sans-culottes''—resented the action but felt compelled politically to permit it. The Girondin leader,

Jacques Pierre Brissot Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), also known as Brissot de Warville, was a French journalist, abolitionist, and revolutionary leading the political faction, faction of Girondins (initially called Brissotins) at the ...

, was indicted for treason and scheduled for trial, but the other ''Brissotins'' were imprisoned (or pursued) without formal charges. The Convention debated their fate and the political disorder lasted for weeks. Saint-Just had previously remained silent about the Girondins, but now clearly stood with Robespierre who had been thoroughly opposed to most of them for a long time. When the initial indictment by the Committee was served, it was Saint-Just who delivered the report to the Convention.Schama, p. 803. In its secret negotiations, the Committee of Public Safety was initially unable to form a consensus concerning the jailed deputies, but as some Girondins fled to the provinces and attempted to incite an insurrection, its opinion hardened. By early July, Saint-Just was able to address the Convention with a lengthy report in the name of the Committee. His damning attack left no room for any further conciliation. The Girondins' trials must proceed, he said, and any verdicts must be severe. The proceedings dragged on for months, but Brissot and twenty of his allies were eventually condemned and sent to the guillotine on 31 October 1793. Saint-Just used their situation to gain approval for intimidating new laws, culminating in the

Law of Suspects :''Note: This decree should not be confused with the Law of General Security (), also known as the "Law of Suspects," adopted by Napoleon III in 1858 that allowed punishment for any prison action, and permitted the arrest and deportation, without ...

(17 September 1793) which gave the Committee vast new powers of arrest and influence.Schama, p. 766.

Military commissar

On 10 October the Convention decreed to recognize the Committee of Public Safety as the supreme " Revolutionary Government", (which was consolidated on 4 December). The provisional government would be revolutionary until peace according to Saint-Just. Saint-Just proposed that deputies from the Convention should directly oversee all military efforts, a proposal which was approved on 10 October 1793. Amid worsening conditions at the front in the fall of that year, several deputies were designated '' représentant en mission'' and sent to the critical area of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

to shore up the disintegrating

. Results were not sufficiently forthcoming, so at the end of the month Saint-Just was sent there along with an ally from the Convention,

Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas (4 November 1764, Frévent, Pas-de-Calais – 28 July 1794, Paris) was a French politician and revolutionary. Biography The son of a notary, intendant to the prince de Rache, avocat to the parliament of 1789, com ...

.Palmer, pp. 180–181. The mission lasted from November through December 1793.Gough, p. 52. The two men were charged with "extraordinary powers" to impose discipline and reorganize the troops. From the start, Saint-Just dominated the mission. He was relentless in demanding results from the commanders as well as sympathetic to the complaints of common soldiers. On his first day at the front, he issued a proclamation promising "examples of justice and severity as the Army has not yet witnessed." The entire army was placed immediately under the harshest discipline. Within a short time, many officers were dismissed and many more, including at least one general, were executed by firing squad. Among soldiers and civilians alike, Saint-Just repressed opponents of the Revolution, but he did not agree to the mass executions ordered by some of the other deputies on the mission. He vetoed much of the deputies' work and had many of them recalled to Paris. Local politicians were just as vulnerable to him: even

Eulogius Schneider Eulogius Schneider (baptized as: Johann Georg; October 20, 1756 – April 1, 1794) was a Franciscan friar, professor in Bonn and Dominican Order, Dominican in Strasbourg. Life Johann Georg Schneider was born as the son of a viticulture, wine g ...

, the powerful leader of Alsace's largest city,

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, was arrested on Saint-Just's order,Stephens, p. 470. and much equipment was commandeered for the army. Saint-Just worked closely only with General

Charles Pichegru Jean-Charles Pichegru (; 16 February 1761 – 5 April 1804) was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars. Under his command, French troops overran Belgium and the Netherlands before fighting on the Rhine front. His royalist positions led to h ...

, a reliable Jacobin whom he respected. Under Saint-Just's unblinking surveillance, Pichegru and General

Lazare Hoche Louis Lazare Hoche (; 24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on ...

ably secured the frontier and began an invasion of the German

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

. With the army revitalized, Saint-Just returned briefly to Paris where his success was applauded. However, there was little time to celebrate. He was quickly sent back to the front lines, this time in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

where the

Army of the North The Army of the North (), contemporaneously called Army of Peru (), was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest a ...

was experiencing the same problems of discipline and organization.Loomis, p. 285. During January and February 1794, he again delivered results ruthlessly and effectively, but after less than a month the mission was cut short. As Paris convulsed in political violence, Robespierre required his assistance.

