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Bon Albert Briois de Beaumetz or Beaumez (23 December 1755 - 1801?) was a French statesman of the French Revolution. He is noteworthy as a conservative nobleman who nevertheless committed to serve the constitutional monarchy of the Constitution of 1791.
Born in Arras, Albert de Beaumetz was the son of an ardent royalist and a premier président of the Superior Council of Artois, a judiciary body of the ancien régime. In 1785, Beaumetz succeeded his father at the Council of Artois and became himself a distinguished personality. He was the lover of Jeanne Louise Henriette Genest Campan, a lady-in-waiting for Marie Antoinette.
Each week, he entertained at his home the most important figures of the bar of Arras. It was to one of these meetings, in which the election campaign for the Estates General of 1789 was planned, that Maximilien Robespierre, member of the Artesian bar, was not invited. It revived an animosity between the erstwhile friends.
In the elections to the Estates General, Bon Albert de Beaumetz was elected as a member by the Second Estate of the Artois, while Maximilien Robespierre managed to get elected by the Third Estate. In the subsequent National Constituent Assembly, Beaumetz sat on the right side with conservatives such as the comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, yet is moderate in his conservatism. His interventions are many. He opted for the meeting of the three orders, called for the abolition of torture in the judicial procedure and requested the emission of 800 million assignat.
After the close of the session of the Constituent Assembly in 1791, he became with Charles-Maurice of Talleyrand-Périgord a member of the directory of the department of the Seine. He tried in vain to put a brake on the rise of revolutionary violence, much more than his friend and colleague, the Bishop of Autun. He was, in spite of everything, the origin of the counter-revolutionary measures which this body had taken.
After the day of fall of the French Monarchy (10 August 1792), Beaumetz emigrated, first to Germany, and then to England, where he found his friend Charles-Maurice of Talleyrand-Périgord in the spring of 1794. They traveled together to the United States. Having married the daughter of first United States Secretary of War Henry Knox, he was naturalised as an American citizen. In May 1796, accompanied by his wife, he travelled to India and was installed in Calcutta where he disappeared from history after a last letter sent by him in March 1801.
Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French clergyman and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the Clergy in 1780. In 1789, just before the French Revolution, he became Bishop of Autun. He worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. His career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, and Louis-Philippe. Those Talleyrand served often distrusted him but, like Napoleon, found him extremely useful. The name "Talleyrand" has become a byword for crafty, cynical diplomacy.
Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac was a French politician, freemason, journalist, and one of the most prominent members of the National Convention, representing the Plain during the French Revolution. The Plain was dominated by the radical Montagnards and Barère as one of their leaders supported the foundation of the Committee of Public Safety in April and of a sans-culottes army in September 1793. According to Francois Buzot, Barère was responsible for the Reign of Terror, like Robespierre and Louis de Saint-Just. In Spring 1794 and after the Festival of the Supreme Being, he became an opponent of Maximilien Robespierre and joined the coup, leading to his downfall.
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 club during the French Revolution of 1789. The period of its political ascendancy includes the Reign of Terror, during which time well over ten thousand people were put on trial and executed in France, many for political crimes.
Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouché was a French statesman, revolutionary, and Minister of Police under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who later became Emperor Napoleon. He was particularly known for the ferocity with which he suppressed the Lyon insurrection during the Revolution in 1793 and for being minister of police under the Directory, the Consulate, and the Empire. In English texts, his title is often translated as Duke of Otranto.
Philippe-Antoine Merlin, known as Merlin de Douai was a French politician and lawyer.
The French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. One of the basic precepts of the French Revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty.
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, principally Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Saint-Just, it was intended to replace the constitutional monarchy of 1791 and the Girondin constitutional project. With sweeping plans for democratization and wealth redistribution, the new document promised a significant departure from the relatively moderate goals of the Revolution in previous years.
Comte Pierre Louis Roederer was a French politician, economist, and historian, politically active in the era of the French Revolution and First French Republic. Roederer's son, Baron Antoine Marie Roederer (1782–1865), also became a noted political figure.
Alexandre François Marie, Viscount of Beauharnais was a French political figure and general during the French Revolution. He was the first husband of Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie, who later married Napoleon Bonaparte and became empress of the First French Empire. Beauharnais was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror.
Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel was a French Catholic cleric and politician of the Revolution. He was executed during the Reign of Terror.
Augustin Bon Joseph de Robespierre, known as Robespierre the Younger, was a French lawyer, politician and the younger brother of French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre. His political views were similar to his brother's. When his brother was arrested on 9 Thermidor, Robespierre volunteered to be arrested as well, and he was executed by the guillotine along with Maximilien and 20 of his supporters.
Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier was a French politician of the French Revolution.
La Révolution française is a two-part 1989 film, co-produced by France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. The first part, titled La Révolution française: les Années lumière was directed by Robert Enrico. The second part, La Révolution française: les Années terribles, was directed by Richard T. Heffron. The full film runs at 360 minutes, but the edited-for-television version is slightly longer.
Alexandre Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord was a French churchman and politician. He was the paternal uncle of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838).
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and statesman who was one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, he campaigned for universal manhood suffrage and the abolition both of celibacy for the clergy, and slavery. In 1791, Robespierre was elected as "public accuser" and became an outspoken advocate for male citizens without a political voice, for their unrestricted admission to the National Guard, to public offices, for the right to petition and the right to bear arms in self defence. Robespierre played an important part in the agitation which brought about the fall of the French monarchy on 10 August 1792 and the summoning of a National Convention. His goal was to create a one and indivisible France, equality before the law, to abolish prerogatives and to defend the principles of direct democracy.
Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix, born Charles-Pierre-Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix, was a noted French financier and politician. He held the position of Superintendent of Finance for the Comte d'Artois. Later, he headed the secret council of advisers for Louis XVI, while the latter was being detained at the Tuileries Palace. He played a big role in the counter-revolutionary circles of the time.
Events from the year 1791 in France.
The Society of 1789, or the Patriotic Society of 1789, was a political club of the French Revolution inaugurated during a festive banquet held at Palais-Royal in May 13, 1790 by more moderate elements of the Club Breton. At their height of influence, it was the second most important club after the Jacobin Club.