President of the Convention

With the republican army advancing and the Girondins destroyed, the left-wing Montagnards, led by the Jacobins and Robespierre, controlled the Convention. In these circumstances, on the first day of

Ventôse Ventôse (; also ''Ventose'') was the sixth month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word ''ventosus'' 'windy'. Ventôse was the third month of the winter quarter (''mois d'hiver''). It started between 19 an ...

in Year II of the Revolution (19 February 1794), Saint-Just was elected

President of the National Convention From 22 September 1792 to 2 November 1795, the First French Republic, French Republic was governed by the National Convention, whose president (elected from within for a 14-day term) may be considered as France's legitimate head of state during th ...

for the next two weeks. With this new power he persuaded the chamber to pass the radical Ventôse Decrees, under which the régime would confiscate aristocratic ''

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Hugueno ...

'' property and distribute it to needy ''sans-culottes'' (commoners).Soboul, p. 396. But these acts of

wealth redistribution Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confi ...

, arguably the most revolutionary of the French Revolution, never went into operation. The Committee faltered in creating procedures for their enforcement, and the frantic pace of unfolding political events left them behind. Opponents of the Jacobins saw the Ventôse Decrees as a cynical ploy to appeal to the militant extreme left.Mason, Rizzo, pp. 258–262. Sincere or not, Saint-Just made impassioned arguments for them. One week after their adoption, he urged that the Decrees be exercised vigorously and hailed them for ushering in a new era: "Eliminate the poverty that dishonors a free state; the property of patriots is sacred but the goods of conspirators are there for the wretched. The wretched are the powerful of the earth; they have the right to speak as masters to the governments who neglect them."

Arrest of the Hébertists

As the spring of 1794 approached, the Committee of Public Safety, led by Robespierre, Saint-Just, and

Georges Couthon Georges Auguste Couthon (, 22 December 1755 – 28 July 1794) was a French politician and lawyer known for his service as a deputy in the Legislative Assembly during the French Revolution. Couthon was elected to the Committee of Public Safety o ...

, exercised near complete control over the government. Despite the vast reach of their powers, however, rivals and enemies remained. One of the thorniest problems, at least to Robespierre, was populist agitator

Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert (; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and leader of the French Revolution. As the founder and editor of the radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'', he had thousands of followers known as ''the ...

, who discharged torrents of criticism against perceived

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

Jacobinism in his newspaper, ''

Le Père Duchesne ''Le Père Duchesne'' (; "Old Man Duchesne" or "Father Duchesne") was an extreme radical newspaper during the French Revolution, edited by Jacques Hébert, who published 385 issues from September 1790 until eleven days before his death by gu ...

''. Ultra-radical

Hébertists The Hébertists (, ), or Exaggerators (), were a radical revolutionary political group associated with the populist journalist Jacques Hébert, a member of the Cordeliers club. They came to power during the Reign of Terror and played a significa ...

in the

Cordeliers Club The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( ), mainly known as Cordeliers Club ( ), was a populist political club during the French Revolution from 1790 to 1794, when the Reign of Terror ended and the Thermidorian Re ...

undermined Jacobin efforts to court and manage the ''sans-culottes'', and the most extreme Hébertists even called openly for insurrection. HebertistsOrderExecution

Saint-Just, in his role as president of the Convention, announced unequivocally that "whoever vilified or attacked the dignity of the revolutionary government should be condemned to death". The Convention agreed in a vote on 13 Ventôse Year II (3 March 1794). Robespierre joined Saint-Just in his attacks on Hébert. Hébert and his closest associates were arrested the following day. A little over a week later, Saint-Just told the Convention that the Hébertists' activities were part of a foreign plot against the government. The accused were sent to face the

Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of ...

. Saint-Just vowed, "No more pity, no weakness towards the guilty... Henceforth the government will pardon no more crimes." On 4 Germinal (24 March 1794), the Tribunal sent Hébert,

Charles-Philippe Ronsin Charles-Philippe Ronsin (; 1 December 1751 – 24 March 1794) was a French general of the Revolutionary Army of the First French Republic, commanding the large Parisian division of ''l'Armée Révolutionnaire''. He was an extreme radical lead ...

François-Nicolas Vincent François-Nicolas Vincent (; born 1766 or 1767; died 24 March 1794) was the Secretary General of the War Ministry in the First French Republic, and a significant figure in the French Revolution. A member of the Cordelier Club, he is best known as ...

, and most other prominent Hébertists to the guillotine.

Arrest of the Dantonists

The ongoing political combat—bloody enough since at least the time of the arrest of the Girondins to be known as 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 ...

—spread inexorably. After the Hébertists fell, attention turned on the Indulgents, starting with

Fabre d'Églantine Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine (; 28 July 1750 – 5 April 1794), commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine, was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution. He is best known for having invented the names o ...

and Robespierre's once-close friend

Georges Danton Georges Jacques Danton (; ; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a leading figure of the French Revolution. A modest and unknown lawyer on the eve of the Revolution, Danton became a famous orator of the Cordeliers Club and was raised to gove ...

.Doyle, pp. 272–274. Danton was among the most vocal of the moderates who opposed the Committee. He was especially opposed to Saint Just’s fanaticism and "extravagant" use of violence.Hazani, p. 113. On 30 March the two committees decided to arrest Danton and the Indulgents after Saint-Just became uncharacteristically angry. On 31 March Saint-Just publicly attacked both. In the Convention criticism was voiced against the arrests, which Robespierre silenced with "...whoever trembles at this moment is guilty." Danton’s criticism of the Terror won him some support, but a financial scandal involving the

French East India Company Compagnie des Indes () may refer to several French chartered companies involved in long-distance trading: * First French East Indies Company, in existence from 1604 to 1614 * French West India Company, active in the Western Hemisphere from 1664 t ...

provided a pretext for his downfall. Robespierre again sent Saint-Just to the Convention to deliver a Committee report (31 March 1794) in which he announced the arrest of Danton and "the last partisans of royalism". In addition to charges of corruption related to the trading company, Saint-Just accused Danton of conspiring to restore the monarchy. He denounced him as a "bad citizen", a "false friend", and a "wicked man".Hazani1, p. 124. Danton continued to demand the right to call witnesses. Saint-Just went to the Convention and told them that the prisoners were fomenting insurrection against the court. After a tumultuous trial, described by some as a

show-trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a warning to o ...

, Fabre, Desmoulins, and other top supporters of Danton went to the scaffold with their leader on 16 Germinal (5 April 1794). In his report, Saint-Just had promised that this would be a "final cleansing" of the Republic's enemies. However, there is evidence to suggest that Saint-Just was becoming uneasy about the progressions of these events. He privately wrote that “The Revolution is frozen; all principles are weakened." The violent removal of the Hébertists and Dantonists provided only a mirage of stability. Their deaths caused deep resentment in the Convention, and their absence only made it more difficult for the Jacobins to influence the dangerously unpredictable masses of ''sans-culottes''. The elimination of popular demagogues and the consequent loss of support in the streets would prove disastrous for Saint-Just, Robespierre, and other Jacobins during the events of

Thermidor Thermidor () was the eleventh month in the French Republican calendar. The month was named after the French word ''thermal'', derived from the Greek word ''thermos'' 'heat'. Thermidor was the second month of the summer quarter (''mois d'été ...

. As the deliverer of Committee reports, Saint-Just served as the public face of the Terror, and later writers dubbed him the "Angel of Death". On 23 April Saint-Just helped create a new bureau of "general police" for the Committee of Public Safety which matched—and usurped—the powers that had been given officially to the

Committee of General Security The Committee of General Security () was a parliamentary committee of the French National Convention which acted as police agency during the French Revolution. Established as a committee of the Convention in October 1792, it was designed to protec ...

. Shortly after its establishment, however, administration of the new bureau passed to Robespierre when Saint-Just left Paris once more for the front lines.

Last days

Triumvirate Robespierre Couthon Saint Just

The Revolutionary army was still in a defensive posture, and Saint-Just was sent back to Belgium to help prepare for the coming conflict. From April through June 1794, he again took supreme oversight of the Army of the North and contributed to the victory at

Fleurus Fleurus (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles. The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, Saint-Am ...

.Hampson, p. 205. This hotly contested battle on 26 June 1794 saw Saint-Just apply his most draconian measures, ordering all French soldiers who turned away from the enemy to be summarily shot. He felt vindicated when the victory sent the Austrians and their allies into a full retreat from all the

Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the ...

. Fleurus marked the turning point in the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...

: France remained on the offensive until its eventual victory in 1797. After his return from the battle, Saint-Just was treated as a hero and "cheered from all sides". After returning to Paris, Saint-Just discovered that Robespierre's political position had degraded significantly. As the Terror reached its apogee—the so-called "Great Terror"—the danger of a counter strike by his enemies became almost inevitable. Carnot described Saint-Just and Robespierre as "ridiculous dictators". Saint-Just, however, remained unshakable in his alliance with Robespierre. The French victory at Fleurus and others which followed, reduced (in the eyes of some) the need for national security during the war, which originally had been predicated as a justification for the Terror. "The excuse for the Terror was at an end". Opponents of the Terror used Saint-Just's own words against him by demanding a full implementation of the constitution of 1793. With political combat reaching a fever pitch, the Committee introduced a bill to establish a newer version of the "Law of Suspects"—the

Law of 22 Prairial The Law of 22 Prairial, also known as the ''loi de la Grande Terreur'', the law of the Great Terror, was enacted on 10 June 1794 (22 Prairial of the Year II under the French Revolutionary Calendar). It was proposed by Georges Auguste Couthon bu ...

. The law established a new category of "enemies of the people" in terms so vague that virtually anyone could be accused and convicted. Defendants were not permitted legal counsel, and the Revolutionary Tribunal was instructed to impose no sentence other than death. Robespierre swiftly shepherded the bill into law, and although Saint-Just was not directly involved in its composition, he was almost certainly supportive. Vastly expanding the Tribunal’s power, the new statutes catalyzed the Great Terror: in the first month they were in effect, the number of executions in Paris rose from an average of five daily to seventeen daily, soaring in the following month to twenty-six.Schama, p. 837. The Law of Prairial was the breaking point for opponents of the Committee. For the second time, Carnot described Saint-Just and Robespierre as "ridiculous dictators". Carnot and

Cambon Cambon () is a Communes of France, commune in the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Tarn department References

Communes of Tarn (department) {{Tarn ...

proposed to end the terror. On 22 and 23 July, the two committees met in a

plenary session A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference or deliberative assembly in which all parties or members are present. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily r ...

. The Commune published a new maximum, limiting the wages of employees (in some cases halving them) which provoked a sharp protest in the sections. Almost all the workers in Paris were on strike. Resistance to the Terror spread throughout the Convention, and Saint-Just was compelled to address the division. Saint-Just declared in negotiations with Barère that he was prepared to make concessions on the subordinate position of the

Bertrand Barère Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac (, 10 September 175513 January 1841) was a French politician, freemason, journalist, and one of the most prominent members of the National Convention, representing the Plain (a moderate political faction) during the ...

and other Thermidorians claimed that he was trying to propose that Robespierre and those aligned with him have dictatorial authority. In return, Saint-Just supported Carnot's decision to send companies of gunners out of Paris. However, for a time some of the Thermidorians nevertheless considered Saint-Just to be redeemable, or at the very least useful for their own ambitions. Their attitude toward him shifted later when he delivered an uncompromising public defense of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794). They set off to the Committee of Public Safety, where they found Saint-Just working. They asked him if he was drawing up their bill of indictment. Saint-Just promised to show them his speech before the session began. He replied he sent the beginning to a friend and refused to show them his notes. Collot d'Herbois, who chaired the Convention, decided not to let him speak and to make sure he could not be heard on the next day. According to Barère: "We never deceived ourselves that Saint-Just, cut out as a more dictatorial boss, would have ended up overthrowing him to put himself in his place; we also knew that we stood in the way of his projects and that he would have us guillotined; we had him stopped".

Thermidor

At noon, Saint-Just went straight to the convention, likely prepared to place blame on Billaud, Collot d'Herbois and Carnot. He began: "I am from no faction; I will contend against them all". Billaud-Varennes complained about how he was treated in the Jacobin club on the evening before and that Saint-Just had not kept his promise to show his speech before the meeting. As the accusations began to pile up, Saint-Just remained silent. During the ensuing debate he was accused by his fellow deputy Fréron of forming a

triumvirate A triumvirate () or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs (). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are notionally equal, the actual distr ...

with Robespierre and Couthon, a reference to the

first triumvirate The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gaius Julius Caesar. The republican constitution had many veto points. ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

, and

Crassus Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115–53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome". Wallechinsky, David & Walla ...

which led to the end of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

. Finally, several of them physically shoved him away from the lectern, and each started his own address in which they called for the removal of Robespierre and all his supporters. Amid the uproar, recalled Barras, Saint-Just "did not leave the platform, in spite of the interruptions which would have driven any one else away. He only came down a few steps, then mounted again, to continue his discourse proudly.... Motionless, unmoved, he seemed to defy everyone with his calm". Saint-Just saved his dignity at the lectern but not his life. Rising in his support, Robespierre sputtered and lost his voice; his brother Augustin, Philippe Lebas, and other key allies all tried swaying the deputies, but failed. The meeting ended with an order for their arrest. Saint-Just was taken to the "Écossais". After several hours, however, the five were invited to take refuge in the Hôtel de Ville by the mayor. At around 11 p.m., Saint-Just was delivered. At around 2 a.m., Barras and Bourdon, accompanied by several members of the Convention, arrived in two columns. When

Grenadiers A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

broke inside, a number of the defeated Jacobins tried to commit suicide. The unperturbed Saint-Just gave himself up without a word. Among the captured, "only St. Just, his hands bound but his head held high, was able to walk".Loomis, p. 399. Robespierre, Saint-Just, and twenty of their associates were guillotined the next day, and Saint-Just reputedly accepted his death with coolness and pride. As a last formality of identification, he gestured to a copy of the Constitution of 1793 and said, "I am the one who made that".Hampson, p. 227. Saint-Just and his guillotined associates were buried in the

Errancis Cemetery Errancis Cemetery or ''Cimetière des Errancis'' is a former cemetery in the 8th arrondissement of Paris and was one of the cemeteries (the others being Madeleine Cemetery, Picpus Cemetery, Chapelle expiatoire and the Cemetery of Saint Margaret ...

, a common place of interment for those executed during the Revolution. In the mid-19th century, their skeletal remains were transferred to the

Catacombs of Paris The Catacombs of Paris (, ) are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people. Built to consolidate Paris's ancient stone quarries, they extend south from the ("Gate of Hell") former city gate. ...

Legacy

Other writings

Throughout his political career, Saint-Just continued to work on books and essays about the meaning of the Revolution, but he did not survive to see any of them published. In later years, these drafts and notes were put together in various collections along with ''Organt'', ''Arlequin Diogène'', ''L'Esprit de la Revolution'', public speeches, military orders, and private correspondence.Hampson, pp. 237–238. Many of Saint-Just's legislative proposals were compiled after his death to form an outline for a communal and egalitarian society. They were published as a single volume, ''Fragments sur les institutions républicaines.'' The proposals were far more radical than the Constitution of 1793, and identify closely with the legendarily fearsome traditions of ancient

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

. Saint-Just proposed the electoral system now known as

Single non-transferable voting Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote. Being a semi-proportional variant of first-past-the-post voting, under SNTV small parties, as well as large parties, have a chance t ...

in 1793 in a proposal to the French National Convention. His suggestion was to have the whole country as one multi-seat district and each voter having just one vote. It was not adopted in France at that time. Many of his proposals are interpreted as proto-

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

precepts: the overarching theme is equality, which Saint-Just at one point summarizes as: "Man must be independent... There should be neither rich nor poor".

''De la Nature''

Saint-Just also composed a lengthy draft of his philosophical views, ''De la Nature'', which remained hidden in obscurity until its transcription by

Albert Soboul Albert Marius Soboul (27 April 1914 – 11 September 1982) was a historian of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. A professor at the Sorbonne, he was chair of the History of the French Revolution and author of numerous influenti ...

in 1951.Hampson, p. 57. He first published this work in 1951 under the title "Un manuscrit oublié de Saint-Just" in the ''Annales historiques de la révolution française'', No. 124. Alain Liénard's ''Saint-Just, théorie politique'' and later collections include an expanded version. ''De la Nature'' outlines Saint-Just's ideas on the nature of society; the actual date it was written is disputed, but the most agreed upon range is between 1791 and 1792. Based on the assumption that man is a social animal, Saint-Just argues that in nature there is no need for contracts, legislation, or acts of force. These constructs only become necessary when a society is in need of moral regeneration and serve merely as unsatisfactory substitutes for the natural bonds of free people. Such constructs permit small groups to assume unwarranted powers which, according to Saint-Just, leads to corruption within society. Because a return to the natural state is impossible, Saint-Just argues for a government composed of the most educated members of society, who could be expected to share an understanding of the larger social good. Outside the government itself, Saint-Just asserts there must be full equality between all men, including equal security in material possessions and personal independence. Property must be protected by the state but, to secure universal independence, all citizens (including women) must own property.

Complete collections

Oeuvres de Saint-Just, représentant du peuple a la Convention Nationale
''Œuvres de Saint-Just, précédés d'une notice historique sur sa vie]'' edited by Adolphe Havard, Paris, 1834.
''Œuvres complètes de Saint-Just''
in two volumes edited by Charles Vellay, Paris, 1908.
''Œuvres complètes''
edited by Michèle Duval, Paris, 1984.
''Œuvres complètes''
edited by Anne Kupiec and Miguel Abensour, Paris, 2004.

Character

Ambitious and active-minded, Saint-Just worked urgently and tirelessly towards his goals: he wrote that "For Revolutionists there is no rest but in the tomb". He was repeatedly described by contemporaries as arrogant, believing himself to be a skilled leader and orator as well as having proper revolutionary character.Hampson, p. 34. Detractors claimed he had a superiority complex and always "made it clear… that he considered himself to be in charge and that his will was law".Hampson, p. 147. Camille Desmoulins wrote of Saint-Just, "He carries his head like a Sacramental bread, sacred host". Saint-Just's rise to prominence wrought a remarkable change in his personality. Freewheeling and passionate in his youth, Saint-Just quickly became focused on the revolutionary cause, described by one author "tyrannical and pitilessly thorough". He became "the ice-cold ideologist of republican purity", "as inaccessible as stone to all the warm passions".Loomis, p. 284. A measure of his change can be inferred from the experience of his former love interest Thérèse, who is known to have left her husband and taken up residence in a Parisian neighborhood near Saint-Just in late 1793. Saint-Just—who had already developed something of a relationship, tepid but potentially expedient, with the sister of his colleague Le Bas—refused to see her. Thérèse stayed there for over a year, returning to Blérancourt only after Saint-Just was dead. No record exists of any exchanges they might have had, but Saint-Just is known to have written to a friend complaining impatiently about the rumors connecting him to "citizen Thorin". In his public speaking, Saint-Just was even more daring and outspoken than his mentor Robespierre. Regarding France's internal strife, he spared few: "You have to punish not only the traitors, but even those who are indifferent; you have to punish whoever is passive in the republic, and who does nothing for it". He thought the only way to create a true republic was to rid it of enemies, to enforce the "complete destruction of its opposite". Regarding the war, he declared to the Convention, "The vessel of the Revolution can arrive in port only on a sea reddened with torrents of blood". He urged the deputies to embrace the notion that "a nation generates itself only upon heaps of corpses". Despite his flaws, Saint-Just is often accorded respect for the strength of his convictions. Although his words and actions may be viewed by some as reprehensible, his commitment to them is rarely questioned: he was "implacable but sincere". Like Robespierre, he was incorruptible in the sense that he exhibited no attraction to material benefits but devoted himself entirely to the advancement of a political agenda.

Camus and Saint-Just

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

's '' The Rebel'' (1951), Saint-Just is discussed extensively in the context of an analysis of rebellion and man's progression towards enlightenment and freedom. Camus identifies Saint-Just's successful argument for the execution of Louis XVI as the moment of death for monarchical divine right, a

Nietzschean Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) developed his philosophy during the late 19th century. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Arthur Schopenhauer's ''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'' (''The World as Will and Represe ...

Twilight of the Idols ''Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer'' () is a book by Friedrich Nietzsche, written in 1888, and published in 1889. Genesis ''Twilight of the Idols'' was written in just over a week, between 26 August and 3 September 18 ...

''. Saint-Just's dedication to "the sovereignty of the people and the sacred power of laws" is described as "a source of absolutism" and indeed "the new God".Knee, pp. 107–108. His kind of "deification of the political" is examined as the source of the creeping totalitarianism which grew so powerfully in Camus' own lifetime. Camus also references Saint-Just in '' The Plague'' (1947).

In popular culture

Representations of Saint-Just include those found in the novels ''Stello'' (1832) by

Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (; 27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticism, Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to wh ...

, ''

A Place of Greater Safety ''A Place of Greater Safety'' is a 1992 novel by Hilary Mantel. It concerns the events of the French Revolution, focusing on the lives of Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Maximilien Robespierre from their childhood through the executio ...

'' (1992) by

Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, ''Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was releas ...

, and The Sandman comic "Thermidor" by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

; as well as in the plays ''

Danton's Death ''Danton's Death'' (''Dantons Tod'') was the first play written by Georg Büchner, set during the French Revolution. History Georg Büchner wrote his works in the period between Romanticism and Literary realism, Realism in the so-called Vormär ...

'' (1835, by

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchn ...

) and ''Poor Bitos'' (''Pauvre Bitos, ou Le dîner de têtes'', 1956, by

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

). In

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's 1862 novel ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'', the revolutionary character

Enjolras Enjolras () is a fictional character who acts as the charismatic leader of the Friends of the ABC in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo. In both the novel and the musical that it inspired, Enjolras is a revolutionary who fights f ...

is compared to Saint-Just: "On

Aventine Hill The Aventine Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the modern twelfth ''rione'', or ward, of Rome. Location and boundaries The Aventine Hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills. I ...

, he would have been

Gracchus The Gracchi brothers were two brothers who lived during the beginning of the late Roman Republic: Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus. They served in the plebeian tribunates of 133 BC and 122–121 BC, respectively. They have bee ...

; in the Convention, he would have been Saint-Just." Saint-Just’s quote, “Nobody can rule guiltlessly,” appears as an epigraph before chapter one in

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest, and was educated in Austria, apart from his early school years. In 1931, Koestler j ...

’s 1941 anti-totalitarian novel ''

Darkness At Noon ''Darkness at Noon'' (, ) is a novel by Austrian-Hungarian-born novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best known work, it is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the ...

''. In film, Saint-Just has been portrayed by

Abel Gance Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director, producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J'ac ...

in ''Napoléon'' (1927);

Jess Barker Jess Barker (June 4, 1912 – August 8, 2000) was an American actor who was active between the 1940s and 1970s. He was best known as the first husband of actress Susan Hayward. Early years Barker was born in Greenville, South Carolina. Career ...

in ''

'' (1949);

Patrice Alexsandre Patrice is a given name meaning ''noble'' or '' patrician'', related to the names Patrick and Patricia. In English, Patrice is often a feminine first name. In French, it is used as a masculine first name. Popularity In the United States, the popul ...

in '' Saint-Just and the Force of Things'' (1975);

Bogusław Linda Bogusław Linda (; born 27 June 1952) is a Polish actor known from films such as ''Pigs (1992 film), Psy'' and ''Tato''. He appeared in Andrzej Wajda's ''Man of Iron'' and ''Danton (1983 film), Danton'' and in Krzysztof Kieślowski's ''Blind Chan ...

in ''

'' (1983); and Christopher Thompson in ''

La Révolution française ''La Révolution Française'' is a French rock opera by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Raymond Jeannot, book by Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière, created in 1973. The show premiered at the Palais des Sports de Paris. Synopsis With the Frenc ...

'' (1989).

Jean-Pierre Léaud Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor best known for being an important figure of the French New Wave and his portrayal of Antoine Doinel in a series of films by François Truffaut, beginning with '' The 400 Blows'' (19 ...

plays a farcical caricature of Saint-Just in

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

's '' Week End'' (1967).

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Just, Louis De 1767 births 1794 deaths Anti-monarchists Deputies to the French National Convention Executed regicides of Louis XVI Executed revolutionaries French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution French political writers French radicals French revolutionaries French socialists Jacobins Montagnards Liberal socialism People from Decize People imprisoned by lettre de cachet People of the Reign of Terror People of the War of the First Coalition People on the Committee of Public Safety People from Nivernais Presidents of the National Convention Regicides of Louis XVI Représentants en mission